We work to promote the enhancement, growth and careful use of Mt. Lebanon’s green space parks - BIRD PARK, TWIN HILLS AND ROBB HOLLOW - and to foster an appreciation of and respect for the environment.
The Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy has many nature-based programs, volunteer work days, a native plant sale and more. To learn about our events, please see our list of events.
Here’s to thee, old apple tree,
Whence thou may’st bud and thou may’st blow!
And whence thou may’st bear apples enow!
Hats full! Caps full!
Bushel – bushel – sacks full!
And my pockets full too! Huzza!
Sources: wikipedia and oakden.com.uk
Wassail, Wassail, the old apple tree!
If you need another reason to celebrate the festive season, we are here to tell you about a traditional observance from the apple-growing regions of England that dates to the 1700s or even earlier.
Celebrated on the Twelfth Day of Christmas, aka Twelfth Night (Jan. 5), men would go outside at night and sing to the apple trees. This is an idea the tree-lovers at Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy would have gotten behind!
They’d take mugs of hot cider or “lambswool,” and gather round a tree. They might beat the trunk with sticks or anoint it with some cider, and sing a wassail song or otherwise implore the tree to bear well that year.
Here’s one cheer we found:
“Here stands a good apple tree, stand fast root, Every little twig bear an apple big, Hats full, caps full, and three score sacks full, Hip! Hip! Hurrah!”
The field-visiting wassail tradition probably originated in pagan times, as folk would seek a blessing on their crops in winter. Of course you can also “wassail, wassail all over the town” too.
Here’s how to make lambswool, if you are of age.
MLK Day of Service Program at the high school
Monday, Jan. 19, 9-noon at Mt. Lebanon High School
Appropriate for school age through senior citizen
Registration required; workshop size is limited
Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy will lead a seed-sowing project as part of the municipality’s MLK Jr. Day of Service program. This helps improve Mt. Lebanon’s ecology and resilience by adding food sources and habitat for native pollinators.
We will provide all the materials to allow you to sow native plant seeds in winter and watch them germinate as the weather warms. Participants will leave with two recycled jugs of planted seeds. They may transplant the seedlings into their yards or join us to plant them in a park in June.
To participate, fill out this registration form provided by Mt. Lebanon’s Community Engagement Advisory Committee.
Program: Green Reads book group
Feb. 3, 7-8:30 p.m., Mt. Lebanon Public Library
Book available at the circulation desk in January
Cosponsored by the library and Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy
Join us to discuss the funny but thoughtful book “America the Beautiful? One Woman in a Borrowed Prius on the Road Most Traveled.”
More info HERE.
Also on the Horizon – 2026 Events
We’re proud to offer a range of free programs and volunteer opportunities, and plans for next year are already under way:
Winter
MLK Day of Service project to winter-sow native seeds, Green Reads book group, pop-up Park Improvement Projects, maple syruping
Spring
Park Improvement Project, City Nature Challenge, Native Plants presentations, Native Plant Sale, Earth Day, School in the Park, Green Reads book group
Summer
Nature Journaling, Green Reads book group, Park Improvement Projects
Fall
Park Improvement Projects, Green Reads book group, Mushroom Walk, Annual Event
How you can help Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy
Click on the “donate” button to make a contribution online. Sustaining donations (posted monthly to your credit card) help us the most because they even out the cash flow of our small non-profit organization.
Send a check donation, made out to “Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy,” to: P.O. Box 14901, Pittsburgh, PA 15243. Checks minimize the fees we pay for online processing.
We also highly value the time that volunteers give through the year. Hundreds of people join in to help weed, clip, haul or plant. We welcome other volunteer help, such as working with us to develop new programs; staffing booths at events like Mt. Lebanon’s Earth Day; doing some printing or photocopying; or contributing photographs that we can post to social media or our website.
