Stirrings of Spring can be felt and seen throughout Forest Home. Take a short walk to the Mundy Wildflower Garden, where you can see our native woodland ephemeral flowers. Local resident Connie Engman has created a slideshow to help you learn about and identify these delicate and fleeting gems, which bloom for only a few weeks. The presentation is embedded below. You can also download it to view on your own computer.

In addition, two links are available to help neighbors identify and control two of our most invasive plants. Getting an early start is recommended to remove them. Follow these links for more information:

https://www.fhia.org/wp-content/uploads/Misc/HairyBittercress_2021-04-15.pdf

https://www.fhia.org/wp-content/uploads/Misc/GarlicMustard_2021-04-15.pdf

All Forest Home residents are welcome to join the Annual Meeting either in person at the Forest Home Chapel or via Zoom. The Zoom link has been provided in an email message. As old-timers know, our annual meeting includes election of officers, reports from current officers, and, sometimes decisions on important issues facing the neighborhood. Opinions on all of the above are welcome!

Please contact Herb Engman directly at herbengman@cornell.edu.

Fall pollinator on purple aster

Join us as we resume a popular neighborhood event. After a lapse because of Covid, our annual picnic is back.

We’ll need volunteers and masks are optional. Come and meet new neighbors and celebrate our community.

It is once again time for our annual Spring Clean Up in Forest Home. The event will be self-directed, as it was last year. This will allow flexibility for people who prefer to socially distance. The cleanup will take place on Sat. Apr. 17 from 9:30 am – 1:00 pm. You aren’t expected to work that entire time. That is when Herb and I will be available for assistance. Herb and I will provide a couple of trash grabbers, work gloves and plastic bags to share. We’ll leave them by our back door, so just come by and borrow what you need. We’ll take the trash and debris to Tompkins County Solid Waste and Recycling Center.

Do what you can and stay safe near the roadside. You can also just clean up outside your own house. If you want to choose an area (some of you already have), let me know so that someone else doesn’t duplicate your efforts.

Areas usually covered include Forest Home Park, Warren Rd. up to the streetlights, Forest Home Drive down to the upstream bridge (near Caldwell Rd.), Judd Falls Rd. and McIntyre Rd. and any other area in FH that you feel needs sprucing up.

Thank you for your contribution and let me know if you have questions or would like someone to join you for safety and support. Herb and I are fully vaccinated and glad to work with anyone who wants a buddy.

 

Join us for our annual Forest Home Get-Together and BBQ on Sat., Sept. 14 at 3:00 pm in our Forest Home Park. See the attached invitation for details. This year is significant because it commemorates the 225th year of Forest Home. which was founded in 1794. We will have a special cake and wholesome cupcakes for the children to decorate.

Come join us for a Community Meeting on our Forest Home Walkway on Wed. July 17 from 4:00 – 6:00 PM. We  want to give everyone the time to attend, so come anytime during that time slot. Jim Weber, Town of Ithaca Director of Public Works, and others will be there to facilitate this opportunity for insight and input regarding the improvement of the Forest Home Walkway. Jim says that he will not have any presentation material at this meeting, but he may have existing conditions maps. The meeting will start at the bottom of the path, next to the intersection of Forest Home Drive and Pleasant Grove Rd.


Mulching is Child’s Play! Join your neighbors on Sat., June 8 at 9:00 AM in Forest Home Park for a tree cage weeding and mulching project. Bring work gloves and a small spade or digging tools if you have some, but we will also provide tools and a wheelbarrow. Refreshments will be available. Town of Ithaca has already delivered a load of clean mulch.  

Join neighbors in our annual Spring Cleanup of Forest Home on Sat., April 13 from 9:30 AM – noon (approximately, possibly earlier). We will meet at the Forest Home Park next to the downstream bridge. Coffee, orange juice and both decadent and wholesome baked goods will be provided. Bring a pair of work gloves if you have them, but we’ll provide some, in addition to trash collection bags. We’ll also provide a couple of trash picking tools, but bring one if you have it. Last year, about ten neighbors volunteered and we were done in less than two hours. Help keep our neighborhood free of trash and pollutants.  Come even if you only have limited time because we’ll give you a smaller area to cover. Raindate is the following Sat., April 20, same time.