This was a challenging but eventful week at the permaculture park. Most notably, we were finally able to clear large trash materials that have accumulated over the years on-site. This includes plaster-filled buckets, shards of glass, broken cold frames, tires, paint covered wood, broken hoses, etc. We also moved all of the lumber laying behind the compost bins away from the house to get rid of any risk of termites. Our park is now much cleaner and safer and we are excited to transform these once trash-filled spaces into a flourishing part of our landscape. 

The wood we accumulated all throughout the park we sorted into two piles, one for a new hugelkultur mound and one for free pickup. So far, there have been a few Etsy sellers interested in taking our wood for their creations. I reached out to Mark and Kim, but unfortunately neither of them were interested, though they agreed to spread the word. We will continue to upload digital content of our wood to Facebook Marketplace and local Bethlehem Facebook groups in hopes that people will take our wood waste! On Wednesday, Professor Wurth assisted us in turning the compost bins over. We filled several buckets worth of fresh and ready-to-use compost and everything else we will be either sifting or turning further to allow the materials to decompose longer. 

We spent a lot of time at the park this week doing general maintenance on top of the significant clean ups that had occurred. We began to weed the invasive snakeroot out of the hugelkultur mound, as well as several locations throughout the park. This takes a while because the root can travel fairly far into the ground, making it sometimes difficult to pull. By removing the snakeroot, we will create space to plant fall crops such as pumpkins. We also began to weed neglected pots and buckets that were filled with rich soil. By doing so, we now have several resources for nutrient rich soil right within our park. 

As for community engagement, just as we did last week, we set up a table at the Bethlehem Farmers’ Market where we were able to hand out brochures as well as some crops we had harvested that morning. It was slow at first, but we saw some familiar faces and even talked to a few new people who expressed interest in coming to the park. We also saw Jen, one of the master gardeners from Penn State, and scheduled a time to meet with her next week. All produce we did not give away was donated to Plant A Row Lehigh Valley. I also followed up with Doug about meeting with him, and we plan to meet next week, 

We also attended Rodale’s Annual Organic Field Day. This was an all day event that showcased their research and work at the farm. We learned about composting, no-till management, soil health & water quality, farming & vegetable systems trials, etc. Governor Josh Shapiro also was there at their press conference. This was a super informational day and a great way to learn more about organic farming practices.

We have truly begun to make progress on the website. It has been an uphill battle still trying to figure out how to navigate WordPress and AIOSEO, but we have definitely made a bit of a dent in the site. We began to clean up different posts as well as our main content about permaculture philosophy. 

Although this has been a rather slow process, we are continuing to sift through readings on permaculture, policy, and case study examples to help prepare us for our future endeavors of writing our own. We are currently prioritizing a lot of our on-site tasks and website to build our credibility within the community as well as online. Overall, this week was both productive and challenging, and I am excited to see what we accomplish in these last three weeks.