Rejoicing with Nature in Our Own Backyards

In this 2023 conversation with Justine Willis Toms, New York Times contributor Margaret Renkl suggests that we make an “untidy” garden that will nurture our soul and the natural world. She encourages us to fall in love with the natural companions in our lives: the spiders, the hummingbirds, crickets, and raccoons, and all the other species who are living right beside us. When we fall in love with them, we can't help but want to save them. Renkl suggests stepping out of our small world of computer screens, smartphones and TVs to step into the larger natural world, which is everywhere, just outside our front door.  

Margaret Renkl is the author of:


- Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss (Milkweed Editions 2019)
- Graceland, At Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache from the American South. (Milkweed Editions 2021)
- The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year (Spiegel and Grau 2023)

Interview Date: 6/19/2023   Tags: Margaret Renkl, birding tradition, blue jays, crows, bird language, tadpoles, amphibians, frogs, toads, endocrine disruptors, chemical fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, monarch butterflies, Methuselah generation, Roundup, glyphosate, pollinator plants, rabbits, manicured lawns, spiders, hummingbirds, walking, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Writing