Join April Walker, founder of BIPOC Birders of Michigan for an informational talk followed by a walk in the nearby natural area. This event is in partnership with Natural Area Preservation.

Musk is one of the first ingredients people think of when it comes to animalic ingredients used in perfumery (aka “animalics”). Musks, however, are also found in essential oils extracted from plants, many of which can be turned in perfume absolutes (concentrates) by reducing tinctures by exposure to air for a specified period of time.

Meghan Navoy from Rosemarine Textiles will guide this workshop, demonstrating how to use wax batik sticks to draw a pattern on a cotton bandana, and then dip the piece into one of three natural dye baths to reveal the pattern.

Meghan Navoy from Rosemarine Textiles will guide this workshop, demonstrating how to use stamps and mordant paste to block print patterns onto cotton tote bags or bandanas. Participants will then immerse their pieces in dye baths to reveal the designs.

There’s nothing like the fragrance of a rose in full bloom. A sense of wonder accompanies each inhalation, whether perceived in the wind or nez en fleur. Describing how a rose smells, however, isn't as simple as lingering in the beauty of its perfume.

Rosy is a common descriptor for rose scent, and does little to articulate the multifaceted aspects that shape rose fragrance. It’s unfair to the rose and supports an enchantment that stills our tongues. The enchantment must be broken temporarily in order to cultivate a vocabulary for rose scent.

Painters and perfumers capture the fleeting fullness of roses in their respective arts. The artist offers proof by vision. The perfumer offers proof by smell, which evokes memories of encounters with roses stored in the brain.   The creative process for one is more mysterious than the other.

Join us for the launch of our Diversity in the Outdoors speaker series, in partnership with Natural Area Preservation. This month's speakers will be Victor Chen, leader of the Washtenaw Audubon BIPOC birding hikes and Brandan Freeman, founder of the Ann Arbor Shades of the Outdoors group.

This event is in partnership with the Natural Area Preservation.

Please join us for an evening of exploration and discussion around Ann Arbor’s Home Energy Rating Disclosure (HERD) ordinance, which will officially take effect on March 12th, 2024. HERD requires single-family homes in Ann Arbor receive a Home Energy Score (HES) prior to being listed for sale. In this second session of the 2024 Sustainability Series, hear from staff of Ann Arbor’s Office of Sustainability and Innovations about why the ordinance was passed, what a Home Energy Score is, how residents can sign up for a Home Energy Score assessment, and more. 

Need an outdoor space to watch the solar eclipse? Come to the library. Please bring your own eclipse glasses; no eclipse glasses will be provided before or during this event.

Norbert Vance, director of the Sherzer Observatory at Eastern Michigan University, will give a presentation in the Downtown Lobby on the upcoming April 8 solar eclipse. He'll talk about what to expect with 99% totality here in Ann Arbor, versus 100% totality just an hour south of us, and he'll offer some last-minute tips and tricks to get the most out of your viewing experience.