Due to a scheduling conflict, the date of the September SPARKLE has been changed from Wednesday September 10 to Wednesday September 17 at 2:00pm. The location remains the same -- the Koiner farm at 737 Easley St.

Change of Venue Due to Inclement Weather:

Find Us at Commas Food Hall in Ellsworth Place Mall

--We will be in the seating area just past C3 Bar

Speaking will be author Mike Tidwell of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. He will speak about Gardening With Climate Change.

Mike Tidwell is a journalist, author, and climate activist living in Takoma Park, MD. His most recent book is an exploration of global warming’s impact in his own front yard, called The Lost Trees of Willow Avenue: A Story of Climate and Hope on One American Street (St. Martin’s Press, March 2025). Publisher’s Weekly gave the book a coveted starred review. Mike’s previous six books include Bayou Farewell (2003) about the disappearing wetlands of south Louisiana and The Ponds of Kalambayi (1990), a Peace Corps memoir. As a past contributing writer for The Washington Post, he won four Lowell Thomas Awards, the highest prize in American travel journalism. He is a former National Endowment for the Arts fellow whose work has been published in Audubon, National Geographic Traveler, Orion, Washingtonian, and elsewhere. A passionate conservationist, he founded the Chesapeake Climate Action Network in 2002, where he has led local and national campaigns for clean energy. He lives on Willow Avenue in Takoma Park, MD with his wife Beth and their cat Macy Gray.