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June, 2026. THANK YOU to everyone who has helped me, hugged me, and listened while I sobbed. It's been a wild ride. 100 percent do not recommend.
Starting to slowly get back out into the woods and fields. Had a trespasser decide to go through the Keep Out signs on Sunday to take pictures of my broken heart. Called police, they were very helpful. I'm not sure what causes a white man to think he can just ignore such signs but his ego must be a lot bigger than his brain. It's not like I'm not already traumatized or anything....
Things are not moving quickly as far as renovations or anything else.
Monday, April 27, 2026 my house burned down. My parrot Mauie and my 3 tiny dogs, Churro, Radar, and Maya, all died. Most of my art burned as well. And my books! Oh my books, a collection of field guides to natural history, cookbooks, and nature oriented writing by authors such as Norman Mclean, Jean Stratton Porter, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Thornton W. Burgess, and so many more.
Valerie Allgrove is a writer, verbal and visual communicator, and botanist with over 30 years of experience as a practicing naturalist, beginning with her participation in studying the Monarch Butterfly as a correspondent of the University of Toronto’s Insect Migration Program when she was 11 years old. Her fascination with plants has taken her across the USA to photograph wild orchids, gardens, and spend time with expert colleagues from Oregon to North Carolina, Maine to Louisiana, and even to Puerto Rico. Her special understanding of New England from bedrock geology and soil Ph to the patterns of forest succession resulted in her being appointed Conservation Chair for the Connecticut Orchid Society from 2002 to 2009.
Valerie has a BS in Communications/Media with a specialty in Technical Writing from Fitchburg State University. In 2002, she took the Project WILD K-12 Curriculum and Activity Guide training through the Connecticut DEEP. She has used her skills in writing to create short how-to programs on topics such as re-potting tropical orchids, growing plants from woody cuttings, and creating bog gardens. Valerie has also led hikes for the Connecticut Forest & Park Association, Farmington Valley Watershed Association, the Connecticut Orchid Society, the Northeastern Foresters (SCA), and private clients.
Throughout her life Valerie has taken and displayed photographs, given lectures and presentations, written stories, and shared her love of outdoors adventures. She has helped hundreds of people to increase their awareness of nature, and has increased the enjoyment of members of various Plant, Butterfly, and Nature organizations in their specialties.
Pleasant Gardens is located in Windsor, CT. It is a private home where regenerative agriculture is practiced and the focus is on native plants, fruit trees, and perennial vegetable.
Additionally, as Mosiacs by V.Allgrove, Valerie creates glass on glass mosaics to hang in the window, and 3D garden critters.
This website is Copyright 2026 by Valerie Allgrove. It is 100 percent made by a real and sometimes grouchy human being with NO AI involved.
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