Walkabout/Talkabouts: For many years, KAW Council has held monthly walkabout/talkabouts: a chance to take a walk with old and new friends, exploring a particular place in our watershed and learning more about the other-than-human species among us. 

Winter Calendar 2023

January 21, 2-4 p.m. Walkabout/Talkabout: Come visit with us and perhaps, weather-permitting, take a walk, plus share snacks after we visit about our topic. Meet at 511 Lake St. in North Lawrence. Discussion topic: A Book (or two) from the last year.

February 18, 2-4 p.m.: Walkabout/Talkabout: Come visit with us and perhaps, weather-permitting, take a walk, plus share snacks after we visit about our topic, Ken & Caryn’s house. Email us for directions.  Discussion topic: Mentors in our lives

March 18, 2-4 p.m.: Walkabout/Talkabout: Come visit with us and perhaps, weather-permitting, take a walk, plus share snacks after we visit about our topic. Potluck brunch at Ken & Caryn’s shaded front porch or inside socially-distanced. Walk afterwards on our land.. Email us for directions.  Discussion topic: A poem that we really love.

Wild East Lawrence Walk (Self-Guided)

Wild East Lawrence Walk is a walk highlighting the native and ecological features of East Lawrence, including the topics of cool trees, the soils and geology of East Lawrence, and the seasonal highlights of birds, mammals, insects, reptiles and other wildlife found within/passing through the neighborhood. The walk, which is part of the Songs & Stories of East Lawrence project with Kelley Hunt & Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, is (because of the pandemic) now eternal and self-guided, thanks to Ken Lassman’s narration and Natalie Lassman’s music. Here is the self-guided walk below, and you can access the accompanying map here.

Past Walkabout/Talkabouts:

September 27: Plant We Know and Love — 5-6:30 p.m. Many of us have long-term relationships with plants or casual flirtations. Let’s talk about the plants of our lives: why and how they speak to us, how they’re changing and evolving, and how we’re living, working, breathing, and communicating with them.

November 29: The Birds of Our Lives — 5-6:30 p.m. Let’s talk about birds we see, saw, want to see, heard or hear, and find astonishing, intriguing, or beguiling. We can also talk about bird evolution and migration, the impact of climate change on birds, and what birds sing to our souls. Walkabout: 2 p.m., meet at the Wetlands — please meet in the parking lot.

December 27: Our Annual Favorite Books Recently Read Edition – 5-6:30 p.m. Each December, we delight in sharing our favorite books from the past year. Bring something to read (a brief excerpt or poem or passage), books to hold up and praise, and questions and curiosities. Walkabout: 2 p.m., meet at Dan & Kat’s little house (527 Lake St.) to talk alongside the river.

January 31: Weather and How It Changes Our Lives – 5-6:30 p.m. The weather changes our moments and our lives, sometimes more than others. Let’s talk weather and skies, clouds and storms, patterns and shifts as well as how the we’re changing the weather. Walkabout: 2 p.m., meet at Ken and Caryn’s house (email WildDouglasCounty@gmail.com for directions).

March 28: Movies and Media That Changed Our Lives — 5-6:30 p.m. Let’s talk films — particularly bioregional films (films about place, sense of place, community and eco-community) that shook or woke us up, delighted or amused us, taught us how to be and what to do, and otherwise stay with us long after the credits roll. Walkabout: 2 p.m., meet at the Wetlands.