Should i go tree planting

Blank and confused. Hilarious in hindsight and incredibly frustrating in the moment. That is the beauty of it. Eventually, you just put a tree in the ground. Planting forces you to take a step even if you do not know where you will end up. Each day a planter is given a map of their piece and a certain amount of trees to plant for the day. One hand on the shovel, the other grabs a tree, plant it straight, tight, and deep. The mills which provide the trees have varying specifications for quality such as density.

This tells the planter how far apart to plant the trees. Checkers then come around to check the quality and density of your trees and if it is not up to par, you have to repo—meaning you have to replant any trees that do not meet the standard of straight, tight and deep, as well as other requirements specific to the contract. This can take anywhere from 20 minutes to a whole day going back through planted ground and fixing leaners, open holes or shallow trees.

Planters do not get paid to repo. They are paid for each tree planted, not for the time spent fixing bad trees. Repo one too many times, and you could be fired. Not hitting good enough numbers in time, you could be fired.

Planters are paid by the tree. The base price is around 13 cents on fast ground, meaning soft-land and little green growth. Getting the base price means expectation to hit high numbers upwards of 2, trees a day at least for rookies, with most vets hitting around 3, to 4,, and high ballers hitting around 4, to 5, However, those numbers fluctuate with the conditions and increase over time in the season.

Prices can be increased for various reasons, but it comes down to anything that considerably lessens your productivity and is out of your control such as a long drive to the block or tall thorn bushes. Price bumps usually increase to about 14 to 15 cents, with really terrible land sometimes priced at 16 to 17 cents.

The need to hit better numbers creates immense pressure for planters, especially rookies, but at the same time pushes them to do more than they believe they are capable of.

Planting usually goes in shifts of three days on, one day off. After spending around seven to 10 hours in the land for days on end, the celebrations are a must. Nights after planting are spent picking out thorns by the fire and talking about everything that happened that day. Nights off are for music by the fire, themed nights like bushmas and bush prom, or motel shows and Northern Albertan clubs like the famed Stardust. Days off are spent at the laundromat, loading up on bug spray and duct tape, and calls to family and friends.

After the whirlwind of a season comes to an end, nostalgia sets in. Fox comments on what it is like to miss life in the bush. Our production levels were low, he said. His solution: more sex. The rationale? Sex makes planters happy, and happy planters plant more trees. If we didn't start having more sex soon, he threatened to create a mandatory Tinder account for the camp.

Bottom-line is this: if you're not comfortable being naked, I suggest you find another job, it's a sex positive field. Naked road trips, naked planting, naked partying—anything goes. One time, my friend shocked his penis on the electric bear fence, just for fun. The feeling starts to creep back in December, when the sun goes down at four and you have to buy a fake sun lamp to keep your brain happy.

You start to reminisce: the friends, the parties, the freedom…the trees—so miniature and cute. Somehow, your brain forgets about the bugs and the bears and the scratching-until-you-bleed.

It's as if you're 14 again and your hormones are twisting your brain out of whack. You really, really miss it. You decide to go back, just for one more year. You've invested this much time already, so why not tack on another season? Sign In Create Account. Advice from a seasoned bush-woman. April 11, , pm.

All illustrations by Joey Bruce. It takes seven seconds to plant a tree. Simple, right? Tree planting will wreck you. All this before 6AM. Much of this will be spent on your days off. At the end of the day, the planters will unload from a day of work, dirtied, sore, and grumpy.

My best advice: cut the bullshit and save your sick days for when you're really hurting. Startled, she snapped her head around: a bear cub. You're at risk of interruption even in your most private moments. The Scramble of a Day Off The most common planting schedule is four days on, one day off. There, your scruffy hair and atrocious tan will immediately give you away as a tree planter.

There Will Be Sex It was the middle of the season and planters were getting tired. Tree-planting forces you to reflect. Is there another job, so easily attainable, where old school bush camps are still used? You will live outside for the duration of your time planting. This alone will be an unforgettable experience and challenge. Tree-planting camps are full of interesting, intelligent young people who, it has been speculated, are the most well educated manual labour market in the country.

How about Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan? Check out all the small towns. Tree-planters can burn a lot of calories, lose weight, gain stamina and endurance. I mean just think about it, 40 young people who just worked a 6-day shift stumble into a small northern town on a Friday night.