Sarah

My husband and I purchased our first home near Albany, NY early this past spring, on about 1.8 acres in a suburban area, with a lot of development in one direction and a nature preserve in the other. We decided to hold off on doing more than basic maintenance to the yard and property for our first year - partially out of necessity (the house itself was in relatively dire need of some love) and because we could tell the yard contained some mature garden that we knew nothing about from the previous owners, who lived here for the last 70 years and clearly cherished their outdoor space. The time we were able to spend outdoors has been occupied enjoying the front porch, and the feeder and bird bath I've put nearby, and having the occasional fire in the backyard. I mowed the grass areas (sporadically), and my husband waged war against the oriental bittersweet that had grown to horrific proportions and was threatening many mature trees on the property. I spent a lot of time on iNaturalist learning about what was already growing on the property, and unfortunately it appears that much of it is non-native, and worse, some is invasive. All is very overgrown. Our goals for next year are to establish a small vegetable / herb garden, and to begin the slow and gradual process of reclaiming or completely re-doing the gardening and landscaping on the rest of the property. There is a steep bank that leads down to a seasonal stream bordering one side of our yard, and another steep section in the back drops off to a small creek and marshy area. It's currently almost impossible to physically access either due to dense growth of bittersweet, invasive honeysuckle, buckthorn and some poison ivy, but I'd love to be able to clear a small space to sit and birdwatch in these areas. I read a bit about permaculture and decided to try starting from the areas nearest the house and work outward; this will also allow me to prioritize permanently removing the wisteria and English ivy that has decided to try and grow inside, as opposed to outside, the house. I'm hoping this course will help me learn how to incorporate native plants that will attract and provide for more birds, especially hummingbirds, and develop a long-term plan for the property that will be reasonable to maintain and supportive of the local ecosystem. I imagine I will be revisiting the course material MANY times over the coming decades!