June is National Great Outdoors Month, and we're encouraging you to connect with your environment by getting outdoors to camp, hike, bird watch, grill, picnic, go boating, whatever. 

We firmly believe that we are only moved to care for the environment if it is familiar to us... so get outside! Start by attending Green Drinks.  

Our event will be held outdoors, along the covered sidewalk at Clock Tower Place on Forest Drive. Our event hosts are: 

*    My Butcher and More

*    Wild Bird Center of Annapolis 

*    Sweet Hearts Patisserie 

read more about our hosts on our website

Enjoy sustainable appetizers from Tastings and My Butcher and More. Mike Smollon of My Butcher and More will offer Roasted Dry Aged Roseda Beef Steamship hand carved with Horseradish Sauce on slider rolls at our Green Drinks event. And of course, our wine and beer (and soft drinks) will be provided by Grapes Wine Bar. Cash Bar.   

National Wildlife Federation

As America's largest conservation organization, National Wildlife Federation (NWF) works with more than 4 million members, partners and supporters in communities across the country to inspire Americans to protect wildlife for our children's future. We are fortunate that NWF's Chesapeake Mid-Atlantic Regional Center is right here in Annapolis. The regional office works with affiliates and partners across the region to restore and protect the Chesapeake Bay; the Appalachian forests, rivers and flyways; and the extensive shoreline and coastal bay habitats of the Mid-Atlantic.     

At Green Drinks you'll learn about how you can help the City of Annapolis become a Certified Community Wildlife Habitat, a program of the National Wildlife Federation. The NWF Community Wildlife Habitat is a community that provides habitat for wildlife and practices sustainable gardening--in individual backyards, on school grounds and in public areas such as parks, community gardens, places of worship and businesses.   

In order for the City to earn this certification, Annapolis needs residents to participate by certifying their own backyards, schools, places of worship, and community areas. Read more     

You'll also learn about NWF's Great American Backyard Campout, a one-day activity inviting families across America to come together on June 23 and camp in their backyards, local parks and campgrounds to discover a whole other world that lives right in their "backyard."  

This event is part of NWF's national movement to give back to American children what they don't even know they've lost -- their connection to the natural world. Join thousands of families around the country for a night of exploration and fun. All you need is a taste for adventure and a desire to share the great outdoors with your children.  

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Sponsor of the Great American Backyard Campout  is The Brick Companies of Edgewater. Read more. 

These are just two of the many activities the NWF's Chesapeake Mid-Atlantic Regional Center is undertaking toward its mission of inspiring Americans to protect wildlife and wild places for our children's future.

June is a terrific time to kick off summer with some fun outdoor activities across the state at a wide variety of sites and a great way to help increase awareness of the surprisingly rich variety of places to go and things to do outdoors in Maryland!  

Elvia & Lynne  

PS - We debuted our new cork collection box at the last Green Drinks. At every event, bring us your corks... your natural, not plastic corks for recycling.