A long time ago, I saw a tag on a teabag that read, “Calming tea for a nervous world.” I still don’t know who wrote that line, but the sentiment stayed with me.

I’ve been drinking a lot of tea lately. Luckily I’ve also found a podcast, a blog, and a book that help keep me grounded in the peace of the natural world.

For instance, when I need some good listening, I visit the “Growing Greener” podcast. It’s 30 minutes of down-to-earth discussion between well-known garden author Thomas Christopher, a Middletown resident, and his guest experts on land care, landscape ecology, and horticulture.

Christopher is author or co-author of more than a dozen books on horticulture. Among his recent works are the widely-read “Garden Revolution” with Larry Weaner, and “Nature Into Art: The Gardens of Wave Hill.” He is also the 2021 recipient of the Sarah Chapman Francis medal for outstanding literary achievement by the Garden Club of America. Christopher is at least the third Connecticut garden writer to receive this national honor. Tovah Martin won in 2008, as did Edwin Way Teale in 1965.

What’s a successful author doing with a podcast? Christopher called the endeavor his “passion project.”

“Environmental challenges are the defining crisis of our age,” he said. “Addressing them begins at home, literally in our own backyards. My guests give us ways to care for plants and land in harmony with nature.”

After a long career in print media, he said he enjoys bringing a live dialog directly to his audience.

“Listeners get to hear these experts’ enthusiasm for their topics, their excitement over what they are doing,” he said. “It’s very inspiring.”

The podcast began in 2019, featuring speakers such as author and scientist Douglas Tallamy, forager Ellen Zachos, songbird researcher Desiree Narango, bee specialist Heather Holm, ethnobotanist Enrique Salmon, firefly conservationist Ben Pfeiffer, and many, many more. (Full disclosure: Tom Christopher interviewed me for a Jan. 21, 2021 podcast titled “Landscaping Without Herbicides.”)

There are multiple ways to listen, described at thomaschristophergardens.com/podcast. Also contact Christopher through his website. He said he finds his interview guests in various ways, but he especially prizes listener input.

Local nature blog

Many emails arrive in my inbox every day, but only a few do I click right away. Among those are posts from “Beyond Your Back Door” by Jim Sirch.

Sirch’s blog is part of his work as the education coordinator at Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven. He is a trained naturalist with degrees in both forestry and science education.

“Since so many people are working from home and spending so much more time outside, it seemed like a great way to answer questions that might come up about what they’re seeing and hearing in the local environment,” Sirch said. The blog launched in April 2020.

Since launch, Sirch has put a hyper-local lens on our region’s outdoors, demystifying what’s going on “out there.” After a friend commented that she thought she heard ducks quacking in the woods last spring, Sirch wrote the first post, “What’s That Quacking in the Woods?” (Answer: Wood frogs.) A recent post, “This Cat Should Stay Outside,” explained bobcats’ lives, their local ecology role, and how to co-exist with them. Another, titled “Autumn Calls of Spring Peepers,” explains why some tiny frogs sing both spring and fall.

One of my favorite posts was titled “Is Connecticut Their Florida?”

“Retirees who want to escape the cold and ice to spend the winter down south are known as ‘snowbirds,’” he wrote, noting that this nickname also describes the dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis). “Juncos overwinter here after spending the summer nesting in northern New England and the Canadian Boreal Forest. They will head back north next spring.”

What future posts can we anticipate? “I have always been interested in phenology, the science of seasonal and cyclic natural phenomena,” Sirch said. For instance, why should we plant extra parsley next spring? (Answer: To offer food when swallowtail butterfly caterpillars need it.)

I’m guessing that’s a preview of posts to come, as the topic of phenology is front-and-center in climate change discussions.

“I am happy to take requests,” he said, “and I always appreciate ideas.” Reach Jim Sirch or sign up for his blog posts at beyondyourbackdoor.net.

Peaceful reading, local focus

Finally, I’d like to mention a lovely book that I have found both calming and informative. It is Robert Tougias’ 2020 publication, “Birder on Berry Lane: Three Acres, Twelve Months, Thousands of Birds.” While the book is ostensibly about his love of birds and birding, the more profound message is about a place: his three-acre landscape on Berry Lane.

“This is not the story of a small New England town, nor is it about me,” he wrote. “Rather, it is an account of my awareness... By tuning into the life around me, I have come to know my place.”

Elsewhere he wrote, “A great feeling of peace comes with this experience. I would like readers to find this peacefulness...”

Though he never mentions the exact town location of Berry Lane — I’ll leave that up to readers to discover — the scenes and events that take place over twelve months will be familiar to anyone who enjoys the nature of southern Connecticut. Tougias helped me understand some of the subtleties of bird behavior in my own backyard. Why is there so little birdsong in the fall? Why does the male vireo spend so much time in the high canopy? What gives the wood thrush its unique, beautiful voice? The bonus section at the back of the book offers more information about our common (and uncommon) avian visitors.

More importantly, I did indeed find the book’s quiet tone very soothing.

I hope you’ll check out these three sources of connection with the natural world if you find yourself in need of “calming tea for a nervous world.”

Kathy Connolly writes and speaks on landscape design, landscape ecology, and land care. Visit her website at speakingoflandscapes.com.