Birdability Week is a celebration of birders with disabilities and other health concerns, as well as an opportunity to share resources and ideas to help the birding community become accessible, inclusive, and welcoming to everybody! It is an annual collection of events the third week of each October, drawing inspiration from other inclusive celebrations such as #BlackBirdersWeek, Latino Conservation Week and Let’s Go Birding Together. For more information on virtual events visit https://www.birdability.org/birdability-week
The folks at Gnarly Pippins in Williamsburg, Massachusetts are gearing up for the 7th Annual Wild and Seedling Pomological Exhibition, and it is going to be a real rager, because they have quite an impressive crop of wild apples across the majority of North America. The Pomological Exhibition is truly a grassroots tradition where scores of likeminded folks who explore for wild apples come together around this glorious mast crop, sharing samples of the most intriguing specimens that they’ve found. Each year since the founding in 2019, they have had an increasingly diverse and interesting cohort of submissions from geographies and bioregions scattered across the continent. The recent volumes of the print publication related to the Exhibition, POMOLOGICAL SERIES, reflects that trend. For complete information on how to submit fruit, email Matt@gnarlypippins.com The event takes place at the Williamsburg Grange Hall, 10 Main Street in Williamsburg.
The 31st annual Boston Veg Food Fest Weekend will take place October 17 & 18 at the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center, 1350 Tremont Street in Boston. Free Admission. Boston Veg Food Fest brings together an amazing array of providers of 100% plant-based food and lifestyle products, notable speakers and chefs, and educational exhibitors in a fun and welcoming environment.
It is a chance to talk directly to food producers, learn about new items in the marketplace, taste samples, and shop at show-special discounts. Learn from experts in the fields of plant-based nutrition, culinary arts, athletics, climate, and sustainable, animal-friendly living. For more information visit https://bostonveg.org/foodfest/
Join Alex Klein for a Fall Plant Walk in the Berkshire Botanical Garden on Saturday, October 17 from 10 a.m. to noon. Plants might be potent medicine, delicious food, fine craft, or building material (or all of those things at once), but they also hold stories, memories and connections our human ancestors have formed with the landscape. Join herbalist Alex Klein for a nature walk through the Garden, getting to know some of the plants, both cultivated and weedy, and the way humans and other species have and continue to engage with our green friends. We’ll talk botany, ecology, and natural history, as well as medicinal, edible, and other uses of common plants in the garden and the “wild.” BBG members $30, nonmembers $45. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/fall-plant-walk-alex-klein
Join the American Horticultural Society, Eric Groft, and Lili Herrera as they discuss some of their firm’s most notable public landscapes, including The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, The National World War II Memorial, The Virginia Avenue Gardens of the Federal Reserve, The Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, and the White House Rose Garden in Washington, DC. Together, Eric and Lili will show how OEHME, VAN SWEDEN applies the New American Garden style to public, civic, and memorial landscapes internationally. Acknowledging the inevitable changes that time brings—trees grow, climates change, Administrations cut down trees, and scientific understanding evolves—they will discuss how enduring relationships with clients and collaborators have allowed OvS to steward public landscapes towards resilience through time and transition. The program will take place online on October 15 at 2 pm Eastern, and is $15 for AHS members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at https://ahsgardening.org/ahs-live-horticulture-and-history-in-the-public-realm/
Based in Washington, DC since 1977, OEHME, VAN SWEDEN | OvS is a diverse group of landscape architects, horticulturalists, designers, creative thinkers, and collaborators. OvS’ pioneering design solutions balance bold horticultural diversity and architectural artistry. The firm explores ecology, culture, and history in every project to distill the land’s form and function. The result is a contextually appropriate, high-performance composition that connects people to place. The firm’s portfolio of work ranges from expansive civic spaces and commercial redevelopments to botanic gardens and sculpture parks to urban residences and estates.
Join Madhushree Ghosh as she discusses her book, Safar: Finding Home, History, and Culture through Punjabi Food in the American West. This event is sponsored by Boston University’s Food Studies Programs and is part of the Pépin Lecture Series. The date is October 21 from 6 – 7 at 808 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, Room 124.
Madhushree Ghosh (Phd in biochemistry) is also the author of Khabaar: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory and Family . She is the creative founder of KhabaarCo, a global literary salon and supper club. As a TEDx Speaker, Madhushree interrogates cultural, culinary and immigration issues using food as a social justice tool.
Published in June of this year, Safar blends memoir and history to explore the role of Punjabi food in fostering community and identity among South Asian refugees and immigrants.
Safar follows the journey of South Asian refugees, immigrants, and their children-in particular, Sikhs, Jats, and Muslims-who moved to the southwestern states of America over centuries as farmers, truck drivers, restaurant owners, and dhaba/diner stall cooks. An expedition in search of the asli-or real Punjabi food-Madhushree Ghosh explores how their food traveled from pre-partition British India to now, while weaving in her own immigrant journey as a graduate student to America in 1993, her quest to find home through the food of her Bengali refugee parents, and the physical journey she embarked on to visit the Punjabi communities in California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Focusing on four Punjabi women, each a part of a different immigration wave of South Asia to the American West, Ghosh highlights the food and recipes they brought with them that connect them to their pasts. Safar shares stories of displacement, discrimination, community, and hope, while shedding light on immigrant journeys and the true meaning of home, comfort food, and what constitutes a “true Punjabi” meal. Featuring essential recipes, this is a poignant reflection on what it means to find home and identity through food and culture as an immigrant to the United States. Reserve your free space HERE.
You are warmly invited to celebrate the 86th New England Rose Society Founders’ Day on Saturday, Octobeer 17 from 10:30 – 2:30 at the Hopkinton Center for the Arts, 98 Hayden Rowe Street in Hopkinton.
This year, our lunch will be held at the Hopkinton Center for the Arts in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.
We are delighted to welcome Paul Zimmerman as our featured speaker for this very special celebration.
For the first time, NERS is excited to introduce a Digital Photography Contest, organized by Lisa Plesko. We look forward to showcasing the creativity and talent of our members.
Our Founders’ Day celebration will also feature our Year in Review, highlighting the memorable events, accomplishments, and activities of the past year.
We hope you will join us for this special day of roses, friendship, and celebration. Tickets are $45 (NERS members and their guests) and $50 (nonmembers.) Register at www.newenglandrosesociety.org
2026 is the bicentennial of Frederic Church (1826-1900), America’s foremost landscape artist. In The Olmsted Network’s next free webinar on October 6, Sean Sawyer, President of The Olana Partnership, will examine Church’s 40 year-long project of creating Olana—his 250-acre masterwork of American landscape design overlooking the Hudson River in Hudson, New York.
Sawyer will detail how Church acted as his own architect, landscape architect, and interior designer, while collaborating with Calvert Vaux and drawing upon the most advanced thinking in design and environmental conservation. Free. Register at https://olmsted.org/events/olana-frederic-churchs-vision-of-art-and-landscape/
MyRWA’s Annual Meeting and Celebration is on October 14th from 6:30 – 8:30 at Mass General Brigham on Assembly Row in Somerville.
Learn about and engage with our new Theory of Change, celebrate the volunteers who make the Mystic River Watershed Association’s work possible, and meet other watershed community members.
Who counts as a MyRWA member? If you have volunteered or donated in the last year, you qualify and can vote on our incoming board of directors (it’s never too late to give!) But you don’t need to be a member to join in on the celebration. All are welcome to join for the meeting, celebration, or both! Register and learn more at https://mysticriver.org/annual-meeting
