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creating and maintaining healthy soil, and eliminating chemicals. An educational event at Agraria in late May included education and presentations on pollinators, raised beds, rain gardens, and composting. To learn more about the Giving Garden Challenge, visit the DRG3 website. REGIONAL FOOD & FARM PARTNERSHIPS Our food work flourishes through multiple partnerships. These include our work with the Tecumseh Land Trust, with whom we have partnered on three Growing Green Conferences and who assists us with our conservation easements and EQIP applications; our work with several regional partners on a USDA food system planning grant; food security work with The Yellow Springs Community Foundation and the Yellow Springs Senior Center; Wildlife Certification work with several Yellow Springs Partners; and a working partnership with Co-op Dayton. Central State University Extension continues to provide us and our farmer partners significant support. Agraria was also instrumental in bringing a Farms and Forestry Climate Adaptation online workshop to Ohio in partnership with OSU Extension and the National Institute for Applied Climate Science. MARY’S WAY By the time this issue of Agraria Journal is published, construction of Mary’s Way, the bikepath connecting Agraria and Yellow Springs, should be about to start or already underway. Agraria’s partnership with AmeriCorps NCCC helped keep this long-anticipated project on schedule. Last year, from October to December, a six-member team from AmeriCorps NCCC worked with Agraria’s land team to clear the way for construction of the mile-long paved trail. They removed honeysuckle and trees along the route, cleared brush, and hauled and rived logs. In the process, they helped generate fence posts, lumber that will be milled and used for construction projects on Agraria, and firewood that was donated to Yellow Springs Pottery. They also created brush piles along the way using the material they cleared to create mitigative habitat for small animals and birds. Plans for the trail, beyond construction, include native plantings alongside the trail, interpretive signage, benches, and a terminus with a patio, bike racks, and a bike repair station adjacent to Agraria’s historic barn. The trail is scheduled for completion in August. Stay tuned for information about our grand opening celebration. JACOBY CREEK STREAM & WETLAND RESTORATION The branches of honeysuckle lying in profusion along the Jacoby Creek corridor through Agraria are signs of the imminent change in store for this environmentally sensitive water way. Work crews from Cincinnati-based Green Corps cut down honeysuckle along the creek and its tributaries in 2019 in preparation for the major work set to begin this fall: rehabilitation and restoration of the stream and surrounding wetlands by The Nature Conservancy. Planning for the project began soon after the purchase AGRARIA JOURNAL 2021 43