Latest Updates
Thursday - December 22nd, 2022
Happy Holidays, folks!
I apologize that this update comes later than I wanted--and you waited--for me to send it, but it's really meaty and packs a punch, so buckle up!
New email-update-subscribers! Check out savetheburrowingowl.org to see an overview, previous updates, and stories. Learn about the burrowing owls in my puppetshow sing-along!
Photos/Video from Last Volunteer Session
It was a real treat coming out to volunteer in person with y'all at last month's volunteer session! Thank you all so much for helping save the burrowing owl! A special thanks to my parents for sponsoring me. We got a lot of work done in preparation for next year's planting!
I can't remember the prompt... "fly?"
Here's a video summary I made for your viewing pleasure:
This is for a new vlog-series I've started on Youtube, inspired by my fundraising campaign (more on that at the end of this email), so if you'd like to see what your mail carrier endures, check out Episode 1 — Day in the Life: Postal Carrier and Episode 2 — My Last Days as a Postal Carrier.
While we worked, Melissa took this photo of the owl that sat only a dozen or so yards away from us, watching us:
I'm getting emails bouncing from putting too many photos in these updates, so, if you'd like to see all the photos everyone took (and shared with me), check out this folder.
Next Volunteer Session
As you probably have guessed from my lack of emailing, there is no volunteer session this month! Phil is out on vacation! We've scheduled our next session for:
January 24th from 9am-11am
Let me know if you'd like to sign up!
How are You Doing?
This past Saturday I started my campaign to raise funds and awareness for our project to save the monarchs and burrowing owls. This campaign is nearly 1 year in the making, so I do hope you enjoy it and are proud of our project because of it!
I also hope you recognize its potential to pay off as well. I'm currently $45k in debt... which I've been slowly slipping into this year as my savings dried up and various unpredictable, costly life circumstances have reared their ugly heads. Not only did I have to SPEND to get away from that second stalker, but then my moped was stolen and my cat swallowed my sewing needle and I had to spend around $4k for his surgery just to remove it. I also had to quit my manual labor jobs due to multiple injuries.
I'm in dire financial need.
While I did take compensation from my nonprofit for my work on this project last year, and I plan to do the same this year, it's nowhere near enough to support me sustainably. Not only would I like to do this work full time, but I'd like to hire a team, add projects, and expand our efforts.
This campaign has huge potential to make this happen.
What is the campaign?
I've created a "Monarch of the Monarchs" outfit to stiltwalk around Maui in while I carry a giant QR code that will send visitors (and locals) to the following video:
This is the first in a series of videos musically telling the story of how The Boat ends up saying "Ace Ventura Save the Animals," which will be released alongside clips from the camera on my head over the next 6 months. Here's the plan for how the camera on my head will feed the community: THE PLAN
I managed to stiltwalk for about 40 mins and made $20.25 in sticker sales and tips on Saturday. That's actually not too bad, especially because it was the first time I tried it and this campaign is designed to pull people into "the game" of saving the animals and get them invested.
Here's the first clip I cut from the camera on my head: CLIP
I posted the above clips all around the same time yesterday. What you'll notice is that the clip from the camera on my head has 1.6k views, while the rest only have hundreds. The conclusion that this campaign has massive potential is consistent with the numbers from posting the same clips to Tiktok.
You'll notice it has 1.5k+ views on tiktok compared to only hundreds on the others.
Ultimately, despite these numbers, I suspect my viral growth will be slow because the algorithms are biased and the social-discovery communities are both saturated and fatigued. Really, this is more about fishing for a BIG WHALE to blow us out of the water: Ace Ventura.
If you have any doubt in this strategy, there was just a kid on Youtube with 1000 subscribers who jumped to 2 million in 1 week because Johnny Depp in full Captain Jack Sparrow character and attire appeared in a video on his channel. That happened because of Make a Wish.
I've already met Jim. I met him in the ocean near where he lives here in Maui. I've hung out with him a couple times, and he's seen my artistic abilities and knows I want his help to save the animals. He's interested, in the way any single man is interested in an attractive woman, but to really get him to step up and commit to this cause as Ace Ventura is going to take more than pedestrian interactions.
I suspect my Monarch of the Monarch's character needs... more attitude, but enacting The Plan is solid for eliciting so much attention that he won't be able to resist stepping into the limelight... eventually.
I've also been showing up on his beach as a mermaid, in case he needs a more intimate incentive to come out of his shell first.
How can you help?
Apart from getting hands on at Burrowing Owl Billows, you can donate, spread the word, subscribe, provide project feedback/assistance, and/or buy stuff!
Note that both of the shops are currently not accepting orders until I return back to Hawaii. I arrived yesterday in The Bay to spend time with my family.
I just read an article on Medium about selling spreadsheets on Etsy where the woman who wrote it had no spreadsheet or project management experience but was racking up $200k/year in passive income from doing this. I've been wanting to make tutorials about how I run my nonprofit anyway, so I'll create spreadsheet templates for sale in these shop as well beginning next year.
Stay tuned for another update from me recapping 2022: its story, finances, and concrete plans moving into 2023!
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a blessed New Year!
Aisha with an 👁️
Monday - November 14th, 2022
Hey, folks!
If you're a Googler, we could really use your help this year raising funds to save the burrowing owls (and monarch butterflies)! My dad set up the campaign. Thanks, Dad!
Check it out at: https://google.benevity.org/campaigns/13472
We're all set for volunteers at next week's cardboard rollout to suppress the nonnative weeds and extend Burrowing Owls Billows for next year's planting! Thanks, volunteers, for signing up with me! I'll send you an email with further directions Monday next week, but, as a heads up, we will be meeting in Shoreline Park at Burrowing Owl Billows (slightly north of the Kite Lot, where you can park) at 9am on the 22nd.
I received the new monarch butterfly stickers that I'll be selling here on Maui for $3 each to fundraise to save the monarch butterflies (Hopefully this week, if weather permits)! I'll bring whatever I have leftover to the volunteer session in case anyone wants to purchase them to help out (and get a super sweet sticker to adorn your laptop/water bottle/car/etc.).
Have a great week! Coo coo!
Aisha with an 👁
Monday - November 7th, 2022
Happy Monday!
Thank you to our last volunteer group for coming out last month on the 25th to continue mulching and weeding Burrowing Owl Billows!
And a special thank you to Elisa for snapping our group pic!
The crew were spied on by the burrowing owls nearby:
We're probably their favorite entertainment.
A predator watched nearby as well!
Thanks to Melissa for capturing and sharing our feathered friends!
I'm stoked to join y'all at the next volunteer event this month where we will be rolling out cardboard in the areas Phil's team has prepared by mowing:
Check out this nice big bald patch!
The next event will be:
Tuesday, November 22nd from 9-11am (2 hr)
The same requirements apply as previous events:
Wear sun protection (sunscreen + hat) and close-toed shoes and pants that cover your legs (to avoid scratching yourself on the prickly weeds)
Bring a water bottle (and eat a hearty breakfast for energy)
Be at least 12 years old, and accompanied by a guardian if under 18
The rest of the tools, such as shovels, pick axes, wheel barrels, etc. will be provided. Gloves will be provided as well but it's highly recommended you bring your own.
We will be rolling out cardboard and shoveling mulch on top to suppress the nonnative invasives!
Reply back if you'd like to sign up!
We are increasing our headcount to 20 for this session, so see if you've got family and friends who'd like to join!
Meanwhile, I've been working on new art to support the Milkweeds for Monarchs project. I just completed this sticker design and will be selling it here in Maui to spread some nationwide/international awareness! When I volunteer with you I'll bring whatever I have left if you'd like to buy them!
On a seperate email, I'll be asking those volunteers on that project how they're doing, but if you're interested in helping grow milkweed from seed for transplanting at Burrowing Owl Billows, please let me know and Gail and I will coordinate getting you set up with supplies!
This project is supplementary to Google and the City of Mountain View's efforts to save the monarch butterfly. A year ago, Google gave the city a $30k grant to save the monarchs and Phil has been heading that project. Where we've been planting for the owls is where they've been planting for the monarchs as well, as the two projects are complementary. The more the merrier! Here's the full press release and here's a diagram of the areas alluded to in said release:
We've been calling NE Meadowlands "the burrowing owl habitat within Shoreline Park" and Burrowing Owl Billows is within the "9 acres" in its bottom left... but spreading.
Have a lovely week!
Aisha with an 👁
Tuesday - October 18th, 2022
Hey there!
We've only got 5/12 folks signed up to volunteer next week Tuesday, which means we've got plenty of space if you've been thinking about jumping in to join us!
Here are the deets again:
Tuesday, October 25th from 9-11am (2 hr)
The same requirements apply as previous events:
Wear sun protection (sunscreen + hat) and close-toed shoes and pants that cover your legs (to avoid scratching yourself on the prickly weeds)
Bring a water bottle (and eat a hearty breakfast for energy)
Be at least 12 years old, and accompanied by a guardian if under 18
The rest of the tools, such as shovels, pick axes, wheel barrels, etc. will be provided. Gloves will be provided as well but it's highly recommended you bring your own.
You'll be weeding and spreading mulch to eliminate/suppress the nonnative invasive plants that compete with our native California plants that better support the burrowing owls' habitat.
Reply back if you'd like to sign up!
Next month's volunteer session has been scheduled and will be:
Tuesday, November 22nd from 9-11am (2 hr)
I will be returning to Mountain View to join you! We will be rolling out cardboard rolls to suppress the nonnative weeds before it rains. We are increasing our headcount to 20 for this session. It's also an extra special session for being scheduled Thanksgiving week, so bring your family members! We'll be asking the students of San Jose State to come out and join us if there is still available space at the beginning of November.
Remember that we are always fundraising! Check out our Etsy Shop for how you can help fund this project and get a momento for doing so. Thanks to Shreyans, we've shipped 7 orders and made $65 in revenue!
The Milkweeds for Monarchs project has launched, so if you'd like to join, check out the new site for instructions. You can come pick up your seeds and 1-gallons to help grow milkweeds from seed to transplant at Burrowing Owl Billows for both the endangered monarch butterflies and burrowing owls! New artwork for both the site and increasing awareness/fundraising coming soon!
Coo coo!
Aisha with an 👁
Friday - September 30th, 2022
Happy Friday!
Thanks to our volunteers who weeded and mulched for the burrowing owls at Burrowing Owl Billows in Shoreline Park!
And a special thanks to Charlie who organized the group photo! I got both Phil and Ryan in there with the power of Photoshop!
It's looking great, folks, thanks to all your hard work!
If you're interested in joining us for our next volunteer session, it'll be on:
Tuesday, October 25th from 9-11am (2 hr)
The same requirements apply as previous events:
Wear sun protection (sunscreen + hat) and close-toed shoes and pants that cover your legs (to avoid scratching yourself on the prickly weeds)
Bring a water bottle (and eat a hearty breakfast for energy)
Be at least 12 years old, and accompanied by a guardian if under 18
The rest of the tools, such as shovels, pick axes, wheel barrels, etc. will be provided. Gloves will be provided as well but it's highly recommended you bring your own.
Reply back if you'd like to sign up!
Thanks to Gail, we've also started distributing narrowleaf milkweed seeds and 1-gallon containers for our new Milkweeds for Monarchs project!
that contains instructions for growing milkweed from seed in our leftover 1-gallons from our previous plantings. There's also a button there to sign up for the mailing list if you'd like to get involved and/or stay updated!
Gail collected these young milkweeds that were grown by Eleanor Laney, the local Palo Alto Garden Club Monarch expert she found who grows milkweed and gives kid presentations about monarchs! Phil suspects that it might be a bit early and the roots may not be well-developed enough yet, but he planted one at last week's volunteer session and will care for the rest until they are planted as well.
Here are the plants from Eleanor.
Here's what the roots look like now.
Here's the one Phil planted: safe-guarded from the ground squirrels!
I hope y'all have a lovely weekend. Coo coo!
Aisha with an 👁
Monday - September 19th, 2022
Haaaaaaappy Monday!
We still have space for more volunteers tomorrow! We have 9/12 volunteers signed up so far for tomorrow's session:
TOMORROW, Tuesday, September 20th from 9-11am (2 hr)
We've also scheduled next month's session!
Tuesday, October 25th from 9-11am (2 hr)
You will be helping Phil Higgins, our Mountain View City Biologist, with continuing to mulch and weed around our plants at Shoreline Park, Mountain View, CA. If you're interested in joining our "growing milkweeds from seed to transplant at Burrowing Owl Billows to save the monarchs" project, you can also pick up your pots and seeds at these sessions. Please email me if you're joining this project so that I may send you instructions when they're finalized at the end of this week.
We also do weekend volunteer events around plantings, so stay tuned if you're waiting to join us on a weekend!
The same requirements apply as previous events:
Wear sun protection (sunscreen + hat) and close-toed shoes and pants that cover your legs (to avoid scratching yourself on the prickly weeds)
Bring a water bottle (and eat a hearty breakfast for energy)
Be at least 12 years old, and accompanied by a guardian if under 18
The rest of the tools, such as shovels, pick axes, wheel barrels, etc. will be provided. Gloves will be provided as well but it's highly recommended you bring your own.
Reply back (or otherwise email me) if you'd like to sign up!
Aisha with an 👁
Monday - September 12th, 2022
Coo coo!
We've got another volunteer session next week! We have 6/12 volunteers signed up so far!
Tuesday, September 20th from 9-11am (2 hr)
You will be helping Phil Higgins, our Mountain View City Biologist, with continuing to mulch and weed around our plants!
The same requirements apply as previous events:
Wear sun protection (sunscreen + hat) and close-toed shoes and pants that cover your legs (to avoid scratching yourself on the prickly weeds)
Bring a water bottle (and eat a hearty breakfast for energy)
Be at least 12 years old, and accompanied by a guardian if under 18
The rest of the tools, such as shovels, pick axes, wheel barrels, etc. will be provided. Gloves will be provided as well but it's highly recommended you bring your own.
Reply back (or otherwise email me) if you'd like to sign up!
Thank you to our volunteers from last month for their work!
That's a nice touch to pose the shovels and with the shovels, y'all.
Dan, who's become our regular burrowing owl photographer, went out with Phil afterwards to get some shots of our owls for us. He said they behaved "skittishly" and Phil told him that's how they tend to be this time of year.
Check out his/her face! Haha! Definitely "skittish."
The volunteers saw a couple of interesting creatures they managed to snap photos of as well:
Melissa snapped these beautiful fig beetles. Check out that iridescence!
There were several photos of this preying mantis crawling all over one of the volunteers. Dan snapped this particular one.
If you haven't been to seen Burrowing Owl Billows in awhile, check out these shots Phil took of our plants in FULL BLOOM!
The purples are the flowers of the Cleveland Sage and the yellows are our California Sunflowers!
The yellows here are our goldenrod.
In front are our narrow-leaf milkweed! Look how full and healthy they are!
Speaking of milkweed, we're getting close to launching our test-pilot first-attempt of "growing narrow-leaf milkweed from seed to transplant at Burrowing Owl Billows" project. I've got a list of about 10 volunteers who'd like to pick up our discarded black plastic pots from Phil to try growing milkweeds. I'll be sending y'all a separate email about where the project is currently at. If you don't get this email, and told myself or Gail that you're interested in participating, please email us again! Those interested in volunteering can pick up pots from Phil at the September 20th session--just make sure you're on our list so Gail and I can organize getting you seeds and instructions too!
Aisha with an 👁
Monday - August 22nd, 2022
Hey, folks!
We've got a solid crew of 9-12 volunteers signed up for tomorrow's weeding/mulching session at Shoreline Park, Mountain View, but we've got space for more if you'd like to join!
Reply back if you'd like to join!
If you've already signed up, stay tuned for another email I'm sending you today with more detailed instructions!
If you missed the last email (remember you can always find all mailing list updates here) here are our next two scheduled volunteer sessions and requirements to join:
Tuesday (tomorrow!), August 23rd from 9-11am (2 hr)
and
Tuesday, September 20th from 9-11am (2 hr)
The same requirements apply as previous events:
Wear sun protection (sunscreen + hat) and close-toed shoes and pants that cover your legs (to avoid scratching yourself on the prickly weeds)
Bring a water bottle (and eat a hearty breakfast for energy)
Be at least 12 years old, and accompanied by a guardian if under 18
The rest of the tools, such as shovels, pick axes, wheel barrels, etc. will be provided. Gloves will be provided as well but it's highly recommended you bring your own.
Reply back (or otherwise email me) if you'd like to sign up!
If you're hoping for a weekend volunteer session, we will do plantings on Saturdays, so stay tuned! There is also a project I'm launching to grow milkweed from seed for our next planting. You will hear more about this in this mailing list once the details are finalized.
Aisha with an 👁
Monday - August 15th, 2022
Weeeellllllcome back to Monday! ⭐️
Our next 2 volunteer sessions will be:
Tuesday (next week!), August 23rd from 9-11am (2 hr)
and
Tuesday, September 20th from 9-11am (2 hr)
You will be helping Phil Higgins, our Mountain View City Biologist, with continuing to mulch and weed around our plants. We planted a lot of plants and we're still maintaining the last ones, that's why so much mulching and weeding is required, but we will be rolling out cardboard and testing a new way to prepare the land for planting that will require less mulching/weeding moving forward.
The same requirements apply as previous events:
Wear sun protection (sunscreen + hat) and close-toed shoes and pants that cover your legs (to avoid scratching yourself on the prickly weeds)
Bring a water bottle (and eat a hearty breakfast for energy)
Be at least 12 years old, and accompanied by a guardian if under 18
The rest of the tools, such as shovels, pick axes, wheel barrels, etc. will be provided. Gloves will be provided as well but it's highly recommended you bring your own.
Reply back (or otherwise email me) if you'd like to sign up!
If you're hoping for a weekend volunteer session, we will do plantings on Saturdays, so stay tuned! There is also a project I'm launching to grow milkweed from seed for our next planting. You will hear more about this in this mailing list once the details are finalized.
📷: Jack Zhi (@jack.zhi.photo)
Friday - July 29th, 2022
Thank you so much to our volunteers who helped mulch (and pull weeds) for the burrowing owls this last Wednesday!
To show you the work they did, let's backtrack to June's group who got us started mulching:
Here's the whole gang!
Great job, Googlers. You make two shovels and a wheelbarrow of woodchips look pretty cool. 😎
Here Shreyans is putting the woodchips directly around our plants to prevent the weeds from strangling them.
You can see here how sparse the mulching started.
The June group also hooked up more of the drip irrigation system: here Phil is explaining how to hook the small pipes (1 per plant) to the larger pipes. After these plants become established, this system won't be needed and can be reconfigured to where it is needed.
Look how cared for our plants look with their precious woodchipped halos and drip irrigation IVs applied by the Googlers!
I'm not sure what happened between then and when our July group showed up at the scene... apparently someone else "helped" but threw woodchips on top of our plants. 🥺
You can see here how there is still space for weeds to grow between the plants, so that's where we'll put more woodchips.
Here our plants are from a distance as our July volunteers begin work:
The July group at work moving the mulch:
Action shot!
The group moved mulch from outside the gate to inside the gate and then from inside the gate to be spread around our plants.
By the end, more ground was covered between our plants to prevent weeds:
I reminded Shreyans to unite the volunteers at the end with our group cheer! We had more newcomers than returns this time, so I advised him to run the group over the cheer more than once so they can nail it next time. Hey. It's a hard, but rewarding, cheer for a hard, but rewarding, project!
Thank you again, volunteers, as this project wouldn't be possible without you! Remember to log your hours, Googlers! We get $10/hour from Google that you log! Thanks, Google!
Coo coo!
Up next: There is more woodchipping and weeding needed at the site. We've previously laid down cardboard and mulched on top of it prior to planting before, which seems easier than the way we did it this time with how we mulched afterwards. I'll check in with Phil to see as he's been the only person who's experienced both ways at this point. I am also calling nurseries ahead to see if putting orders in 6+ months in advance will guarantee we've got plants to plant next season. Some of you have expressed interest in helping cultivate plants locally in your yards if instructions and supplies are provided--I am back to working on putting this project together. Please let me know if you're interested if you haven't already.
Otherwise, stay tuned for the next email announcing the next volunteer opportunities!
If you'd like to help, but aren't local, we are always fundraising! Fundraising incentives are still available on the website, but I have also created an Etsy to see if this helps increase awareness (also, you can help by painting burrowing owl rocks that I can add to the shop--just let me know if you're interested!). Etsy takes a big cut, so I prefer if you Paypal me for your orders. However, Etsy, theoretically, should allow me to also put the shop on our Instagram. It seems to me that one's Instagram cannot be a nonprofit that accepts donations as well as has a shop, despite this being a common means for nonprofits to fund themselves in real life. I've received emails that my Instagram Shop has been approved, but I do not have the button I can click in the settings in order to enable the Shop on Instagram. Do we have any Facebook employees here (or anyone else who might know) who can get to the bottom of why this is and whether there is a way around it?
Aisha with an 👁
Tuesday - July 26th, 2022
Hey, folks!
We've got 6/10 volunteer spots filled so we've got 4 left!
I have 3 "maybes" so, if you're a maybe who is switching to a yes, let me know ASAP! I'll send everyone who signs up an email tonight with additional instructions for the event tomorrow.
Here's what you need to know to decide whether you'd like to participate:
The event is TOMORROW:
July 27th from 9am to 11am
If you'd like to sign up, please email me back.
The same requirements apply as previous events:
Wear sun protection (sunscreen + hat) and close-toed shoes and pants that cover your legs (to avoid scratching yourself on the prickly weeds)
Bring a water bottle (and eat a hearty breakfast for energy)
Be at least 12 years old, and accompanied by a guardian if under 18
Shreyans, the almost-Eagle-Scout who just finished his project with me and the owls, will be in attendance again to help lead and organize the session.
The focus of this session will be to continue mulching the area we planted 649 plants at this last spring.
Aisha with an 👁
Friday - July 22th, 2022
Hey, folks!
We've only got 3/10 volunteers signed up so far for next week's mulching. Anyone else interested and available? Do you have friends/family who might be that you could forward this email to? I am going to post on Nextdoor as well.
Here are the event details again:
July 27th from 9am to 11am
If you'd like to sign up, please email me back.
The same requirements apply as previous events:
Wear sun protection (sunscreen + hat) and close-toed shoes and pants that cover your legs (to avoid scratching yourself on the prickly weeds)
Bring a water bottle (and eat a hearty breakfast for energy)
Be at least 12 years old, and accompanied by a guardian if under 18
Shreyans, the almost-Eagle-Scout who just finished his project with me and the owls, will be in attendance again to help lead and organize the session.
The focus of this session will be to continue mulching the area we planted 649 plants at this last spring.
Aisha with an 👁
Tuesday - July 19th, 2022
Hey, folks!
I've got several email threads with some of you that I've literally disappeared on and I usually follow up volunteer events with sharing photos, appreciation, and updates but haven't yet since the June 15th GoogleServe session, so I'd like to explain myself:
Over the last month I got another stalker. Yes. ANOTHER stalker. This is my second on Maui. This time it was the property manager at my apartment building. His stalking turned into harassment when I rejected his advances. The drama of it became all-consuming as naturally my health and capacity were affected. The conclusion was, with the help of other women speaking up (there were 7 of us harassed/stalked who submitted written reports and more who hadn't), the creep was fired, but not evicted, which only enraged him and gave him more free time to harass and stalk more aggressively. With the help of my family, especially my dad, I moved to the other side of the island. USPS helped me transfer (I'm a part-time mail carrier), and I picked up another job that's training me to trim coconut trees to cover my new rent, which is hundreds of dollars more than my previous one.
While going through this, I started opening up to share and found that, in addition to all the other women negatively impacted by the same predator who'd targeted me, I had two other girlfriends who were being harassed because they'd rejected men they couldn't get away from: one was being harassed by her roommate and the other was being harassed by our coworker. The solution to this issue turned out to be "talking about it," and doing so may help other women with learning to recognize whether they're experiencing the same thing and provide them with resources for what to do about it. I'll be creating a video to tell the full story, which I'll link to you in this mailing list, but I don't want to derail our focus on saving the burrowing owl more than necessary.
Despite the circumstances above, I still managed to schedule our next volunteer event! Our next event will be:
July 27th from 9am to 11am
If you'd like to sign up, please email me back.
The same requirements apply as previous events:
Wear sun protection (sunscreen + hat) and close-toed shoes and pants that cover your legs (to avoid scratching yourself on the prickly weeds)
Bring a water bottle (and eat a hearty breakfast for energy)
Be at least 12 years old, and accompanied by a guardian if under 18
Shreyans, the almost-Eagle-Scout who just finished his project with me and the owls, will be in attendance again to help lead and organize the session.
The focus of this session will be to continue mulching the area we planted 649 plants at this spring. Because we only have 3 wheelbarrows, Phil has requested only 10 volunteers sign up. I think we could buy additional wheelbarrows with our funding, but it's a good idea to keep the volunteer number down right now due to the new "more contagious, re-infectious" COVID variant.
Thank you to the Googlers (+Shreyans) for the last irrigation + mulching session June 15th! I'll be adding your work to the website. Please remember to log your hours since that's $10/hour that Google will give us to continue saving the burrowing owl in your backyard!
I will be sending out more emails shortly to all those threads I've "ghosted." Stay tuned!
Aisha with an 👁
Wednesday - June 8th, 2022
Coo coo!
I've got a (faux) meaty update for you on The Guardian Project (aka. Save the Burrowing Owl) today, so I broke it down into topics for your ease of consumption:
Photo taken at the last volunteer event of OUR owl by Daniel De Zordo!
Thank you, Shreyans, Phil and the City of Mountain View, Volunteers, and Donors, for the successful last planting!
Thanks to the 22 volunteers (including Shreyans, whose Eagle Scout Project this is, myself, whose nonprofit this is, and Phil, whose the biologist for the City of Mountain View whose land this is) at the last volunteer event on May 21st we planted 249 plants for a grand total of 549 plants planted this season! The most we've planted any season so far!
The volunteers (minus Samir, Shreyans's dad, who took the shot)!
Shreyans and I finally got our jumping shot! What a finale for the final event of his Eagle Scout Project! Go team!
Just look at HOW MANY plants we planted!
Shreyans's mom, Sejal, looking adorable while watering our freshly planted plants!
With just some watering left to do, the volunteers who finished checked out the owls from a distance.
Their POV through binoculars! Do you see the owl?
Afterwards, Daniel De Zordo, a professional wildlife photographer who's volunteered multiple times on our project now, took off with Phil to get some close up shots of our owls!
Overall, our planting this season was wildly successful! Thank you, Shreyans, for stepping up to lead this effort where I couldn't. Thank you, Phil and the City of Mountain View, for helping us help the owls. Thank you, volunteers, for dedicating your time and energy to weeding and planting this season. Thank you, donors, for funding this effort and those to come!
A very special thank you to my dad, our biggest donor (apart from Google's matches)!
He came to check out what he's paying for!
What was that recipe?
Whenever we've done 4-hour volunteer sessions, I've made sure that we've also provided a light, vegan meal boost in the middle to fuel our volunteers. This last time, we tried a new recipe, and many of you were interested to learn it. It's our cheapest, fastest, easiest to prepare yet and got more compliments than I can remember any meal I've made for this project ever getting before!
Tastes kinda like P.F. Change's lettuce wraps, but vegan, and healthy.
Made with mom's help (and love)!
When is the next volunteer opportunity?
It's GoogleServe this month so we've created an event for Googlers and their families on June 15th. They'll be helping Phil hook up the irrigation for and put wood chips around our plants, which will suppress the weeds that might outcompete them.
If you're a Googler and would like to sign up, check out this go-link: go/owls-googleserve
If you're a Googler who volunteered at our last event, remember to log your hours! The owls get $10 every hour you volunteer!
If you're not a Googler, stay tuned for the next volunteer opportunity! I promise they never stop coming and we still haven't rolled out the cardboard to prep more ground for the next planting!
How did our fundraiser go?
Check it out! 8thplantingfundraiserto.savetheburrowingowl.org
While we didn't reach our goal of $10,000, it turned out we didn't need to! Here's where you can see how we estimated to come up with the $10,000 goal and then what we actually spent.
The additional funds we raised will go to raising more funds, preparing for future plantings, and figuring out how to pay my nonprofit's employees... starting with me *ahem*. As always, I am running this organization completely transparently to gain your trust and to teach to and learn from others how to run organizations like this one. Here's this year's transactions, and you may see previous years' as well as tax documentation for them here.
Can you help us grow plants for the next planting for the owls?
If we didn't mind numbingly count each plant we would've never known we were missing 51 plants!
Since the beginning of this project, we've been having issues buying the plants we need for the owls. Native California plants are in short supply because, when we use local nurseries, non-natives are more popular for personal gardens, and, when we use wholesalers, we are competing against large land development corporations who are required to plant 30% drought-tolerant plants.
The only reason we didn't plant 600 in total is because Capitol Wholesale was the only nursery who could supply us and they failed to deliver (and notify us) that they came up short 51 plants that we'd paid for. They didn't apologize but they did refund our money.
If you have a green thumb, or would like to see if you do, I'm looking for volunteers who can try growing milkweeds + other native plants in 1-gallon containers to be transplanted for the next planting. 1-gallon containers, seeds, and soil will be provided. You can take as few or as many containers as you'd like to try. You need somewhere outdoors, in direct sun to grow your plants. After following our instructions, bring your survivors to the next planting sometime in the fall (we usually plant sometime between November-January, depending on the weather)!
Reply back if you're interested in signing up for this. I'll start a separate email chain for those interested.
Aisha with an 👁
Wednesday - May 11th, 2022
Hey, folks!
We need volunteers for our final planting and second round of 300 plants for the burrowing owls at Burrowing Owl Billows this season!
The planting is on May 21st from 8am-Noon!
After the last planting of 300, we learned that these plantings aren't for the faint of heart! It is truly a challenge to get all 300 plants into the ground in 4 hours with the allotted breaks, so we need folks who are able and in for the workout (for the cause)!
Here's what's required to volunteer:
Wear sun protection (sunscreen + hat) and close-toed shoes and pants that cover your legs (to avoid scratching yourself on the prickly weeds)
Bring a water bottle (and eat a hearty breakfast for energy, but you will be served a vegan meal 2 hours in prepared by me)
Be at least 12 years old, and accompanied by a guardian if under 18
The rest of the tools, such as shovels, pick axes, wheel barrels, etc. will be provided. Gloves will be provided as well but it's highly recommended you bring your own.
If you'd like to sign up, reply back to this email! I will be in attendance in person and look forward to planting with you. Shreyans will be there again as well as this is his final event to complete his Eagle Scout Project!
I also have great news to share with you!
Between last year February 2021 and last LAST year December 2020, we planted 95 milkweeds in response to the declining monarch butterfly population. Monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on the leaves of milkweed. After our last planting, Phil discovered monarch caterpillars on our surviving milkweeds!
Phil says this discovery is "a sure sign that the habitat enhancement is working" and "well done everyone, a very successful achievement."
I have EVEN MORE good news!
One of our volunteers, Daniel De Zordo, is a wildlife photographer focusing on conservation. Since September 2021, he's volunteered for every event I've organized (3 weedings and 1 planting so far), hoping to snap great photos of our burrowing owls. After our last planting, he's FINALLY done it!
We only have a handful of repeat volunteers, and I knew he hadn't been able to get the shots of the owls he wanted the first 3 times he volunteered, so I asked Daniel why he kept coming back. He replied:
"I grew up in Mtn. View and Shoreline has always been an amazing spot to hike. When I started doing photography, I noticed things that I had never seen there before. After I found out about how critical the situation was, I really just wanted to ensure they were always at Shoreline. Hopefully, I can get great photos and share them with others so more people decide to get involved."
You can check out more of his work on Instagram @daniel_dezordo.
Thanks so much, Daniel, for persevering to get these shots and share them with the rest of us!
Coo coo!
Aisha with an 👁
Friday - April 29th, 2022
Hey, everyone!
We successfully planted our first 300/600 plants at Burrowing Owl Billows last weekend for Earth Day thanks to Shreyans and about 14 other volunteers!
Here's before they started planting:
Here's after they finished! WOW! Just... LOOK at it! It's GLORIOUS! 🤩
Here's our MIGHTY crew who did the job! Well done, guys, well done!
Shreyans also fueled them with another vegan meal! This is the chickpea salad sandwich, featured on the recipesto.savetheburrowingowl.org page, if you'd like to recreate it for yourself:
I need to emphasize just how hard this work was. We had NEVER planted 300 plants before in one session. I heard from Shreyans that folks were sitting and not getting up by the end.
And HERE'S THE CHEER! You're getting better, guys, but for the next one Mama's comin' home and will show you how it's done! 😎
Our next planting will be on May 21st, and, yes, I will be in attendance. Because of all of Shreyans hard work, I've given him until May 8th to sign up his friends before I allow anyone else to sign up. He believes he can get 13 of his friends to join us, which will max out our limit at 15 volunteers.
We are also STILL fundraising! It's been difficult tracking all the funding coming in, so I will send another email early next week about where we're at on that. It's ALSO been difficult setting up the fundraising SHOP that will allow me to embed on Facebook and Instagram. Now that I'm outside of the tech industry, it's even more obvious how stupid the UX is around money, and I know, from having been on the inside of the tech industry, that it's a bunch of bobbleheads bobbling into each other that's created this mess for us users. It's like some messed up bait-n-switch that these platforms were created to "serve us" and then do so in such a discombobulated way that they can only get away with because they've monopolized the market. How many techies does it take to change a lightbulb? ONE, but 100 are employed to do it because the investors only care about headcount. /rant
I hope you have a great weekend. Thanks again to our all-star volunteers for helping plant and double thanks again to our donors for funding the plants!
It's both the burrowing owls and Mother Earth who thank you the most. ❤️🙏🏽🌎🦉
Aisha with an 👁
Monday - April 15th, 2022
Coo coo! It's almost EARTH DAY!
This Saturday, the 23rd, we'll be planting the first 300/600 plants at Burrowing Owl Billows! Come join us! The event will take place from 8am to Noon and will be led by your neighborly Boy Scout Shreyans for his Eagle Scout Project! The requirements to sign up are the same as they've ever been:
Wearing sun protection (sunscreen + hat) and close-toed shoes and pants that cover your legs (to avoid scratching yourself on the prickly weeds)
Bringing a water bottle (and eat a hearty breakfast for energy, but you will be served a vegan meal 2 hours in prepared by Shreyans)
Be at least 12 years old, and accompanied by a guardian if under 18
Please respond back to me if you'd like to sign up! We still have plenty of space and we NEED the help! We've never planted 300 plants in 4 hours before, but we can with you!
The money spent to order the plants was fundraised through you too! Thank you so much for helping to fund this project and save your very special, very unique, native species, the iconic burrowing owl!
I apologize for switching the last volunteer date to accommodate Phil's changing schedule. I know some of you returning volunteers were disappointed by this and couldn't make it. I'm very sorry!
Here are the folks who could still come and weed!
Great job, guys! They were pulling out these thorny bristly oxtongue, which STILL can poke through the toughest gardening gloves!
Aaaaand there were way more weeds than could be pulled! But, hey, with a couple owls residing nearby, that's evidence that we're doing enough of what they like to see!
Thank you again, volunteers, for your hard manual labor, and thank you again, donators, for your funding! Also a big thank you again to Phil Higgins and the City of Mountain View for allowing us to help and guiding us as to how on their property.
Shreyans counted many ladybugs the last time he was out there, so here's one on a burrowing owl to brighten your Earth Day week!
Aisha with an 👁
Thursday - March 31th, 2022
Coo coo! 🦉
We've had to move the next weeding, that was going to be on Wednesday, April 6th, from 8am-noon, to Monday, April 4th, from 10am-noon. It will be 2 hours instead of 4, as not as much work is required after the last weeding in order to prep for the plantings.
Are you able to come out and help us?
🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴
Here's what's required to volunteer:
Wearing sun protection (sun screen + hat) and close-toed shoes and pants that cover your legs (to avoid scratching yourself on the prickly weeds)
Bringing a water bottle (and eat a hearty breakfast for energy)
Be at least 12 years old, and accompanied by a guardian if under 18
Gloves will be provided, but I recommend you bring your own. The thicker the better because there are some really thorny weeds out there right now.
Email me back if you'd like to attend!
🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴
In my next email, I'll update you on how fundraising for the plantings is going! SPOILER: It's going well, but we're not done yet!
If you're new to the mailing list, you can see past updates here, and all the information about this project here.
Friday - March 4th, 2022
Hello!
We had 15 volunteers come to the weeding this last Saturday! 15!!! One was a neighbor who was just passing by who asked to jump in! Thank you so much for showing up to save the burrowing owl! If you can recall, it was only on Thursday last week where we had only 1.5 sign ups! Y'all really turned that around.
This was also Shreyans's first time volunteering at Burrowing Owl Billows. I'd tasked him with ensuring we get before/after photos, candid shots of the volunteers, a group photo finale, and making sure everyone did the group cheer to punctuate the ending.
Here's the group shot:
Before:
After:
You can really see the difference!
Candid shot of the volunteers at work:
Dan, one of the volunteers, also managed to grab photos of our owls!
Shreyans also made the tofu salad sandwich recipe on the recipesto.savetheburrowingowl.org page to serve the volunteers halfway into the event:
And, my FAVORITE part, is that he managed to get a video of THE CHEER! EXTRA CREEEDDIIITTT!
WHOO HOO!!! If you'd like to offer Shreyans any words of encouragement, shoot him an email to shreyansporwal@gmail.com!
The next weeding is now scheduled for:
Wednesday, April 6th, 8am-Noon!
The plantings are scheduled for:
Saturday, April 23rd, 8am-Noon!
Saturday, April 30th, 8am-Noon!
Please reply back if you'd like to sign up!
I've also got a FUNDRAISER update for you: I've updated the main fundraising page on my site that shows the accumulation from all the fundraising social platforms:
If you scroll down, you'll see how much each social platform has raised and the pros/cons to each. I'm a bit disappointed with GoFundMe because I didn't realize that Paypal, unlike donating via Google, Youtube, or Instagram, gets a cut until I tallied up the donations.
We still need your help to get to that $10,000! Please DONATE and share Shreyans's message to your network (Nextdoor is especially effective!) to pull more from the community into this project, which is, ultimately, for the community!
We've got 21 days left!
Coo coo!
Aisha with an 👁
Thursday - February 24th, 2022
Hey, everyone!
We've had only 1.5 signups so far for this upcoming weeding at Burrowing Owl Billows on SATURDAY, Feb. 26th, 8-12pm!
We could really use more help!
This is a SPECIAL WEEDING because it is the FIRST TIME we are doing it on a Saturday, that Shreyans will be there in my place, AND he's going to be making you a vegan meal to energize you halfway through! Please come to save the owls, get some fresh air, and support him!
If you know anyone else who could help, please forward this email along to them.
Here's what's required to volunteer:
Wear sun protection (sunscreen + hat) and close-toed shoes and pants that cover your legs (to avoid scratching yourself on the prickly weeds)
Bring a water bottle (and eat a hearty, HEALTHY breakfast for energy)
Be at least 12 years old, and accompanied by a guardian if under 18
Gloves will be provided, but I recommend you bring your own. The thicker the better because there are some really thorny weeds out there right now.
Please reply back to this email for me to sign you up!
Aisha with an 👁
Monday - February 21st, 2022
Happy Monday!
To kick off this week, Shreyans and I are launching our fundraiser for the 8th Planting at Burrowing Owl Billows in Shoreline Park.
Because we are posting to multiple social network fundraising tools, you can find the GRAND TOTAL of all the fundraisers at
8thplantingfundraiserto.savetheburrowingowl.org
Depending on who you are, you may want to donate to one network over another. For example, if you're a Googler, you can get matched by Google by donating through Benevity.
The go/link is go/guardian-project.
Otherwise, you can donate through Youtube, Instagram (mobile only), or GoFundMe, without any amount taken by the company for your donation, unlike if you donate through Paypal or purchase from my Etsy (coming soon!). GoFundMe does ask for tips.
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We still need volunteers for the WEEDING coming up this SATURDAY, February 26th from 8am-Noon.
It was very difficult for us to get weekends, so if the turnout is the same, we might lose them again. If you have a full time job or kids, we worked for this date for you so you could come and participate!
Sign up by replying to this email.
Aisha with an 👁
Thursday - February 3rd, 2022
Happy 2022!
I hope you're 2022 has been going well so far. I've got a big fat update for you to chew on today!
First off, it's my proud pleasure to introduce Shreyans Porwal to you!
Shreyans is the second Guardian of The Guardian Project! He is taking on saving the burrowing owls through habitat enhancement at Shoreline Park as his project to become an Eagle Scout, which the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouts of America!
He is going to raise $10,000 as part of his project plan to purchase 600 California native plants and 4 4' x 250' cardboard mulch sheets to extend Burrowing Owl Billows by ~4000 sqft, essentially doubling the area!
If you're thinking of donating, wait until he launches his GoFundMe in a subsequent email I'll send with additional instructions for Googlers to contribute matched-donations.
We've scheduled this massive planting for 2 Saturdays at the end of April:
Saturday, April 23rd, 8am-Noon, where Shreyans will shadow me.
Saturday, April 30th, 8am-Noon, where Shreyans will lead without me.
There will be 2 weedings preparing the area leading up to these weedings:
Saturday, February 26th, 8am-Noon.
TBD first week of April on a weekday, when Shreyans has Springbreak.
The volunteer cap for each of these sessions is 12, with a minimum age of 12 (with a guardian if under 18). If you're interested, please reply back letting me know which sessions you'd like to sign up for!
I've added Shreyans to the main website page as well as the brand new 7th Planting page, which I've added as a summary of the previous year for the new year.
The biggest highlight from last year, apart from Shreyans stepping up as the second Guardian, is that I took compensation for my work. This is important not just because I'd love to run this nonprofit sustainably full time, but because figuring out how will allow me to onboard staff and to teach others how to pay themselves and their staff with their nonprofits as well!
Have a great weekend and stay tuned for my next email launching Shreyans fundraising campaign!
Aisha with an 👁