Several years ago, a tourist magazine announced Landis Arboretum’s nature writing classes. I made it to the very last class in July. Twelve of us crowded onto a porch with Susannah Risley to write odes to nature. It was fun and inspiring, and for the next few summers, I inhaled those sessions sponsored by Poets & Writers getting to know the wonder and beauty that is Landis Arboretum. I also made friends with Wilma Jozwiak and Pam Trickett, two wonderful Landis volunteers.
A former professor of English, I taught nature writing every semester as part of the college’s composition course offerings. They always filled: NJ students were hungry for nature and loved to go outside as part of the class. I have long kept nature journals and written about herbs.
But that was writing alone. Now I was part of something bigger. At Landis, I found a writing home, a community to write for and with -- and to cultivate my voice as a nature writer. When Susannah retired, I stepped into her shoes as instructor and have loved every session. Our meetings are so incredibly inspiring and stimulating that I smile all the way home, with new eyes for nature.
Reading Fred Lape’s memoir, I can see why his father fell in love with the property: the views of Schoharie Valley, the land’s interesting contours, and forests with rocks and inclines. I can also see why his mother was unhappy with the choice, since profitably arable land it is not.
That said, the Van Loveland gardens are an incredible repository of perennials, achieving color and beauty in every season. Landis supports a world-class collection of native trees and shrubs and offers some excellent plant sales.
I have become one of Landis Arboretum’s champions: I tell everyone about their offerings and plant sales. Several folks from my Cooperstown area attend programs and buy plants there. At every nature writing session, I encourage folks to buy plants outside the very door. Certainly, I do.
Landis has fed my gardening habit, increasing and improving the variety within my gardens: unusual natives like wild quince; hard-to-find perennials like the red-pink ‘Alma Potschke’ and ‘Raspberry Surprise’ asters; organic herbs, including blue flax and Canadian Saint John’s wort; and reliable stalwarts like blue anise hyssop and the red, orange, purple, and white varieties of Echinacea.
My nature writing classes offer a supportive community of writers a place to be together to share thoughts and experiences. They use their senses to write nature journals, consciously discovering what they’ve unconsciously seen and sensed all their lives. Together, we explore childhood memories, vacations, and animals we have known. For short writing prompts, the writers go outdoors to walk the trails, visit the trees and water and boulders, and write about the nature so abundantly displayed here.
On the porch, we sit together at tables, some coming in on zoom, reacting to short readings, then investigating our sense of place, and connecting to nature as we uncover the layers embedded within our outdoor experiences. On chilly days, we sometimes sit inside Fred Lape’s house.
This summer, writers focused on the seasonality of summer: a phoebe learning to fly, the ripening of tomatoes, hydrangeas blooming, the subtle and obvious differences between July and August. All wrote of personal connections to nature, with cultural, historical, and political observations layered in as they grew as nature writers. All grew in ability and agility, trying new forms. They made new friends, cheered each other on, and shared books, local events, library offerings, their hearts and souls. In addition to their writing, folks shared produce and flowers from their gardens, cakes and muffins from their ovens, even origami.
Participants love being at Landis Arboretum, a beautiful natural setting. Once they come here, they return to other programs, offer their own talents, support the plant sales, visit the bookstore, and keep in touch with me and the other participants. In addition, besides fostering good writing with feedback, we are keeping in touch with nature, fostering environmental concerns, and building self-confidence.
As our world keeps getting more industrialized and computerized, as towns yield to development more and more, our connection to nature is declining. Research has shown that being in nature can help us destress, can ease high blood pressure, get us walking and using our senses.
Landis is truly a sanctuary for nature lovers, new and experienced. Always there are hikers on the trails, taking in the views, listening to birdsong and tree frogs. Families bring children and elders to breathe the fresh air, listen to the fir trees, and what today we call “forest bathe.” I am grateful to be a small part of this wonderful place and hope Fred Lape knows that what he started has continued in so many ways.