Homeschool students plant trees at Zillman’s Hickory Hills

FAIRFIELD – A group of homeschool students planted trees in Jefferson County Park’s Zillman’s Hickory Hills Wednesday afternoon, April 24.

The students are members of the Van Buren County Homeschool Assistance Program through the Van Buren County School District. They helped unload the mulch from a trailer and dig holes for the 10 trees that were planted throughout the park, located about 4 miles southeast of Fairfield on Glasgow Road. Eli and Rachel Morgan of Morgan Tree Care led the tree-planting exercise, and also have a son in the homeschool assistance program.

Rachel said the couple thought it would be fun to incorporate tree-planting into the homeschool curriculum this year, since the group tries to do an outing every week.

“I called Jefferson County Park and asked if they had anywhere that needed trees planted, and they recommended Zillman’s Hickory Hills,” Rachel said. “[Jefferson County Naturalist] Austin Roe said they don’t have as many trees there compared to other areas. We’re going to plant native Iowa trees like swamp white oak, burr oak, Shumard oak, hackberry and red buds.”

Eli explained that they chose native Iowa trees because they’re not invasive and won’t “snuff out” other trees.

“Another great reason is they promote native wildlife that feed on those specific trees, especially oak trees,” Eli said. “They are great habitat for native insects and pollinators.”

Eli said the family’s main objective in leading Wednesday’s tree-planting exercise was to spread the word about how to properly plant a tree.

“It’s not especially difficult, but it’s vitally important for a tree’s long-term survival,” Eli said about proper tree-planting technique. “You can run into a lot of health issues if it’s improperly planted.”

Jefferson County Conservation Director Shawn Morrissey said Zillman’s Hickory Hills is mostly a “day use” park since it doesn’t have any shelters. The county built a new pond there about four or five years ago, and it had to remove some trees to make room for the pond.

“That was the area that came to my mind, that could use a few shade trees,” Morrissey said. “We had recently expanded our parking, and a lot of times in the heat of summer, it’s nice to have shade trees next to the parking lot.”

Tonja Jirak is coordinator of the Van Buren County Homeschool Assistance Program, and she said it was great to get the kids outdoors and help improve a county park at the same time.

“We have weekly activities that are a variety of field trips, workshops, learning opportunities, and chances to get together with other families,” she said. “We’re kind of a support group for each other as well.”

Seventy students are enrolled in the Van Buren County Homeschool Assistance Program, which includes grades K-12. The kids have hosted a carnival this year, worked with Van Buren County ISU Extension on STEM activities, visited a nursing home, and “played a lot of games.” Jirak’s husband Kurt is the supervising teacher for grades K-6, and Randi Shriver is the supervising teacher for grades 7-12. For more information about the program, email Tonja Jirak at tonja.jirak@vbcwarriors.org.

  Buy Photo

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com

  Buy Photo

  Buy Photo

  Buy Photo