2023 was a big year at TRC! We'd like to take this opportunity to thank our entire community for the support you've consistently provided, whether in the form of volunteer hours, sharing of ideas, financial support, or any combination of the above.

Click below to see a year-end message from Ben.

Below are highlights of TRC's accomplishments in 2023:

• More than 3000 trees and shrubs were planted in 2023, bringing our grand total to 11,360, enhancing biodiversity, water quality, and soil health on previously degraded lands, while also planting nutrient-dense foods for human nourishment.

• More than 400 volunteers and students have participated in our activities, building our community as well as their individual knowledge bases to share more broadly with friends and family and their own communities.

• Our "Build-Your-Own Permaculture Design Course" (PDC) offered a flexible learning schedule for those who wished to dig in a bit deeper to the broad topic of permaculture.

• TRC received a 3-year Healthy Soils Grant from the State of Maryland for our Tree of Life Project.

• Ben presented a wide array of talks over the course of three-days to the EPA Region III in Philadelphia.

• Ben and the REED Center were featured on several public media stations, including PBS and MPT.

For 2024, we are currently building out plans for the following:

• The first round of plantings for the Tree of Life. Many plants have already been purchased and should be arriving soon. (For more on this project, see diagram below for overview or visit our website here for detailed description).

• Morning View Community Days. Based on a recent survey of our volunteers, we decided to expand our volunteer days to every Saturday (rather than 1st and 3rd Saturdays). We hope to combine these workdays with educational talks, tours of the land, movie nights, and more. We welcome your ideas on what would be of most interest to you, our TRC community. Please take a moment to answer a few short questions and share any other ideas here.

• Pond-Building to help provide resilience in times of drought and ensure adequate water is always available to support all forms of life flourishing on this land

• Additional research and public speaking engagements to broaden, deepen, and disseminate the work of TRC

General Updates

• YOGA classes: Will begin again January 14, 2024. For details, please visit the website here in early January.

• PDC courses: The next TRC PDC Course will take place in May 2025. Stay tuned for details.

• Volunteer opportunities on-site: If you'd like to be kept in the loop on volunteer opportunities on-site, please add your name here.