Enjoy several autumn walks, talks offered this week
Plants of the Bible: 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Temple Sinai, 11620 Warwick Blvd., Newport News. Lytton John Musselman is the Mary Payne Hogan Professor of Botany at Old Dominion University, where he also served as chair of the department of biological sciences. His main teaching interest and one of his chief research interests is ethnobotany, broadly defined as the human use of plants past, present and future. His ethnobotanical research has centered on two broad geographical regions. The first is the Middle East, where he has lived in five countries studying the uses of plants in ancient times resulting in three published volumes: “Jordan in Bloom Flowers of the Holy Land,” commissioned by Queen Rania of Jordan and published by the Jordan River Foundation in 2000; “Figs, Dates, Laurel and Myrrh Plants of the Bible and Quran,” with a foreword by Garrison Keillor, published by Timber Press in 2007; and most recently, “A Dictionary of Bible Plants” published by Cambridge University
Press in 2011.
Master Gardener Talk: 9-10 a.m. Thursday at Williamsburg Regional Library, 515 Scotland St., Williamsburg. Joni Carlson, a food and nuclear analytical chemist, a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a lead educator at the museums of the JamestownYorktown Foundation and one who delights in teaching local elementary school systems on the life cycle of butterflies. Carlson’s program will be on Monarch Waystation Certification. Free. 757-229-6208.
Walk and Talk: Nature Journaling: 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at New Quarter Park, 100 County Drive, Yorktown. Join veteran journalist and Richmond area instructor Lynn Wilson as they revel in the sights and sounds on a fall morning. All skill levels welcome. Limited to 15 participants, ages 15 and up; basic supplies provided. Meet at the picnic tables near the park office. Free, but online registration is required. 757-890-3513.
Autumn Nature Hike: Noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at Hopewell Community Center, 100 W. City Point Road, Hopewell. This nature hike is designed for beginner hikers, ages 10 and older, and will take place on mostly flat terrain. Participants should be able to comfortably walk up to four miles for each hike. Belle Isle, part of the James River Park System, offers an up-close look at some of Richmond’s most powerful whitewater and breathtaking views of the city skyline. Transportation will be provided from the Hopewell Community Center to each hiking destination. $5. Registration ends Tuesday. bit.ly/2SdQKZn.