2024 Activities at Landis: The Makings of an Exciting Year!

Lan­dis has always been a place to learn about the nat­ur­al world around us – and also to learn about our­selves in rela­tion­ship to that world. Our activ­i­ties this year will give you lots of oppor­tu­ni­ties for both. Let your fin­gers do the walk­ing right to our web­site at https://​lan​dis​ar​bore​tum​.org/​e​vents for more infor­ma­tion on all of this year’s great class­es and activ­i­ties. Scroll down to see dates and links to descrip­tions for our 2024 activ­i­ties as planned to date.

We’re incred­i­bly for­tu­nate to have the friend­ship of Board mem­ber and nature edu­ca­tor George Steele, who will bring 13 class­es to the Lan­dis cam­pus this year, includ­ing old favorites as well as such new options as For­est Bathing Mind­ful­ness Explo­ration, Comet Tsuchin­shan-ATLAS Watch Night Walk, and Big Sit Bird Count. Every year more peo­ple become ​“George groupies” after par­tic­i­pat­ing in his fun and infor­ma­tion packed offer­ings. George’s class­es are sup­port­ed in part by a grant from Stewarts. 

The spring House­plant Swap returns this year for all house­plant afi­ciona­dos — you won’t want to miss this event!

The Albany Area Ama­teur Astronomers are return­ing with their Star Par­ties — six oppor­tu­ni­ties to gaze at the stars in Lan­dis dark skies. We have our fin­gers crossed that the weath­er coop­er­ates this season! 

Our Book­store in the barn, a vast col­lec­tion of books on every top­ic from plant- and gar­den-relat­ed to nov­els and non­fic­tion, will of course, be open dur­ing our two Plant Sales, but also on Book Sale Sat­ur­days once a month dur­ing the sea­son. All sales are by dona­tion; our many sat­is­fied cus­tomers say it’s a great deal!

Our new blue­bird nest­ing box vol­un­teer, Shayne Mitchell, is help­ing bring aware­ness of all things blue­bird by facil­i­tat­ing two class­es, Set­ting Up a Blue­bird Nest Box, and Blue­bird Trail Walk. Shayne is work­ing with the Edu­ca­tion Com­mit­tee to plan a Blue­bird Lot­tery that will give peo­ple a chance to guess which nest box will pro­duce the first fledg­lings (check our web­site soon for more infor­ma­tion on the lot­tery). Shayne also ini­ti­at­ed the effort to devel­op a new blue­bird trail brochure, draft­ed the text for our new web­site page on Bird­ing at Lan­dis, and wrote the first entry in our new Bird Blog.

We’ll have a spring writ­ing series again, thanks to a grant from Poets and Writ­ers. Susan­nah Ris­ley will teach a four-ses­sion series on Nature in Flash Fic­tion. Writ­ers of any expe­ri­ence lev­el can sign up for one or more of the class­es, as your avail­abil­i­ty allows.

Once again, the restora­tive, relax­ing prac­tice of Yoga comes to Lan­dis with Vanes­sa Cham­bers’ Out­door Yoga — Know & Nur­ture: An Adven­ture in Self Explo­ration. Vanes­sa focus­es each of the five ses­sions on one aspect of the nat­ur­al world.

We’ll soon be able to tell you who will be per­form­ing at our Live at Lan­dis Full Moon Music Series. We know they will be great, and the out­stand­ing acoustics in the Nicholas J. Juried Meet­ing House pro­vides the per­fect stage for the musicians.

The Lan­dis Peren­ni­al For­est 5K has become a don’t‑miss activ­i­ty for many run­ners (and walk­ers) in the area. The 5K will be held on August 10 this year; vis­it our web­site for more infor­ma­tion and to register.

And, of course, our won­der­ful Spring and Fall Plant, Book, and Bake Sales will return, with a mem­bers-only Pick of the Pots Sale (POPS) on the Fri­day evening before each sale (see below for sale dates). If you are not a mem­ber, you can join on arrival and enjoy the oppor­tu­ni­ty to shop ear­ly, AND enjoy light refresh­ments and beverages.

Final­ly, our Vol­un­teer Recog­ni­tion event will return in the fall, with an invi­ta­tion to every­one who has been a vol­un­teer AND any­one who is vol­un­teer-curi­ous. It’s always a great time to meet peo­ple, and to see the annu­al vol­un­teer awards presented.

You can find all these great oppor­tu­ni­ties on our web­site at https://​lan​dis​ar​bore​tum​.org/​e​vents, or just click on the name of the activ­i­ty below. If you’d like a print­able two page cal­en­dar, click here. You can reg­is­ter online using Pay­Pal and your cred­it card. You can also reg­is­ter by call­ing the office at 518−875−6935 with your cred­it card in hand. Pro­grams and events con­tin­ue to be added through the sea­son, so keep check­ing back to see what’s up at Landis!

Set­ting Up a Blue­bird Nest Box. Sat­ur­day, March 9, 10:00 AM. Instruc­tor: Shayne Mitchell

House Plant Swap. Sat­ur­day, April 27, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Annu­al Spring Hawk Watch & Hawk Iden­ti­fi­ca­tion Work­shop. Sat­ur­day, April 27, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM. Instruc­tor: George Steele, sci­ence educator

Blue­bird Trail Walk. Sat­ur­day, May 4, 1:00. PM. Instruc­tor: Shayne Mitchell

Star Par­ties, host­ed by the Albany Ama­teur Astron­o­my Asso­ci­a­tion. Sat­ur­day, May 4, 9:00 PM; Fri­day, June 7, 10:00 PM; Sat­ur­day, July 6, 10:00 PM; Sat­ur­day, August 3, 9:30 PM; Thurs­day, August 15, 7:30 PM (AAAA Annu­al Meet­ing with Star Par­ty to fol­low); and Sat­ur­day, Sep­tem­ber 28, 8:00 PM

Out­door Yoga — Know & Nur­ture. An Adven­ture in Self Explo­ration. Sat­ur­days, May 11, June 8, July 13, August 10, and Sep­tem­ber 14, 2:00 PM. Instruc­tor: Vanes­sa Chambers

Moth­er’s Day Bird Walk Sun­day, May 12, 6:00 AM. Instruc­tor: George Steele, sci­ence educator

Prepar­ing for the 2024 Spring Plant Sale. Fri­day, May 17, 9:00 AM

Pick of the Pots (POPs) 2024: A Mem­bers-Only Spring Plant Sale Pre­view Par­ty. Fri­day, May 17, 4:00 PM

Lan­dis Book Sale Sat­ur­day at the Plant Sale. Sat­ur­day and Sun­day, May 18 & 19, 10:00 AM

Lan­dis 2024 Sig­na­ture Spring Plant, Book, and Bake Sale. Sat­ur­day and Sun­day, May 18 & 19, 10:00 AM

Wood­cock Search and Sneak-up. Fri­day, May 24, 8:30 PM. George Steele, sci­ence educator

Nature In Flash Fic­tion. Sun­days, May 26, June 2, 9, and 23, 1:00 – 3:00 PM Instruc­tor: Susan­nah Risley

Water­fall Hike. Sat­ur­day, June 1, 2:00. PM. Instruc­tor: George Steele, sci­ence educator

Lan­dis Book Sale Sat­ur­day. Sat­ur­days, June 8, July 13, and August 10, 10:00 AM – 2:00PM

Prun­ing 2024 — The Basics and Beyond!. Fri­day, June 21, 9:00 AM. Fred Breglia, Lan­dis Arbore­tum Exec­u­tive Direc­tor and ISA cer­ti­fied arborist

Straw­ber­ry Moon Cel­e­bra­tion. Fri­day, June 21, 8:00 PM. Instruc­tor: George Steele, sci­ence educator

Old Growth For­est Hike. Sat­ur­day July 6, 2:00 PM Instruc­tor: George Steele, sci­ence educator

Prun­ing Part II: Hands-on Expe­ri­ence in the Field. Fri­day, July 12, 10:00 AM — 12:00 PM. . Fred Breglia, Lan­dis Arbore­tum Exec­u­tive Direc­tor and ISA cer­ti­fied arborist

Amphib­ian and Rep­tile Search. Sun­day, July 14, 2:00 PM. Instruc­tor: George Steele, sci­ence educator

Pond Explo­ration. Sat­ur­day, August 3, 2:00 PM Instruc­tor: George Steele, sci­ence educator

Lan­dis 2024 Peren­ni­al For­est 5K Run. Sat­ur­day, August 10, 8:00 AM

Sum­mer Nature Walk. Sun­day, August 11, 2:00 PM. George Steele, sci­ence educator

Prepar­ing for the 2024 Fall Plant Sale. Fri­day, Sep­tem­ber 6, 9:00 AM

Pick of the Pots (POPs) 2024: A Mem­bers-Only Fall Plant Sale Pre­view Par­ty Fri­day, Sep­tem­ber 6, 4:00 PM. 

Lan­dis 2024 Sig­na­ture Fall Plant, Book, and Bake Sale. Sat­ur­day and Sun­day, Sep­tem­ber 7 & 8, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Lan­dis Book Sale Sat­ur­day at the Fall Plant Sale. Sat­ur­day and Sun­day, Sep­tem­ber 7 & 8, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

For­est Bathing Mind­ful­ness Explo­ration. Sun­day, Sep­tem­ber 8, 2:00 PM. George Steele, sci­ence educator

Comet Tsuchin­shan-ATLAS Watch Night Walk. Sat­ur­day, Sep­tem­ber 28, 8:00 PM. George Steele, sci­ence educator

Vol­un­teer Appre­ci­a­tion Event. Sun­day, Sep­tem­ber 29, 12:00 PM

Big Sit Bird Watch, Sun­day, Octo­ber 13, 6:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Annu­al Hal­loween Owl Prowl. Sat­ur­day, Octo­ber 26, 7:00 PM. Instruc­tor: George Steele, sci­ence educator

Dec­o­rat­ing with Native Green­ery 2024. Sat­ur­day, Novem­ber 30, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM. Instruc­tor: Don­na Vin­cent, flo­ral designer