A Night of 'Magic'+Upcoming Outings+Extreme Rain
A new take on book clubs; Sept./Oct. outings; and let's talk about the weather
This Book Club Invited Local Experts, and ‘Magic’ Happened
It’s pretty wild that a town would have a bookstore dedicated to nature books. It’s even more amazing that it would host a vibrant book club. It’s absolutely insane that the store, along with the town’s active environmental commission, would hold an event at the town’s community center featuring local experts discussing various aspects of the current book club pick.
But there I was at the end of July at the Madison (NJ) Community Arts Center in a packed room listening to four local conservation experts discuss Leigh Ann Henion’s Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark. In the book, the author invites readers to leave their well-lit homes and step outside at night. You don’t have to go far to find wildlife, she says.
Instead of inviting the author to speak, Hailey Brock, owner of The Nature of Reading Bookshop, invited four local experts. Night Magic: A Community Conversation About Dark Skies, Wildlife, and Health, as the event was dubbed, featured experts discussing various parts of Henion’s book as they pertain to New Jersey. The speakers included:
Christine Hepburn, of Friends of the Drew Forest, who spoke on salamanders and amphibians;
Stephen Mariconda, the N.J. delegate for DarkSky International, on the human health impacts of light pollution;
Deb Ellis, leader of the Essex County chapter of the Native Plant Society of New Jersey, on moths and fireflies;
Ginger Van Ryzin, naturalist at the Great Swamp Watershed Association, on owls and bats.
What could’ve been your typical speaking event with the author discussing her book turned into a locally focused, interactive event that got the audience psyched to consider nature at night. Nature-themed book clubs take note.
Upcoming Outings
Looking for outings? Here’s a sampling of some late summer/early fall ones you’ll likely find near you.
Hawk watches are up and running. Aside from being a social way to spend part of your day learning about raptors, you’ll be at a perfect vantage point to view the changing autumnal colors.
Plant walks. Late-season blooms and berry-filled shrubs and trees are the stars of late summer/early fall plant walks, and a nice option before the leaves start turning.
Organized bike rides. Look for inexpensive, easy rides offered by parks, friends groups, nature conservancies, rail trail groups, and towns/cities (which often close off streets for the ride).
Fall birding festivals. In addition to walks, many festivals feature alternative ways to bird, including by kayak, bike, rail biking, and trolley (shout out to New Jersey Audubon’s festival in Cape May, N.J.)
Native plant garden and meadow tours. These keep expanding to include related topics. I recently went on one that included a landscape architect’s green roof; a homeowner whose focus is organic lawn care; and an electric landscaping business owner who told me that quiet robotic lawnmowers are just a couple years away from being widely available.
Porchfests. These free, neighborhood-based music festivals on residents’ front porches, allow you to stroll or bike from house to house to enjoy diverse musical acts. I’ve heard of these events but never attended one—until now. My town is throwing one this month. The first half of the day is on the porches on the east side of town. The second half moves to the west side and takes place on the lawn of a church, and features food trucks.
I post other outings on Instagram @thegreatlocaloutdoors. Follow me.
When It Rains, It Pours
It’s not as easy as simply dressing for the weather anymore especially when it comes to rain. After all, you can’t dress for floods.
Now when it rains, it becomes a matter of how extreme. Are we talking drizzles or torrential downpour? Will driving to an outing mean navigating flooded roads, driving with the hazards on, or pulling off to the side of the highway until the downpour subsides?
More events aren’t just being cancelled once. They’re being completey eliminated. The Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey canceled its outdoor performances this year due to financial pressures caused by extreme weather. It lost over a quarter of its performances in the past two seasons due to excessive heat and rain.
A full-moon bike ride on a rail trail I’d registered for was cancelled last week due to rain and rescheduled for the next day. But trails were so washed out that the event was cancelled again. It might be rescheduled. But the organizers aren’t really sure.
I drove home from a native plant garden tour last week in a torrent of rain. The 40-minute drive was a series of downpours then sunshine repeated over and over.
On the other hand, don’t let a little rain dampen an outing. A self-guided walking garden tour I attended with a group of friends on a rainy day in Lambertville, N.J., went on. We simply re-organized our day around the rain by eating early and popping into coffee shops, brought umbrellas and wore rain jackets.
What I’m Working On, and Past Articles
Native plants continue to be a popular topic among editors. I’m working on articles about urban gardening, plant rescues, and native plant flower-arranging competitions.
I went on a press trip in spring to Northern Ireland where I toured historic homes and gardens. Apparently, unique microclimates in this area allowed wealthy plant-collecting Victorians to fill their landscapes with plants and trees from around the world. I saw my first redwood at one of the gardens! I’m currently writing a piece for a history travel newsletter.
I sent out my Great Local Outdoors book proposal to another publisher, but planning to self-publish anyway. First up is working on my cover.
For Birds & Blooms magazine, I wrote about what to do if you find a fawn in your yard, and understory birds.
My editor at New Jersey Monthly magazine asked me to write an update on the state of butterflies in the Garden States. Here’s the article.
That’s it. Enjoy the weather!
