Nature U Series
Adam Bigelow
Basics of Botany
January 14 - February 4, 2025
Tuesdays Evenings from 6:00pm-8:00pm
Belk Building Room 404
$179
This classroom-based course will provide a foundational study of Plants, including the different types, their parts and the terminology used to describe them, their life cycles, and how to identify them using field guides, botanical keys, and apps. Students will have a foundational understanding of Plants and how to identify them to help prepare them for the return of Spring and Plant growth in Southern Appalachia and beyond.
Instructor: Adam Bigelow (See Bio Below)
Getting the Most Out of Organic Gardening
February 11 - March 11, 2025
Tuesdays from 6:00pm-8:00pm
Belk Building, Room 404
$160
Starting an organic garden is easy, and fun. Keeping your garden going throughout the years while harvesting abundant, healthy produce can be a little more challenging. This course will help you to have a successful garden experience, from the ground up. We will cover soil ecology, composting and fertility; garden preparation and seed starting; weeds, pests and disease prevention and control; companion planting, the role of flowers and native plants in attracting beneficial insect allies, and much more. Through a combination of classroom instruction and field trips to local Gardens, students will gain knowledge and experience in gardening, and be able to use that information to grow a successful organic garden at home.
About the instructor: Adam Bigelow is a horticulturist and amateur botanist who lives in Cullowhee, NC, and has been studying the plants and wildflowers of Southern Appalachia for over 20 years. Adam is the owner/operator of Bigelow’s Botanical Excursions, an eco-tour business leading guided plant walks in WNC. He is an avid organic gardener and founded and managed the Cullowhee Community Garden for ten years. Adam is a long-time attendee, field trip leader, and steering committee member of the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference, the largest and oldest annual conference focusing on Native Plants on the East Coast. Adam has lived in WNC for 30 years.
Mindful Birding for Joy and Connection with Nature
March 13, April 3 & May 1 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 PM
WCU Picnic Shelter - Main Campus
Instructor: Topher Stephens
$59
Participants will practice holistic embodied nature connection and experience the ways that birding can have a calming and nourishing effect on our bodies, minds, and nervous systems. We will learn to tune in to the secret language of the forest and learn to blend into the landscape to see more wildlife. We’ll also learn the basics of bird identification which will help us recognize birds by their unique habitats, behaviors, songs, impressions, and markings. Come cultivate your curiosity and attention to discover the secret lives of birds and other wildlife and, in doing so, join a joyful and inclusive learning community of people who share passion, curiosity, and respect for the more-than-human world.
About the Instructor: Topher Stephens has been a leader of outdoor and experiential education programs for over 15 years and has guided trips through Nepal, South Pacific, Southeast Asia, and Central & South America. Topher recently moved back to his childhood home in Western North Carolina to launch a nature connection school called Wild Remembering aimed to inspire passion, curiosity, and stewardship among folks in his home community. Drawing from his background in conservation biology, mindfulness education, and nature-based mentoring, he brings a reverence for all life and a deep respect for the more-than-human world to his teaching.
Forest Bathing at Pinnacle Park
Friday, May 23, 2025 from 1pm to 4pm
Friday, June 6, 2025 from 1pm to 4pm
Pinnacle Park, Sylva
$40
REGISTER ONLINE
Certified guide, Debby Singleton, will offer invitations for safely engaging with
nature through our sense of sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste. This is an opportunity
to slow down, unplug, destress, and practice presence in the moment. Inspired by the
Japanese practice of Shinrin-Yoku, which translates to “bathing in the forest”, this
immersion is an opportunity to experience the restorative benefits of the forest around
us. At the end of this immersion, participants will share their experiences with a
peaceful tea ceremony. LEARN MORE
Instructor: Debby Singleton
The Art of Nature Journaling
Friday, April 25, 2025 from 1:00pm to 4:00pm
Location: WCU Picnic Area
Instructor: Debby Singleton
Cost: $60
Nature Journaling helps to deepen your observational and drawing skills of the natural world around us. The practice
of keeping a nature journal is an extremely effective and engaging way to observe, spark curiosity, and think creatively. When we use words, pictures, and numbers to journal it helps us to think differently and make a more complete record of what we see. Starting (or maintaining) a nature journal is a way to rediscover the thrill of science. It helps us to slow down, look, ask questions, and piece together answers.
Join Debby Singleton for this supportive, engaging, and nature-based workshop for journaling and creating art. Debby will provide all materials needed for this workshop. At the end, each participant will take home a completed nature journal of their observations and a resource list to further their practice. Debby is a firm believer that everyone can “create” and uses this mantra to help others find the joy in the “process”. LEARN MORE
About the Instructor: Debby Singleton is a retired professor of Parks & Recreation Management from Western Carolina University and a certified Nature & Forest Therapy Guide. Debby is also an educator, experiential facilitator, and a multimedia artist who uses observation, creating, and journaling to connect with nature. She specializes in pen and watercolor mediums, but also dabbles in just about every source of creating. Primarily a landscape and wildlife artist, Debby captures the natural world on paper while adventuring and from her basement studio overlooking her hollow near Cullowhee, NC. She is a firm believer that everyone is an “artist” and uses this mantra to help others find the JOY and the WELLNESS benefits of connecting art with nature. She currently guides Forest Bathing walks, nature immersion hikes, and creative explorations in Western North Carolina and beyond. Debby is excited to share her love of nature journaling, writing, sketching, and exploration with everyone in this workshop.