Improving
Awbury’s Northwest Tract
Steve Pascavitch and Ernie Martin of ALS prepare to remove the tangled vines.
The entire outdoor staff and apprentices have been moving mountains in the northwest tract, the 22 acres west of Washington Lane, this winter. The impetus for clearing this long neglected area of the arboretum is the welcome addition of a full-time farmer at Weaver’s Way’s farm and their leasing of an additional acre of Awbury land for intensive vegetable farming.
Weaver’s Way Co-op has been in existence since 1973 in Mt. Airy, serving area residents with produce and other home goods. They have been using approximately a half acre of Awbury’s northwest tract for growing organic produce.
Many friends of Awbury helped to promote this enormous undertaking. Steve Pascavitch, Manager of Awbury Landscape Services & ISA certified arborist, donated his time to clear invasive vines from trees, and then proceeded to trim 30 trees that hadn’t been hazard pruned in years. We are delighted to discover a beautiful stand of mature white birches and stately spruce trees that could not be appreciated previously through the thick cover of vines.
 Linda Brown clears debris and leaves in the northwest tract. Special thanks go to Ken Kolodziej of KJK Associates. He brought in his crew and heavy equipment to move literally tons of wood debris, leaves and wood chips that had been dumped for years in the NW tract. The debris has been replaced by two bio-friendly berms. The berms are on the edge of the Weaver’s Way new farm plot, offering an aesthetically
pleasing border to their new endeavor. The berms will be planted in late spring with a short meadow mix for beauty, improved insect habitat and ease of mowing. We will include
the following plants: purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), aster (Aster novae-angliae), goldenrod (Solidago rigida) and little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium).
 The apprentices use their newly acquired tree-climbing skills as they clear vines form a treeAwbury also received help from Charley Wilson and his crew of machete wielding workers, who for two days cleared a thorny mess of multiflora rose, honeysuckle vine and English ivy. In addition, Mike Duffy and his crew could be seen working (even on Saturdays) with a
bobcat to move debris and clear the area where the new farm will be.
Seventy-five tons of crushed stone have been delivered and spread to rebuild what had been a dirt road. Foot deep ruts have been filled in, making travel on the road safer for Awbury and Weaver’s Way vehicles. Spring and summer will see the planting of ash and other hard wood tress, as well as an understory of native shrubs to offer effective bird and small mammal habitat.
We encourage all of you to come over to the northwest tract and see this newly unearthed treasure.
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A Message from the Executive Director
Dear Friend of Awbury,
Awbury Arboretum has become an important center in the life and redevelopment of Northwest Philadelphia in a way not even imagined a few years ago. A turning point was the adoption of a new
mission statement and strategic plan in 2002. We are guided in all that we do by this mission to“… preserve and interpret Awbury’s historic house and landscape thereby connecting an urban neighborhood to
nature and history.”
Like Awbury, Northwest Philadelphia communities are tackling systemic problems by promoting
greening initiatives, environmental awareness, arts, culture and history. Awbury is central to all of
these efforts.
You will learn in this issue about the clearing of our invasive-strewn adjacent 22-acre northwest tract
and the plans for replanting, as well as the expansion of Weaver’s Way Co-Op’s organic farm. Over the past 5 years, we have reported on the amazing amount of invasive clearing and replanting of Awbury’s wetlands area and Secret Garden. As part of that restoration we have been engaged with Philadelphia Water Department’s Office of Watersheds in a unique stormwater management project to show how stormwater can be captured from the streets, biologically cleaned and returned to our ponds.
Because of these and other efforts, Awbury has been able to provide the apprentices in our Apprentice Training program with advanced training and understanding of new directions in land management.
We are inspiring a new generation of young people in our area to be stewards of this community.
Also, Awbury’s newly formulated education program now has a much-improved landscape to teach
environmental and ecology lessons, provide teacher trainings and demonstrate best teaching practices
for regional environmental professionals.
And that is just a small piece of Awbury’s transformation. We are now engaged with our urban Northwest Philadelphia community and forming partnerships in ways that was only a dream five
years ago. These activities include: working with Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corporation (OARC)
in various greening activities that generate earned income to Awbury Landscape Services, hosting OARC’s annual jazz festival reception, and participating in their business association; hosting an annual John Coltrane jazz festival that last year brought over 2,000 people to Awbury; engaging with other
historic sites to develop common themes to help us relate to our local community and contribute to
the economic development of the region; linking with other environmental organizations including
local public schools, charter schools, and education programs at other arboreta; participating in and headquartering the Tookany/Tacony/Frankford Watershed Partnership, which represents Awbury’s watershed.
To continue to be a catalyst and an important Northwest Philadelphia organization, we must increase
our income. We want to strengthen our Apprentice Program and expand the curriculum to include urban forestry, urban agriculture, stream bank restoration and other ecological activities that are becoming prominent.
We must replace outdated machinery and trucks and add new equipment. Now that we have cleared most of the 22-acre northwest tract, we need to buy trees and understory shrubs, and install more plants for an expanded meadow as part of our wetlands restoration.
We have become the new Awbury largely because of the extraordinary staff that we have attracted. But retaining staff is just as crucial as attracting them. Since our pay scale is very low it is necessary for us have a plan to raise salaries.
We really need your support so that we can continue to connect more and more of our urban community to nature and history. I hope you respond generously to this spring appeal. Thank you so much.
Gerry Kaufman
Executive Director
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Expansion of Weaver’s Way organic farm at Awbury
Awbury is very excited to report that Weaver’s Way Coop has leased an additional acre to add to the already existing 1/2 acre organic farm on Awbury’s northwest tract. Weaver’s Way has hired a farmer and, by the time you read this, spring crops will already be in the ground and soon ready for sale in their Mt. Airy store. They will use the intensive farming method by which crops can be grown, harvested and replanted in a much shorter time period. These crops will be labeled “Awbury grown” in their store.
We look forward to a partnership with them around our children’s education program. Agriculture and Society are part of the State standards in K-12 education for environment and ecology. For instance, one standard requires students to analyze the management practices in the agriculture business. Another standard requires
students to assess the influence of agricultural science on farming practices. We are constructing lessons for our Field Studies Program that teach these standards.
In our Out of School Time (OST) Program, children experience healthy eating and are given an understanding that the food that they eat comes from the ground. At the Weavers Way farm, they will learn about organic farming and the impact that organic
farming has on the environment. Our intent is to give the students an awareness of environmental issues so that they and their families can become better stewards of the environment.
We also plan to expose the participants in our Apprentice Training Program to urban agriculture and small plot intensive farming as
a possible career option. In the future, apprentices will have the option of learning from Weaver’s Way farmers the most effective methods of farming in an urban setting or in areas where available land is scarce.
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Support Awbury in 2008
through your IRA
If you are at least 70 1/2 years of age, have an IRA, and want to make a charitable gift, you may want to consider transferring a portion of your IRA to Awbury. Through the end of 2007, you can contribute to a charity from your IRA without being taxed on it. You can exclude from gross income up to $100,000 a year (of otherwise taxable IRA distributions) that are paid directly to charitable organizations. The donations count toward satisfying your minimum IRA distribution for the year. Remember, these tax-free rules apply for this year only, so act quickly! Please contact Awbury and your financial advisor to make a
contribution from your IRA.
Field Studies Program honored African American scientists in February
 Field Studies Program students learn about the light bulb experiments of Lewis Latimer.Back to top
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