The Juniper Studio - Tree Planting Day

Having committed to cultivating a greener future, one of our first priorities for January 2024 was to take a retrospective of our carbon output; we reviewed our workflows, assessed the tools we use and the services we rely on, and acted to remove or heavily reduce our emissions. As part of our hosting, we offer carbon offsetting for the emissions hosting sites create and our partner Tree App plants the equivalent number of trees needed to offset any business CO2 we can’t reduce.

So when Treeapp let us know that their last Planting Day of the Season in the UK just so happened to be coming to Kent, we couldn't wait to get involved in their reforestation movement.

Time to close our laptop and get the wellies on (well boots for Jodie, he hates wellies)

We arrived in an overcast (but thankfully not rainy) Ramsgate. The site we'd be working on was a huge green space behind the Foreland Fields, an educational, sports and recreation facility for children with special educational needs and disabilities. Roughly the size of a football pitch, the area was fenced and markers were being set into the ground by Peter Hasted, Managing Director of Thanet Urban Forest, the Arbourist. After a welcome from Godefroy & Alix from Treeapp, Deputy Head Jeremy Edwards explained how transformative the woodland we were planting would be for the children and young adults who are part of the school community. The potential that from these tiny plants there would be an entire woodland for many, many years to come was awesome to hear. Peter provided a complete rundown on how to handle these little plants, and how to handle spades properly along with some other useful advice, after which each of the groups gave a quick intro to the rest of the team. Then we set to work.

There were about 20 of us, split into pairs, and there was a target of 500 trees to get planted (50 per pair) to get done by the end of the day. A piece of cake when you have a very competitive Jodie on your team. It was a given that he would have to get at least 51 planted (in the end we planted something like 115). The first group we worked alongside were Honest Mobile, the UK's first carbon-negative network that removes double the carbon created across the entire lifespan of your phone. They were also the best-organised bunch in terms of snacks! Starting slowly initially, to just find the right way of doing it and how the soil behaved, soon everyone sped up and found their rhythm. We also worked alongside a duo made up of Joao from Storm Flowers Garden and Anne. We chatted whilst working away, it was really encouraging and motivating to hear about where everyone is on their sustainability journey and the challenges they've tackled on the way.

I'm going to say right now, that the team from Bouygues Construction clearly had some industry inside knowledge and dug holes at an unrivalled pace. We'd smashed 60 by the time the lunch break rolled around, where we quickly snaffled some quiches Lorraine and cheese sandwiches whilst chatting more with Peter about the different tree planting schemes out there and how to make sure you pick responsible growers which is important with the rise of carbon offsetting, developers and businesses are planting trees without any long-term plans to care for and maintain the plant through to maturity. With such a focus on planting, I realised that ongoing nurturing was something I hadn't really considered.

During the afternoon the team thinned out a little, as some of the group needed to travel to Sussex and London. We ploughed on and for every little orange flag Peter popped into the ground, someone was behind ready to get planting. He's mapped out some great spaces that will be enjoyed for many years I'm sure. 15:30 marked the end of the school day and the end of our planting session - 500 plants done, we congratulated each other and retired for the day, satisfied and with a renewed respect for the efforts we should be making to be sustainable.

How can you get involved?

Plant Trees (responsibly)

• Your council can provide information on green initiatives businesses and individuals can get involved in. For example Kent Green Action: www.kent.gov.uk/environment-waste-and-planning/kent-green-action
• To join the reforesting movement from anywhere, sign up for Treeapp who are planting across the world, perfect for business or personal use (or both). Find out more by visiting their website www.thetreeapp.org.

Let us know if you're aware of any initiatives, be it local, national or international, and we'll add them to the list!

Watch this video to discover the Forelands Fields project, and how the woodland will play it's part.