Their partners include Queen's University, Pathways to Education, Sustainable Eastern Ontario, and the Wintergreen Renewable Energy Co-operative.
[5][6] In April of that year, Upitis attended a conference in Chicago, where she observed numerous skyscrapers and a scarcity of natural spaces.
[3] One week later in spring 2007, Upitis chose the name "Wintergreen" for the facility; a nod to the plant that grew on the South Frontenac property.
She began sourcing local straw for sustainable building construction and assembled an initial board of directors.
[3] These directors were Rena Upitis, Serena Manson, Ann Patteson, Helen Turnbull, and Katherine Smithrim.
By 2013, at a site 15 minutes away from Wintergreen, Upitis and a team of volunteers built a cordwood writer's cabin called the Hermit Hut.
Of the environmentally friendly structures, there are four guest cabins, the Smoke House, the Root Cellar, the Sauna, the Bake Oven, and the Lodge.
The Lodge is the main site for concerts, educational workshops, and other events hosted by Wintergreen, as well as smaller private gatherings.
It features several wooden tent pads, a fire pit, an outhouse, and an outdoor kitchen located on the edge of the meadow, near the cordwood Root Cellar.
In the spring of 2019, Wintergreen built a bee yard called the '9th Meadow Apiary'[10] with support from Alex Pederson of the Limestone Beekeepers’ Guild.
[13] The land is approximately 600 m above sea level and features forests, meadows, streams, marshes, ponds, and granite outcrops.
Birds are commonly sighted and heard in the forest, including black-capped chickadees, blue jays, and red-tailed hawks.
[14] Wintergreen's meadows are found mainly near the Lodge and feature tall grasses with several wildflower species, such as bull thistle and common milkweed.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds, smooth green snakes, and goldenrod crab spiders are a few species observed in the meadow.
An abundance of insects are also present, including beetles, flies, bees, damselflies, dragonflies, butterflies, and moths.
They are governed by an advisory board and hire contract editors, consultants, and graphic artists when a submission is accepted.