Join us for our annual Jenny Elder Fitch Memorial Lecture: Nature As a Teacher – Grounding and Resilience in an Unsettled World with Teri Speight.
Sunday, November 2
5:30 p.m.
Hybrid: In-person and on Zoom
Free!
Register:
https://reg.learningstream.com/reg/event_page.aspx?ek=0005-0014-d9f3c70225a645e5909bbee9d952eaec
Engaging in nature has many benefits, especially in an unsettled world. None of us imagined uncertain times – especially the extreme weather. If we are observant, the garden teaches us a lesson in resilience. The importance of recognizing how we can garden despite the circumstances which surround us is what nature has taught the gardener since the beginning of time. Nature shares lessons on patience, dependability, stress resistance, and how we need to appreciate the miniscule moments that bring us joy.
Join Teresa (Teri) Speight as she shares how we can use these lessons from the garden in a challenging world. Using tools such as grounding practices, observation, rest, reseeding and finding joy at unexpected times, Teri will share ways these practices are important as we garden.
As she often says, ‘Joy is found when we embrace the beauty that surrounds us.” Beauty could be an old growth forest inviting one to stand and be still. Sometimes beauty comes from a tickling stream, hidden by nature’s boughs. There might be a tree branch that invites you to connect to your inner child and invokes memories of tree swings in the summer of your youth. There are many examples found in nature that show us what to plant, how to plant, and sometimes how nature’s artistry can make us smile.
As a lifelong gardener who is known to wander in any weather, any month, and particularly when the world is moving too fast, Teri would like to invite you on a journey to find peace in nature, her way.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Teresa J. Speight is a proud Native Washingtonian, mother, grandmother, steward of the land, garden communicator, and an active member of the National Garden Club (District I). With ancestral roots in North and South Carolina, where her forebears were sharecroppers, Teri embraces gardening as a deeply authentic and personal act. For her, connecting with the earth honors the legacy of the generations whose hands built and fed her family.
Teri has served as Head Gardener for the City of Fredericksburg and is one of the founding farmers of the Eitt CSA, Stafford County’s first Transitional Organic CSA Farm. Today, she is a garden writer, visionary, and former estate gardener. Through her platform, Cottage in the Court, she offers curated garden experiences for small groups and one-on-one garden coaching, with a focus on earth-friendly practices. Her mission is to help others reconnect with the soil, nature, and their roots—believing that through this reconnection, we learn to respect all that the earth provides.
During the global pause of recent years, Teresa authored and co-authored two impactful books. Her debut work, Black Flora: Profiles of Inspiring Black Flower Farmers and Florists (Timber Press), celebrates the stories of African American growers, florists, and designers. It’s a tribute to the creativity and diversity within the Black horticultural community.
She also co-authored The Urban Garden: 101 Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City alongside Kathy Jentz. Drawing on their combined experience as urban and suburban gardeners, the book offers practical, adaptable tips for gardeners of all levels—especially those navigating the challenges of urban growing spaces.
Currently, Teri is revitalizing her blog and podcast, Cottage in the Court, where she shares conversations with fascinating people, explores unique garden destinations, and weaves in poetry that invites listeners to embrace the garden as a sanctuary.
Passionate about gardening, storytelling, travel, and simply living well, Teri Speight continues to inspire others to find beauty in people, plants, and places. She warmly invites others to sit with her at her "cottage" and experience the joy and wonder that the garden has to offer.
Also check out other Arts events in Chapel Hill, Literary Art events in Chapel Hill, Fine Arts events in Chapel Hill.
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