Virtual laughter yoga available through YMCA
YMCA yoga instructor Sarah Lyttle will host Lunchtime Laughter Yoga sessions on Zoom Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to noon.
Laughter yoga is a breathing-stretching exercise and an aerobic and cardio workout as well, according to a press release from the YMCA. “Laughter yoga releases endorphins and oxytocin, our natural painkillers and feel-good hormones,” the release said.
Participants can try their first class for free. Find a link at https://browncountyymca.org/healthy-living-classes.
The regular non-member price is $35 for a six-week session or $8 per class.
Annual father-daughter dance canceled
Brown County Parks and Recreation has canceled its annual Daddy-Daughter Dance, which normally occurs around Valentine’s Day. They plan to have it in 2022.
IU Center for Rural Engagement offers workshops
The IU Center for Rural Engagement and IU Sustainable Food Systems Science will host the second annual Indiana Uplands Winter Food Conference, examining best practices for increasing local food access, adaptations during the pandemic, strengthening the value chain and community-led initiatives, in January and February.
The schedule will include three weeks of virtual sessions from Monday, Jan. 25 through Friday, Feb. 12 each weekday at noon via Zoom. The conference is designed for residents who work, volunteer or have an interest in local food issues and food system sectors, from agriculture and production to the consumer experience. For more information and to register visit https://bit.ly/2021-winter-food-conference.
The center is also offering a virtual writing workshop called “Cold Comfort: Writing Our Lives in Troubled Times, Part Two,” on Tuesday nights via Zoom.
Indiana University Provost Professor and award-winning poet Catherine Bowman will lead the six-week workshop. There will be weekly optional writing suggestions, exercises, experiments and readings. This is a class for all genres, poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction, and the class is open to all levels, from beginners to seasoned pros, from all walks of life. The workshop will take place Tuesdays Feb. 2 through March 9 from 6:30-8 p.m.
Register for either event with the IU Center for Rural Engagement at https://rural.indiana.edu/events.
Woodland management program coming soon
Purdue Extension educators from Brown, Bartholomew and Ripley counties, along with state and private sector foresters, are partnering to offer a short course about techniques for managing woodland for wildlife, timber harvest and other pursuits.
The workshop will run eight consecutive weeks on Thursday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. beginning March 4 to April 22 at the CYO Camp Rancho Framasa, 2230 Clay Lick Road. The course will also include a Saturday Field Day, on April 10 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Southeast Purdue Ag Center (SEPAC) in Butlerville.
Course topics include content such as forest resource and tree ID, forest biology and ecology, forest management, marketing timber, wildlife management, revenue generation from your woodlands and more.
Registration is $50, which will include a thumb drive of all publications and a tree measuring stick. For couples or family registrations, the first person is at the regular rate of $50 with one set of materials and each additional attendee is $30. Class size is limited to 20 participants on a first-come, first-served basis. Advance registration is required and due by March 1.
For more information or to get a copy of the registration form, contact Kara Hammes at 812-988-5495 or [email protected].
Local bluebird club selling nesting boxes
The Brown County Bluebird Club’s annual bluebird nest box sale is underway. Boxes are all cedar and fully assembled. One box is $15 and two boxes are $25. If interested, call Dan Sparks at 812-200-5700.
