Contributed by Blogger, Author, and Speaker Denene Millner of  My Brown Baby a weekly blog that provides thought-provoking, insightful, wickedly funny commentary on motherhood, for moms who love their brown babies, by moms who do the same. Through their posts, our MyBrownBaby bloggers lift the voices of African-American moms looking for the 411/advice/a high-five on everything from pregnancy and childrearing to sex, work, and relationships—all filtered through the lens of the African American experience.

So my baby Mari survived her first sleepaway camp. More specifically, I survived Mari’s first sleepaway camp. She …

On the eve of autumn, and grayer Bay Area skies, my kids and I decided to head out to Lake Merritt in Oakland, California to paddle around its famous Wildlife sanctuary.

According the Oakland Park and Rec website, Lake Merritt originally resided as a wide, tidal estuary (salt water marsh) that was known as the Laguna Peralta. So this “lake” actually formed where several creeks empty into the San Francisco Bay. Back when the Ohlone Indians (the area’s original inhabitants) fished, hunted, and gathered food along its shores, it was …

Cheryl Lockett-Oliver, 30-something wife, mom and Richmond, Virginia resident of 20 years shares with Outdoor Afro some shots of her and her school age sons hanging out recently on Belle Isle,  a small island and Virginia State Park in the James River once used in the past as a prison for union soldiers during the Civil War. Now it’s a popular destination because of the breathtaking views of the adjacent city and skyline.
Cheryl says, “There are several bike trails around the island so you always see people out there biking, …

Just scanned the White House photostream on Flickr, and these lovely photos caught my eye. So nice to see how the adult Obamas model outdoor engagement for their own children. Check back for more “Outdoor Obama” sightings!
President Barack Obama and daughter Sasha steer the "Bay Point Lady" during a tour of St. Andrews Bay off Panama City Beach, Fla

A hike on Cadillac Mountain at Acadia National Park in Maine

Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times
Check out this intruging New York Times article brought to my attention by an Outdoor Afro community member about The Negro Motorist Green Book, a book that helped black people find where and how to move about the United States for travel and leisure in the Jim Crow era. Living in these Obama tinted times, it can seem like a distant concept that in the lifetimes of our parents and grandparents, where black people might go to eat, spend a night, or merely venture …

Here is the interview link many of you have been asking about that aired yesterday about Nature Deficit Disorder. It was rewarding to talk about how more people can get connected to the outdoors, and share some of the ways my own family engages in outdoor activities. I actually appear twice: once in the beginning and another time after the first break, so don’t touch that dial!
What are your thoughts about Nature Deficit Disorder? Watch the show and please leave a comment here with your impressions!

For more information about the Children …

This week was event-filled for Outdoor Afro where we connected with friends, family, and the community to have fun, and expand the message of outdoor engagement.
The week began with some high-flying times with family and close friends for the Berkeley Kite Festival on what felt like the windiest day of the year. Even if you did not have a kite of your own, there were many beautiful and dynamic kites to see. Some highlights included the kite candy drop; pony rides provided by African American cowboys (more on this …

We returned from our camping vacation a week ago, and in spite of a week of work and resuming the usual routine, it was not until today that I felt like I was finally back from the wilderness. I find that camping for extended periods lingers in the imagination like that. Even my friend Jessica, whose family joins mine each year at camp, called me the day after we returned home to confess that she, too, was missing camp.
I knew we were missing more than the guilt-free afternoon naps and …

The Outdoor Afro Family is on vacation this week, practicing what we preach: camping in the mountains!
In the meantime, we hope you are creating some fun summer memories of your own in the outdoors.
Can’t wait to share with you all the details and photos!
Have a great week,
Rue

nullDianne Glave has been a friend of Outdoor Afro from the beginning, starting when I discovered her important work related to African American foodways to research for a blog I wrote last year. Dianne’s newest book, Rooted in the Earth: Reclaiming the African American Environmental Heritage has just begun arriving in mailboxes this week. So we asked Dianne to share with us some of the journey leading her to write this terrific work, and we hope you will be inspired to purchase your own copy that covers a ground-breaking …