Come Join Us at the Food Forest this Saturday!

Michelle | June 2nd, 2011

We will be working at the food forest on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month from 10am-12pm. The food forest is located at 4700 Irvine St in Hazelwood. It was 4 adjacent vacant lots owned by the URA and now hosts a diversity of edible and otherwise functional tree, bush and groundcover species.

Please come on down, bring a friend and have some fun working in community! Thank you to all of you who have been down this season. Your help is vital to making this a productive and useful space.

There is so much to do and so much that can be done! This week, Saturday June 4th from 10am-12pm, we will be:

Weeding (but of course, gotta keep the knotweed down!)

Mulching- we have a huge pile of wood chips to spread out on the front path

Making sun tea! As long as the sun is shining. We have spearmint on site that is just waiting to become tea.

Pondering the plant landscape and changes that have taken place since last year. Not only the changes that we have instigated but also how the plant community itself has responded to our work.

In other news, the food forest is open to hosting projects. We have some specific areas that we would like to partner with interested people on, including soil and plant testing, soil remediation, understory design work, front entrance design work, and more! Please contact Michelle at mczolba@yahoo.com if you would like to speak further about the opportunities.

Hope to see you at the food forest on Saturday at 10am!

Upcoming Pittsburgh Permaculture Workshops- register now!

Michelle | April 8th, 2011

Hey all, please check out the next 2 workshops to happen at the Hazelwood Food Forest. Hope to see you there!

~~Grafting with Troy Hottle~~- CANCELLED

April 17^th 11am-1pm (yes it’s a Sunday)

Learn the basics of grafting for pome fruits and stone fruits. You will learn how and when to graft in addition to multiple techniques for attaching varieties of the same fruit to a single tree.

Since 2008, Ohio native Troy Hottle has lived and worked in Pittsburgh. Troy received his Permaculture Design Certification under Josh Beniston, soil scientist and owner of Habitats Landscaping, Mark Cohen, founder of Far Valley Farm and The Belize Agroforestry Research Center, and Peter Bane, founder and editor of Permaculture Activist. . Troy has travelled to more than ten different countries studying the social and biological systems which shape and create the ecosystems of the world. He has met with dignitaries such as the Minister of Education of Bhutan and Maldives’ Minister of the Environment discussing social and environmental issues. Recently, Troy works for GTECH Strategies, managing the reclamation of vacant land within the city. In 2009, Troy founded the PittsburghPermaculture.org website and in the following year cofounded Pittsburgh Permaculture. He has taught several permaculture workshops and courses including some of those offered by Phipps Conservatory. Troy is also a Penn State Master Gardener.

CANCELLED DUE TO LOW ATTENDANCE

Mushroom Logs with Matt Peters

May 7^th 12-2pm

Workshop attendees will learn-by-doing how to grow Shiitake mushrooms on logs. Materials provided, and logs will be available for purchase.

Workshop facilitator Matt Peters has been growing shiitake mushrooms since 1997, and will share his experience with you in this hands-on two hour workshop.

Cost: $10 to attend or $35 to attend and bring home a finished log (retail value of log ~$40)

Food Forest Rain Barrel Demo & Work Day

Michelle | March 22nd, 2011

Spring is finally here! Let’s celebrate by getting our hands dirty at the Hazelwood Food Forest. We need to capture and retain water on the site especially until the young trees and plants are established. This first workday of 2011 will focus on setting up a gutter and downspout for the shed so that we can hook up to a rain barrel. We will also be doing some spring clean-up. Handy folks are especially needed to help put up the gutters!

Following the work day, Luke Stamper of the Nine Mile Run Watershed Association will explain and show us how to install a rain barrel as well as answer participants’ questions. Luke helps to manage the Rain Barrel Initiative inside the Nine Mile Run Watershed and is quite experienced with installing rain barrels.

Join us at 10:00 am and trade some work for the demonstration/class. Or come at 11:00 am just for the demonstration/class for $5.

Planning to show up? Sign up here

Pittsburgh Permaculture