UNKNOWN

Decoding nature’s hidden messages.

Could a garden spider help you see your intrinsic beauty?

Might flower seeds hold a key to inspiration and creativity?

What if a rambling tomato vine provided insight on reaching your goals?

These are just a few of the possibilities that naturalist and garden writer Pamela Baxter explores in this collection of 30 short essays, in which she takes every-day occurrences and decodes the hidden messages they contain. Each essay is based on a personal experience and reflects the deep connection Baxter shares with the natural world—from things as tiny and insignificant as caterpillars and moss to elements as large and obvious as trees and mountains.

Accompanying each entry are curated questions that invite you to consider how these messages relate to your own life.

Pamela Baxter has been exploring the outdoors since she was a child, turning to the natural world for enjoyment, inspiration, solace, and rejuvenation.With a background in botany and plant taxonomy plus experience in her own gardens, Pam has been inspiring gardeners in the Greater Philadelphia Area since 1999 with her weekly column, From the Ground Up. Her articles span a wide range of topics, including organic vegetable growing, houseplants, landscaping with native plants and trees, creating wildlife habitat, Earth stewardship, and visits with local gardeners. A contributing writer to the American Horticultural Society's American Gardener magazine and to The Philadelphia Inquirer, for 24 years Pam was the editor of the award-winning newsletter of the Valley Forge Audubon Society. She is the author of Big Life Lessons from Nature's Little Secrets and On Grandpa's Beach in Maine, both for children. Listening to Nature's Voice: Reflections on the world around us is her first book for adults.A cellist, Pam teaches privately and performs with a local orchestra. She also enjoys exploring our national parks, hiking, and cooking with the vegetables that come out of her organic garden in southeastern Pennsylvania, where she lives with her husband Charlie.