Last Sunday, after multiple seasons of erratic weather behavior that has affected our region, I had an opportunity to enjoy a few hours of gentle afternoon sun at the farm. I snapped some images, remembering four years of past habitat restoration work. If you had toured our two-acre property four years ago, you would remember compacted soil, 15-20-foot-high Himalayan blackberries, thistle, and lots of other invasives throughout the farm.
We may still have some persistent invasives, but since Elderberry Wisdom Farm formed in 2019, there have been positive results. We have constructed the 24’ x 48’ greenhouse, renovated the classroom, thinned the forested area, and tended almost two thousand native plants, including several dozen plants in our blue elderberry patch, and hundreds of Native plants transplanted along 350’ feet of hedgerow at the south of the property. We are currently constructing raised beds on our new 2-acre native plant nursery site north of the farm, and planning recessed garden beds and mounds as an indigenous climate adaptation strategy.
I collected images of the forested area, the south hedgerow, the site of the future 200’ hedgerow to the east, and the elderberry patch, feeling gratitude for the contributions of diverse interns and volunteers, and generous partners and staff. The images are being shared with our community so everyone can see the results of all their efforts after four years of habitat restoration work.