Care day for a roe deer refuge underbrush we planted

Last Saturday several institutions in Schwelm met for a bit of care work for a site where we planted underbrush as a hideout for roe deer and other wildlife in the local woods. I set out early to meet with Mauro, a friend of mine and a member of my club, to do the ride to Schwelm, to do something useful and then get in some riding on the local DH and pumptrack site in Schwelm, that is completely legal. The Hegering Schwelm e.V. a local hunter´s association, the AGU, an association of environmentalists, plus two mountainbike teams (Rote Erde Schwelm e.V. and my own team, Zee Aylienz e.V. – MTB Hagen) were present to do a bit of good honest work, get good and sweaty in the process and have some serious talking to discuss any possible conflicts. We met in the late morning and cleared the site from wild growth, all in a friendly atmosphere with lots of good-natured talk. How come problems always seem easier to solve if you have worked together beforehand? Mr. Treimer, head chairman of the AGU also provided us with hot sausage from a solar oven and showed us this drying device. Really interesting concepts, and self - sustenant with no additional power supplies! And we relished in the first apples of the new season… delicious. It was a privilege to work with those people, and it will not be my last time I did that, for sure!

 The crowd had fun working! Photo by pixelpager internet design

 We had some interesting conversation and some quality food, too. Photo by pixelpager internet design.www.pixelpager.de

Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium), in German: Wiesen - Bärenklau. Young sproutings can be harvested and are edible, bigger ones peeled and eaten raw or in a compote. Hogweed contains furocumarin and can thusly lead to allergic reactions. You should obstain from older plants. Hogweed also increases light sensitivity. And remember: If in doubt if you can eat a plant rather obstain from it! 

Christian at work. He is a member of Rote Erde Schwelm and not only rides his bikes through the forest using it but also feels responsible and does something to give something back to the woods. Hats off for that!

Don´t know of the nutritonal value of this snail, but we had sausage anyway;-).

That is a solar grill. No power supplies but the sun´s beams. We had hot sausage in no time (10-15 minutes), and it was not exactly a bright day!

The drying funnel.

Fruity!;-)

 Lunchtime!;-) Photo by pixelpager internet design.


Then Mauro and I went on to get in some riding (see video). One perfect day in my book, and I got home all finished from working and riding.