Category: Home page

The FHIA board is planning for our usual potluck event in the Forest Home Park. We hope that residents will hold the date of Saturday Sept. 9 (with Sunday Sept. 10 as a rain date) for a dish-to-pass gathering in the Forest Home Park. Usually, we meet around 3:00 PM.

Look for a more detailed announcement later. If you can lend a grill, will help set up or clean up, are prepared to take a shift grilling, or can help with garbage or recycling, please let us know by emailing foresthomenews@gmail.com.

Our proposed date for the FHIA Annual Meeting, when officers for the next year are elected, is the evening of Tuesday October 24. Please consider volunteering to be an officer.

Forest Home relies on Tompkins County for a number of services, including maintenance of Warren Road and Pleasant Grove; recycling; property maps; managing elections; public safety through the Sheriff’s Office; and the SIREN system for distributing alerts about emergencies and service interruptions.

The county also provides a variety of services associated with health. A few months ago, the Tompkins County Health Department and Mental Health Department were integrated under the name Tompkins County Whole Health. See https://tompkinscountyny.gov/health/. The integration had been planned for some years as described in https://tompkinscountyny.gov/health/about

Updates have been made recently to several of the web pages related to health:

Some other useful pages on the Tompkins County website that have been updated recently include:

FHIA’s Spring Roadside Cleanup will be on Saturday, April 15 at 10:00 a.m. Sunday, April 16 will be the backup rain date. Volunteers should meet in the park to choose which road they will work on. As usual, the FHIA will provide and collect garbage bags and dispose of them. We also have three “picker-uppers” for loan. These handy gadgets make the task much easier. Bring your own gloves and consider dressing to avoid getting bitten by a tick. Ticks often emerge in the second half of March. See https://tompkinscountyny.gov/health/vector/ticks#prevent for advice.

If you would like to help with cleanup but the date or time is not convenient, pick a stretch of road and send a message to foresthomenews@gmail.com to let the organizers know.

The following week, beginning April 17, the Town of Ithaca will be holding its brush collection from residents. To read more about the brush pickup, go to the Town of Ithaca website at https://www.town.ithaca.ny.us/ and click on “Services”. Or go directly to https://www.town.ithaca.ny.us/brush-collection-drop-off/.

Getting an early start is recommended to control two of our most invasive plants, Garlic Mustard and Hairy Bittercress.

  • Garlic Mustard
  • Hairy Bittercress
Invasives that appear early in the year. Pull them up before they go to seed.

The following resources have more pictures to help identify the plants and recommendations for effective removal.

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

WoodlandEphemeralsDownload

Thanks go to the Town of Ithaca Public Works Department for several new enhancements to the Forest Home Walkway following the major project managed by the Engineering Department over the Summer. Last week, twenty-five new deciduous trees, including sugar maples and tulip trees, were planted alongside the walkway. The saplings are protected from deer by metal fencing and are poking through cardboard. FHIA will be hoping that community members will make sure that they are watered adequately; if you are prepared to help, send email to foresthomenews@gmail.com.

Connie Stirling-Engman took these three photos of the trees to the right of the Walkway coming down: near the top; looking back; and looking down

There are more trees further down, near the flat section. At the base of the Walkway, the crosswalk has been re-painted and the Stop sign has been moved to improve the sightline for vehicles wanting to turn left across the bridge. Last week, the Town brought some topsoil to put on the slope between the Stop sign and the path. Some of the day-lilies that have been near this intersection for decades have been rescued and planted in this triangular patch. Let’s hope for some rain to help them get re-established.

Photos near the base of the Walkway by Caroline Arms

If you see any of the Town of Ithaca staff working in the area, please let them know how much the community appreciates their efforts to keep the Walkway safe and attractive. It has been in use for over a hundred years [see The Path] and we hope it will serve generations to come.

If anyone is interested in helping with some trail improvement work in the area across Flat Rock Bridge, Charlie Trautmann is organizing a work party on Sunday November 6 from 9am to 3pm — come any time, leave any time. [Reminder: that’s the day that clocks change at 2am.]. Lunch and snacks will be provided. Bring gloves and good shoes (plus shovel, wheelbarrow if you have them). The location is shown at https://goo.gl/maps/vmfRHDDdA8TGXreC7. And here’s a photo of the bridge that might help you find the location on Forest Home Drive between Caldwell Road and Varna.

Suspension bridge across Fall Creek by Flat Rock. [photo by Connie Stirling Engman]

Another date to remember is that the Town of Ithaca will be vacuuming leaves starting on November 7. For details, see https://www.town.ithaca.ny.us/leaf-collection/

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

Please save the date for the annual meeting of the Forest Home Improvement Association. As old-timers know, the annual meeting includes election of officers, reports from current officers, and, sometimes decisions on important issues facing the the neighborhood. Whether the meeting will be in-person at the Forest Home Chapel or virtual will depend on the virus situation closer to the date. Opinions on all the above welcome! Please contact Herb Engman directly at herbengman@cornell.edu.

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.

The FHIA board is suggesting that we hold our usual potluck event in the Forest Home Park, as long as people are ready for it and public health guidelines indicate that it is safe. This longstanding community tradition has been on hold because of COVID.

The last full picnic was in 2019, when Forest Home celebrated its 225th birthday. See https://photos.app.goo.gl/v93TrT5HfkYBfSpq8. In 2020, we had a socially distanced scavenger hunt. See https://fhia.org/pictures-of-forest-home/scavenger-hunt-september-12-2020/. In 2021, we had hoped to have the usual barbecue and potluck, but, because of a surge in the Delta virus, simplified it to an ice cream social.

We hope that residents will hold the date of Sat. Sept. 17 (with Sat. Sept. 24 as a rain date) for a dish-to-pass gathering in the Forest Home Park. Usually, we meet around 3:00 PM.

Look for a more detailed announcement later. If you can lend a grill, will help set up or clean up, are prepared to take a shift grilling, or can help with garbage or recycling, please let us know by emailing foresthomenews@gmail.com.