We ThorpeWood folk always anticipate our quarterly litter pick-up adventures with great enthusiasm. As the proud adoptors of Catoctin Hollow Road, we rally our staff and volunteers, arm ourselves with trash bags and gloves, and head out in our Kubota RTVs and pickup truck. This quarter, we broke up into two groups – with Mattie and Sam starting at Route 15 and Lydia, Jeff, Clare, and I starting at Mink Farm Road. The Mink Farm Road side gets extra hands since we love to dive deep into the woods and simultaneously conduct a stream clean-up.
Among the endless bottles, cans, and food wrappers, we also rolled tires up cliff sides, dug a car seat from the leaf litter, and fashioned a complete outfit from men’s shoes, a XXL winter coat, ladies’ underwear, and more. While this may be dirty work, it is also a lovely team-building exercise. We rely on each other for a hand with the heavy stuff. We create a conveyor belt of muscle to haul tires incrementally up the cliffside. We offer each other a sip from any bottles still containing their unidentified putrid liquids. We share smiles and laughter at our silly finds and jokes. We get to know one another better.
After all of this, we join together in the wonderful roadside swimming hole for a splash and giggle. And then, of course, we also celebrate a hard day’s work with ice cream back at the farm!
If you would like to join us next time, please email [email protected]. If you or your company would also like to adopt a road, look up your local adopt-a-road program.
