Pearlstone

Land Stewardship

Generous soil, clean air, and pure water are the most fundamental gifts we hold as we embrace this land.

In collaboration with nature, we offer these gifts in the form of a profound sensory experience.

We embrace the contours, viewscapes, and latent abundance to grow a landscape that we can taste, smell, hear, see, and touch. New ecological stewardship practices carefully leverage the regenerative nature of fields, forests, waterways, and biology of the natural world.

USDA Organic Certified Farm

We use sustainable agriculture practices including onsite composting, integrated pest management, and drip irrigation to minimizes water waste. Harvesting produce to serve our guests offers the uncommon dining experience of eating foods that were grown within view of their plate. For those who seek to share in the harvest, we invite you to explore our community offerings:

Upick Berries Pearlstone CSA

Restoring the Land

In 2017 we began to reinforce ecosystem functions that will continuously enrich this land over time. Our stewardship practices are enhancing the campus with lush forest, multifunctional meadows, vibrant wetlands, and beautiful landscaping. Learn more about recent major restoration projects:

Tëmakwehane Stream Restoration Prescribed Fire Meadow Management

Experiential Outdoor Education

The Pearlstone Campus serves as a vibrant outdoor classroom. Come learn from our eco-stewardship experts and talented educators about the land, water and other natural resources at Pearlstone!

Eco-Workshops & Programs

Tree Planting

In the Chesapeake Region, forests which once covered 95% of the watershed now only cover 55%. The long-term benefits of planting trees are numerous and far-reaching. To help address this issue, Pearlstone is planting hundreds of trees on our campus. Join us in this endeavor with a Gift a Tree.

Contribute to Pearlstone Reforestation with a Gift that Grows!

A memorable gift for many occasions:

In honor of birth, graduation, or marriage
As a birthday or anniversary gift
In memory of a loved one or pet
Jewish holidays such as Rosh HaShanah or Tu BiShvat
Just because you care about the environment

Choose your donation amount:

$100 provides the resources to plant one tree on the Pearlstone Campus
$180 = 2 trees
$250 = 3 trees

Land Acknowledgement

At Pearlstone, we strive to live in balance and harmony with all life. Grounded in principles of caretaking and responsible stewardship, we grow and share healthy food, we go into the wilderness to heal and gain new perspectives; we learn, pray, and engage with our traditions in chorus with the forests and living waters.

Long before we began these practices on this land, this was the sacred home of the Susquehanna and Piscataway peoples. For more than ﬁve hundred years, Indigenous communities across the Americas have demonstrated resilience and resistance in the face of violence, colonization, displacement, and genocide- all efforts to separate them from their lands, cultures, and communities.  Too often their history is erased.  

Today Indigenous peoples remain at the forefront of the global movement to build a just and sustainable future for our planet and all its inhabitants. We honor the ancestors and living descendants of the Susquehannock and Piscataway peoples, and all indigenous peoples throughout the world.  As we work towards justice, we can and will make mistakes. We will continue to work towards making it right.

Pearlstone is an inclusive Jewish organization anchored in universal values, welcoming people of all backgrounds from across our bioregion, continent, and planet. Jews have experienced exile and persecution, bigotry and violence—and while this painful history helps stir empathy with all Indigenous peoples, Jews are not indigenous to this land and therefore cannot truly understand the unique historical journey and contemporary reality of the Indigenous peoples here. 

What Jews—and all people—can do is authentically honor Indigenous peoples who have stewarded this land for thousands of years and express our love for and solidarity with Indigenous peoples, and our commitment to Indigenous rights and justice.  With open ears and open hearts, we walk alongside our Indigenous brothers and sisters on the path ahead.

What traditional territory do you live on?

Learn more about the history of indigenous people where you live.

Native Land Digital

Gift a Tree