Thirty Weeks, Thanks for Reading
Welcome to Issue 30 — the last weekly edition of this newsletter. This week we've got potluck details, an important note or two about fall classes, and a look at what's changing around here. I've also swapped out the usual Thought of the Week for a few closing thoughts at the bottom, since this is a bit of a milestone issue.
Let's get into it.
For Students
Potluck Week Is Here
It's our end-of-semester potluck week — the last time we'll all be together this term. Here's what to know:
Bring your own plate and utensils — reusable if you can, so we keep the waste down.
I'll have a few quick announcements, and then we're really just here to eat together and enjoy the morning before heading out.
No plant raffle this time around — but come hungry and come to visit.
A couple of location notes: for the Friday 8 AM class, because it's going to be a hot one, we'll gather in the classroom instead of out in the garden — I'll come out to the garden first and round everyone up. For the Friday 10 AM Wildlife Sanctuary class, I'm sending separate instructions by email, so keep an eye on your inbox. Every other class will have its potluck as usual.
Help Me Keep Fall Classes Going
One request before the term wraps. A few of my classes are running low on enrollment for the fall, and they're at real risk of being cut if we can't get the numbers up. If any of these sound like a fit for you — or for someone you know — I'd love the help spreading the word, and you can reach out to me directly so I can get you registered:
Wildlife Sanctuary — Fridays at 10:00 AM
Palomares — Tuesdays at 10:30 AM, at the Palomares Park Community Center in Pomona
Fundamentals of Sustainability — Wednesdays at 3:00 PM, at the San Dimas Senior Citizens Center
Fundamentals of Sustainability (online) — Fridays at 3:30 PM
These are good classes and I'd hate to lose them. If you've been thinking about it, now's the time.
What's Changing Around Here
As I mentioned last week, this is the final weekly newsletter for a few weeks while I revamp how all of this works. Here's the short version of what to expect:
The newsletter returns Sunday, August 30th as Issue 1 of a brand-new monthly format — landing the first week of the fall semester, so you won't have long to wait.
The YouTube email list is becoming a live stream announcement list. Going forward, it'll send you a heads-up whenever I go live, and nothing else. Nothing changes for you right now: if you were on the YouTube list, you're still on it; if you were on the newsletter list, you're still on it.
Want to be on either list? You can sign up for the monthly newsletter and the live stream alerts here: growingwithprofessorbrown.com/email
A break live stream is coming — I don't have a date locked in yet. It'll be a Monday evening like old times, but later in the evening (after dinner) so we can dodge the worst of the heat. I'll announce the day once I find a good one that isn't blistering.
I'll walk through all of these changes in detail — and show off the updated website — during our first class of the fall semester. If you'd like a sneak peek before then, feel free to check the website now and then over the break; I'll be rolling out updates a little at a time. I'll also post new pages and updates to the Facebook page as they go live, for anyone who follows along there.
A Few Closing Thoughts
Instead of a Thought of the Week, I want to take a moment to look back — because this is the thirtieth issue of this newsletter, and the first one went out all the way back on January 4th, 2026.
The whole idea behind it was to move away from a weekly email and toward something students could get to more easily and come back to whenever they wanted. Many of you would ask me to resend old emails you'd accidentally deleted but still wanted to read — and I figured there had to be a better way than that.
I still think the idea was a good one. But I'll be honest that looking back, my execution wasn't quite what I'd hoped. That's part of why I'm making these changes. My hope is that the new setup — a simple weekly student bulletin with just what you need, paired with a more thoughtful monthly newsletter — will actually serve everyone better than what I've been doing.
Thirty weeks is a lot of Sundays. Thank you for reading them — for opening these, for showing up to class, for the field trips and the questions and the conversations along the way. This isn't goodbye, just a change of pace. I'll see you at the potluck, and then again at the end of August with something new.
Thanks for reading.
