This introductory level course, taught by Maine Master Naturalists, will examine remarkable ways that the natural world takes clues from the golden light, shortening days, and cooler evenings to reap the harvest, store and distribute bounty, and prepare for winter. In each class, we will address a topic through a combination of lecture, discussion, and hands-on learning. Topics may include:

Plants preparing for dormancy
Late season blooms
The magic of seeds and fruits.
Mycorrhizal networks and mushrooms
Moss primer
Tracks and signs of insects
Mammals preparing for winter
The Intertidal Zone
Others to be determined

While this class will occur indoors, we sincerely hope that the classes will encourage all participants to go outside and marvel in things they have not observed before.

About the instructors

Ellen Gellerstedt, a retired physician, has been a Maine Master Naturalist since 2020. She is especially interested vascular plants, mosses, and lichens - how they grow/develop, and how they co-exist in natural environments. She volunteers as a docent at Wild Gardens of Acadia.

Susan Hayward has had a career of teaching public high school sciences, been the naturalist and environmental educator at Thorncrag Nature Sanctuary in Lewiston for 32 years, and is one of the founders of the Maine Master Naturalist Program. She offers courses in the Flora of Maine, has volunteered for decades at a sanctuary of the Native Plant Trust for research on native orchids, and has been an active member of the Josselyn Botanical Society since 1978.

Carol Leonard is a retired midwife, a Maine Master Naturalist and is the author of four books including her midwifery memoir Lady's Hands, Lion's Heart, A Midwife's Saga. Carol has previously taught a course for ASC called "When God was a Woman."

Kelly Lunt is a new Maine Master Naturalist, having graduated from the program in 2024. She is the Education Director at Woodlawn in Ellsworth and enjoys helping all ages discover the wonder of the natural world.

Alice Noyes became a Maine Master Naturalist in 2020. She serves on the board of Friends of Taunton Bay and teaches classes at Penobscot Valley Senior College. As a retired trainer and employee development manager, she loves helping others learn, especially about mosses and other botany topics.

Roberta Sharp is a Maine Master Naturalist who has taught three previous Acadia Senior College classes on becoming an amateur naturalist. She is a retired Nurse Practitioner. Roberta volunteers as a docent at the Wild Gardens of Acadia, as a wildlower naturalist for AMC and as a bird collage artist. She is a board member of the Somes Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary.

Karen Olga Zimmermann is a Maine Master Naturalist and Registered Maine Guide. She leads nature journaling workshops, hiking tours and exhibits her watercolors of plants and insects.

Course offerings