Zippers and Pliers

While planting, there's a few things you see plenty of: Peanut butter, duct tape, zippers.

If your contract isn't based out of a motel, logging or outfitter camp (often called motel show), there's big chances that many everyday life necessities will come with a zipper: Tent, sleeping bag, rain jacket...Therefore, there's a big chance than some of those zippers, confronted to the extremes of climate, wilderness and personal abuse will break.

And trust me, there's nothing worse than a zipper breaking off on a buggy night.

To avoid getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, many planters will jump in their tent, opening and closing the entrance as fast as possible to let as few little buggers as possible in. Repeated a minimum of four times a day, usually more (a tent is the perfect place to feel an urge to pee at 3AM, but there's a solution to this as well; a piss bottle!) for at least 2 months, often more, and combined with dust and rain, it's no wonder than many zippers won't zip.

Therefore, the first tip is to simply take your time. It won't be the end of the world if a few bugs get in! If you'd rather have them all dead before going to bed, use a lamp and hunt them down, it shouldn't be too hard! The same applies for anything else, from your hoodie to your sleeping bag. The label might say it will resist to -10 celsius, but if it isn't sealed, you'll shiver yourself to sleep!

But even the best zippers might finally give up after years of loyal services. It's 11PM, you're tired, the bugs won't let you rest and the chick/dude you had your eyes on just hooked up with someone else! Don't panic, you won't have to sleep in the bus/crummy/minivan yet!

Here's the trick: Simply use pliers to press the sides of the zipper. Don't press too hard, as you'll block the mechanism, but just force the sides closer, it should do the trick.

It's not a trick you can do over and over again, as you'll end up breaking the zipper permanently, but it will save your ass in case of emergency and will usually allow you to finish the season, or at least the shift before considering replacing the defective piece of equipment.

Also, here's what former planter Chomko had to add to the subject:

"Zippers often break cuz they're full of dirt. If you take Mink oil or Silicone (the kind of stuff normally used to waterproof boots) and rub it on the zipper, a cloth will take off both the dust/dirt and the oil and you'll be good to go.

Also, there are tent stores that will replace your zippers if you have a warranty on them."

Enjoy your "retirement", miss. Think of us while enjoying the "real world"...

Links and References

Your first season in the bush as a tree-planter is approaching? Need more information about the job, the slang, a few tips on getting in shape and ready to pound trees?

I gathered a bunch of information on various treeplanting-related topics and posted in this all-inclusive informative post for your enjoyment. Of course, none of the following information is mine and credit and thanks are given to everyone involved. Feel free to get as much information as you can, it will give you a definite advantage when the season starts. It doesn't prepare your for everything, but there's a lot of what tree-planting is that can't be fully grasped until you experience it. Might sound somewhat pretentious, but it's actually the case.

SLANG
First, planting being heavy in job-specific slang, I'd suggest to glance at a summary of T.Colin Strong's study on tree-planting lexicon, as featured (and self-admittingly, plagiarized) on Viking's blog. The whole study is available here. You can also browse this planting terms dictionary, as featured on Scooter's Replant.ca. Finally, this is Chris Stoltz's treeplanting lingo 101, a funny, yet informative take on the slang, as shown on Peppermill Records' Hi and Ho, We Plant Trees page. I especially like this one, don't ask me why:

Tree hauler, tree runner (n)-- somebody who gets paid $150-200 to drive a quad or F-350, smoke cigarettes, gossip and try to wheel the female planters. The hardest working person on an Alberta contract..

And this one:

World (n)-- anywhere that does not involve planting. Where people, manufactured goods, artistic products and drugs come from. From Full Metal Jacket-- "When I rotate back to the world..."

TRAINING
I would suggest watching the Fit to Plant training videos. Replant.ca has a really interesting planting training video, but it might currently be unavailable due to bandwith limitations.

MISCELLANEOUS
Finally, to get in the mood and settings, Fuck This Place, a nine-minutes video on treeplanting for Wildwoods (by all accounts, an excellent company) in High Level, Alberta. When I started planting 5 years ago, I thought High Level referred to the intensity of the contract, but it's actually the name of a Northern Alberta town. Yet, it is also the intensity of most of the various contracts surrounding town.

Poundermix: A treeplanting reggae song.

I'll try to edit this post a few times within the next days to add more content as I find it. Hope it will be useful.

Tree-planting Gear Lists

When it comes to what to bring to camp, every planter is different. Obviously, there's the basics; a tent, a sleeping bag, some planting bags, a shovel, etc, but one person's essentials might be futile space waste to others.

Of course, you will have to consider your employer's requirements and make sure to bring every item on their mandatory list (specific equipment, protective gear, etc.), no matter how trivial you might think it is, and even if you heard comments from fellow planters about how you won't actually use the said items during the season. If you fail to bring the mandatory stuff, you might not be allowed to plant. Also, the area and type of land where you plant could have an influence on a few items that might come handy. Don't hesitate to ask your foreman/crewboss if you have any questions.

Then, you'll have to think about what might be essential to your comfort for the upcoming months in the bush (as a rookie, there will be hits and misses, your first day off will allow you to get most of the additional stuff you need) and, of course, about the packing space available. A simple rule of thumb, if you can't bring all your belongings by yourself in one trip over a short distance, you might have too much.

Treeplanting might be considered as environmentally friendly by many (whether it's the case or not is a different subject), but individual planters and treeplanting camps produce huge amounts of waste, including plenty of stuff that is left behind or ends up in a landfill when the contract ends. If some planters will start the season with an overabundance of personal items, others will simply accumulate things over time, buying (or finding...or stealing) articles varying from forgotten must-haves to trivial novelty items (among others, I've seen old bikes, sofas and a trift store three-piece suit...). A sign of our overconsumption or just a funny habit to collect silly stuff? Probably both.

So, as everybody's needs are different, and to offer a variety of choices, options and a slight idea of what you should be expected to bring, I browsed the web for many examples of gear lists. Up to you to find the one that suits you, mix them up or dress your own list.

-Tree-planter.com's list, available as a PDF document.

-Scooter's gear list at replant.ca.

-Nataram's equipment list.

-Bruin Reforestation's version of the list.

-Fellow planter and replant forum member Skibum's gear list, available as a google document.

-Greg Geir's 41 Things to Bring Planting, as featured in Tree Planting Online's gear section.

I'll post my own list shortly. It's basically the same, but I'm relatively minimalist and I'll justify my choices and provide notes on the utility (and actual necessity) of the items.

My shopping list for the upcoming season...

Here's the items I'll need for the season. Some are general treeplanting lifestyle articles, others are more specific to my duties as tree-runner.

-Boots (My suggestion: Try an army surplus)
-A new tent (Do not hesitate to spend some extra bucks on quality)
-A decent mattress (Had none last year and I didn't suffer, but then, I slept half the season in someone else's tent, with quite a comfy mattress...
-Sunglasses (Go for relatively cheap ones. Like everything else, you'll go through them...)
-Quad Goggles (Not quite a must-have, but it might be useful if your job involves a lot of quadding in dirt/rain/bugs, and it looks cool, or I'd like to think so)
-A new leatherman multi-purposes tool
-A new animal hat (A tradition)
-An iTrip for plugging the iPod in the truck (Highly helpful when driving long hours alone)
-Probably an extra pair of pants
-Work gloves
-Rain/Wind jacket
-Traction-aids (A big maybe, most won't fit or work for huge pick-up trucks, but if I find something good, it might potentially be a big time saver...)



I think that's about it. Will add stuff if it comes to mind...