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Tag: Nature

September 12 @ 2:30 pm – 7:00 pm

Initiatives

At Ease: Art and Nature for Veterans
Free

Veteran Art Tribe

View Organizer Website

River Road Seedbed Trail – Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie

IL-53
Wilminton, IL 60481 + Google Map
View Venue Website

Paint and Photograph the Prairie

Join Brushwood Center’s At Ease initiative in a special program at the Midewin Tallgrass Prairie to enjoy hours of painting and photographing the prairie with U.S. Veteran artists and photographers. Increase your skills while enjoying the camaraderie of fellow Veterans!

Cameras will be provided, but feel free to bring your own! All art materials will be provided at the event.

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Please note, that this event is designed for Veterans, current service members, and their families.

Snacks will be provided. Please bring water.

Activity Expectation: Walking, possible uneven trails

Sensory Expectations: Prairie and forest landscape. Wear comfortable shoes.

Available Accommodations: No language interpretation available. We have walking sticks available.

Contact Jessica Klinge at jklinge@brushwoodcenter.org if you have mobility concerns.

REGIster

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August 1 @ 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Initiatives

Public Arts Programs
$10 (Pay-what-you-can and free Veteran tickets available)

Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods

21850 Riverwoods Rd.
Riverwoods, IL 60015 United States + Google Map
224.633.2424

To Life: Jews Exploring Nature, with Joel Greenberg

For generations, Jewish history has been told as the story of a people rooted in texts, scholarship, and community. But another, often-overlooked story unfolds in forests, fields, museums, and laboratories.

Join acclaimed naturalist and author Joel Greenberg for a conversation about his compelling new book, To Life: Jews Exploring Nature. Through the remarkable lives of eight Jewish scientists and naturalists—including botanists, ornithologists, ecologists, zoologists, and explorers—Greenberg reveals how curiosity about the natural world has been an important, if frequently unrecognized, thread in Jewish history and identity.

Blending biography, environmental history, and cultural insight, Greenberg explores how these pioneering figures advanced scientific understanding while navigating questions of heritage, belonging, and identity. Their stories span continents and disciplines, from the rediscovery of wild wheat in the Middle East to groundbreaking research on birds, mammals, spiders, reptiles, and ecosystems.

This thought-provoking program invites readers, nature lovers, and anyone interested in the intersection of science, culture, and the humanities to discover a richer understanding of both Jewish history and our relationship with the living world. A book signing and audience Q&A will follow the presentation.

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Related Events

August 12 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Initiatives

Public Arts Programs and Health Equity and Nature Accelerator
Free

Reciprocal Forest Bathing

View Organizer Website

Riverwoods, IL

Celestial Nature and Forest Therapy: Partial Solar Eclipse

Forest bathing is a guided experience that works to mend the relationships humans have with themselves, the concept of time, their communities, and their environment. It is a practice focused on remembering reciprocity by connecting to our senses through the natural world.

Join Jess Rodriguez, certified Nature and Forest Therapy guide, for a two-hour practice filled with a series of guided invitations that offer opportunities of presence, stress relief, and relaxation. 

During this time, participants can expect to walk slowly for less than a mile with plenty of opportunities to stop and simply notice the world around them. Forest bathing is an adaptable and flexible practice that welcomes people of all abilities. For more information visit reciprocalforestbathing.com

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For the safety of our community, the exact location of the forest bathing experience will be disclosed upon registration and is subject to change in the case of a community safety concern. Registrants will receive a reminder email one week and 24 hours before the walk to be notified of any changes. 

REGISTER HERE

Related Events

July 29 @ 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Initiatives

Public Arts Programs and Health Equity and Nature Accelerator
Free

Reciprocal Forest Bathing

View Organizer Website

Riverwoods, IL

Celestial Nature and Forest Therapy: Buck Full Moon

Forest bathing is a guided experience that works to mend the relationships humans have with themselves, the concept of time, their communities, and their environment. It is a practice focused on remembering reciprocity by connecting to our senses through the natural world.

Join Jess Rodriguez, certified Nature and Forest Therapy guide, for a two-hour practice filled with a series of guided invitations that offer opportunities of presence, stress relief, and relaxation. 

During this time, participants can expect to walk slowly for less than a mile with plenty of opportunities to stop and simply notice the world around them. Forest bathing is an adaptable and flexible practice that welcomes people of all abilities. For more information visit reciprocalforestbathing.com

—

For the safety of our community, the exact location of the forest bathing experience will be disclosed upon registration and is subject to change in the case of a community safety concern. Registrants will receive a reminder email one week and 24 hours before the walk to be notified of any changes. 

REGISTER HERE

Related Events

Grasses on a sand dune

June 24 @ 11:00 am – 12:30 pm

Initiatives

At Ease: Art and Nature for Veterans

Waukegan Municipal Beach

201 E. Sea Horse Drive
Waukegan, Illinois 60085 + Google Map

Waukegan Dunes Guided Walking Tour for Veterans & Families

Come and enjoy comradery with your fellow veterans and family members while learning about the unique Waukegan Dunes habitat that is home to a large diversity of plants and wildlife. The Waukegan Dunes are some of the only natural sand dunes that are left in the area. Our guides are from the Lake County Audubon Society, Sharing Our Shore – Waukegan (SOS-W) program that was created as a response to a pair of endangered piping plovers that attempted to nest in a gravel parking lot at the Waukegan Municipal Beach in 2018. Today volunteers continue to monitor the species to ensure their survival. Learn more about the Share our Shores program here.

register

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A large gnarled oak tree
Image: 400-year-old Live Oak at the Whitney Plantation in New Orleans. Photo by Ashley Cullen-Williams

June 18 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Initiatives

Health Equity and Nature Accelerator
Free

Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods

21850 Riverwoods Rd.
Riverwoods, IL 60015 United States + Google Map
224.633.2424

Radical Hope in the Woods: Juneteenth Edition

Join Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods for the final gathering in our Radical Hope in the Woods series as we honor Juneteenth through reflection, movement, storytelling, and collective imagination.

Together, we will walk the trails of Ryerson Woods and explore what freedom has meant across generations—and what freedom can become. Grounded in the histories of resistance, survival, and joy carried by our ancestors, this experience invites participants to reconnect with the land while reimagining Black futures through the lens of Afrofuturism, healing, and radical possibility.

This special gathering will also serve as a birthday celebration for the facilitator—an intentional honoring of life, legacy, and community.

Through guided conversation, moments of stillness, and community connection, we will ask:

  • What does freedom feel like in our bodies?
  • What dreams did our ancestors carry for us?
  • What future are we brave enough to imagine together?

This is more than a walk.
It is a remembering.
A reclaiming.A celebration of life. A collective act of hope.

 All are welcome to gather, reflect, and dream forward in community.

register

Radical Hope in the Woods is supported by Healing Illinois. Healing Illinois is a racial healing initiative of the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) and the Field Foundation of Illinois.

Related Events

August 29 @ 10:00 am – 11:30 am

Initiatives

Public Arts Programs
Free

Mellody Farm Nature Preserve – Lake Forest Open Lands

350 N. Waukegan Rd
Lake Forest, Illinois 60045 + Google Map
View Venue Website

Nature Book Club: August

Please note: This month we’re meeting at Mellody Farm Nature Preserve, not Brushwood Center.

The Brushwood Nature Book Club is a space to talk about and explore nature literature in a friendly environment. Each meeting includes discussion, creative writing, and/or art activities to engage with the themes of the chosen book, led by Brushwood’s Poet-in-Residence Kathryn Haydon, and writer-artist Megan Donahue.  

This summer, we’re revisiting some of the classics of American nature literature and exploring how they resonate today. 

Our August book is My First Summer in the Sierra, by John Muir. It was published in 1911, based on field notes from an 1869 trip Muir made to the Sierra Nevada, traveling with a shepherd and flock of sheep. The book was influential in popularizing the (complicated) idea of an American wilderness, and was crucial in building public support for the preservation of Yosemite National Park. 

REGISTER

Related Events

July 25 @ 10:00 am – 11:30 am

Initiatives

Public Arts Programs
Free

Mellody Farm Nature Preserve – Lake Forest Open Lands

350 N. Waukegan Rd
Lake Forest, Illinois 60045 + Google Map
View Venue Website

Nature Book Club: July

Please note: This month we’re meeting at Mellody Farm Nature Preserve, not Brushwood Center.

The Brushwood Nature Book Club is a space to talk about and explore nature literature in a friendly environment. Each meeting includes discussion, creative writing, and/or art activities to engage with the themes of the chosen book, led by Brushwood’s Poet-in-Residence Kathryn Haydon, and writer-artist Megan Donahue.  

This summer, we’re revisiting some of the classics of American nature literature and exploring how they resonate today. 

Our July book is A Sand County Almanac: Sketches Here and There, by Aldo Leopold. Through science, history, humor and prose, Leopold uses A Sand County Almanac and its call for a land ethic to communicate the true connection between people and the natural world. First published in 1949, it became one of the most venerated conservation books in the 20th century.

REGISTER

Related Events

A child outside, next to a spinning wheel of prizes

June 13 @ 11:00 am – 2:00 pm

Initiatives

At Ease: Art and Nature for Veterans
Free

Kids Rank

View Organizer Website

Veteran Art Tribe

View Organizer Website

Blue Star Families

View Organizer Website

Independence Grove, North Bay Pavillion

16400 Buckley Rd
Libertyville, IL 60076 + Google Map

Military Kids Fest

Celebrate Summer with Brushwood Center’s At Ease initiative and enjoy art, music, activities, games, and nature with other members of the Military Community! In collaboration with Kids Rank, Veteran Art Tribe and other Veteran organizations. Brushwood’s third annual Military Kids Fest offers nature, art, exploration, and fun.

Join us for:

Activities

  • Nature Acrylic Painting with Veteran Art Tribe
  • Face Painting by Kirsten Saunders
  • Children’s Yoga with Christine Lopez
  • Outdoor games
  • Snacks
  • Art activities
  • More!

Resources and Information

Information and Tables by:

  • American Legion Gurnee Auxiliary
  • Brushwood Center
  • Kids Rank
  • National Museum of the American Sailor

Please note, that this event is designed for Veterans, current service members, and their families.

Contact Jessica Klinge at jklinge@brushwoodcenter.org if you have questions or concerns.

Register here

Related Events

June 21 @ 9:00 am – 11:00 am

Initiatives

Public Arts Programs and Health Equity and Nature Accelerator
Free

Reciprocal Forest Bathing

View Organizer Website

Waukegan, IL

Waukegan, Illinois + Google Map

Celestial Nature and Forest Therapy: Summer Solstice

Forest bathing is a guided experience that works to mend the relationships humans have with themselves, the concept of time, their communities, and their environment. It is a practice focused on remembering reciprocity by connecting to our senses through the natural world.

Join Jess Rodriguez, certified Nature and Forest Therapy guide, for a two-hour practice filled with a series of guided invitations that offer opportunities of presence, stress relief, and relaxation. 

During this time, participants can expect to walk slowly for less than a mile with plenty of opportunities to stop and simply notice the world around them. Forest bathing is an adaptable and flexible practice that welcomes people of all abilities. For more information visit reciprocalforestbathing.com

—

For the safety of our community, the exact location of the forest bathing experience will be disclosed upon registration and is subject to change in the case of a community safety concern. Registrants will receive a reminder email one week and 24 hours before the walk to be notified of any changes. 

REGISTER HERE

Related Events

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