Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
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This land was originally cared for by the Susquehannock Tribe.
The Susquehannock spoke the Conestoga language, a northern Iroquoian language, closely related to the Onondaga and Oneida languages. The Susquehannock lived in fortified towns, with a population reaching almost 3,000 people. Longhouses 60 to 80 feet in length comprised the town, and were populated with nuclear families related matrilineality. Fields of corn, beans, and squash surrounded the perimeters of the towns.
The Susquehannock practiced large scale farming, utilizing slash and burn practices--they cleared the forest by burning down trees and then planting crops in the fertile ashes. As the soil health waned after many planting seasons, the Susquehannock moved to new towns approximately every two decades. Corn, beans, and squash comprised the majority of their diet; corn-based meals made up at least half their meals. Deer was the common protein, interspersed with bear, elk, and fish. They also ate wild plants, fruits, and nuts.
Artifacts of the Susquehannock found in Adams County can be viewed at the Gettysburg Beyond the Battle museum.
Most generally, a native plant is a plant that was common within a region before settlement by Europeans. For Thirty Acre Gardens, that means we are planting plants that were only found in this area prior to 1643, when the first Europeans arrived in Pennsylvania, a group of Swedish colonists. When the invasive plants are removed, and we've planted the native forest gardens and seeded the meadow gardens, we hope it will look as it could have looked back in the 1600s.
We are making some exceptions to our native plant priorities in our vegetable garden (tomatoes, for example, hail from the Andes Mountains of South America) and regenerative orchard garden, where we have a few peach trees (native to China).
Native plants support pollinators and other wildlife, such as birds, butterflies, and insects by providing food and shelter. Because native birds evolved with the native plant population, the birds are dependent on certain native plants. Native oak trees, for example, support over 500 species of moths and butterflies while the ornamental, non-native, and invasive Bradford pear, supports fewer than 100. The more insects there are, the more food available for the birds.
Moreover, native plants promote local biodiversity and stewardship of our natural heritage. Without a diverse array of plants, tree monocultures could fall prey to a single new invasive insect or disease, wiping out entire forests. Natives also provide better erosion control, as they are perfectly adapted to our soil, allowing roots to penetrate deeper into the soil and providing better erosion control, which protects our watersheds from pollution.
Lastly, native plants are easier to grow, as they are better suited to our climates, conditions, and diseases, and are more drought-tolerant.
A forest garden is a designed agronomic system based on trees, shrubs, and perennial plants. A forest garden aims to replicate the structure of a mature forest, one of the most stable and sustainable ecosystems, while providing food and natural resources to the grower. In Pennsylvania, for example, a forest garden could consist of walnut or oak trees in the canopy level; redbuds, serviceberries, or pawpaws in the understory level; blueberries, chokeberries, or elderberries at the shrub level, and herbs and perennial plants at the herbaceous level that support those fruiting trees by deterring pests and attracting pollinators such as mountain mint, wild bergamot, wild ginger, and wild onions. In this intensively planted small area, each plant offers something edible to insects and animals, including humans.
A sustainable vegetable garden relies on known combinations of intermixed vegetable, herb, and flower plantings which regenerate the soil, deter pests, and strengthen the opposite plant, as well as compost, cover crops, and crop rotations instead of fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. In Pennsylvania, for example, a sustainable garden row could consist of tomato plants and pole beans sharing the same staking system, basil plantings flanking the beans and tomatoes, and alternating plantings of onions, parsley, and marigolds surrounding the patch.
Regenerative orchards are similar to sustainable vegetable gardens by relying on guilds: a known combinations of intermixed herb, vegetable, and perennial plantings which support the fruiting tree. A Pennsylvania regenerative orchard could feature native plum trees, surrounded by native wild onions, leeks, and garlic and mountain mint, all fragrant perennials which deter aphids, interspersed with Pennsylvania sedge to provide a living mulch.
Invasive species (any non-native species that harm the local ecosystem) establish themselves in the local ecosystem and outcompete and dislodge species that have evolved specifically to live there. When this happens, native birds and animals suffer (and eventually become extinct) because they're not receiving protection and food, via nuts and seeds, from the native plants they've evolved to coexist with. In the meantime, the invasive species are providing food and protection to non-native animal species for which there are no local predators (as has happened with the spotted lanternfly). Moreover, the invasive species degrade the soil, leading to erosion and decreased water quality, while also killing the native trees that provide the most shade, carbon storage, and native wildlife habitat.
In the meadow areas, we have a lot of native warm season grasses and wildflowers but also lots of invasive cold season grasses and weeds like Canada thistle, reed canarygrass, and carpetgrass. The most effective way to facilitate growth of the natives while minimizing invasives is to mow twice a year: the first mow occurs in March or April when most plants are still dormant and then a second, mid-season mow takes place in June before the heat of summer hits. To handle the invasive shrubs (primarily multiflora rose and autumn olive) and trees (Bradford pear and Tree of Heaven, a particularly pernicious tree which secretes poisonous chemicals into the soil and is home to the spotted lanternfly), we'll need to treat each invasive shrub thicket by manually killing it.
No, but if you'd like your donation to explicitly go towards the purchase and planting of a specific native tree, instead of invasive species removal, just let us know via email. We'll send you back a list of native trees for you to pick your favorite tree for us to purchase and plant.
Unfortunately, no. While we hope to become a non-profit in the future, we're not there yet. However, we are a registered community organization with an EIN and bank account, so all donated money is considered a gift to the Preserve, and will be kept in the Redbud Nature Preserve bank account.
No, we're putting in bike racks only and catering towards bikers and walkers. We're an easy and beautiful 15-minute bike ride away from downtown Gettysburg, and only 10 minutes or so biking from Eisenhower's farm and the battlefield, so we're easily accessible to any tourists biking through the National Park. Moreover, the road connected to the nature preserve is on the Adams County Scenic View touring list, so we're heavily trafficked by both local and tourist walkers and bikers. If potential visitors are unable to bike, they can contact us other parking options for their visit.
If you're interested in volunteering, email us! We're looking for community members interested in trail maintenance, plant cataloging, wildlife spotting, and activity leading.