Pull knotweed.
Restore the Valley.
Join your neighbors and this season's UVM intern crew for our Wednesday Knot Work Parties — a few good hours along the brook, clearing invasive Japanese knotweed and making room for native habitat to come back.
Small acts of community
add up to large ones.
Japanese knotweed crowds out native plants and destabilizes our riverbanks. Pulling it together — a little at a time, all summer — is how the Valley stays the Valley.
Restore native habitat
Clearing knotweed reopens the brookside for pollinator plantings and the wildflowers that birds and bees depend on.
Meet your neighbors
Locals and second-home folks, side by side with UVM interns — it's the friendliest two hours you'll spend by the river all summer.
Protect our waterways
Healthy banks mean cleaner water in the Mill Brook, Chase Brook and the Mad River — the heart of the whole watershed.
Fayston Knot Work Parties
Add either party straight to your calendar so you don't forget. Rain reschedules — check the Bee app for the latest.
What to bring
No experience needed — just show up ready to get a little muddy. We'll handle the tools and the know-how.
- Closed-toe shoesBoots ideal — riverbanks get slick and uneven.
- Work gloves & waterBring your own if you can; we'll have spares.
- Long sleeves & bug spraySun, ticks and black flies are all in the mix.
- A watering can (optional)Help give the new pollinator plantings a drink.