Poet Tess Taylor (2:10) speaks with Ann Wallace about her new anthology Leaning Toward Light: Poems for Gardens and the Hands That Tend Them (Storey Publishing, 2023) and the ability of poems to carry us through the seasons of planting, tending, grieving, harvesting, sharing in a world filled with both joy and crisis. We reflect on the deliberate cultivation of happiness as a discipline, and at the end of our conversation, we spend some time with Tess’s most recent solo collection, Rift Zone, published in 2020 by Red Hen Press. We then hear from Dr. Randi Eckel (36:24) who shares information about NPSNJ's newest native plant guide created for schools by our Essex Chapter. She then answers a question from Sucharita about poison ivy in the latest installment of Ask Randi. And Kim Correro joins Ann to talk with native plant advocate Janet Crouch (44:48) from Howard County, Maryland who fought a protracted legal battle with her Homeowners’ Association over her native plant garden—and won! And to close out the episode, Rachel Mackow (1:07:08), writer and co-owner of Wild Ridge Plants, joins us. “Winter Thaw” is one of the winners of the Seed Challenge that we ran earlier this fall, sponsored by Jennifer Jewell and Timber Press. Rachel and two other winners each received a copy of Jennifer’s book What We Sow: On the Personal, Ecological, and Cultural Significance of Seeds.

Thank you also to Storey Publishing for offering a 20% discount on Tess Taylor’s anthology Leaning Toward Light to members of The Native Plant Society of NJ. You can purchase the collection—which would make a beautiful holiday gift—at NPSNJ.org.