Aztec Good Turn Trip

By TRISTAN KING | Contributing Writer

 On April 15th, 2023, the Aztec Patrol of Troop 223 in Pacific Palisades held our “Good Turn Trip” in the city of San Fernando, CA, planting trees with the folks at TreePeople.

The purpose of this trip was to help the environment by planting and caring for trees. We were joined by other volunteers that wanted to help provide a nice environment for a local neighborhood.

The “Tree People” organization wants to inspire, engage and support people to take personal responsibility for the urban environment, making it safe, healthy, fun, and sustainable and to share our process as a model for the world.

I was fascinated by the founders’ hopes and dreams to have a nicer and healthier environment. This is now the largest environmental movement headquartered in Southern California where they have planted thousands of trees.

We all started at 9 AM and were ready to plant trees to better the local ecosystem. We were greeted with a cool and sunny day, the perfect tree planting weather. Those in attendance were Tristan K, William C, Brody P, Travis P, and last but certainly not least, Roque O.

After everyone had shown up, the staff started to show us the ropes on how to properly plant a tree. There are more steps than I had imagined.

To successfully plant a tree you must dig a deep and spacious enough hole so the tree can easily fit. Then, you must fill up the hole and make a berm around the outside perimeter.

Next, you must fill the berm with mulch and water. Also, we had to anchor the tree with stakes to protect it from the Santa Ana winds that blow through this area of the San Fernando Valley.

Last and most important, you must name the tree and welcome it to the world. This is done by saying the phrase “Trees need people and people need trees. Welcome (whatever you name the tree)”.

After they finished the demonstration, they gave my patrol three shovels and directed us to a potted tree already placed on the nearby sidewalk. It was time to plant some trees!

My excitement soonly turned into frustration as the dirt was really dry and hard to dig. Even though it was a setback, we were determined to plant this tree and continued to dig.

After about 30 minutes of digging, we finally made a hole deep and wide enough to put the tree in. We secured the tree by covering its roots with dirt, watering it, and supporting it with stakes.

We named the tree, “Michael K Lanning” after our Scoutmaster. We performed the welcoming by saying the phrase “Trees need people and people need trees. Welcome Michael K Lanning”.

It was only 11 am, so we decided to plant another tree. Fortunately at the next site, the dirt was moist and much easier to dig up. This allowed us to plant the tree in 30 minutes time. We finished by naming it “Aztec” after our patrol.

By now it was 11:45 am and it was time to go. I had so much fun planting the trees with my buddies. It was a blast and it was helping the environment. I hope I can go back soon and plant some more trees.

Please consider volunteering your time to this great cause at TreePeople.org.