The Great Cleanup has been completed. Maintenance and cleaning of the neighborhood is not a one-day job, and as in previous springs, this year, a large part of the cleaning and beautification work in the public sector started already before the cleaning day, and this year it had to be done, despite the cold and snow. But cleaning is cleaning. It is also a good reason to get together and do some more good deeds. In addition, on Saturday the weather was finally pleasant for working outside. So, BD went to see how the neighborhood scavengers are doing in the countryside – Aknīste, Gārsene and Zasa.
Active pensioners of Aknīste have big plans for the future
Aknīste pensioners were ready for big jobs, and already around nine in the morning, equipped with a chainsaw, rakes, forks, shovels and cleaning bags, they went to the former building of Sēļi House, which is located in a scenic location near the high school. According to Daina Miezāne, the organizer of this group of talcinians, the local pensioners have big plans for this piece of land belonging to the municipality.
– We think that it would be good to write a project to get financial support, because we would like to build a meeting house for the locals here. Aknīste does not have its own culture house, so at least there would be a gathering house. Negotiations with the parish administration have been entered into, while among our informal association of retired activists there are people who orient themselves in project writing and accounting. The house that is currently located here does not even have a real foundation, in our opinion, it should be demolished, and a parking structure could be built in its place. Not a log building, but a storey building, because I have researched that the Seleucids had such. It could be a floor and a half with a large hall. The project, of course, has many formalities, which will require a lot of thinking about how to do it better.
However, today we will work with our hands, leveling the slope behind the former Seleņi House. Until recently, there was a garbage area here, but the parish manager Jānis Striks ordered a tractor, which pushed this area out, the garbage has already been taken away, and now we will level it with rakes, we will pick up the stones, small glass and other debris that are still left, we will also demolish this fence fragment that enclosed the former waste area. We also want to cut down some of the bushes. And our plans are to sow a flower meadow on this scenic slope, which is adjacent to the edge of a private pond, – says Daina Miezāne.
Daina points to the activity in the field and praises everyone who came to help. Among the volunteers is retired teacher Anna Žindig, who is already 89 years old, but she, like everyone, is ready to work in nature. The teacher emphasizes how much she likes busy people who are able to do good for society as well. We wish hardworking seniors good luck in their work and let’s move on.
Garsen residents take care of the apple orchards of the castle and the hiking route
Next, our path leads to Gārsene Castle, where the work started this spring actually continues on this day – pruning the branches of the apple trees in the old apple orchard of the castle. Events are overseen by Māris Ozoliņš and Dainis Zaldaks.
– In the parish, there is not a lot of mass cleaning, but it must be said that our residents are decent people and do not mess with the environment. Therefore, only what nature has created during autumn and winter should be collected. Maybe you will only have to walk a section of the roadside, collecting what is thrown on the sides of the road. Yes, separate groups of cleaners took cleaning bags from the very morning and work on their own initiative in places chosen by themselves, says Dainis Zaldaks.
In the apple orchard of Gārsene Castle, there is a bonfire, and the talcinians carry and throw the cut branches into it, while others are assigned to supplement the red oak alley in the nature trail area, where the new trees planted in place of the old ash trees a few years ago did not grow. Together with M. Ozoliņa, we also walk to the beginning of this trail, and the manager of the farm shows that, where it is quite wet, small drainage works had to be done before planting the oak trees.
One of the cleaners, Andris Sībergs, was called, and at the end of the day he sent us the promised photos from the work in another part of the parish and a short description. – As every year, this time too, the most active part of the residents of Gārsene participates in the cleaning of several public places, and the regular voluntary involvement of the parishioners in cleaning up the surroundings and their organization helps to create an attractive rural environment for living. Today, the area around the store and Valdas Kalnieš’s private museum “Steps in the Ancients” was groomed. We also collect garbage on the Subate-Gārsene hiking route, he informs.
Zasa Park is becoming more beautiful every day
We are going to Zasa, where Arnis Timpa, an employee of the parish administration, has promised to show us the activities that take place in Zasa Park. The park area will soon be fully illuminated. In many places, the lampposts have already been installed, in other places, the ends of the cable pipes, which can be connected, are still peeking out from the ground. Since the lighting installation started in the fall was started late, it must be completed now. Large raking and collection of leaves, following the recommendations of friends of nature, has not been carried out in the park, because last year’s leaves serve well as a medium for the park’s grass. And the fatness of the land in this 27 ha area is confirmed by the huge fields of white and yellow vizbuls, which richly decorate the entire park area.
Behind Cukurkalniņa, at the foundations of the former manor cellar, the locals are busily busy. Their task is to collect branches broken by the wind. Arnis Timpa says that on a daily basis there are not enough employees of the parish administration who work in the improvement works of the neighborhood, so it is good that the volunteer cleaners also joined today. The manager of the park, Anita Úbele, also confirms what he said. The main needs are additional employees and new equipment: the parish administration would urgently need a new tractor with a shovel for clearing snow in winter, a lawnmower for summer and a trailer for transporting goods. – Such would be very useful for works in the park area. The big tractor is there, but it is no longer new. Approach, take out, take out this and that. Of course, a permanent employee would also be suitable, because the existing workers are really not enough. It’s a good thing that after the end of the season, the stokers are assigned to help with park work! I am so happy for today’s cleaners. Re – little Nick also helps and stretches branches, much bigger than himself. I have a chocolate bar in my pocket meant for this assistant, – Anita Úbele shows.
On the way back, we pass by the place where it is planned to build the stage of the park. The trees to be cut down in place of the potential stage have already been marked here. Near the pond, the men are trying to cope with sawing and loading the large logs into the tractor trailer of the parish administration, while another is already cooking coals for the grill, because there is nothing at the end of a job well done without frying sausages.
Bushes are planted in the guest house and the fishing area is cleaned
We did not visit because it is impossible to be everywhere at the same time. But the parish administrator Sanita Luse tells by phone that on the day of the Great Cleanup, the area around Viesīte cultural center “Selia” got several new bushes. – Administration employees helped, and their family members – children and grandchildren – also helped. We arranged lilacs, jasmines, rhododendrons and also magnolia. We cleaned the mini-pines in the vegetation, dug out the hole and improved it with expanded clay pebbles. It was also nice to learn about a volunteer initiative that day: fishermen from Biržie cleaned up their favorite fishing spot by Lake Viesīte, and they filled many cleaning bags, says Sanita Luse.
Tags: countryside day Great Cleanup administration employees volunteers work
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