Donna's in the Food Forest

@oncontour.bsky.social

1826 Followers 1310 Following

Posts from the Native Food Forest and Rain Garden project at Christ the King Lutheran Church in SW Ohio. A work by the community for the community. Original plant lists & layouts here: https://www.ctkluth.org/food-forest.html

Periodical Cicada molting
Carpenter Bee flying toward Blue Wild Indigo (Baptisia australis) in the native food forest at Christ the King Lutheran Church in West Chester, Ohio
The wooden sign at Christ the King Lutheran Church which reads "Native Food Forest." QR code on the sign leads to webpage about the food forest here https://www.ctkluth.org/food-forest.html
Close-up of newly emerged cicada resting on Ostrich Fern.
Bright red and yellow flowers of Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) in the native food forest at Christ the King Lutheran Church.
A cluster of mushrooms together in the mulch of the native food forest.
Photograph of the Rain Garden in May of 2025 at Christ the King Lutheran Church in West Chester, Ohio. Golden Ragwort blooming in yellow in the swale and Red Columbine blooming on the berm.
Brown Bench outside in a grassy area with two chairs next to it.
Gloved hand painting letters on a brown wooden sign using white paint.
Native Food Forest Sign in progress at Christ the King Lutheran Church in West Chester, Ohio.
Large green leaves of rhubarb (Rheum cultorum) showing off in the food forest.
Lush April greens of Cutleaf Coneflowers (Rudbeckia laciniata)
Close-up of young lamb looking up at the camera.
Two sheep in a photo with Permaculture expert Doug Crouch of TreeYo Permaculture. One sheep looks particularly pleased with itself. Boards and electric fence in the background.
A young Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) emerging from the leaf litter.
Milkweed seedlings growing in nursery pots under artificial lights. The lights are only a few inches over the leaves.
Cover of Indigenous Landscape's "Native Plant Agriculture" book, which says, "Applicable to the Midwest, South, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic," and "Volume 1 - Responding to Biodiversity Loss and Climate Change with Large Scale Ecological Restoration"
One tiny green sprout of Physalis grisea (Annual Ground Cherry) has emerged in the winter sowing container. This is the first seedling of the year. Spotted on March 22nd 2025.
Plastic containers used as mini greenhouses to grow annual vegetables. This "winter sowing" method can also be used in the spring. Seeds planted in these containers include peppers, onions, parsley, basil and tomatoes.
Baby bunny hiding under a small amount of brush including grass, leaves, twigs, and seedballs from a sweetgum tree. This was under a tree.
"If we throw mother nature out the window, she comes back in the door with a pitchfork." Masanobu Fukuoka
Black Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillar (Papilio polyxenes) enjoying its host plant Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea) in the native food forest at Christ the King Lutheran Church in West Chester, Ohio.
Baby bunny warming itself in the sun on brick patio watching over mini-greenhouses full of seedlings grown using the winter sowing method.
A photo of the sunset behind an Anise Hyssop flower with a Bumble Bee on it taken in July of 2024 in the native food forest at CtK Lutheran Church in West Chester, Ohio. The text reads, "Insects are not optional. It's not okay if they disappear. Insects are the primary drivers of our ecosystems. If they go, we go. - Dr. Douglas Tallamy"
Photo shows the native edible and medicinal plants in the rain garden at Christ the King Lutheran Church thriving only one year after being planted.
Photo shows plants lined up in pots and ready to be planted in the swale of the newly created rain garden at Christ the King Lutheran Church in West Chester, Ohio.
Winter Sowing containers on a snow-covered patio.
Photo shows three cocoa colored organisms called Chocolate Tube Slime (Stemonitis) on an old, decaying branch. They look kind of like little brown mops.
A child's hands unwrapping a native annual groundcherry (Physalis grisea) fruit from its papery husk. Text reads, "There's never been a better time to add some food to your garden."
A patch of Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) showing off it's colorful red and green fall foliage.
One Eastern Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa virginica) is perched atop the bloom of an Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) plant in the native food forest at Christ the King Lutheran Church in West Chester, Ohio.
And invitation to a presentation titled, "What is a native food forest?" Photo includes two garden volunteers working among the spring blooming flowers of Eastern Bee Balm (Monarda bradburiana) and other groundcovers (Wild Strawberries and Purple Poppy Mallow) in the rows of young trees in the food forest.
Photo of a person's finger next to Fluted Bird's Nest Fungi to show the small scale of the mushrooms in the wood chips.
Fluted Bird's Nest Fungi (Cyathus striatus) growing in the woodchips in the native food forest at Christ the King Lutheran Church in West Chester, Ohio.
Common Blue Violets (Viola sororia) blooming in a group with violet seedlings growing all around them.
This is a digital image of Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) in bloom with red and yellow flowers on green foliage. It was created by tracing elements of the plant in photographs using the freehand tool in PowerPoint. The shapes were then colored using the eye dropper tool and applying color gradients.
Pollen covered Bumble Bee rolling in a bright fuchsia flower of Purple Poppy Mallow (Callirhoe involucrata) with seedheads of Eastern Beebalm (Monarda bradburiana) in the foreground. Photo from the native food forest at Christ the King Lutheran Church in West Chester, Ohio.
Mutinus elegans also know as the Devil's Dipstick or Elegant Stinkhorn growing out of the mulch in our native food forest.
Bright yellow umbels of Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea) blooming in the native food forest in the spring of 2024 at Christ the King Lutheran Church in West Chester, Ohio.
Two (fifth instar) Monarch Butterfly caterpillars (Danaus plexippus) eating leaves of Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Carpenter Bee pollinating the lavender colored flowers of Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) in the rain garden feature in the native food forest at Christ the King Lutheran Church in West Chester, Ohio.
Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens) pollinating the flowers of Maryland Senna (Senna marilandica) in the native food forest at Christ the King Lutheran Church in West Chester, Ohio.
A volunteer tending the native food forest in the backyard of Christ the King Lutheran Church in West Chester, Ohio.
Photo shows the long tap root of a Wild Lupine seeding being transplanted from a winter sowing container in the spring.
Mini greenhouses made of common plastic food containers and jugs covered in snow on the patio. Native seeds have been planted in the potting soil inside. This is called Winter Sowing.
Spring Fieldcap Mushrooms (Agrocybe praecox) growing in the woodchip mulch in the rows of the young food forest.
Beautiful red and yellow flower of Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) a native Ohio plant blooming in the spring.
Two-spotted Bumble Bee pollinating Anise Hyssop in the Native Food Forest at Christ the King Lutheran Church, West Chester, Ohio
A young Serviceberry tree is surrounded by Wild Strawberries, Purple Poppy Mallow, Showy Wild Garlic and Small Yellow Wild Indigo. Cages protect the young plants from deer and rabbits.
A Common Eastern Bumble Bee is enjoying the flowers of a Jerusalem artichoke aka Sunchoke (Helianthus tuberosus) in our native food forest.
Peck's Skipper pollinating the flower of a Smooth Blue Aster (Symphyotrichum laeve) in the native food forest in late September.
Plastic containers are used to germinate native plant seeds using the "Winter Sowing" method. Photo shows hundreds of seedlings emerging from the soil in dozens of jugs in the spring of 2022. These plants were installed in the native food forest at Christ the King Lutheran Church in West Chester, Ohio. Full plant list here: https://www.ctkluth.org/food-forest.html
A bumble bee is dangling from a blossom of Nodding Wild Onion (Allium cernuum) in the native food forest at Christ the King Lutheran Church in West Chester, Ohio.
Volunteers in the native food forest at Christ the King Lutheran Church enjoy spring blooms of Eastern BeeBalm (Monarda bradburiana) as they work in the soil.