The Mattapoisett Land Trust's ongoing restoration of a blueberry orchard on its Brownell property got some free labor from Old Rochester Regional students on Tuesday.

Land trust board member Ellen Flynn, who is also on the trust's Education Committee, contacted Community Service Learning Club adviser Mary Cabral.

Fresh off a successful Halloween drive in which the club collected 170 costumes for kids in the New Bedford area, Cabral said her students were excited to come help out.

Tuesday was the first day students worked on the property, and Flynn said it was the first time women had put in some sweat equity on the orchard.

"It was my idea because we had, for years, the Boy Scouts come," said Flynn. "And the Education Committee thought, this year let's see if we can get some of the women down here working on any part of our land – first of all for them to know that it's here and secondly to know that they can do the hard work just as well as the men."

Of course, male students also came down to help!

Fifteen students walked from the high school to the site where land trust members waited with wheelbarrows, rakes and working gloves.

The historic blueberry patch has been a work in progress for more than a year as Michael Huguenin and Paul Osenkowski have worked to bring the once overgrown jungle of bushes, vines and trees into order. They estimate that it will take at least three years before the public can pick berries.

In the mean time, there is much work to be done. The students' main task was to pick up the myriad pesky sticks throughout the rows that wreak havoc on lawn mowers.

Tuesday was not only a work day, but also an educational opportunity. Cabral invited Environmental Club adviser Lynn Connor and her students as well as Laura Jean Champagne, an environmental science teacher at ORR. The students spent some time taking samples of the soil to test.

Champagne said she would like to work with the trust to incorporate the properties into her lessons, and the land trust looks forward to future collaborations with the students.