Director's Note 6/1/13

Fauns are dropping, the wood duck boxes are shaking, turtles are straying into the parking lot, and the poets are spread across the grounds, writing. The hawks ignore the poets, focusing instead on the ducklings whose mothers attempt to protect them by simulating a broken wing, the equivalent of a duck limp. Everyone is enjoying a day of sunshine and dryer feet, and we look forward to the reading this evening at 7 pm. All those who have participated in the weeklong Woodland Pattern writing workshop at Lynden(guided by Lytle Shaw and Ed Friedman), will have a chance to share their work with you.

Emilie Clark’s exhibition, Sweet Corruptions, opened last Sunday after a week of installation work including an evening visit from Jeremy Triblett and four teens from Urban Underground. They transplanted the seedlings they’d been raising under Venice Williams’s direction into our pilot garden—next to Emilie’s outdoor research station--with help from Emilie and assistant groundskeeper Weston Wagner; the rest of the seedlings will fill their plot at Alice’s Garden. An entire van-load of Urban Undergrounders came over for the opening, as didAngie Curtes who provided the compost for the pilot garden. It was the culmination of, or perhaps a significant moment in, a project that has been in development for nearly two years. Be sure to stop in the house to see Emilie’s paintings, watercolor drawings and installation before you head out to use the microscope, make observations in the log, or catch new inspect specimens for the research station. We are continuing to work on the solar-powered aquaponic system in the station, so you’ll see us puttering out there.

This is probably the last weekend you’ll be able to see the large elm next to the house in its gloriously symmetrical state. Its enviable vase shape will be altered a bit as it undergoes surgery midweek (weather permitting); the tree has developed some significant weaknesses and is currently housing an entire family of raccoons. We hope that the elimination of certain branches and some new bracing will keep it with us for many more years.

Just a reminder that t’ai chi and yoga begin this week (yes, there were people outdoors practicing t’ai chi on Tuesday); that we’re open until 7:30 pm on Wednesdays if you’d like to picnic or borrow Emilie’s butterfly net; and that summer camps begin next week. There are still a few spots left in the
UWM Art Education Institute: Attentive Living: Art, Nature, Place and tickets for the second annual Backyard Barbecue are on sale.

We’ll be adding several activities as we go this summer, so keep an eye on our web calendar and our Facebook page.