/ub/ - Überhengst

Does anyone have any advice for someone considering doing tree planting as a summer job?

To help get more /fit/, and to avoid spending 3-4 hours on a bus every day commuting, I was thinking of doing some tree planting work this summer. Has anyone done this kind of work here before? Do you have anything to tell me that I could use? Some bits of information you wish you knew before you started tree planting?

As far as I understand it, I'll be basically living in a camp with food and beds provided, working five or six days a week. I expect that any clothing I bring will end up permanently ruined with all the dirt that'll be embedded in it, so that's not a big issue. What I'm really unsure of is what kind of equipment to bring. Specifically, what kinds of clothing I should bring for being out working in all weather for a few months at a time.

I'd also like to know more about what kind of fitness I should be aiming towards. I'm trying to work on doing squats and push-ups, with a couple of daily jogs to help build up endurance. I'm sure the work is going to be heavy and brutal, but doing some pre-training should help take some of the edge off of that adjustment period.

The place I'm looking at applying to has women in all their promotional photos. Normally, that would be a sign that they're in full diversity mode, so straight cis white men need not apply, but in this case my interpretation is that the work is easy enough for even women to do it.

I think I might need to get new shoes, since my old hiking shoes have a hold in the leather. They're fine otherwise, but they'd leak. Similarly, I wear glasses, so an extra pair, and making sure that they're a kind that stays on my face very well despite leaning forward a lot, would be good.

I also have an insulated vest and zipper-sweater that I don't mind sacrificing for the sake of warmth.

I've done wearhouse work with plenty of heavy lifting before, map-making field courses that lasted for 2 weeks, have been acclimated to 14-hour days where I got up at 5:30 (but only for academic work rather than physical work), and I know that I'm the kind of person who reflexively helps the group load or unload equipment when needed.

Part of me says that I'm pretty well prepared, but another part of me sees this kind of work as something that's far enough away from what I'm familiar with that I don't know what to expect or how well I'll be able to weather it. I don't want to go there prepared for every kind of weather except for one type, and then only have that weather happen to me all day. I also don't want to run into a mistake like ruining my glasses and not being able to have a second pair that I can use.