It’s raining black walnuts. They crash on to the roof of the garage and the chicken coop and occasionally get underfoot and give me the slip like a regular clown show. I love the smell of the husks, citrusy and wild rotting in the grass. Their spirit leads me into my next forest therapy walk at @morrisarboretum Sept 26th 10-12. Please join. All details in link through bio.
Guys, it’s swift watching season! I’m going to a special chimney with some bookish birds from @rootquarterly this Thursday in hopes of catching a mighty swoop. For those of you who know me, you know that for a number of years I became completely obsessed with a singular chimney in Bethlehem, PA and whether a small soot colored bird was flying in or out of it. (Video 1: my dear friend Jennie counting swifts at that chimney) I wrote a petite chronicle about these years that RQ was kind enough to include in their summer issue. If you’ve never seen swifts descending, don’t miss the walk. It’s a wonder! 🌪️
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏼👏🏾 THIS SATURDAY! Free with registration ✊🏽 Clapping for Nature returns to FDR Meadows this summer after its debut at the 2024 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Directed by Leigh Huster @jock_witch this eco-somatic performance invites participants to express gratitude for the land through movement, sound, and stillness.
This participatory event offers a chance to walk the Meadows with performers in a shared somatic experience, celebrating and resisting development pressures on this sacred space. A call to slow down, listen deeply, and honor our connection with nature.
FREE with Registration!
SIGN UP Bit.ly/clap4nature
Date: Saturday, August 30, 2025
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Meet at FDR Meadows, Pickleball Courts.
What to bring: Clothes you can move in, long pants, sturdy shoes, and a water bottle (optional).
#savethemeadows #savethefdrmeadows #pause the plan #naturedance #clappingfornature #outdoorperformance #phillydance
Join Eli Nixon for a boundary defying workshop at the LandHealth Native Plant Nursery in West Philly. Eli has collaborated with artists, activists, and the more-than-human world to create performances, installations, and civic choreography on street corners and stages across the country. Shape shift, draw, play, wriggle and strut your way into a more-than-human form. Breathe as a lichen? Dance as a walrus? Sing as a fern? Nixon uses clowning, drag, and cardboard to decentralize the anthro in all of us. This is not a workshop about drag king or queen but kin. All ages, genders, and orientations—everybody welcome. Nature is way older than all of our constructs. RSVP through link in bio.
There may be some showers this Sunday, but we’ll be out there, rain or shine, just like the bugs in the pond providing half the music for this concert. Admission is free but RSVPs are much appreciated. All details through link in bio. See you there!
The Secret Sounds of Ponds
Sunday April 6th
FREE!
Outdoor performances at:
9am in FDR Park
5pm in West Fairmount Park
RSVP through link in bio
Bowerbird and LandHealth Institute are pleased to co-present a unique out-of-doors performance by musician-naturalist-philosopher David Rothenberg and the secret sounds of two of Philadelphia’s favorite lakes.
Join David Rothenberg, interspecies musician, composer, naturalist-philosopher and author of over a dozen books and forty albums including “Why Birds Sing”, “Bug Music”, and “Survival of the Beautiful”. In 2024, Rothenberg released Secret Sounds of Ponds, a book/music/performance initiative which reveals the unknown music beneath the surface of even the most ordinary pond. Join him for an afternoon of aquatic vibrations, bug solos, and inter-species jamming. David uses hydrophones (underwater microphones) to tune into live bug sounds and then improvises, using his clarinet to duet with the plants and insects amplified from under the water. You’ll never see a pond quite the same way again. All ages are welcome, though the morning concert will be more oriented towards kids and will have hands-on activities for younger listeners who wish to touch and draw as well as listen.
Sunday, April 6th
9-11 AM at FDR Park’s Edgewood Lake (family friendly auxiliary activities provided) &
5-7 PM at West Fairmount Park’s Centennial Lake (for the more contemplative crowd)
All you species-curious artists out there - it’s time to apply to this residency which I co-facilitate with @fgpnyc at Little Pond Arts Retreat Center in August. It is my favorite week of the year by far! Go to the FGP theater web page or follow this magic link: /forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe2GfvZuUQwRzgTLqjdNroZBuThGAoBwSOPY-8aXkQtnVzR4g/viewform
This is Dad comforting the pear tree we topped two years ago. It was starting to die and had stopped fruiting. Too old to pollard and too high to be coppiced cause we wanted to keep it above deer browsing height. Still alive and branching. Maybe it will even fruit again one day.
Heading to City Hall for the public hearing on the Philly Tree Plan (Room 400). 441 trees have been cut @fo_fdrpark since the plan was released. The plan, if you’ve read it, is awesome, but it’s clear the city isn’t following its own instructions. The plan tells us to “protect the existing forest”. If you’ve got a moment today, join me at city hall to remind council to follow its own darn plan. #savethemeadows
We’re making our climate anxiety dance party a climate relief party. All proceeds go to the Mutual Aid LA Network. Come out and shake a leg for all those in need. #dance #feelbetter All details through link in bio.
