Thanks for joining us at the symposium on March 15th. 

The chilly, drab morning was belied by the warmth and excitement on the second floor of Pennsylvania College of Technology's Klump Academic Center. The facility was abuzz with master gardeners, ecological businesses, and our fellow nonprofit orgs who work for climate health. We are delighted that the Lycoming County Master Gardeners organized this event, and we are honored and overjoyed to have sponsored it. 

In the aftermath, we are aglow with passion and ideas, and we have some exciting plans in the works for you from the networking we did there. 

If you were unable to make it, that's OK--we'd love to see you there next time. Here are some of the key takeaways from the day:  

Director Lena Yeagle reports, "Carl Bower got me really interested in utilizing Homegrown National Park's native plant finder as a reference for myself and others. I appreciate that he told the audience to start asking plant nurseries for native plants by name." 

Our climate consultant, Ralph Kisberg, was inspired. He offered the following, "The landscape architect Madison Purzel gave many good ideas for where to add natives in a yard, like under the entire reach of the branches of trees, as well as some beautiful plants to add such as Eastern Blue Star (Amsonia Tabernaemontana)." 

Robbie Cross, local business owner and long-time director of RDA, found the symposium to be invigorating. He said, "It was also uplifting to see that those in attendance represented a wider cross-section of the community, offering a good feeling that the increasing numbers of us may soon be enough of us to affect the critical changes needed in confronting climate change. Let's continue growing this number!" 

Founding member, Barb Jarmoska, crystallized all this excitement neatly, saying, "With an ongoing partnership between RDA, the Lycoming County Master Gardeners, and other like-minded organizations, there is a real opportunity to continue building the yard rewilding movement right here in Lycoming county. What's to stop us from making headlines all across the state? Nothing! All that's needed is enthusiasm, commitment, and community. Right now is the time to make the most of spring and people’s very real need to feel grounded and connected."

Jesse Turri, our board president, used his creative energy to create this yard sign. We're planning to add this to our webstore. Stay tuned for details.