Earth Day at Lower Hackett Park

We celebrated Earth Day 2022 with City of Easton Urban Forestry, Easton Urban Farm, the Nurture Nature Center, PAZA Tree of Life, Lehigh Valley Audubon Society, Plant Magic, Lafayette College, and neighbors & friends from Easton and beyond. Check out descriptions from what was taught at the activity tables!

Want to see something about sustainable and regenerative agriculture next year? Stay tuned for Earth Day 2023.

Easton Garden Works had two mini activities:

• Natural fertilizer tea from “weeds”: One of our community gardeners led an activity with upcycled glass jars, scraps of cotton t-shirts, brown sugar, water, and dandelions. Chop up your weeds and fill your jar halfway with them and then fill the jar with rainwater. Rubberband the cloth over the mouth of the jar, add some brown sugar, and let sit for at least 3 days. Swish the mixture once a day. Open your jar up and use the tea as a foliar fertilizer
• Seed Bombs: For “guerilla gardening”, we rolled native flower seeds that are great for pollinators into a mixture of clay and compost. With a little water to wet the soil, we rolled the balls into the size of a dime or so and pressed a few seeds in each. Roll the seeds into the center of the ball, and then let it dry at home. Then, toss the Seed Bombs into places that need more green space and native habitats.

City of Easton Urban Forestry had a few informational tables:

• A Pollinator Shelter/Habitat was in the process of being built during the event. 5 wood pallets were stacked in alternating directions, and layers on top and inside with natural reeds, grasses, and branches. Logs helped prop up the cross-sections and buffered the edges of the pallets. This shelter provides a space for bees, wasps, and other beneficial insects.
• Silky chickens and their mobile coop were on display for attendees to take a look at their feed, coop construction, and more. Plus the benefits of leftover chicken manure for the garden!
• Rob Christopher, Urban Forester, also led tours through the Micro-Forest to showcase native trees and pollinator plants. Did you know that you can visit the Micro-Forest anytime you’d like? You’ll see signage and trees are labeled with their names/species.

Easton Urban Farm‘s Mark Reid (Farm Manager) and dedicated volunteers demoed a DIY compost-tea brewer (plus distributed jars of their own):

• A week in advance, Mark prepped for Earth Day by gathering a plastic trash can, compost, and an aquarium pump to brew the water and compost together into an aerated, microbe-rich tea.  Jars of Easton Urban Farm compost tea were taken home to be used on attendees’ own plants.

PAZA Tree of Life is an organization celebrating Native American culture. Delwin *** performed a traditional dance with drumming and played flute. City of Easton Urban Forestry has worked with them since to install an Indigenous Medicine Wheel Garden at Hugh Moore Park.

Easton-based Plant Magic nursery specializes in native plants and perennials. Earth Day attendees could buy native plants there and receive detailed info about their properties, where to plant them, how to tend to them.