Snow on Oaks

As promised, we had several inches of snow on Thursday and I had a snow ball fight with my fellow students (MFI-ers) and a gorgeous walk in the woods today before leaving Lied Lodge and Nebraska to fly home.  This has been a phenomenal experience for me and an invaluable investment in my professional (and I would say personal) development.  I feel incredibly lucky.

The front entrance to Lied Lodge.

The Morton Oak at Arbor Day Farm.

Over the river and through the woods, from Lied Lodge to Arbor Day Farm we go!

One of many quotes in the lodge from J. Sterling Morton, founder of Arbor Day.

The lobby of Lied Lodge.  What an amazing place to spend a week!

Planning for Planting in Nebraska

This week I'm immersing myself in trees and tree people at the Municipal Forestry Institute at the Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City, Nebraska.  It's a week of intensive training on how to be a leader in the field of urban forestry.  It's pretty rad, and it comes at a perfect time for me in my career.  Plus, this place is gorgeous!  Check out the sunset pics I took yesterday.  It's supposed to snow pretty hard on Thursday, so I may have more photos of an entirely different nature at the end of the week.

Sweeping up the leaves

It's Thanksgiving already! October and November have flown by, but here's a little snapshot for you:

** Black Swallowtail caterpillars on the fennel at The Woodlands Community Garden **



** Tree delivery at dawn, followed by many many volunteer tree planting events for work **









** A trip to the Philadelphia Zoo (the oldest zoo in the country) with some new friends **



** Lots of baking! **





I'm continuing my quest to perfect my apple pie recipe this fall, along with tweaking my presentation (see how I made it look like an apple when you cut it in half? clever clever me).

** Sukkah! **



We built a temporary structure called a sukkah on our porch this year in honor of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. The holiday is a celebration of the harvest (and other religious and historical events) - the sukkah is open to the stars on top and filled with plant materials. Ours was decorated with paper chains, gourds, fruit, chestnuts, mums, fabric and drying bunches of herbs.







After we built and decorated it, we invited all of our friends to eat with us under the sukkah. Even though it rained during most of the week long holiday, we shared two fabulous dinners with friends and family. And it only took us two extra weeks to take it down!

That's all for now, I hope to post more frequently once I get a new laptop. This little setup that I have right now is driving me crazy, and I think it's time for a new computer, don't you?

News and NEWS!!

As promised, I have yet another worthy cause for you wonderful people to support. But this time it's my project I'm sharing with you! For the past few years I've been working really closely with a non-profit organization in my neighborhood called UC Green. It's a community greening organization and they do two big tree planting events in West and Southwest Philly every year (among other great programs). The executive director, Sue, who is also my neighbor and friend, asked me to help create a Kickstarter website to raise money for the Fall 2011 tree planting event. So here are the fruits of my labor (pun! . . . you'll see when you watch the video). Please share it with everyone you know and help us reach our goal of $4,000!




The other news I have to share is that as of tomorrow, I will be working for Philadelphia Parks and Recreation as their new Tree Campaign Manager! I will be organizing their city-wide tree planting efforts and I'm head over heels excited about it! My first day is tomorrow, so wish me luck!