Fall Equinox Walkabout at Taft Gardens & Nature Preserve
Fall Equinox Walkabout at Taft Gardens & Nature Preserve
September 19 @ 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Four Directions Circle on Taft Nature Preserve. Photo by Alexandra Nicklin
Please note: This event is presented by the Conservation Endowment Fund (CEF), stewards of Taft Gardens & Nature Preserve. They are handling all registrations. Please visit this page to register. You can email taftgardensvisitors@gmail.com with any questions. Admission to the walkabout is $45/person which includes a $10 donation to CEF.
Registrants will receive an email from CEF with detailed directions. Please do not try to find the venue by using other maps or GPS. Allow plenty of time to find the venue and to make your way up the miles-long driveway.
Please join me for a Fall Equinox Walkabout at Taft Gardens & Nature Preserve on Saturday, September 19, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. “Walkabout” is an Australian term for a temporary return to traditional Aboriginal life, taken especially between periods of work or residence in modern society and usually involving a period of travel through the bush. That is the essence of what I have planned for us in observance of the Fall Equinox, although for a much shorter time than the traditional Australian journey and as a group instead of solo.
Our walkabout will begin in the Australian section of the Gardens and ascend through the wild plant communities in the Nature Preserve to a vista point adorned with a four-directions stone circle on a mesa with a 360 degree view. There we will align with the four directions, connect with the annual solar cycle, and remember our own ancestral origins somewhere on Planet Earth.
As we do on all my monthly Natural History walks at the Taft Ranch, we will identify and discuss useful plants and observe birds and animal signs in the context of the local ecology. My intention is to create a space for people to connect and interact with the natural world by learning the language of nature.
No dogs or smoking, please.
MY WEATHER POLICY: Walks and hikes will go on RAIN OR SHINE unless there is a steady downpour on the morning of the event, probability of thunderstorm, or a solid forecast of either the day before. Light rain or drizzle will not result in cancellation on my part. I will update registrants by email and text, as needed, and issue refunds if I need to cancel because of the weather.
ABOUT TAFT GARDENS & NATURE PRESERVE:
A project of the nonprofit Conservation Endowment Fund, Taft Gardens and Nature Preserve was described for years as one of Ojai’s best-kept secrets. Then in 2022, this botanical gem was featured in an L. A. Times article on “The 16 Most Beautiful and Inviting Public Gardens in Southern California” and also included in the RedBook Magazine list of “The 12 Most Beautiful Botanical Gardens in the United States.”
ABOUT LANNY KAUFER:
Lanny Kaufer of HerbWalks.com is celebrating 50 years of leading herb walks in 2026. He has been leading herb walks, nature hikes, and workshops in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties since 1976, educating hundreds of residents and visitors on the edible and medicinal flora of the area. He holds a biology degree from UC Santa Cruz and is the author of Medicinal Herbs of California: A Field Guide to Common Healing Plants (Falcon Guides, 2021). Copies will be available for sale and signing after the walkabout.
Lanny is on the faculty of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at California State University, Channel Islands. He serves as consultant on medicinal plants for the Chumash Garden at the Ojai Valley Museum and the Swimmer Medicinal Garden in Playa Vista, CA.