THE NATURE PLACE–LA CROSSE, WI, with REBECCA SCHWARZ & PAIGE MANGES

Jennifer Jewell
Jul 17
4 min read

This week we’re getting back to nature for summer camp: ALL ages invited.

We’re in conversation with Rebecca Schwarz and Paige Manges of The Nature Place in La Crosse, WI. It’s a place where we all belong and can keep growing – for sustenance, for survival, and for joy.

The Nature Place is dedicated to inspiring and cultivating meaningful connections between people and nature, for the benefit of both, through all ages programming at their nature-focused community center open to the public, located in La Crosse’s beautiful Myrick Park.

Rebecca Schwarz is the Executive Director of The Nature Place, and Paige Manges is the Communications Manager. Collectively with staff and volunteers, including many Americorps volunteers over the years, the Nature Place is cultivating a garden culture of care for their region and beyond.

In March of this year, the U.S. Federal government rescinded funding to the longstanding Americorps workforce training and community investment program, dealing this exemplary program a devastating blow. Paige and Rebecca speak movingly to this turn of events for their own program and community, and for all such programs across the country. For anyone who might say that gardening is not political, think again.

Follow & Support The Nature Place Online:

thenatureplacelacrosse.org

And on Instagram:

@natureplacelacrosse

All photos courtesy of The Nature Place. All rights reserved.

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Back To School: The Institute For Food Farm at Miami University of Ohio

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JOIN US again next week, when we begin a two week BEST OF reprisal for CP’s summer vacation! First up, we revisit another nature-base in conversation with Nancy Lawson, also known as The Humane Gardener, about her fabulous summer garden book: "Wildscape". That's right here, next week. Listen in!

Cultivating Place is made possible in part by listeners like you and by generous support from

The Catto Shaw Foundation,

supporting initiatives that empower women and help preserve the planet through the intersection of environmental advocacy, social justice, and creativity.

Thinking out loud this week...

Hey, it's Jennifer—

For survival, for sustenance, for joy – that’s it, right? The Nature Place: where we all belong and can keep growing – that’s what nature does, and that’s what we feel when we cultivate our places and people and plants with care – that’s what Big G gardeners do, people. They grow the world better. Every act of big G gardening is an opportunity to take better care of our selves, our environments, our communities.

Gardening with a capital G means cultivating our places with care for all. And boy aren’t they doing just that at the Nature Center in LaCrosse? This is what Gardeners grow, friends, we grow nature based community centers for the benefit of all. I will vote for that with my Garden. How about you?

I have to say, maybe because of these past weeks - and the news on the national front, but when Paige shared that her previous work had drained rather than energized her – it resonated. Deeply.

Not because I feel drained – on the contrary, conversations like this one, and email and text and dm and social media interactions with all of you to say nothing of what it means to engage with you all in person refuels without fail; my garden refuels me without fail.

So when the world gets you down, remember that the plants and people have been taking care of one another for a very very long time. The people who cultivate plants in their places for all the reasons – which includes us – we always have the opportunity to grow the world better – in all the ways we want to see our world grow – for the future. As Rebecca points out: this kind of work literally grows the future. As Paige noted: this is work that matters. Keep Gardening with a capital G and growing our world better gardeners. And Happy summer!

More Public Gardening Announcements again in August. Till then – happy summer campers.

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