Alternative Energy Demonstration Area at Boxerwood

On your next visit to Boxerwood, check out the latest addition to our Alternative Energy demonstration area. The T-REX Solar panels have been supplying our hot water in the Munger Lodge for almost four years. We now have a non-functioning but life size residential wind generator added to the exhibit.

The Roost at Boxerwood

Come by Boxerwood to check out the new replacement for the Ed Tent that had been located next to our Founders Wing at the end of the Munger Lodge. This new structure, starting to be referred to as "The Roost" by staff members, was built with volunteer labor and donated materials to blend with existing buildings at Boxerwood.

This will provide a more suitable and safe shelter on those days of rain and bright sun.

Volunteers Working during the early stages of construction

Their finished project ready to great Boxerwood students and visitors

Authors At Boxerwood

On April 23rd author Claire Arbogast will be at Boxerwood along with fellow author Daniel Pezzoni to discuss their recent publications and their connections to Boxerwood.

Touching Memoir Reflects on the Nature of Human Life

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. Claire and Jim were friends, lovers, and sometimes enemies for 27 years. In order to   get health insurance, they finally married, calling their anniversary the “It 

Means Absolutely Nothing” day. Then Jim was diagnosed with cancer. With ever-decreasing odds of survival, punctuated by arcs of false hope, Jim's deteriorating health altered their well-established independence as they became caregiver and patient, sharing intimacy as close as their own breaths.

A year and a half into their marriage, Jim died from lung/brain cancer. Sustained by good dogs and gardening through the two years of madness that followed, Claire soldiered through home repairs, career disaster, genealogy quests, and “dating for seniors” trying to build a better life on the debris of her old

one. Leave the Dogs at Home maps and plays with the stages of grief. Delightfully confessional, it challenges persistent, yet outdated, societal norms about relationships, and finds relief in whimsy, pop culture, and renewed spirituality.

“Arbogast delivers a raw and honest narrative of her life as a lover, a widow, and a woman,” writes Library Journal. “The theme of death and life, both literally and figuratively, are navigated with such emotion, it seems natural to empathize with the author in sadness, joy, love, and uncertainty as her longtime companion (later husband) Jim combats cancer. . . An excellent choice for those touched by grief, ready for a change, or just wanting to read a beautifully written memoir.”

Claire Arbogast is a graduate of Indiana University. She gardens, walks with dogs, and writes in Bloomington, Indiana. Her website is www.ClaireArbogast.com.

Book Information—Leave the Dogs at Home: A Memoir

By Claire S. Arbogast 238 pages, 5.25 x 8

Paper ISBN 978-0-253-01719-2 $17.00 eBook ISBN 978-0-253-01721-5 $16.99

Publication Date: August 1, 2015

To order: visit http://iupress.indiana.edu

Podcast with Claire Arbogast

For review copies & interview requests contact: Mandy Hussey, mlclarke@indiana.edu, 812-855-4522

Winter Events

Gifts Of Nature

Saturday, December 5 from 1-5pm: Gifts of Nature Family Workshop

Bring the kids and grandkids to Boxerwood’s lodge to craft treats for the birds and wildlife that winter in Rockbridge. Honeysuckle wreaths, cranberry garlands, dried fruit kabobs, peanut butter pinecones, and suet-and-seed fruit cups are some of the edible ornaments you can create.  Need environmentally-friendly gifts for family and friends? Make totes from recycled birdseed sacks, birdfeeders from dried gourds, gift tags from last winter’s holiday cards, and nature-stamped gift wrap for all occasions.

The fee to participate is $5/family for Boxerwood members or $10/family for non-members. Boxerwood will provide vines, cones, winter berries, and greenery from the garden, as well as suet, raffia, ribbon and other project supplies. Families are asked to contribute one type of wildlife food, such as seeds, nuts, dried fruits, popcorn, or fresh cranberries that will be shared by all participants. And bring recycled cards and seed sacks if you have them.

Winter Greens Workshop

December 6 from 2-5pm: Winter Greenery Workshop and Sale

Join Faith Vosburgh, Boxerwood’s horticulturist, for a wreath-making workshop at the nature center on Sunday, December 6 from 2-5pm. A $20 fee to participate covers materials for a wreath, swag or small arrangement, including a festive bow – and Faith’s expert guidance!  Space is limited, so please RSVP to faith@boxerwood.org or call 463-2697. 

Assorted greenery from Boxerwood will also be for sale by the bundle ($5 each) at Boxerwood’s lodge in December on weekdays from 9am-1pm. The selection will include magnolia, spruce, cedar and berried branches.

For more information, visit www.boxerwood.org or Boxerwood on Facebook, or call the nature center on weekdays (463-2697).

Music In The Garden Friday June 26

Honest Labor will give a free outdoor concert on Friday June 26 at Boxerwood Nature Center and Woodland Garden.  The blues quartet will perform from 6:30 to 8pm on the meadow stage as part of Boxerwood’s series of Music In The Garden concerts scheduled for the second and fourth Fridays on the month through mid-September.

The quartet includes Billy Friar on dobro and guitar, Lee Sauder on blues harp, Leo Lorenzoni on guitar, and Travis Weaver on bass.  The original members of the group are skilled tradesmen – Friar a stonemason; Sauder a blacksmith; Weaver an upholsterer – the band takes its name from their day jobs as well as their “honest and straight forward” approach to performing acoustic blues.