2/16 A Day with Cornell

It was quite windy in the night and the roosters were crowing at about 2 AM! We finally figured out that the moon must have been confusing them. After breakfast this morning, we met with the Cornell students and went into the forest to get rid of ginger. We were each put in charge of three students. I had two girls and a boy. Two were from upstate New York and the third was from Long Island. They dug out the rhizomes with shovels and make a pile that I would treat. I was on the lookout for guava as I followed along behind them. We had a full day of work and then came back to shower and have dinner. After dinner, we were invited over to the common room to meet with the students and to share what we have learned from being here for our two weeks and to listen to the students describe how they felt about their day. There was quite a philosophical discussion about the costs and benefits of using herbicide in the forest, but in the end I think we all agreed that sometimes you have to put up with a little evil to dispel a bigger one. One of the professors then gave a lecture and slide show on the Sword Alliance. She also show pictures of something a student had discovered last year here. They originally thought it was a cup fungus, but it turned out to be a gall. It was all very interesting.