For Josh Goldman, a Plainsboro resident and administrative assistant at the Plainsboro Preserve, going to work each day in the middle of 1,”000 acres of unspoiled land in the center of the country’s most populous state is almost a spiritual experience. ##M:[more]## “We have a man-made lake here that we call the cornerstone that is 55 acres in size and 55 feet deep,” he says. “Early mornings during the migration seasons in the early spring and fall the water fowl take up every square inch of it. It is an amazing sight.”
Goldman is a part of the coordinating team for the preserve’s first annual Nature’s Music and Arts Festival, Saturday, July 30, from noon through 8 p.m. “We have a couple other events in January and June and we are hoping to make this one an annual event as well,” says Goldman. “I enjoy them.”
The festival will combine the wonders of nature with the delights of culture. Musicians Paul’s Acoustic Duo, Sodalicious, and the Morningwood Brothers will perform. Also scheduled: nature-oriented artistic activities, including an introduction to nature photography by Andy Chen, and a watercolor demonstration by painter Donna Senopoulos.
Area artists will display and sell their work at the festival, including Louise Devery and her handcrafted jewelry, nature photography by Tam Stuart, and nature prints by Maria Pisano. Members of the Plainsboro Audubon Society will also lead nature hikes to offer visitors experience the wonders of the painted, red belly and map turtles, blue heron, and some of the 40 species of dragonflies.
For Goldman, experiencing the wonders of nature has been a part of his everyday life since he was a small boy. “I grew up in Hopewell just a short walk through the woods from Washington Crossing State Park,” he says. He studied Environmental Science at the University of Vermont before graduating from Thomas Edison State College and moving to Plainsboro in 2004. “I moved here because it was a nice alternative to moving back to Hopewell and living with my parents,” says Goldman.
He began working at the preserve last October as an intern and was hired full-time in the spring. “The Plainsboro Preserve really fills a very important niche for the area,” says Goldman. “It offers a real unspoiled nature experience for people. We don’t allow hunting, fishing, or biking so it allows a chance to encounter nature as it is before the effects of man.”
Among Goldman’s favorite duties at Plainsboro Preserve is to teach seminars and classes to children. “There are a lot of kids in New Jersey who live in urban areas and have very little experience with nature,” he says. “I grew up in the woods, so it sometimes surprises me when I work with kids 11 and 12 years old who don’t know what it is like to catch a frog.”
— Jack Florek
Plainsboro Preserve Nature’s Music and Arts Festival, Saturday, July 30, noon to 8 p.m., 80 Scotts Corner Road, Plainsboro. $5 per person or $10 per family. 609-897-9400.
