Zoom in. Grow, consume, return. Food connects us. Weather. Stories, learning.

Relaxin' in the Mallary Complex 🐮 Stop by and see this year's butter sculpture, the 4-H Milk Booth, sheep shearing, the milking parlor, and more! pic.twitter.com/goPVddMH1x

— The Big E (@TheBigEFair) September 25, 2022

Place names and stories of people, commerce, survival.

Innovation and markets. Around the kitchen table asking if no modern inventions at hand (including glass, plastics, metal), how would you carry water?

Join Pequot Library, Sefra Alexandra (“The Seed Huntress”), and the Sasquanaug Association for a day of education, fun, and food as we celebrate the Southport Globe Onion Festival, Sunday, Oct. 9.

Follow longtime Pequot Library Board Member Richard “Deej” Webb on a walking tour of onion cultivation, storage at a former onion warehouse site and transportation from Southport Harbor, or stay with The Seed Huntress for a seed collection walk at Aspetuck Land Trust’s Native Seed Garden facing the library on Westway Road.

“Southport, Connecticut was once considered the ‘Onion Capital of the World,’ with more than 200,000 barrels of onions shipped on sloop sailboats each year from 1840-1890 to the New York City markets. Prized for their taste, storage ability, and high levels of vitamin C, they were a staple of the Union Army during the Civil War to prevent scurvy. For the first time in 130 years we have planted this prolific heirloom back in its home soils — to harvest bioregionally adapted seeds and revive the agrarian history of this beautiful area.” – Sefra Alexandra

Air, soil, water work together. Checks and balances in nature include life forms large and small, tributaries, proximity of humans, cities, towns. Storms that prune all. Forests, parks, trees, trails. Artists and photographers, scientists and teachers, community leaders, those who simply love and know their land. Cultivate community, pair that with education and field trips to gain knowledge – especially important with young humans – and bring forth those who make a difference.

The physical location of The Rockfall Foundation is headquartered in the deKoven House that faces the Connecticut River (although direct access is now bisected by busy Route 9). The built-of-brick structure also faces both Washington Street and the aptly-named deKoven Street, and backs up to a vibrant city with a rich history. But the mission of this non-profit founded in 1935 by a Middletown, Conn., philanthropist and conservationist Col. Clarence Wadsworth is out at work cultivating the future in communities of the lower Connecticut River Valley.

“A sparrow can be as interesting as a bird of paradise, the behaviour of a mouse as interesting as that of a tiger. Our planet is beautifully intricate, brimming over with enigmas to be solved and riddles to be unravelled.” Gerald Durrell

Originally founded to “establish, maintain, and care for parks and forests and wild land for the use and enjoyment of the public,” based on that philosophy The Rockfall Foundation has moved forward, while staying true to its roots.

“The Colonel was head of the organization until his death in 1942 and from then subsequent boards have managed the Rockfall Foundation and its assets,” said Tony Marino, executive director of The Rockfall Foundation. “When the Colonel passed away, he left to the foundation a great quantity of land throughout Middlesex County. What he did not do was leave money to maintain the properties, so over time the boards sold some of the land in order to provide funding to operate and maintain the property and the programs we run.” (By the way, Wadsworth was a Harvard-educated lawyer, he became a Colonel in the New York National Guard and a Major in the First Company, Governor’s Foot Guard of Connecticut. More about his history, linked here.)

The overall mission of the Rockfall Foundation is to promote and support environmental education and conservation in the lower Connecticut River Valley. The Rockfall Foundation is one of Connecticut's oldest non-profit organizations.

The Wadsworth name threads through a region, connects living legacies of open space, trails, The Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill (preserved, property of the city of Middletown, because citizens took action.); Wadsworth Falls State Park; deKoven House and The Rockfall Foundation – growing in the present, on to the future.

The original footpath and history that includes stagecoaches and George Washington. An area inland from a long tidal river now known as the Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill, Middletown, Connecticut.

The Rockfall Foundation focuses on several initiatives to fulfill its mission.

“We own and operate the deKoven House Community Center built by Captain Benjamin Williams in the 1790s. He was a sea captain and Middletown, at that time was a major port for trade between the Middletown, England and the West Indies. He had several sailing ships and would sail that route to bring back supplies to be traded or sold here in England and the United States. The house eventually ended up in the deKoven family which through marriage was the Wadsworth family. Eventually the Colonel and his wife acquired the house. They lived there while they were building the mansion at Long Hill, which today is a semi-public facility for meetings and weddings.”

“When the mansion was completed the Wadsworths did move from the deKoven House to the Wadsworth Mansion but the Colonel kept his offices at the deKoven house,” he explained. “Now how did we get the name Rockfall Foundation?, that goes to the land he owed by the mansion. In 1941 upon his death he willed 242 acres of that land that was adjacent to the mansion to the State of Connecticut and today comprises Wadsworth Falls State Park. Within the park there were two rock falls, that Colonel enjoyed walking to (and from) so we were named The Rockfall Foundation after the falls.”

Also after his death Mrs. Wadsworth decided to convert the deKoven House from business offices into a community center.

Behind every place there is a story. People. Land use and dedication, hurtles and history. Business, fortunes, tragedies. Success and persistence. Pathways and byways, along the way room to think and swing your arms, breathe, walk, ride. Where there is a will, a way will open. At times not the desired one. Persist.

As 2022 is a year 200th celebration of Frederick Law Olmsted and his legacy, follow his ideas, work, roots. Here are some partners across states. Olmsted born and raised in Hartford’s north end, is interred in the city's Old North Cemetery. There is an Olmsted Trail, linked here to explore in any season.

​Caption and image from Olmsted 200, linked to more about Hartford, Olmsted and an important influence on him. “Dodd House (no longer standing), where Olmsted was born in 1822 on College Street in Hartford. Courtesy Connecticut Historical Society.”

“Recognized as the father of Landscape Architecture in the United States, Frederick Law Olmsted designed not only Central Park but also the U.S. Capital Grounds, Boston Fens, Stanford University Campus, Prospect Park, Brooklyn NY, the suburb of Riverside Illinois, the grounds of the 1893 Columbia Exposition and many other important parks and places. He left his mark in Connecticut as well. Parks and properties designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (with various partners) include: Walnut Hill Park, New Britain. Seaside Park. Bridgeport. Beardsley Park, Bridgeport. The Institute of Living, Hartford.”

Old paths rediscovered. Let's go exploring. Gardening, business profiles, trying out new technology, but not straying from land and livestock, equines and companion animals. Publishing, history, stories. Books. Geology and life systems on one marvelous living planet, our home planet.