I recently shared with you how much I was loving Lia’s Living Almanac. It’s a Substack newsletter related to plants and gardening. However, it’s not the only one that I subscribe to. Substack has many different gardening and nature newsletters that you might want to check out. Therefore, I wanted to share some more of my favorites with you today.
What Is Substack?
If you’re not familiar with Substack, then I’ll give you a brief overview. Substack is a platform where you can easily create a newsletter. However, unlike other newsletter platforms, such as MailChimp, your newsletter also acts as a sort of blog. People who sign up for your newsletter will receive it in their email. Alternatively, they can read it on the Substack app or website. People who aren’t signed up for the newsletter can see your articles on the site or app. Then they can decide if they want to sign up or not.
Best Gardening and Nature Substacks
I shared previously about Lia’s Living Almanac which is great for people who are inspired by growing and cooking their food. Let me share some of my other favorites with you now:
Creatively Conscious
This is an intentional newsletter / digital magazine by creative / writer Claire Venus. She celebrates slow living and the well-being it brings, writes about nature in her life, and shares thoughts on motherhood and more. She recently shared her creative garden project called The Soil Web. Claire explains it’s “all about soil, making soil using worm hotels and observing the bio-diversity of soil!”
June’s Writing
June Girvin is a retired nursing professor and “Reader, writer, knitter, walker, gardener, critic.” She chats conversationally about all different types of things in her newsletter, with gardening showing up prominently. She shares photos and descriptions of what is going on in her own garden. I often find that I learn best just by hearing other people’s stories and what they’re doing to problem solve. This fits me better than “Here’s how to do things in three steps.” So that’s one of the reasons that her newsletter is appealing to me.
Also, she did a great important post on planting for pollinators. We discussed that recently here on our site. And it’s the kind of thing that will show up in good gardening/nature newsletters from time to time. As you’ll discover, most of the writers on Substack are sharing a variety of different things that overlap and it weaves gardening into that.
Garden Study
Garden Study is a subsection of a larger Substack called Culture Study. It’s authored by Anne Helen Petersen who shares many different smart thoughts about culture but wanted to create this section just to talk about the joys of gardening. As of the writing of this post, some of the recent articles in Garden Study related to container gardening, gardening mistakes, square foot gardening, and practicing patience when gardening with kids.
Note that this is a subscription-based newsletter. Substack allows authors to offer both free and paid content. Most authors offer both. Garden Study is an opt-in optional newsletter for paying subscribers but you do get a little bit of preview content before you pay. (Also, it’s good to pay if you can; these newsletters don’t write themselves!)
Life in the Real World
This newsletter will be one of your favorites if you love nature photos. Author Karen Davis is a nature photographer as well as a writer. She shares “Drops of Beauty” regularly which are photo-rich looks at nature. They delight me every single time that I open one.
About the newsletter, Karen writes:
“This newsletter will be full of photos and reflections on what nature teaches me every day about beauty, wonder, and living in the world. I hope you will find it grounding, meditative, sometimes illuminating, and full of genuine curiosity about this strange thing we call Life.”
Neblina Wool Dye Studio Notes
I’ve previously shared with you how I’m interested in gardening plants for natural dyes to dye yarn or fabric. There’s so much great information in this newsletter that’s all about that. The newsletter is written by Sara Meinecke who calls herself a “Natural dyer, knitter, sewer, slow fashion enthusiast.” That’s right up my alley (although I crochet instead of knit.) She explains that her Substack newsletter is about “sharing natural color processes, exploring local color palettes, and connecting with sustainability.”
Recently, she shared a post about Artist Dates. These are part of Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way practice, in which you take yourself on a weekly solo creative date. What I love about the post is that it’s a roundup of artist-date ideas specifically for natural dyers. For example, doing a dye color test of a plant local to your area or taking yourself on a nature walk. Very inspiring and creative!
The Gardening Mind by Jo Thompson
This is one of the most comprehensive resources on Substack related to gardening. Authored by a garden designer, it’s rich in helpful tips and information about all aspects of gardening. There are sections for small gardens, planting design, what not to do in the garden, resilient and sustainable gardening, and more. If you’re looking for just one newsletter that will help you get started with gardening information, then this is where you might want to begin.
Radicle
This is a place that shares essays and thoughts from multiple contributors about alternative gardening. If you’re interested in social justice issues and climate concerns as they relate to gardening, then this is the spot for you.
Remembering Wild by Sez Kristiansen
This is a beautifully written newsletter about a variety of different topics related to rewinding, the spirituality of nature, natural remedies, creativity, mental health, and more. In terms of gardening, Sez says that the space is for you if, among other things, you, “love the wild outdoors, gardening or being in nature.” That would be us, right? It includes a podcast and meditation. While it’s not a typical gardening newsletter, it’s one you’ll like if gardening is part of a slow-living path for you.
Read more:
- 5 Things I Learned About Gardening in 2022
- Book Review: A Garden to Dye For
- 10 Best Gardening Podcasts Worth Listening To
Kathryn Vercillo is a long time writer, crafter and author of several books. A resident of San Francisco, she is committed to helping others explore, articulate and share their own individuals stories. When she’s not evaluating investing opportunities Kathryn is an avid knitter, researcher, and blogger.
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