In 2019, we moved to Gettysburg and began planting. Since then, we've planted over 250 trees and more than 500 shrubs in the land surrounding our house. Almost all of those plantings are native plants. We've read over 20 books on the subject of forest restoration, native PA forests, forest gardens, regenerative orchards, and alternative gardening; we've listened to forestry and land management seminars offered by Penn State, University of Maryland, and Virginia Tech; and we've spent a lot of time with our landscaper and the local forester. We're excited to make this our project for the next several decades, and our hope is that by the time we're done, the woods of Thirty Acre Gardens will be almost as nice as Peirce's Woods at Longwood Gardens (we're dreaming big). 

We're avid homesteaders, so in our spare time we grow much of our own food, bake lots of sourdough from the Lancaster County wheat, oats, rye, and spelt we mill here at home, and bike around Gettysburg year-round. We eat locally as much as we can, whether it's vegetables, greens, and fruit from our garden, fruit from the orchards of Adams County, grains from Lancaster County, or beans from the Finger Lakes. Everything else we get at Costco.   

While our eventual goal is to obtain 501(c)(3) status, we want to spend our first several years focusing on tasks directly related to the land, whether it's mowing, trimming, or planting, and not on the complexities of running a competent non-profit (board meetings, taxes, state certifications, minutes, legal oddities, etc.). 

In the meantime, however, we have pulled together an informal Board of Managers who collectively give us advice on running Thirty Acre Gardens, and who will hopefully become our official Board once we obtain 501(c)(3) status. Seth, a lawyer, helps us with all legal and public opinion questions. Seth, too, is an avid home cook and food experimenter who makes his own hamburger, corned beef, and sausage; he has excellent taste in children's books. Taylor, an elementary school teacher working in permaculture, advises us on educational programming for kids and makes her own greeting cards. Keith has worked in conservation and land management for 10 years and advises us on the best management practices for our land. He is a passionate Philadelphia sports fan. Halle has extensive experience in non-profit management, grant reviews, and forestry; in her spare time, she hikes, bikes, camps, paddle-boards, and skis. 

Because we are not trained horticulturalists, arborists, or landscapers, we've enlisted the help of Larry Weaner Landscape Associates. They specialize in forest and meadow restoration and "create ecologically-sound landscapes that speak to their surroundings and enrich natural connections." They're helping us create a long-term land management strategy, overseeing our labor, and handling the invasive species removal we are unable to handle on our own.