Greenbelt Food Forest Phase II Photo Journal

Phase II Photo Journal

Springhill Lake Recreation

Center

6101 Cherrywood Lane Greenbelt, MD 20770

www.greenbeltfoodforest.com

Planting Service DaysSaturday,

November 10Saturday,

October 20National Public Lands DaySaturday, September 29

The GFF is an experiment in designing and planting native edible trees, shrubs, vines, ground cover, and fungi…

…to use as a demonstration and educational site to increase

biodiversity in forest systems and in our communities.

Phase II of the Greenbelt Food Forest Project was all about TAKING ACTION.

University of Maryland Integrated Life Science students filling our 14 garden boxes with compost – over 250 square feet of growing space for 2013 crops!

The City of Greenbelt Public Works and CHEARS received grants from the Chesapeake Bay Trust to increase the tree canopy in Greenbelt.

Mulching to prepare for Spring with cardboard and wood chips. “Many hands make light work!”

18 students served 10 hours of service as part of a University of Maryland course they took through the Integrated Life Sciences (ILS) program.

Before planting trees and berry shrubs in the Greenbelt Food Forest, a soil test was done by A&E labs to assess

the need for amendments to the area.

Filling up boxes and spreading compost

Fall is also a good time to transplant smaller trees such as this “Chicago” fig.

CHEARS key volunteers visited Adkins Arboretum to buy native rain garden plants for Phase I of the project…

…and purchased native trees and shrubs from Slyvan Native Nursery for Phase II.

Part of learning the importance of trees is understanding the beneficial impacts trees have on water systems.

Here, UMD ILS service learning students are exposed to the basics of water quality monitoring, looking at turbidity, dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, and

observation of the environment around Indian Creek.

Aside from monitoring the water quality, students pulled out garbage in and around the Indian Creek.

Our generation, like every other generation before us, has the

responsibility of stewardship to Earth. In order to sustain the planet for future generations,

people need to take their resources into their own

hands, and do as much as they can to reduce corporate holdings on their food and water supplies.

~ Luke, UMD ILS

Kristen Wharton, 2012-2013 Volunteer Maryland Coordinator with CHEARS and Greenbelt Public Works, created an interactive design for the

planting service days.

Lance and Lindy, residents of Franklin Park Apartments plant

a service berry bush.

Kim shows ILS student, Chris, the proper depth for planting a cranberry bush.

Getting ready to plant an American Persimmon, a native fruiting tree

in the Mid-Atlantic

Lesley Riddle, Assistant Director of Greenbelt Public Works, identifies a June Beetle for us,

Phyllophaga Coleoptera Scaraeidae.

While working in the gardens, we even found a hibernating frog!

Once planted, about 2 inches of wood mulch is laid around the trees and shrubs to prevent

grass from growing over the base.

To protect new tree saplings, we guard them from predators with mesh tree shelters.

Planting high-bush blueberry shrubs requires acidic soil conditions…

…so we used a handful of soil sulfur and mulched with pine straw to

give them a good start.

Cardboard is a good mulch material because it helps to keep

unwanted grasses from taking over the garden space.

Before laying down the cardboard, plastic tape was peeled off since it’s not biodegradable.

Since cardboard is an available and biodegradable waste product, it has been used every year in the gardens to

keep the grasses from growing on the pathways.

We also used it inside the 4x4 boxes before filling them up with compost.

With permission from the Greenbelt City Council and support from the Department of Public Works, CHEARS

facilitates the GFF project and Three Sisters Demonstration Gardens on city property with the community.

Lesley Riddle and Mayor Judith Davis joined us during the service days.

Once the beds were winterized, they were ready for us to plant hard-necked

garlic cloves, “Gary’s Amish Red.”

When we try to solve problems without education, ignorance prevents us from understanding one other, which in turn creates conflict. This will not only delay

the creation of a solution but cause even more problems if the conflict becomes

fierce enough. ~ Patrick, UMD ILS

Kim showed us how to transplant raspberries.

The cardinal directions are painted on four barrels at the Springhill Lake Garden Outdoor Classroom to

help locate North, South, East, and West.

We use these identifiers to guide our site assessment and planting schedule.

We dug a mote for the berries, creating a quarter-circle perimeter to give the garden a circular shape…

…and more raspberries to eat in the Spring!

The students and community volunteers planted 3 American Persimmon trees, 6 high-bush

blueberries, 6 service berries, and 6 American High-Bush Cranbrries.

Joe Murray of Ancestral Knowledge showed us some backyard edibles that can be found right here in Greenbelt.

We played games to learn how even the smallest of our actions affect the natural environment…

…even hearing how much sound we make with our

ears plugged.

In this game, students attempt to make no noise so that they can retrieve their blindfolds.

Without the sense of sight, we learned to rely on sound, intuition and feeling to identify each other by moving slowly...

…without rustling too many leaves!

Learning to feel the Earth and tread lightly on the planet

At the CHEARS restoration site we planted trees as well as other plants to help beautify the park and provide a positive environmental impact. By reducing pollution and providing a nicer place for the citizen’s of Greenbelt to live we helped make a positive impact on the

community. We made the city of Greenbelt more environmentally friendly and provided a beautiful place for the citizens of Greenbelt to spend free time. ~ Matthew, UMD ILS

They will also provide nutrients to humans and wildlife, and become self-fertilizing for seeding more trees and shrubs.

As our plants grow, they will increase the urban tree canopy in Greenbelt and help to reduce stormwater runoff into Indian Creek.

Together with Public Works, University of Maryland, and the community, CHEARS has been able to lay the foundation for the Greenbelt Food Forest.

The most critical issue of our generation, therefore, is to restore the health of our community, and our environment. With CHEARS, we’ve already taken the first steps. By working on local

projects, CHEARS is targeting the health of both nature and community, and bringing the goals of environmental health restoration to a local level, thus bringing together the

community as well. ~ Meghna, UMD ILS

Thank You!

Thanks to all of our partners and volunteers - we couldn’t have

done it without you!

A special thank you to our friends and neighbors in Greenbelt!

Are you interested in sharing your personal passion in Bay-friendly

gardening practices?

Kristen will be collecting applications and conducting interviews to guide new volunteers in

contributing to our outdoor classroom spaces.Contact her at kristen@chears.org

Keep up with our progress on our website: www.greenbeltfoodforest.com