Happy December, Dear friends of The Green Farmacy Garden!

We’ve been enjoying the warmth & beauty of the 2024 growing season’s last embers — please enjoy photos below if you couldn’t join us in person! We hope you’re finding plenty of the same to cherish and be grateful for as the cold moves in, and we are grateful to count you among our community!

This month marks the end of the Garden’s second year in the care of the Community Ecology Institute (CEI). CEI is a Howard County non-profit whose mission is to cultivate communities where people and nature thrive together, which continues to strive to meet the community’s request of carrying on Jim and Peggy’s legacy at their former home by working with local governments, integrating ongoing CEI programs and continuing to host community events at the Garden, and applying for Grants. You can access CEI’s 2023 Annual Report here.

We’re hoping the property will soon be rezoned to allow more diverse offerings and support sustainable operations. This year, we’re aiming at a modest $5,000 community funding goal for GFG operations, and hope you’ll think of us this Giving Tuesday! You can make a tax deductible donation here to directly support care of the Garden and grounds.

Above, a small Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) retains golden yellow leaves in late November, while a towering Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) has dropped them all, and Kudzu (Pueraria lobata), foreground, is among the last of the season to fade. Below, a groundhog (Marmota monax) nearly ready to hibernate passes under the Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria, not pictured) in Terrace C.

Below, clockwise from left: Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) aflame behind the house; self-seeded Lobelia (Lobelia inflata) blooming in mid-November; Butcher’s Broom (Ruscus aculeatus) berries fully ripe.

Many volunteers have helped make big changes onsite this month, including Scout teams fixing up the bridges in the woods (below, top left), building a couple benches around the property (including below, top right), and helping transition the plantings around the front door to a Nourishing Garden (below, bottom) with native edible and medicinal plants including Blueberries (Vaccinium sp.), Strawberries (Fragaria sp.), and Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens). Other individual and group volunteers have also helped plant lots of native trees and perennials, and erect a protective bamboo guard (below, top right) around the pond overflow garden installed earlier this season.

Volunteers planted native willow trees (below, left column) and we enjoyed perfect weather for our Autumn Community Day (below, right column).

Here’s another sampler of wildlife neighbors enjoying the grounds. Now I know why wilderness trainers teach that there’s a mammal hair to be found on every square foot of earth out there, and have sat students down to look for it. I’ve never found one yet, but after seeing how many animals have crossed the small areas covered by these cameras in a few weeks, I might give it another shot!

CEI, including The Green Farmacy Garden, will be closed to the public spanning the transition of the year, 12/22/2024-1/5/2/25, to afford our teams a time of rest and reflection. We hope to see you in the next few weeks, and also in the new year! The full CEI event calendar is available on the website, and you can find December’s public event offerings at The Green Farmacy Garden here.

My best, Veri

Photo of kids in the woods on Community Day by Garden friend and educator Julie Biedrzycki, all others the creative works of Veri Tas.