“There is nothing better than to drink a cup of tea and read a book,” Jodi Gregory said. “Books are my best friends.”
A self-professed “fanatic about reading,” she said that she’s been reading voraciously since the age of four. Her home is filled with books – organized by genre – and an ever-growing pile of books to be read. Jodi reads a lot of fiction, but her tastes are eclectic, ranging from books on travel and rural living, to books about books and bookstores, to books about musicians and bands (including the Seattle-based 80s grunge bands). She is a member of two reading groups: Bram Stoker’s classic “Dracula” is next on the list for discussion in one of those groups. For several years, she operated a used book shop in Esperance.
When she moved back to the area about thirty years ago, Jodi was naturally drawn to Landis “because it’s so peaceful, so renewing” -- and within a short drive from her home. She was a regular at the Arboretum’s plant sales. She happened to stop by the Arboretum’s book store last year and, after talking with longtime volunteer Gus Polli, offered her services at the store. “It was my conversation with Gus that made me realize that I could be volunteering at the Arboretum,” Jodi remembered.
“They gave me a key my second time volunteering,” she said. “Everyone’s been so welcoming. They made me feel like part of the family. It’s been such a joy.”
Since then, she’s been busy cleaning and sorting and organizing. And now she’s agreed to take over the responsibility for the Arboretum’s book store.
Jodi’s life hasn’t been all books, however. She worked as a nurse in Florida for nearly twenty years. She served as Director of the Family Support and Resource Center, a part of the Schoharie County Community Action Program in Cobleskill, until her retirement in 2019.
She gardens, too, although these days she’s scaled back to container gardening.
When out of state friends visit, Jodi will often pack a picnic lunch and bring them to enjoy the Arboretum’s serenity. The Lilac Collection and the Shanti Vun Meditation Garden are among her favorite places. She wishes more people would visit the Arboretum in order to understand that “we all need nature to be at peace, to be happy – to just survive . . . . We need nature to live.”
Someone once said that you enter a new world every time you open a book. In an important sense, Jodi has found the best of two worlds at Landis: the world of nature – and the world of books. She invites you to share them both with her.
The Landis Book Store is opened during the annual Spring and Fall Plant Sales (10 AM – 4 PM) and on the second Saturday of June, July, and August (10 AM – 2 PM).