The annual Genesis Grounds Enhancement Day (aka Grounds Cleanup Day) will be Sunday, April 25, from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. In person! Please join us as we work/play together with our brothers and sisters from Temple Beth Emeth to not only take care of routine grounds maintenance but also to enhance and improve the aesthetics and usability of our property.
This will be a COVID-safe event! We have lots of room to spread out for proper distancing and masks will be required. Please bring your own mask, snacks, water bottle, and lawn/gardening equipment, marked with your name.
Children are welcome and encouraged to join us! We’ll have seedlings for all kids attending, either to take home or plant with their parents on the grounds.
from the Genesis Grounds Committee (Phil Barr, Co-Chair, call/text 734-717-4040 or pbarr@umich.edu; Sarah Weiss, Co-Chair, email at sarahweiss13@gmail.com)
- Butterfly Garden – Our new butterfly garden went in last summer and the sprouts are coming back up. You’ll see it on path to the right towards the back parking lot as you leave the sanctuary. This year is still quite modest, but iIt will continue to develop over the next few years and contribute to strengthening our local biodiversity. Please talk to Sarah if you have butterfly loving plants or other ideas to contribute. On the subject of biodiversity…
- Biodiversity – No herbicides and pesticides – Last year our Grounds Committee with the unanimous approval or the Genesis boards approved eliminating herbicides and pesticides. We’re learning. With the help of our lawn service, the Genesis Staff and other experienced gardeners, AND OUR VOLUNTEERS, we’ve gotten through the first year. One of the initiatives sparked by stopping to use herbicides is …
- Donate plants for ground cover – Now that we are no longer using herbicide to control the weeds we are looking for alternatives. In the three large lower-level window wells which surround the sanctuary, we are working to establish a healthy groundcover. The following is a partial list of plants that are not aggressively invasive. We’re asking congregants to donate from their gardens to plant in the window wells. Some common ground covers are: sedum, hosta low growing ferns, lily of the valley, ajuga (bugleweed), spotted deadnettle (lamium), pachysandra and low growing ferns. If you have some ready, bring them to the cleanup day, and we’ll get them planted. Otherwise, keep us in mind as you clean-up your beds at home over the next couple of years. Contact Sarah or Phil with questions.