Music will once again lilt through the trees when Adkins Arboretum hosts Forest Music on Thurs., June 15 from 2 to 4 p.m. Presented in partnership with Chestertown’s National Music Festival, Forest Music is a unique performance art event that brings young musicians and their mentors from the Festival to play in the forest for visitors who travel from near and far to hear them.

Since its inception in 2014, Forest Music has become a highly anticipated annual event. Positioned individually or in small groups along a circuit of wooded paths, musicians play their individual selections simultaneously so that their music can be heard up close or at a distance as visitors walk through the forest. Sometimes harmonizing between one group and the next, sometimes creating strangely magical dissonances, they play in concert with birdsong, the rustle of leaves in high branches and, occasionally, a chorus of frogs.

Over the years, participating musicians have come with violins, clarinets, horns, bassoons, double basses and even steel drums to play everything from Bach to the Beatles to original compositions developed specifically for the Arboretum forest. Held during the National Music Festival’s two-week run, Forest Music draws many of its visitors from the Festival itself while also attracting a large local audience from the Arboretum’s members and friends.

The event will also feature the opportunity to bid on a parlor-size acoustic/electric guitar, generously donated by PRS Guitars. Bids will also be accepted through June 30 at adkinsarboretum.org.

Forest Music is $10 per person. Light refreshments will be served, and wine will be available for purchase. All are welcome; advance registration is strongly encouraged at adkinsarboretum.org or by calling 410-634-2847, ext. 100.

This event is generously sponsored in part by the Caroline County Council of Arts, PRS Guitars and Unity Landscape Design|Build.

Carrie Rose intertwines solo flute with recorded owls, grasshoppers and water. As dusk falls on Sat., June 17, these sounds will mingle with breezes, bird and frog calls and stirring turtles and fish when Rose performs Breathing in Nature on the wetland boardwalk at Adkins Arboretum. All are invited to attend.

Featuring compositions by Rose and other contemporary and classical composers, along with friendly introductions to each piece to engage curiosity and intellect, the program will also explore the writings of environmentalist Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring and The Sense of Wonder.

Rose is a flutist, composer and teacher in the Washington, D.C., area. As a performer, she unfurls a luscious array of classical chamber music, grooves for folk dances, freelances with regional orchestras, wails out avant-garde music and presents in-person and recorded Breathing in Nature concerts. Her compositions have been featured at numerous venues in the Baltimore-D.C. region, and she has performed in the D.C. area with ensembles that include the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Arlington Philharmonic, Cathedral Choral Society and Washington Concert Opera.

Seating begins at 7 p.m. on the wetland bridge and boardwalk. Music from 7:15 to 8:15 p.m. will include Syrinx by Claude Debussy, Owls for Flute and Owl Sounds by Carrie Rose, Sonata Appassionata by Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Canto del Alba by Mario Lavista, Waterweave for flute and water sounds by Carrie Rose, Tango Etude #3 by Astor Piazzola, Prelude in C Major from the Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ave Maria by Charles Gounod and Suvisoitto (Summersounds) flute and grasshoppers by Usko Merilainen.

Wine and treats will be available for purchase before the concert. Attendees should bring chairs. The concert is accessible.

The program fee of $20 for members/$25 for non-members increases by $5 on the day of the event. Advance registration is encouraged at adkinsarboretum.org or by calling 410-634-2847, ext. 100.

Breathing in Nature is sponsored in part by the Caroline County Council of Arts and the Maryland Arts Council.

The Caroline County Humane Society is gearing up for their next Blue Jean Festival, celebrating all things animals! It’s going to be a spectacular gathering of pet lovers and merchants. Pet and animal related vendors will be there, along with over 20 artisans. Come to the DIY Tie Dying booth to make your own t-shirt, watch the Jousting demo and the K-9 and Search and Rescue Dog demos. Alpacas and multiple Rescue Organizations will be there. Another big attraction will be a Corn Hole Tournament.

Excited to announce the DogLovers Lure Course. Dogs will have a ball running and jumping around a course chasing a lure. There is a small fee for participating, but well worth the fun of watching the dogs have a blast. Go to CarolineHumane.org, then Blue Jean Festival, to watch the video.

Saturday, May 6, 2-7 p.m. at the 4-H park located at 8230 Detour Road, Denton Maryland. This fundraising event will take place RAIN OR SHINE (indoor area available in case of rain). Admission is $10 per car load.

Listen to live music by The Jones Boys and Blues DeVille! Food, beer, alcoholic beverages, and wine will be available for purchase. Eat from a variety of food trucks: Red Shef, Spanky’s BBQ, Blue Monkey Taco, Country Cupcake, and Bubba Bob’s Country Treats; drink beer from Bull and Goat Brewery from Centreville. Try your luck at the Cake Wheel and Ticket Auction. Silent auction and an online auction will also be going on during the Festival. Online auction starts April 23 and runs through the Festival to May 7, featuring many great items including: Florida Week, Ocean City Week, Fishing Trip, Bartending Lessons, overnight in an Inn with dinner, quilts, packed baskets, and much, much more. Special auction item features dinner for 6-8 at a waterfront home with chef Adam Flood and his wife Nancy from Caroline’s of Denton, bartender Drew, also of Caroline’s, music by Tom Godfrey, and table decorations by Set the Table for Me from Centreville. Visit CarolineHumane.org for link to online auction on April 23.

Animals are welcome on leash.  Plenty of parking is available.

Many thanks to our sponsors (as of the printing): Moore’s Funeral Home, Sparkle Pools, Tuckahoe Treasures Alpaca Farm, Caroline County Council of Arts, Attraction Magazine, Caroline Review, Platinum Property Group, Veterinary Medical Center of Easton, Ustream, Agency Insurance Co. of MD, H&M Bay Inc, Hobbs Construction, Impressive Printing, Kevertin Pet Resort, Sue and Jon Simmons, Towers Concrete Products, Bay Capital Mortgage, Bloughs Seafood, Chesapeake Hydrowash, Jerry and Helen Hadley, Mona Oakes. More sponsors are needed. If you are interested please contact Bonnie Johnson at Bonnie.Johnson@LongandFoster.com or 410-310-0777.

All proceeds support the Caroline County Humane Society to help them save lives and find homes for over 1,500 animals each year.

Adkins Arboretum is pleased to announce the release of the Rooted Wisdom Audio Essay, the latest addition to the Rooted Wisdom initiative. Recorded at the Arboretum and featuring filmmaker Mecca Lewis and historian Anthony Cohen, the production explores the Underground Railroad and reveals how sometimes what’s before us is the past.

Rooted Wisdom examines how self-liberators used their knowledge of the natural world as they forged a path to freedom on the Underground Railroad. It comprises a guided experience, the heart of which is a beautifully filmed and narrated documentary, Rooted Wisdom: Nature’s Role in the Underground Railroad, in which Cohen guides viewers through the Adkins Arboretum landscape and reveals freedom seekers’ methods for navigation, concealment, evasion and nourishment. The guided experience also includes a companion website, rootedwisdom.org, that presents the film in five chapters and invites a deeper understanding of the relationship between self-liberation and nature through detailed accounts, related historical sites and resources relating to the landscape both then and now. The film and virtual companion premiered in 2022.

In the new audio essay, Lewis and Cohen discuss the Underground Railroad, the unending process of pursuing and interpreting history and how a cultural knowledge of nature factored into the planning and process of self-liberation, all while walking the Arboretum grounds. The guided experience and audio essay are available at rootedwisdom.org. To ensure ongoing community engagement, the Arboretum has partnered with Beech Works, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to broadening public discourse and advancing public education on social issues through thought-provoking documentary and narrative films, to advance the rootedwisdom.org web presence, offer a 26-minute version of the film for community screenings and develop additional programming for audiences beyond the Arboretum. Additional resources at the Arboretum, including information about school field trips and docent-led guided walks, can be found at adkinsarboretum.org.

Mecca Lewis is a Baltimore-based documentary filmmaker and a lover of experiential research and play. Her works include Florence’s Flowers, an expeditious search for the echoes of once-resonant voices in the formerly vibrant radical abolitionist utopian society of Florence, Mass., and Perspectives from “Nowhere,” collage excerpts of visual and auditory landscapes of West Baltimore with community voices both past and present to detail the ongoing stories of history about the people of the Westside and the Highway to Nowhere.

Anthony Cohen is a historian, author and explorer of the American past. In 1996, he traveled 1,200 miles of Underground Railroad history from Maryland to Ohio, tracing the steps of freedom seekers along wilderness trails and waterways and stopping in towns along the way to chronicle their stories through artifacts, documents and oral accounts. He embarked on a second trip, from Alabama to Ontario, in 1998 and in 2015 followed the route of a great-great-granduncle who fled slavery in Savannah, Ga., in 1849 for freedom in Canada. He is founder and president of The Menare Foundation, Inc., a national nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the history of the Underground Railroad, and operates the Button Farm Living History Center, a 40-acre farm that depicts 1850s plantation life in Maryland. He has served as a consultant to the National Parks Conservation Association, Maryland Public Television and NASA, among others.

The audio essay is a co-production of Adkins Arboretum and Schoolhouse Farmhouse. It was written by Mecca Lewis, Lauren Giordano and George Burroughs and was produced, recorded, edited and mixed by Giordano and Burroughs. It is based on work made possible by a grant from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, funded by the 400 Years of African American History Commission, and was financed in part by the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority.

 A full day of forest fun is planned for Adkins Arboretum’s inaugural Earth Day Adkins event, a celebration of Earth Day and Arbor Day, on Sat., April 22.

Participants can expect a bevy of Earth-friendly activities, including mixing up gooey seed balls, painting with natural dyes, drumming, stitching a tree tapestry and dip netting in the stream. A forest scavenger hunt, nature bingo, guided walks and citizen science demos will also be part of the fun.

The event runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Legendary ecologist and conservationist Nick Carter will be dip netting on the wetland boardwalk between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., and there will be a tree giveaway with a Department of Natural Resources forester, made possible through the Backyard Buffer program. Yoga instructor Suzann Zdnowski will lead a Yoga in the Woods class at 2:30 p.m. that is free with event admission.

Live entertainment includes music by Ampersand and hula hoop dancing by Baltimore performance artist Mina Bear. Food and drink will be available from local vendors: Ten Eyck and Bull & Goat breweries, Blue Monkey Street Tacos, Yo Java Bowl, Lucky Heart Bakery and Night Craft Bakery. Earth Day Adkins is a single-use plastic-free event; participants are invited to bring their own cup or water bottle.

Thanks to the generosity of the Arboretum’s sponsors, Earth Day Adkins admission is just $5 per person when purchased in advance at adkinsarboretum.org or by calling 410-634-2847, ext. 100. Children ages 3 and under are admitted free of charge. Only 400 admissions will be sold, so early registration is advised. Admission increases to $10 on the day of the event. Earth Day Adkins is sponsored in part by Babikow Greenhouses of Baltimore. For more details, visit adkinsarboretum.org.

From decadent chocolate-inspired cuisine and beautiful bouquets from our local florists to romantic winter walks and Valentine’s-themed art classes, here are a few ways to celebrate with your Valentine this February in Caroline County! This list is updated daily, so check back for more offerings!

• Indulge your senses at Chocolat, a decadent evening to benefit the Caroline Culinary Arts Center on February 10th featuring a chocolate-inspired menu, savory cuisine, cocktails, decadent desserts & more! Tickets are $70 per person and can be purchased online here by calling (410) 479-2144.
• Treat your sweetheart to a heart made of a dozen delicious tacos from Tenchi! The taco hearts are made of 12 double corn tortilla tacos in 4 styles – Authentic, American, Al Pastor and Street! Taco hearts are $40. Pre orders start on February 1st and pick ups start February 8th. Find out more at tenchifresh.com, on Facebook, or by calling (410) 482-4046.
• Tenchi is also offering a special Valentine’s Dinner for $55/person. The menu includes cream of crab soup, jumbo shrimp cocktail, caesar salad, filet mignon topped with chimichurri, chicken pesto penne pasta, Tenchi fajitas, chocolate covered strawberries, and fried ice cream. To make a reservation, please call (410) 482-4046.
• Caroline’s in Denton is offering a special Valentine’s Eve Dinner! This one-night-only event will also include a single’s table at the bar for their single foodie friends! The menu is $70 per person and includes Maine mussels, a charcuterie and local cheese board, steak tartare, lobster bisque, ham & clams linguine, Statler chicken, steak & shrimp, and a dessert course of chocolate fondue, rose-scented creme brulee, or Nancy’s famous cheesecake. Call Caroline’s at (410) 490-4495 for reservations!
• Earth Tones Cafe is offering a special dessert menu featuring chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate cupcakes with mocha buttercream, chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream, and strawberry glazed sugar cookies topped with freeze dried strawberries. Orders must be placed before February 8th and can be picked up February 11th & 12th during normal business hours. To place your order, please call (443) 448-4355.

Flowers & Gifts for your Valentine

• Shop for a beautiful arrangement from our fabulous local florists, including Lucy’s Flowers or Tammie’s Country Florist in Federalsburg, Patti’s Petals Florist Garden and Gifts in Denton, the Greensboro Florist, or the Garden Basket in Preston.
• You’ll find artisan chocolates, caramels, Valentine’s cards, handcrafted conversation heart soap, local honey, Shore Sweet Treats Nuts, candies and much more at Shore Gourmet Denton Market!
• The Ridgely Pharmacy is stocked with wonderful Valentine’s gifts! From jewelry and Valentine’s-themed home decor and accessories to plush stuffed animals, there’s something for everyone! Find out more here.
• Give your Valentine a fragrant gift made from lavender at Smokey Cat Lavender Farm’s online store. From relaxing neck wraps and rejuvenating eye pillows to essential oils and lip balm, this Federalsburg farm has just what you need for your favorite lavender-lover. Visit the online store at www.smokeycatlavender.com.
• Denton Dollars eGift Card’s make a great gift! Your Valentine can use it at any participating Denton business. Learn more, view participating merchants, and purchase your eGift Card online here. 
• Looking for a unique gift for your Valentine? How about the 2023 Steam Engine Calendar – made right here in Caroline County! Calnedars are $12 each plus shipping. To place your order, visit vintagetractordigest.com/calendar.html or call (410) 673-2414.

February Fun for your Valentine

• UPDATE: SOLD OUT Come learn the art of charcuterie February 2nd! In this workshop, led by Sweet Bites Charcuterie at the Fretterd Community Center, participants will create a Valentine’s Day themed charcuterie board complete with meat, cheese, and desserts! All supplies are included. The cost is $55 for Caroline County residents, and $60 for non-residents. Register online here. 
• Enjoy a Paint Afternoon at Martinak State Park on January 29th –  just in time to make something special for your Valentine! Paint a lovely composition of miniature hearts on branches. The afternoon includes guided instruction, materials, and refreshments! All proceeds benefit scholarships for future teachers and the Friends of Martinak and Tuckahoe. Find out more here. 
• The practice of forest bathing encourages you to slow down, quiet your mind, and connect with nature.  Awaken your senses and deepen your relationship with the natural world at Valentine’s Forest Bathing at Adkins Arboretum on February 11th! Grab a partner, friend, or loved one and join certified forest guide Shelli Smith to experience the forest together and foster a connection with nature and each other. The walk will conclude with a tea ceremony. Find out more here.
• Take a winter walk in the woods and enjoy the natural beauty of Caroline County! Check out our list of trail maps here to find the perfect spot!
• Escort your princess to Caroline County Recreation & Park’s 17th Annual Daddy Daughter Dance on February 19th. Dad and his Little Princess will enjoy dancing, games, refreshments, and great music.  Registration deadline is February 10th.  Dance has limited number of spots, so sign those princesses up early! There are two times to choose from: 4:30 – 5:30 pm or 6 – 7 pm. Cost is $40 per couple and $10 for each additional young lady. Register online here.
• Join art teacher Megan Parker for a Wine & Paint night at the Foundry on Friday, February 10th from 5:30-7pm and celebrate your sweetheart! Bring your valentine along, go single and make a unique gift for your valentine this year, or bring your besties for a ladies or guys night out and just have fun! All materials will be provided. $40/1 ticket, $75/2 tickets. This event is limited to guests ages 21+. Learn more and sign up here. 
• The Caroline County Council of Arts invites you to celebrate Black history with a diverse offering of the arts on February 18th from 11am – 3pm, including readings of original published stories by Author Dawn Wayman, cultural collage-making by artist Yolanda Acree, delicious soul-food prepared by Chef Jameyra, and music by Teran Goldsborough. Fabric and textile works by Black Eastern Shore artists will be on display at FACES. This is a FREE event for all ages. Find out more here. 
• Head to the Goldsboro Volunteer Fire Company for Designer Purse Bingo on February 12th! Doors open at 11:30am and bingo starts at 1pm. There will be 20 regular games and 5 special games. The cost is $30 in advance or $35 at the door for the regular game packet. The special games will be $10 per packet or $2 a sheet. There will also be door prizes and 50/50. Proceeds benefit the Children Exploration Organization. For more information, please contact Angie Cowgill at (410) 829-6084.
• The Fiber Arts Center of the Eastern Shore (FACES) in Denton invites you to their latest exhibit: The Winter Coverlet Collection of Catherine K. Spence, on view through February 25th. Dated coverlets in the collection range from the late 1830’s to 1850’s. Come visit this beautiful textile display and be mesmerized by their beauty! The exhibit is free of charge, and FACES is open Wednesday – Saturday from 12pm – 4pm. Find out more at FiberArtsCenter.com.
• The Tom Cheezum Memorial Toy & Train Show on February 11th features Lionel, Plasticville, Ertl, Legos, action figures, farm toys and more!  Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for additional people in your group, and free for children under 12 with adults. Come enjoy the vendors, great food and train display at this great event at the Preston Firehouse! Find out more here.
• Cow Barn Events in Ridgely is partnering with On Cloud Cline and Jeffery Murphy Photography to host a Wedding Expo on February 25th from 12pm. – 3pm. Come check out this beautiful barn wedding venue and meet some of the Eastern Shore’s best vendors to make your day perfect! Learn more here. 

The golden brown feathers of a perky cedar waxwing glow from behind dark, lacy cedar needles dotted with tiny blue berries in an unusual show in the Adkins Arboretum Visitor’s Center. On view through Feb. 24, Land as Teacher, Healer, Sustainer is more than just a show of exquisitely crafted botanical art. It’s a celebration of the plants that sustained the native peoples of the Chesapeake region for centuries before the arrival of Europeans. There will be a reception to meet the artists and learn more about this project on Sat., Jan. 14 from 2 to 4 p.m.

Created by 11 members of the Botanical Art League of the Eastern Shore, this show was inspired by the Indigenous Peoples’ Perspective Project, a collaboration between Adkins Arboretum and the Washington College Food Initiative. Focusing on 21 native plants used for food, crafts and medicine by the indigenous peoples of the Chesapeake region, the project aims at honoring their traditions and teaching about how their lives were intricately tied to the land and the plants that grow there.

Some are still used for food, including the blackberries in Sharon Weaver’s energetic watercolor of berries in every stage from unripe green to pink to the dark purple of ready-to-eat fruit. You’d be correct if the peeling bark of a river birch tree, drawn in precise and nuanced shades of graphite by Robert G. Hammond, makes you think of birchbark canoes, but a look at the informative list provided in the gallery will tell you that river birches also provided sap that was boiled down to make a sweet syrup and medicine to treat colds and stomach pain.

The Arboretum began offering classes in botanical art in 2006, and this program has become increasingly popular. In 2021, to address this interest, instructors Lee D’Zmura and Anna Harding co-founded an independent group, the Botanical Art League of the Eastern Shore, for artists interested in studying and developing their skills in botanical art.

“Many of the members who came to our first meeting said they were looking for inspiration and encouragement,” said Harding, the show’s organizer. “It seemed to me that a group project on an important theme might inspire people in their work, and I thought of the Indigenous Peoples’ Perspective Project.”

Harding proposed a show featuring the IPPP’s 21 plants, all of which grow at the Arboretum and on Washington College’s campus. Using detailed descriptions of the attributes and traditional uses of these plants listed on the IPPP’s webpage, members of the League began studying them and walking the Arboretum trails to observe them growing throughout the seasons

Each artist chose one or more species to draw or paint, often with an eye to catching the plants at crucial stages of their annual cycles. In Sarane McHugh’s pastel drawing, a trio of ripe persimmons seems ready to burst with sweet, succulent juice, while Robin Herman’s colored pencil drawing captures the rich shades of deep red, earthy green and brown of a white oak’s autumn leaves.

Martha Pileggi followed milkweed through the seasons in her pair of watercolor and colored pencil works that reveal tiny details of the plant’s purple-pink blossoms from buds to mature flowers and the pale green of ripening pods to a dried pod filled with seeds and silky fluff. There is another surprise here. While it’s become common knowledge that monarch butterflies will not survive without milkweed, their host plant, few of us know that the region’s native peoples also depended on milkweed for food and medicine, even gathering the gossamer fibers attached to its seeds to use as pillow stuffing.

“It’s our hope that this show will help visitors become aware of the incredible creativity and ingenuity of the ancient people who used these 21 plants in their daily lives,” Harding said. “And that, by looking closely at the artwork, people will be inspired by the beauty of botanical art and the talent of our art league members.”

This show is part of Adkins Arboretum’s ongoing exhibition series of work on natural themes by regional artists. It is on view through Feb. 24 at the Arboretum Visitor’s Center located at 12610 Eveland Rd. near Tuckahoe State Park in Ridgely. Contact the Arboretum at 410-634-2847, ext. 100 or info@adkinsarboretum.org for gallery hours.

From sparkling holiday lights to festive Main Streets, celebrate the season in Caroline County! Here you’ll find information on upcoming events, one-of-a-kind holiday experiences, and gift ideas from our shops, galleries and restaurants!