Spring 2008

Printable newsletters archive – pdf

Spring 2008 Table of Contents

Out of School Time Programs

The OST program at Awbury has become one part of our new Public Programs and Outreach, in an effort to connect more students and families with nature and history. We use the allure of urban farming and local gardening at schools and on arboretum property to heighten interest and awareness about good nutrition and exercise through gardening and working with the earth.

  • During the past year, 920 students and chaperones made after school visits to the arboretum from public, private, and charter schools. The students studied horticulture in the classroom, planted gardens at their schools, and ate nutritious fruits and vegetables as part of our “hands-on” informal science demonstrations.
  • Summer Nature Program 2007 hosted 1350 students during 6 weeks of delightful nature lessons about the pond and frogs, flowers and insects, gardens and food, trash and treasures, and plants around the world. The Summer Nature Program 2008 is already booked to capacity by summer camp and day care centers from the local community.
  • Plants – Our Partners was a hybrid program initiated in December with Foundations, Inc’s KidZone at Pastorius Elementary School that involved 79 students on a weekly basis, growing vegetables and flowers in the classroom for a school garden in conjunction with multiple visits to the Arboretum to observe seasonal changes and to play while getting exercise on the property (culminating in a Picnic this June). This project has involved many partners; Penn State University, City Year Corp, Saul High School Students, Master Gardeners and parents and neighbors.
  • EducationWorks afterschool program at Emlen Elementary (45 students in grades k-7) and Taylor Elementary (60 students in grade 3) have participated in a Watershed Education Outreach program delivered by Awbury and the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership (TTF) to learn about water pollution and conservation.
  • Special Events such as our Harvest event in October, Winter Greens Sale in December, Ground Hog Day in February, Spring Egg Extravaganza in March, our Tree Jubilee on Arbor Day, and our garden Tea Party in May have incorporated strolls around the property to observe the beauty of our green space and to teach stewardship along the way.
  • Awbury expanded Outreach to include setting up gardening lessons for local group homes and schools and providing off-site recycling lessons to community members who are interested in environmental education. Our affiliation with the citywide Philadelphia Urban Food and Fitness Alliance (PUFFA) has positioned us to be high level contributors to Philadelphia’s future healthy living proposals.

Back to top

A Message from the Executive Director

So much is happening at Awbury, I almost don’t know where to begin. When I arrived here 8 years ago, our mission and emphasis was primarily children’s nature education. We have since evolved to become an important part of the transforming Northwest Philadelphia community.

Now our school year Field Studies program is geared to Pennsylvania’s State environment and ecology standards that are very rigorous as you will see in Jennifer Karsten’s article. Our Out Of School Time programs headed up by Mona Margarita involve the neighborhood children and others in a positive experience with the natural environment at Awbury.

We are transforming the old Caroline Cope farm that contains the Awbury Community Gardens, a small leased tree farm and 3/4 acres leased to Weavers’ Way Co-op. This season we have leased additional land to Weavers’ Way increasing their rental to 1.5 acres, to the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society for a greenhouse and to Penn State Urban Extension for a “high tunnel.”

This growing season we will, in partnership with Weavers’ Way Co-op, cultivate a children’s garden that will connect local children to the source of healthy food. Our Apprentices, lead by Apprentice Training Program co-managers Linda Brown and Ignatius Weekes, are also planting a garden that will provide them with healthy food and teach them entrepreneurial skills so that they can market the product of the garden. Our Apprentices continue to learn their trade during their time with Awbury Landscape Services under the eye of Steve Pascavitch, manager and certified arborist and Sally Anderson, manager and certified horticulturist.

Mona Margarita, Awbury’s Manager of Public Programs and Outreach and Kim Labno, Awbury’s Land Manager, represent Awbury with PUFFA (Philadelphia Urban Food and Fitness Alliance). Philadelphia is one of a handful of cities to receive a year long planning grant from the Kellogg Foundation to prepare a proposal for long term funding.
As Executive Director my job is also to appeal to you for funding. So many of you have responded so generously, it is also my job and my pleasure to thank you on behalf of the board, the staff and the recipients of our programs for your continued support. This Spring 2008 edition of the Arbor is dedicated to thanking our 2007–2008 supporters - everyone who continues to encourage and inspire us as we work to fulfill our mission here at Awbury Arboretum.

Gerald Kaufman
Executive Director

Back to top

The Historic Houses of Awbury

By Mark R. Sellers & Gay G. Johnson

The Historic Houses of Awbury celebrates the existence and survival of a unique group of buildings whose history began over a century and a half ago. Their story is an important part of the history of the growth of Philadelphia’s early suburbs….Each of the buildings in the Historic District has been associated with the extended Cope family in some way and, together, they illustrate aspects of this Quaker family’s way of life. The Awbury houses themselves (which include two former carriage houses/stables) are particularly significant because they illustrate a range of architectural styles – Gothic Revival, Queen Anne, and Tudor Revival, for example – that were popular from 1850 to the 1920’s. Individually, they reflect almost a century’s worth of designs by a series of prominent architects including Thomas Ustick Walter, Addison Hutton, Brockie & Hastings, Carl Ziegler, Cope & Stewardson and Edmund Gilchrist. The houses are clustered in a landscape of lawns, gardens, shrubs, and woodlands. Several areas were designed by prominent landscape artists, such as William Saunders, in the 19th century, and the firm of Harrison, Mertz & Emlen in the 20th. The landscapes, including former farmlands, are important features of the Awbury Historic District.

– Mark R. Sellers and Gay G. Johnson

For sale in The Francis Cope House on the Grounds of Awbury Arboretum Association, $16.00 incl. tax.

Back to top

Create a legacy…

You can help ensure the future of Awbury Arboretum’s service to the Northwest Philadelphia community by naming Awbury Arboretum in your will as a beneficiary. Consult your attorney for the details as you make estate plans.

 

Neighborhood Beautification Begins With Awbury Landscape Services

Give your property that seasonal clean-up, that new flower bed, that special lawn care treatment that makes spending time outside in the summer a pleasure for you and your family.

Awbury Landscape Services has added a new crew to work especially on small residential gardens within a three to five mile radius of Awbury Arboretum.

  • Garden maintenance - Seasonal cleanups and service contracts
  • Garden installations – New flower beds
  • Lawn Care – Mowing, aerating, fertilizing, seeding

This is an extension of Awbury Landscape Services. Benefit from the job training provided for participating young men and women apprentices from the neighborhood.

All work will be supervised by a certified horticulturist employed by Awbury Landscape Services.
For estimates and more information about this new garden maintenance opportunity, contact Sally Anderson, Manager and Landscape Designer, Awbury Landscape Services, 215-849-2655 ext. 26 or email sally@awbury.org.

Back to top
 

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?
-Jennifer Karsten, Director of Education

O.K., it’s probably not wise for educators to try to draw people into a story by using the name of a television show (we should, instead, be promoting activities like book-reading, tree-climbing, and chore-doing, I know, I know…). But, humor me, I want to see if you realize how sophisticated the concepts that we teach here are!
Before 5th grade, the Department of Education expects children in Pennsylvania to be able to do the following…
Can you? (answers below)

1. Identify various water environments from the lotic and lentic systems.

2. Identify plants found in fresh water.

3. Identify renewable and non-renewable resources used in the local community.

4. Identify common soil textures.

5. Identify chemical labels.

Check your answers?

Back to top

Spring Public Events

June 21, 2008 (Saturday) Composting Workshop from 10:30-Noon. Free workshop conducted by Penn State Extension Service. Free composting bin to preregistered participants. Size is limited -Call 215-471-2200 for reservations.

Garden Lovers – The World’s Largest Garden Party is Happening Now!! Check out www.greaterphiladelphiagardens.org for their calendar of events that run through May and June.

June 28, 2008 (Saturday) 10-11 am. Organic Gardening Workshop hosted by the Awbury Community Garden Club. The presenter is Master Gardener, Mr. Roundtree. Location is the Francis Cope House on the grounds of Awbury Arboretum Association. Refreshments will be served. This is a free event, but RSVP’s are required as space is limited. For more information or to RSVP leave a message at 215-224-5872.

Back to top

Support Awbury by using ALS!

Awbury Landscape Services, Inc.  Awbury Landscape Services, Inc is dedicated to providing a broad range of professional landscape services, creating work opportunities and improving Philadelphia’s urban environment. 

Services provided include:
Tree planting, pruning & removal, spring clean-up, installations and mulching. 
Contact Steve Pascavitch or Sally Anderson, ALS managers, for all your landscape needs at: 215-849-2855.

Answers to: Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

1. The lotic system includes rivers, creeks, and streams (like the Wissahickon and Schuylkill), the lentic system includes ponds, lakes, and swamps (like Awbury’s own small ponds).
2. Examples here include tiny plants like duckweed and emergent plants like cattails.
3. Renewables such as sun, wind, water, and trees are plentiful, but non-renewables (natural gas, coal, oil) are more often used as local residential energy sources.
4. Textures such as sand, silt, and clay can characterize soil. When they are evenly distributed in soil, the soil is called loam, or loamy.
5. Products that contain hazardous chemicals are labeled with signal words that indicate the degree of hazard. Danger is for the most hazardous, then Warning, and the least hazardous are marked Caution.

Back to top

Awbury Arboretum wants your email address.

We will be phasing in an email only communication with our members and friends. Realizing that some of you still don’t have email we will continue to mail to you, but we want to stop chopping down so many trees to use for paper. Trees are our business after all. Send your email to: awbury@awbury.org

Back to top