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The photo above and the three photos below were taken in two Journeywork yards where we worked this year. We added 14 native plant species to one yard where there were no native plants before, and we increased the native species by 23 in the other yard. Beautiful new habitat!
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There are now 300 subscribers to this newsletter, and it has occurred to me that a few of you may not know exactly what we do and why. I will explain.
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Doug Tallamy, entomologist and author of Nature's Best Hope, has put out the call for private land owners to prioritize restoring biodiversity. To prevent further loss of insects and other wildlife, we must create more healthy habitat for them. The goal of Journeywork is to help restore private land as quickly as possible by making it as easy and affordable as possible.
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When we work in a yard, we first look at the yard and consult with the yard owner. Then we create a design. We may need to remove some invasive species and/or sheet mulch the area where we are going to plant. If so, we create volunteer events to prepare the planting area. We order the plants from local native plant nurseries that do not use neonics. Then we create a planting event for volunteers to come install the plants.
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All of this is done for the same hourly fee, $50 an hour. After our initial consultation, we provide a proposal with our estimate of the time the project will take. That time includes the prep and planting events. The hourly fees that yard owners pay cover our administrative expenses to recruit volunteers.
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Why do we invite volunteers to work in private yards?
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Because all the land benefits all the people and other living creatures, whether it is private or public. We invite volunteers because we are all neighbors helping neighbors, even if we are spread out across several counties in southeastern Pennsylvania. We invite volunteers who would like to learn about native plants and give back to their community. Our yard owners often work alongside the volunteers, but they don't have to if they can't physically. That is another reason for our model, to help people who want to add native plants but can't do the gardening themselves anymore.
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We have over 200 people on our volunteer list ready to plant! They need yards! For the asters and goldenrod in these photos to be attracting pollinators now, the yard owners contacted us last fall. We designed and sourced plants in the winter for spring planting. We are doing that now for spring 2025, and we can design and source plants in summer 2025 for planting next fall, which is a great season for planting.
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Let us know if you want us to come out, and please share our work with family and friends. We can grow better habitat together.
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105 Pollinator Palooza yards!
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This fall, over a hundred yard owners in Philadelphia and 28 other municipalities in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, and Montgomery counties committed to replace some turf grass with a pollinator garden!
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Several participants from last year's Palooza are expanding their gardens, and eighteen people ordered multiple plant sets. At least 6,048 square feet of lawn will be transformed into buzzing and blooming habitat.
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Many thanks to everyone who helped spread the word about Pollinator Palooza and to the Environmental Advisory Councils that promoted or subsidized plant sets for their residents, especially Lower Gwynedd, Lower Providence, and Whitpain.
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Time for a party!
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When: Saturday, November 2 from 2:00-4:00
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Where: Plymouth Friends Meeting, 2150 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting
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What: our first fall community gathering including a talk by John Cardina, a walk through the new meadow at Plymouth Meeting Friends School and to the campus champion post oak, a winter seed starting demonstration with seed packets to take home, and even some free trees! Plus snacks and conversation!
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Fall volunteering
*Thursday, October 31 from 3:30-4:30 prepare seed packets in Lower Gwynedd
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*Sunday, November 3 from 2:00-4:00 site prep in Lansdale
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*Saturday, November 16 from 9:00-11:00 plant trees and shrubs in Lower Gwynedd
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How about an English ivy-thon?
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Journeywork and Colonial Canopy Trees are gauging yard owner interest in winter volunteer events to remove English ivy. For a donation, a group would remove English ivy from trees and/or garden beds, up to 300 square feet per yard. Volunteers would be trained beforehand at a public park.
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From my notebook
I have recently attended two fantastic ecological conferences. Here are a few points taken from my notes.
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- Current climate modelling suggests that by 2070, our area will move from USDA plant hardiness zone 7 to zone 9. Our climate analog city in 60 years will be Oil City, Louisiana.
- Trees to consider planting here now include southern magnolia, chestnut oak, bald cypress, and pecan.
- Tama Matsuoka Wong, in her book Into the Weeds, encourages us to rethink our relationship to weeds, especially the ones we can eat. She will be speaking through the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society on November 13.
- Plant biodiversity equals carbon storage, and perennial native vegetation stores carbon underground in root systems.
- 400 of the 4,000 native bee species in the United States live in the northeast. 70% of North American native bee species nest underground. Leave some bare soil in your garden for native ground-nesting bees.
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If Journeywork inspires you to sheet mulch, start seeds, or plant some native plants in your yard, please send us a picture! Let's celebrate and support each other!
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