We have just celebrated a holiday originated by the indigenous people of North America. For many in the United States, Thanksgiving is an occasion to slaughter, and make oneself sick on too much food and drink. For some, the next three weeks will involve crazed commercialism. There is a better way. Instead, we could peacefully celebrate and plan together for life ahead. Here’s how the team at A Frog House is doing that.

As we speed toward the widely predicted Sixth Extinction, we can start with frogs if we want to add our own little ounce of strength to solving the horrible problems facing us.

A mama frog of some species can lay as many as 20,000 eggs and fill a pond with tadpoles, so it’s pretty hard to nail a day to celebrate any single froggy’s birthday. I decided to share my birthday with every frog on the planet on Sunday, August 10, at A Frog House.

A Frog House is a haven of learning and an excuse to have fun and make art with others. It’s where my art is now—in my own inner compass, my heart, and soul.

Sunday, June 9, from 1 to 5 PM—THIS WEEKEND—we are featuring Make and Take a Toad Abode. Children of all ages can stencil paint their own clay pot and transform it to a frog shelter! (This is the snow date for our earlier event this year.)

The green and black poison dart frog can differentiate between human kindness and threat. If the frog is in danger, it can use its toxin to stop a human heart.

The transparency of glass frogs provides them the gift of camouflage, but it’s a bother for predators who can’t see them.

Frog calls in the rainforest can sometimes sound like dead spirits calling from their graves, and frogs’ mating rituals can take up to two days.

There is no end of subjects for an artist to paint. Even limiting oneself to frogs, there are infinite possibilities!

Read about the beginnings of A Frog House, how we restored its gardens without using pesticides, and how to build an easy frog-friendly habitat.