1. Watch – so you can be crazy and time your bag outs, and so you don’t stay in your land forever and not know when its quitting time! (want a digital one with a time, just pick up a cheap one!)
2. Notebook and pen – to keep track to totals/numbers
3. Tupperware (for lunch, needs to be pretty big – I’m talking enough for 2-3 sandwiches, some apples and oranges and lunch treats)
4. Rain gear – should be waterproof and breathable, but this type of jacket can get pricey, a normal rain jacket that’s just waterproof is better than nothing
5. Long underwear – top and bottom, it gets chilly at night for awhile
6. Some sort of polypropelene shirt – long sleeve,
7. At least one fleece sweater thing, and bring other sweaters to wear in camp and at night –wool is good too to have for warmth. (bring at least 2 crappy fleece and wool sweaters to wear to block and then you’ll want a couple to wear around camp at the end of the day. Old down vests are good to bring too)
8. Plate, knife, fork, spoon, cup/mug/nalgene
9. Water container = big one at least 6 litres. Can get a big blue plastic round water jug – 10 litres at Canadian tire. Don’t bring plastic bag kind! Can bring big therma jug that people take on picnics – don’t hold as much water and are more expensive!
10. Sun screen and lip stuff with spf in it!
11. Bug dope – should have some deet in it
12. Band aids/ tensors, polysporn, foot bandaids, second skin ***important**
13. Baby wipes – keeps you clean!
14. Bandanas = good to wear under hard hats
15. Benadryl, tylenol, cold stuff (no pharmacy in camp)
16. Quick dry pants – cargos or mec pants (1 or 2 pairs)
17. Gators (optional, you can get these at mec to keep your boots dry and protect your legs, I’ve never personally used them)
18. Warm sleeping bag and bring extra blankets
19. Therma rest or foamy thing to sleep on (can get these at mec or any outdoor store, can get foamy thing at canadian tire) **important for comfort and warmth!
20. Pillow –camping one (little small one that barely fits your head) or normal one!
21. Tent with a vestibule (area at front and/or back of your tent covered by your tent fly to keep your equipment in like stinky boots that you don’t want inside your tent) – as long as you can fit yourself and your stuff in it, size doesn’t matter. Usually people aim for a big 2 man, or a 3 or 4 person tent!
22. Hats, mits, warm fleece stuff – we’re not going anywhere tropical!
23. Winter jacket (wont be wearing it planting hopefully but, good to have for in camp and days off)
24. Light long sleeve shirt, preferably light colour to wear when its hot and bugs come out
25. Nothing blue= the bugs will love you! (no blue hard hat, pants etc)
26. Back pack – need a day pack to take with you to the block everyday, needs to be big enough to fit lunch in, some extra clothes, rain gear and anything else you’ll need at the block in a day!
27. Gloves – working gloves = good to have for reefers (unloading of trees) and for your shovel hand
28. Nitridex gloves… they are a thin glove with a lot of grip and you can still feel your tree. This isn’t necessary but they save your hands from cuts.
29. Duct tape!!!!!!!! AND LOTS OF IT, THIS WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE !
30. Rope – to tie tarps up with
31. 2 tarps – one to go under your tent(just needs to be as big as the bottom of your tent) and one to go over your tent, (to protect it from sun and other types of weather)
32. Day off clothes – jeans, shirts, sweaters etc that are what you normally wear!
33. Dry sack – good to put sleeping bag in to make sure it doesn’t get wet and to take to the block on rainy days to keep all your stuff dry (can get this at mec)
34. Music – mini discs, mp3 players, cd’s, walkmans, discmans – helps calm people down after long days, remember though they could get ruined. Some people plant with music but after about a week they’ve been through everything and start to go mad! We also have a stereo in camp that we usually rock out to every morning and night so you can play your cds as long as everybody likes your music.
35. Alarm clock – only if you’re the deepest sleeper ever and think that you’ll sleep through a horn being blared 10 feet from your tent for 5 minutes, music, and 70 other people getting up and telling you to get out of your tent! (sometimes this does happen)
36. Flashlight or headlamp (headlamp good to have if you plan on reading at night and makes it easier to find your stuff in the pitch black)
37. Don’t forget your tree planting equipment – shovel, bags, hi-vis, steel toed boots, and hard hat! **very important***
38. Bring other shoes – running shoes, flip flops, Birkenstocks etc for days off and after planting, some people even bring flip flops to the block because your feet get really sore after planting all day and you might want to get out of your boots asap!
39. Wool socks, I would definitely recommend Merino Wool socks – these things will save your life. You can buy them in bulk off ebay.com. They prevent blisters, they don’t smell, they wisk sweat away. They’re pretty much the best things ever. Bring at least 6 pairs of them.
40. Camping foldable canadian tire chairs – a really nice luxury and it beats sitting on boxes around the campfire
41.
** This is just a list I made of things that are good to bring. You don’t have to bring everything on the list, but these things can definitely come in handy. Definitely don’t cut corners too much as this will hurt your planting numbers. As well we will be in town on days off and if you forget to get anything you can pick stuff up then. There will be most likely a Canadian Tire, some sort of outdoor store, a drug store etc in town. As well a lot of people have been asking about how much stuff to bring. I usually end up bringing two medium sized duffel bags and a giant tupperware bin. But I feel like I might overpack a bit! Don’t go crazy because you may not get all your stuff on a plane if you are flying 20Kg is usually the max per bag, and unpacking and packing can take forever if you have tons of stuff! It also doesn’t really matter what you pack your stuff in. Sometimes I just throw my tarps etc in garbage bags. I’d recommend duffel bags, or hockey bags. Mec has some good ones for a fair price that I’m going to pick up this year, but in the past I’ve just taken whatever I found around my house. This list is pretty much just an elaboration on the outland list which is in the crew area part of the website in the planter’s manual. So make sure to have a lookster at it! Happy packing.
List provided by Gregg Geir. Many thanks.
The Art of Tree Planting 