Posts

Earth Day: Marie Butler Leven Preserve Workday

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When: Saturday, April 20, 10 am-1 pm

What: Join Earth Sangha for an Earth Day planting at the Marie Butler Leven Preserve! We’ll be planting almost 1,000 native grasses and wildflowers in the front meadow. We’ll meet at the parking lot and walk into the park from there.  For MBLP events, sturdy shoes and long pants are recommended. We will provide gloves and all necessary tools. Please bring your own water. If you arrive late, call or text Matt on his cell at 703 859 2951.

Where: View the Preserve’s location on Google Maps. The Marie Butler Leven Preserve is in McLean, Virginia. The street address is 1501 Kirby Road. If you’re coming from the Beltway, exit on Route 66 East; from 66, take the first exit, to Leesburg Pike (Route 7); turn left on Leesburg Pike, then almost immediately after the underpass, turn right onto Idylwood Road. Just stay on Idylwood, which becomes Kirby Road after the intersection with Great Falls Street. Stay on Kirby; once you have passed the stop sign at Chesterbrook Road, the Preserve is about half a mile up on the right.

Contact: Matt Bright ([email protected] or 703-859-2951)

Earth Sangha spring Plant Grants, deadline Feb. 28th

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The Earth Sangha Plant Grant application period for Spring 2019 is now open. Find the application here: www.earthsangha.org/plant-grant. Please have applications in by February 28 so Earth Sangha can respond to applicants before the planting season begins. In previous Plant Grants, the organization helped out Eagle Scouts working in Fairfax County parks, public and independent schools, and community groups working on public lands. They’re eager to help out again this spring!

The Plant Grant works like a buy-one, get-one program. For every plant purchase made towards an approved project, Earth Sangha donates an additional plant (up to the maximum allocated in your acceptance letter). They can also help with site visits, answer questions about what species might be most appropriate, and highlight your volunteer workdays on their Field Schedule.

Their preference is for projects within Fairfax County, but they are open to proposals in other areas in Northern Virginia. In addition to the completed application (see link above), you will need a letter of support from a staff member from a relevant agency (an email is fine), and a few “before” photos of the site in question.

If you’d like to take advantage of this program, go to their website which fully describes the program and its requirements. Completed applications and questions can be sent to Matt Bright: [email protected].

Earth Sangha February Workdays

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Earth Sangha is extending its seed cleaning sessions to February. If weather co-operates, they’d also like to include some outdoor activity of removing invasive vines in a park. It is possible that they might end up cleaning all the seeds ahead of the schedule mentioned below. Check out the website before showing up!

Monday, January 28th, from 10 am to 1 pm, at Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington: 625 South Carlin Spring Road, Arlington.

Mondays, February 4th and 11th, from 10 am to 1 pm, at Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington. Address above.

Sundays, February 3rd, February 10th, from 10 am to 1 pm, at Arlington Village: 1400 South Edgewood Street, Arlington. This is the community room of Arlington Village and is located on the lowest point of the street. Please look for the brown street sign that says “1400 South Edgewood Street.” The community Room is through basement door at the corner of the building. If you can’t find it, please call Rodney at 703-216-4855 for directions.

Saturdays February 16th & 23rd, Sunday February 24th, 10 am to 1 pm at Rutherford Park, 4743 Guinea Road, Fairfax: It’s a relatively small area with many interesting native shrubs (Earth Sangha planted them several years ago) but now invasive vines threaten to overtake it. If they remove Porcelainberry and Japanese Honeysuckle now, they would like to plant more native grass and perennials in the Spring. Tools will be provided.

Earth Sangha January seed cleaning sessions

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Founded in 1997, the Earth Sangha is a nonprofit public charity based in the Washington, D.C., region. In the D.C. area, they operate a volunteer-based program to propagate local native plants, restore native plant communities, and control invasive alien plants. Their Wild Plant Nursery is the region’s most comprehensive effort to propagate native plants directly from local forests and meadows. Volunteers are needed to clean the seeds from native plants to prepare them for sowing and growing.

Sundays, January 6th, 13th, 20th, from 10 am to 1 pm, at Arlington Village: 1400 South Edgewood Street, Arlington. This is the community room of Arlington Village and is located on the lowest point of the street. Please look for the brown street sign that says “1400 South Edgewood Street.” The community Room is through basement door at the corner of the building. If you can’t find it, please call Rodney at 703-216-4855 for directions.
Mondays, January 7th, 14th, 28th, from 10 am to 1 pm, at Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington: 625 South Carlin Spring Road, Arlington.

Earth Sangha offering paid internships for 2019

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Earth Sangha is looking to fill five paid, part-time, DC-area internships: 

2 growing-season internships at our nursery
2 summer internships at the Marie Butler Leven Preserve

1 office internship near George Mason University’s main campus

All internships will pay $15 per hour.
For details contact Matt Bright at [email protected]. 

Earth Sangha seed cleaning, Dec. 9 & 16th

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Photo by Barbara J. Saffir (c)

1400 South Edgewood St, Arlington, VA 22204

In the Community Room, which is located through the basement door at the corner of the building, near the brown sign with the address

Saturdays, 9 December and 16 December 2018

10 am – 1 pm

Join Earth Sangha for their first seed cleaning events of the season at the community room at Arlington Village. Help clean seeds from a variety of native species. Please call Rodney Olsen at (703) 216-4855 if you have difficultly finding the community room.

Earth Sangha Fall Native Plant Sale– September 30th

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Earth Sangha Wild Plant Nursery

6100 Cloud Drive in Franconia Park, Springfield VA

Sunday, 30 September 2018

9 am – 12 pm

Many folks could not attend last week’s sale so Earth Sangha is having a second sale!

Fall is really the best time to visit the nursery. In the Spring, the plants are still emerging from winter dormancy, and Earth Sangha cannot offer as many species. The Fall, as experienced gardeners know, is also the best time to plant. Trees, shrubs, and perennials like the cooler weather and greater rainfall lets them establish robust roots. Late blooming annuals can make great additions to your garden, and many will “volunteer” from seed next year. Click here for the Wild Plant Nursery Species List.

If you are interest in volunteering at the sale, please email Katherine Isaacson at [email protected].  There will be a morning shift (9:30 to Noon) and an afternoon shift (Noon to 2:30).

Help at the Earth Sangha Pull-a-thon 10-12 August

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Join Earth Sangha for a Pull-a-thon at the Marie Butler Leven Preserve this weekend!  The group is going to continue to focus on pulling mile-a-minute and Japanese stiltgrass from the woodland edge. It’s crucial to remove these invasives now before they set seed.

Marie Butler Leven Preserve, 1501 Kirby Road McLean, VA 22101

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 10-12 August 2018

9 am – 12 pm

For more details, click here.

Apply for Earth Sangha plant grant

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The Earth Sangha Plant Grant supports small-scale, citizen-led restoration efforts across Northern Virginia. Twice a year, they accept applications for restoration projects on public lands in need of local-ecotype native plants. They then offer a matching grant on plants purchased (essentially a buy-one, get-one free offer) good for one season up to a certain dollar amount. No project is too small, whether it’s a community-led invasive pull, or a larger project with multiple partners, they want to support thoughtful restoration efforts on public lands.

More info and application

Volunteer opportunities at Earth Sangha

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Founded in 1997, the Earth Sangha is a nonprofit public charity based in the Washington, DC, region. Their mission is ecological restoration as a form of socially engaged Buddhism. Volunteers come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and the work is secular and science-based.

In the DC area, they operate a volunteer-based program to propagate local native plants, restore native plant communities, and control invasive alien plants. The Wild Plant Nursery is the region’s most comprehensive effort to propagate native plants directly from local forests and meadows. Nursery and office addresses are different. Click here for directions to the Wild Plant Nursery.

The summer nursery workdays are Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9 AM to Noon.  Please be sure to bring a water bottle and stay hydrated.  There is no indoor space, air conditioning or even fans at the nursery.  Keep a close eye on the volunteer calendar.  For safety reasons, they may have to cancel volunteer workdays and nursery hours on short notice because of high temperatures, poor air quality, and thunderstorms.  Contact Matt Bright, Conservation Manager, to RSVP to volunteer or for questions or concerns at [email protected] or at his cell: 703-859-2951.

Volunteers can help with watering, weeding, pot preparation, transplanting, and sowing seed.  Gloves and tools will be provided.

In addition to environmental work, Earth Sangha hosts weekly meditation sessions in Alexandria, Virginia, along with discussions of what it means to live in a responsible way. These sessions are free and open to all.