|
|
March 30 - April 6
What's That Smell?
It is still an underground movement, but don't be fooled! April is here, and Spring will be mainstream someday soon.
If you can't feel it every day, you can smell it. The "fresh" liberating aroma on a walk through the forest in early spring is, for a biologist, the odor of gases emitted by billions of tiny organisms in the newly thawed earth, releasing nutrients vital to the approaching bloom of wildflowers. The first to pop above the layer of wet, dead leaves is always skunk cabbage, able to spontaneously generate enough heat to propel it through the frozen ground.
Keep our calendar close! It's filled with events that invite exploration of this most magical of seasons.
Good Vibrations
Spring is a season for rebirth and refreshment. And with its arrival comes time to eliminate the clutter and move on to blossoms and growth. As we strive to maintain a healthy body, mind and spirit, we must also allow our homes to reset energy and intentions, a level of congestion that can shifted. Space Clearing is the act of purifying your living space to manifest blessings and bliss in your life. Your thoughts, emotions, and actions all leave an energetic imprint – a “vibe” - that is especially important in your home because it has a direct impact on you and everyone who lives there. Our ancestors, especially grandmothers, have practiced these powerful techniques to keep their family homes in harmony.
Conscious Design Institute has created an empowering program that enables you to energetically clear your space to manifest blessings and bliss in your life. You’ll be guided by Feng Shui Master, Renae Jensen, through four full-day intensive workshops scheduled in April at the Hope Wellness Center in historic Hope, NJ. The Center offers these and other classes and presentations on holistic, healthy homes and spaces. Healthy homes create healthy people! Find out more!
Seed to Stem
Roughly seventy true lettuce heirlooms and a mosaic of varieties make this leafy annual of the aster family far from ordinary. It is great for you, delicious, accessible, easy to grow with varieties to harvest in every season in Skylands territory. Start now!
Lush Life
Construction of the Delaware and Raritan (D&R) Canal began in 1830 to provide a swift and safe route from Philadelphia to New York City. The ensuing endeavor cut a large meandering letter "Y" through central New Jersey and the southern reaches of the Skylands region.
Today the canal's route provides a sixty-seven mile corridor of recreation and wildlife that invites your pleasure by foot, bike or canoe. The tow path, along which mules drew loaded barges along the waterway, still exists for the most part uninterrupted, providing a natural surface of negligible incline easy on walkers and bikers. You can explore the scenic byway anytime or join any number of scheduled excursions guided by knowledgeable enthusiasts.
In Our Footsteps
This fuzzy caterpillar is the offspring of the Gypsy Moth, and the cause of despair for New Jersey gardeners, foresters, and agriculturalists.
According to The Nature Conservancy, "some 4,000 species of non-indigenous plants and at least 2,300 species of nonnative animals now live in the United States." Non-natives have become another form of pollution, a biological contaminant in the Garden State, the intruders threatening native species in our waters, fields and forests.
How obvious is their presence? Take a walk through the spring woods. A Scavenger Hunt in northern New Jersey turns up a Who's Who of infamous, alien flora and fauna. Each species offers a lesson in the far-reaching consequence of ignorance, accident, and ambition.
Waterfall Hunting
Buttermilk Falls in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is bursting at the seams!
There are waterfalls scattered throughout the Skylands region, but nowhere so plentiful than in the Kittatinny Mountains, where streams find their way down steep slopes to the Delaware River. Within the Kittatinny range, which parallels a forty-mile stretch of the river in Warren and Sussex Counties,several waterfalls are only a short walk away from parking areas. Now's the time!
Tap our calendar for the best events for you and your family, or check our current stories.
Pick from a multitude of daytrip itineraries and watch out for our virtual efforts to keep you informed.
For the more aerobically inclined, the Outdoor Map shows the way to go, or
choose among dozens of natural attractions or outdoor activities suggested on our website. Choose your own adventure!
Northwest New Jersey and destinations just beyond those borders, in Pennsylvania and New York, offer brilliant ways to get out and enjoy the pleasures of the season.
Share this email
*|MC:TOPSHARE|*
Skylands Visitor Magazine, PO Box 329, Columbia, NJ • Privacy Statement |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|