East Bay's hidden gems the Garin and Dry Creek Regional parks were ranches from the 19th century, now preserved by the park district. The combined parks is over 5,800 acres of open space and more than 35 miles of trails through narrow valleys and rolling hills with panoramic views of the Bay Area.
Outdoorsy tribe organized volunteer work day in the apple orchards of this park. Thanks to the https://www.ebparks.org/parks/garin-dry-creek for giving us the opportunity to bring the tribe.
Outdoorsy Tribe Volunteer Team Size: 15 members
What the tribe did: 15 members of the tribe were engaged in upkeep of the orchard, clean up of weeds and maintenance of the orchard was the key activity. There was a lot of damage that the squirrels had caused by building numerous burrows across the orchard, these were filled up to avoid further damage to the plants.
What the tribe learned: Interestingly the orchard has more than 300 different varieties of apples some of them are antique and not available commercially. The trees were color coded in various ribbons detailing the pruning. Also the bottom part of the trees trunk was colored in white, which we learned keeps the bugs away.
Interesting facts about the park: Garin regional park has an annual Apple festival second Saturday in September, not to be missed, this celebrates Haywards ranching and farming history. If you want to learn more about the farming equipment from the past, checkout the displays and take a tour of the visitor centre.
