Another Memorial Tree

There are big plans for this little tree.

Felton will be getting another Memorial Tree next Saturday. Unlike our small Memorial Tree valley oak in Felton Covered Bridge Park, which is a Memorial Tree of several people, among several other Memorial Tree redwoods, this new Memorial Tree will be for a specific person, in a specific locale. It will be planted on May 2, which is the anniversary of the deceased’s death.

The little tree is a Monterey cypress, Cupressus macrocarpa, that grew from a self sown seed too close to a building, and within a landscape that it could not have stayed in. When pulled out of the ground last autumn, it came up with an intact root system. It was too exemplary of a specimen to discard. It instead got canned, recovered through winter, and is now starting to grow.

Monterey cypress is endemic to a very confined range on the coast of Monterey County, between Point Cypress and Pescadero Point, and on Point Lobos. However, it is naturalized where it had been planted locally, which is why this particular specimen grew where it could not stay. It should be happy where it will be planted, and has plenty of space to grow as big as it wants to.

Ideally, this little tree should have been planted directly into the new location immediately after it was removed from its original location. It could have settled in through winter, to be ready to resume growth now. Since it is instead being planted now, it will need to be watered occasionally until rain resumes next autumn. Once established, it will need no supplemental irrigation.

Although not horticulturally ideal, delaying the planting until May 2 is very appropriate. The location of planting also just happens to be very appropriate. The appropriateness of it all will be explained next Saturday.

Workday – October 19, 2019

Saturday – October 19 – 9:00 a.m. to noon – Felton Presbyterian Church – WORKDAY

This is no venue for social networking, and it is unlikely that more than a few of us will see this post prior to Saturday anyway, but I want to at least briefly mention the workday cited above. I would have mentioned it sooner, but was just informed of it a few hours ago. It is only for three hours, but we always get quite a bit done before noon.

Although it is still early in the season, I intend to FINALLY prune the flowering crabapple out front, so could use some help to drag brush. Otherwise, the big cypress trees north of the parking lot, near A&W, need some major grooming. That is a big job that can not be finished before noon, but it would be nice to remove the lower growth that is encroaching into parking spaces. Of course, there is plenty of other work that needs to be done.

Picnic In The Park With Some Homeless Folks – July 30, 2015

This article from the Press Banner is the best ever about this particular topic, which was an issue that concerned Felton League back in the summer of 2015. The main text is pasted below, but without the excellent picture or the interesting comments. The chronology of the comments can be difficult to follow, but each comment is outfitted with the date and time at which it was posted. Of course, some of the comments were deleted.

July 30, 2015 – Press Banner – Suellene Petersen

It would have been nice if a table had been available for the food, but Jonney Hughes explained that the maintenance people from the Santa Cruz County Department of Parks had removed the one that used to be in that spot.

“They said they were going to fix the table and bring it back, but we could not see that anything was wrong with it,” explained Hughes.

The picnic was spread on a cement area under the trees and the hosts sat in canvas folding chairs around a spread of sandwiches, salads, fruit and desserts. “Those of us who can, pool our money and food so we can share with others,” said Hughes.

Asked what it was like to be homeless, Teresa Fitzpatrick said “I am not homeless and not all of us are. Some of us have jobs, but don’t earn much –– not enough for rent and food,” said Fitzpatrick. “We all have different stories. Some of us are retired and get social security but it’s not enough for everything so we get stuck in this wilderness,” she said.

“We are people who have raised families. We are good people who have fallen on hard times. It happens,” said Fitzpatrick. “The picnic table that used to be here was like a social center where we met to eat, sew, and visit,” said Hughes. She said “we have even held memorial services here for friends who have passed away.”

The New Life Church in Santa Cruz provides some help to these folks. Richard Franconi distributes food to people that has been donated by the New Life Church. He walks around the park and hands out burritos. He said “I have been doing this for 15 years. I used to give about 30 and now it is only about 10.” He gives the food to hungry people even if they are not homeless.

The people at the picnic were all wearing neat, clean clothes. Lise Lafontaine said that she was one of the homeless. She is a licensed hair stylist who cannot find work. “I cut hair for these people for free,” she said as she gestured at the circled of people. “I never thought that I would become homeless because I am a professional haircutter,” said Lafontaine. “Sometimes we get to shower at the Presbyterian Church,” she said. Otherwise, they have no access to water in order to stay clean.

They told their stories and when it was time for lunch, the circle of people bowed their heads while Hughes led the group in a thank you prayer. Lunch was good. It would have been nicer if the picnic table had been there.

The good news is that Alan Galran from Santa Cruz County Department of Parks said that the table will be replaced within two weeks.