With the Adopt a Room program, we invite your small group, family, or other group of committed individuals to take ownership of a space at Pathways. Your group would receive training on how to care for the space from Pathways staff at the beginning and throughout your time as caretakers of the space.
WHAT IS A PATHWAYS ROOM?
We use the word “room” to describe any space at Pathways Retreat. While it can refer to a room in the retreat house, it more typically refers to an outdoor space on the property. Outdoor rooms at Pathways include:
Wildflower Meadow - This space includes the meditation nooks and approximately one acre of native grasses and forbs.
Meadowlands - Meadowlands is approximately 3 ½ acres, immediately North and East of the retreat house and the Front Labyrinth. We are in the idea and design stage for reclaiming this space from invasive grasses and decades of neglect.
Oak Savanna - Young trees populate this ½ acre room. In the decades to come this room will be an open grassland under a grove of giant trees.
Front Labyrinth - This Chartres-style labyrinth is home to an oak in its center that someday will provide shade for the entire labyrinth.
Walnut Grove Labyrinth - The largest labyrinth at Pathways is home to several young walnut trees.
The size and intensity of need of your room can be tailored to your group's size and desired time commitment.
wHY ADOPT A ROOM?
These outdoor spaces need to be tended. The needs vary with the space, but one of the most important issues is managing invasive species. Our natural world is increasingly stressed by these invasives, and Pathways is no exception. We may never be able to eliminate these invasives, but with diligence they can be managed.
wHAT IS EXPECTED OF OUR GROUP IF WE ADOPT A ROOM?
We’re looking for a multi-year commitment to tending the well-being of a defined physical space. When you adopt a Pathways room, we’d expect you to regularly visit the space to monitor how invasives are doing, and make plans to address any issues that arise. As an example, the Meadowlands property is currently threatened by Hairy Vetch. This invasive is easily identified in early summer by its purple bloom. Removing it at the height of the bloom is critical, before viable seeds can be formed and released. So a group that adopts the Meadowland would be committed to monitoring the growth of Hairy Vetch in Meadowlands, and self-organize to make sure members of your group are there to remove and destroy the invasive in the weeks when it is most active.
wHAT TRAINING DO YOU PROVIDE? aRE WE EXPECTED TO BE EXPERTS IN INVASIVES MANAGEMENT?
We will teach you what you need to know about identifying and managing invasives. For example, our staff would work with you to identify the key invasives, identify any timing issues, and help you train your people in proper removal and disposal. Through our training, you would develop expertise in managing invasives.
i'M INTERESTED! hOW DO i GET STARTED?
You can contact our volunteer coordinator. Whether you have a group of committed individuals assembled and are ready to start working or you think this is a neat idea and want to learn more to decide if it's right for you, we would love to hear from you!