This morning as a group of local herb growers convened for a networking knowledge-share, we were excited by 5 hawks causing a ruckus overhead for an hour – the most we’ve seen at once!  Numerous songbirds were seen and heard vacating the area.  We’ll often have a hawk couple engaging in mating rituals around this time – any bird enthusiasts know if they sometimes do group displays or competitions before settling on a mate?

It’s also Fukinoto season again – read more at the link!  We’d love to share the abundance, so please be in touch by email at GFG@cei.earth if you’d like to schedule a time to come harvest some Fukinoto to try at home.

Above Top: Giant Butterbur (Petasites japonicus) buds & blooms, called Fukinoto when prepared for food in Japan. Sweet Coltsfoot is another common name for this plant, though uncovering or bringing out its sweetness takes considerable preparation! 
Bottom: The closely related Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara), whose buds (foreground of bottom left image) are harvested for medicine in Traditional Chinese Medicine and leaves and roots in other traditions

Below images from March 7, Clockwise from Top: abundant naturalized wild edible Chickweed (Stellaria media) lush and blooming; Forsythia (Forsythia suspense) first blooms; shy Daffodils (Narcissus spa.) hiding in the Holding Plot; first leaves breaking from the newly imported Rose from Maryland University of Integrative Health (Rosa damascena?)

Around the change of the seasons, CEI was awarded an Outreach and Restoration Grant from The Chesapeake Bay Trust, capacitating us to make some exciting progress toward ecological responsibility as we steward the terraces and grounds of The Green Farmacy Garden.

“This grant program encourages outreach, community engagement activities, and on-the-ground restoration projects that increase knowledge, change behavior, and accelerate stewardship of natural resources that involve residents in restoring local green spaces, waterways, and natural resources.“

Look for these logos on event ticket pages and the Public Events page on our website highlighting events enabled and inspired by this grant!

Already in February, this Grant has empowered us to remove exotic plants from the area around sensitive Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) and other spring ephemerals at our Woodland Walk & Work, and with the help of Howard Ecoworks, to install Log Erosion Barriers (LEB) at the top of Terrace A, to help infiltrate storm water, better hydrate the plants growing there, and decrease erosion on the steep garden slope:

Above Top: Volunteers from the public work to remove selected species from the forest floor, and Bottom: team from Howard Ecoworks helps install Log Erosion Barriers.

We’d love to celebrate the approach of Spring in the Garden with you — please find upcoming public events on our Public Events page!

All non-logo images the creative works of Veri Tas except Volunteer plant removal and stream-bed shots by Annie-Sophie Simard and Willow by Matthew Jacobsen