by Tito Caba, Green Space Director
Since February, our service trips have steadily increased, with regular visits from several schools, including Friends Select, Germantown Friends, Wissahickon Charter School, and Green Tree School — just to name a few. The students’ efforts have been instrumental in keeping our grounds beautiful, cared for, and in alignment with our community standards.
Leaves have been gathered and moved to our corral to be repurposed as mulch and organic matter for our gardens. These leaves have also been shared with local initiatives like the Collazo Playground planting and Clean Kensington as a sign of support for their gardening efforts. Additionally, neighbors are utilizing the leaves in their own gardens, fostering a sense of community collaboration and sustainability.
Visiting students have also had the opportunity to collaborate by painting signs for our garden clubs at Potter-Thomas and Julia de Burgos schools. The garden club kids have used these signs to label the different gardens, helping create a stronger sense of ownership and pride in their gardening projects.
Our food forest is steadily growing, thanks to the hard work of our volunteers and staff. The pollinator habitat is thriving, and our understory planting has expanded to include plants such as parsley, nasturtiums, borage, leeks, lettuce, kale, dill, rhubarb, rosemary, lavender, cilantro, and cranberries. We’re excited to add highbush blueberries, Egyptian walking onions, and seaberries, as well. This ongoing effort is part of our mission to beautify the space while fostering an environment that supports biodiversity. It also aligns with our commitment to combat food insecurity by contributing to food justice initiatives and helping green a food desert.
Service groups like Washington University have helped plant vegetables, while our Wednesday volunteer days have welcomed not only students, but also local families and neighbors interested in learning about gardening and getting involved.
One of our proudest achievements this season has been the near completion of our goal to mulch every tree in the arboretum before summer — a task made possible through the dedicated support of visiting students. In addition, invasive species like ivy and winged euonymus (Euonymus alatus) have been carefully removed from our trees, preserving their health and reducing stress. Our towering black cherry tree, which shades our seating area, has been carefully braced for added support against strong winds, as well as our beloved red maple that supports the community tire swing.
Beyond the hands-on work, we continue to promote and embody Quaker values through all of our projects and interactions with the public, including service groups. Historic tours remain an essential part of our mission, ensuring the stories of those laid to rest at Fair Hill are remembered and honored. This year, we’ve proudly introduced Spanish-language tours to make the history of this sacred site accessible to our Latino neighbors and non-English-speaking visitors.
We’re deeply grateful to every volunteer, visitor, and supporter who continues to help Fair Hill grow — in every sense of the word.
