The summer fund raiser is over and what a great beginning to a new source of financial support for the club activities. Hopefully this project will continue to grow in the coming years. And now we have a short breather before Christmas Clearing House fires up. Granted, it is a lot of work and time commitment. However, I have found that projects that we support with physical labor rather than making a monetary donation to a cause result in closer relationships with our fellow club members. When we work together on a task we joke and kid and converse in a relaxed manner and become much more of a close knit family of service minded individuals. Rotary is all about service and when we are able to provide that service while having fun and interacting with our fellow Rotarians it is a beautiful thing!
And now for the "ramblings". Several weeks ago we had a speaker that talked about the restoration of the Loyola campus area on country club road. The big problem was the removal of invasive species from the marsh area. A comment was made from the audience to the effect that plant populations were migrating all the time so what is the big deal about invasives. I happened to be reading a book shortly after that presentation entitled "Bringing Nature Home". The message in the book was to use natural natural plantings in our landscaping and eliminate the exotic imports that tend to escape from the garden and create havoc in the environment. (examples: purple loose strife, plume grass, multiflora rose) And then the book re-enforced the argument by discussing the further ramifications of invasives. Invasive plants are not native here so they do not have any natural enemies. There are very few insects that will feed on them so the insect populations are reduced. So what is the big deal? Insects are the food source for many birds and they are genetically programed to feed on certain insects---the ones that live on our native flora. So if the invasives crowd out the natural flora then the insects that feed on them go too and then the bird population decreases. Amazing how our living world is all linked together. Food for thought.