The Tour de Codman will start at Codman Farm on Sunday, Sept. 10 and will take cyclists on a nearly 12-mile loop through Lincoln along roads and paths, featuring stops at three remote pastures where farm staff and volunteers will give a short talk on the farm’s sustainable, pasture-based agriculture before returning to the farm for coffee, cider and donuts. We welcome all ages but cyclists must be comfortable maintaining a 10-12 mph pace along Lincoln’s roads. The route will spend as much time as possible on bike paths and quiet roads. Any bike in good working order should suffice. Bring your own water and snacks for the route, and don’t forget your helmet (required). The ride leader will have basic tools but riders should plan to be self-sufficient. The total time for the ride, with stops, should be under two hours. Click here for more information and registration.
The Lincoln Garden Club invites anyone interested in joining the club to come to a wine and cheese party on Sunday, Sept. 10 at 4 p.m. to meet members and socialize. Committee chairs will be there to answer questions about what the club does. Please email belinda.gingrich@gmail.com to RSVP and get the location. To learn more about the club’s activities, visit www.lincolngardenclub.org.
During this evening slide show and house tour on Friday, Sept. 15 from 7-9 p.m. at the Gropius House (68 Baker Bridge Rd.), see how Walter Gropius’s innovative lighting scheme comes to life at night. Gropius, founder of the German design school the Bauhaus, was one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century. His 1938 home highlights the clean lines of Modernist design. Light refreshments are individual “nibbles” picnic bags. Advance tickets required ($65 for Historic New England members, $75 for nonmembers). Please call 781-259-8098 for more information. Note: the Gropius House is not handicapped-accessible.
During an evening slide show and house tour on Friday, June 9 (as well as July 7, August 11, and September 15) from 7–9 p.m., see how Walter Gropius’s innovative lighting scheme comes to life at night. Gropius, founder of the German design school the Bauhaus, was one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century. His 1938 home at 68 Baker Bridge Road highlights the clean lines of Modernist design. Light refreshments are individual “nibbles” picnic bags. $65 for Historic New England members, $75 for nonmembers. Advance tickets required; call 781-259-8098 or buy online.
Join a free public workshop on Monday, Sept. 18 from 7-8:15 p.m. at the Lincoln Public Library on “How & Why to Talk to Young Kids About Race” offered by Story Starters. Designed for caregivers and educators, this workshop will explain the research about how racial bias develops in children from a young age, and provide evidence-based strategies adults can use to disrupt that bias and develop children’s antiracist values. Click here to register.
Veteran environmental writer Douglas Chadwick will present ideas from his most recent book Four Fifths A Grizzly: A New Perspective on Nature that Just Might Save Us All. He will present examples of successful recoveries of species and habitats, with the thought that “we really can save a whole lot in a hurry.” Doug will be introduced by Kim Davitt from the Vital Ground Foundation, a land trust working to protect and connect wildlife habitat in the West. Click here to register. Donations to the Vital Ground Foundation gladly accepted.
Historic New England presents “Right Space, Right Time: Eleanor Raymond’s Architecture” on Thursday, Sept. 21 from 7-9 p.m. in the Codman Estate carriage house and via Zoom. The presenter is Justin Kedl, an artist and scholar with an interest in 20th-century modernism — particularly Surrealism, the Bauhaus school, and Abstract Expressionism — who works for Lincoln’s Gropius House and a local pottery studio. Advance tickets required; click here for more information. This program is funded in part by the Lincoln Cultural Council a local agency funded by Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
Members of the Housing Choice Act Working Group (HCAWG) will present the three options for zoning bylaw proposals that are under consideration in Lincoln on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. in the First Parish Church’s Stearns Room (4 Bedford Rd.). In addition, Michelle Barnes, chair of the Trustees of the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust and the Rural Land Foundation, will present and explain their separate request to change the current zoning for the Lincoln Station Mall area. The event will also be livestreamed here.Residents are encouraged to bring questions to the discussion in preparation for the State of the Town Meeting on Saturday, Sept. 30 at 10 a.m. The Select Board, Planning Board, and the HCAWG will use community feedback to help choose a final option at a multiboard meeting on October 10. The zoning bylaw proposal will be submitted to the state in December and to town residents for a vote at the March 2024 Annual Town Meeting.
This fall, it couldn’t be easier to support pollinators, provide overwinter shelter for amphibians, nurture the soil, improve water retention, and drawdown carbon. Join us on the first day of fall for “Leave the Leaves: A Zoom Introduction & Conversation on Soil & Climate Benefits” by Lincoln soil microbial ecologist Dr. Rachel Neurath to learn about the benefits of leaving the leaves on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 8 p.m. And save the date for the Lincoln Garden Club’s public meeting on November 7. Kathy Connolly will give a presentation entitled “Leave the Leaves, Save the Stems.” Organized by Lincoln Common Ground and the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust in collaboration with the Lincoln Garden Club and Codman Community Farms. Click here to register.
On Friday, Sept. 22 from 1–3 p.m., meet at the famous “twisted tree” in front of Lincoln Public Library for a special Quiet Walks and Poetry for Seekers collaboration. We’ll walk for a mile or two in the neighborhood, stopping four or five times beneath particular trees. Beneath the shade of each tree, we will hear a poem that in some way honors or features that tree species. In between each poem, we will walk in silence. At the end, we will gather in a circle and reflect on what we saw and heard. If the weather looks questionable, email Rev. Nate Klug (nate@fplincoln.org) for the latest updates.
LincFam welcomes new and expecting parents to a meetup for families with children under 2 or expecting a child (both parents and children are welcome) on Sunday, Sept. 24 at 3:30 p.m. Meet at the commuter parking lot next to Donelan’s to walk the Codman trails. No RSVP required. If you’d like to join the list for information on future events and meetups, click here.
Codman Community Farms’ annual Harvest Feast returns with a classic pig roast, bluegrass music from The New Grownups, and fun on the farm on Saturday, Sept. 30 from 5–9 p.m. There will be pulled pork family meals and apple crisp hot out of the Codman kitchen, plates and cutlery, plus a tent over the front pasture, table seating and Solo stoves to keep warm. Bring a picnic blanket, other side dishes your family might like to eat (not potluck), and drinks. Family meals include Codman pasture-raised pork, cornbread and coleslaw, plus apple crisp and vanilla ice cream. Family meals start at $60; click here to order.
Join in the fun with old-fashioned family and children’s games at Codman’s Harvest Fair on Sunday, Oct. 1 from noon–4 p.m. Activities include bingo in the sugar shack, a pie-eating contest, rooster run, lots of games, (mostly) Codman-grown food, music, and more. Children’s admission bracelets are $20, which includes ice cream. Kids under 3 are free. Click here to skip the line and order in advance.
In connection with the town’s discussion of multi-family housing at the September 30 State of the Town meeting, Friends of Modern Architecture/Lincoln invites residents on a tour of Lincoln Woods on Sunday, Oct. 1 from 3–6 p.m. “Celebrating Lincoln Woods: Our History of Building Community” presents the design elements in architecture, landscape architecture, and town planning that have made Lincoln Woods an accessible, inclusive community, providing housing for a diverse range of ages and needs for 50 years.
The event begins at 3 p.m. with Lincoln architect Woodie Arthur speaking about the architecture and history of the community. A tour of the property and three dwellings will follow the presentation. The event is free to all. Share refreshments and community in our reception tent after the tour. Please visit the FoMA web page at www.fomalincoln.org/outreach to reserve your place.
Author Nate Schweber at the DeVoto Memorial Cedar Grove in Idaho’s Clearwater National Forest.
Award-winning author Nate Schweber brings to life the story of two remarkable environmental warriors and former Lincoln residents Avis and Bernard DeVoto in the next Bemis Free Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. in Bemis Hall. The DeVotos’ decades-long battle to protect public lands and save our National Park system is chronicled in Schweber’s latest book, This America of Ours: Bernard and Avis DeVoto and the Forgotten Fight to Save the Wild. Lecture immediately followed by book sales and signing with the author. Hosted by the Bemis Free Lecture Series with Friends of Minute Man National Park, Lincoln Historical Society, Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, and Walden Woods Project.
Limited seating; click here for reservations. The event will also be available via livestream and will remain available on the Bemis Free Lecture Series website.
In 1991, Spooky World opened in Berlin, Mass., as the first Halloween scream park. The attraction became so popular that it expanded well beyond its original haunted hayride and shaped a generation of New England Halloween lovers. Join David Bertolino, the man who started it all, and Jeff DePaoli, host of “That Halloween Podcast,” to hear how an idea became a Halloween institution in Massachusetts on Saturday, Oct. 7 from 1-2 p.m. via Zoom (click here to register).
Induction stoves, long popular in Europe and Asia, are more efficient than gas or standard electric stoves. Some chefs and home cooks are making the transition to induction cooking, whether motivated by a desire for cleaner air or a lower carbon footprint. Join MetroWest Climate Solutions (of which the First Parish in Lincoln is a part) for a webinar on Thursday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. to learn more. Speakers are Jonathan I. Levy, chair of the Department of Environmental Health at Boston University, and Steve Sheinkopf, CEO of Yale Appliance. To register, visit metrowestclimatesolutions.org.
The town will hold a flu vaccine clinic for residents and school families (age 9 and up) on Saturday, Oct. 21 from 11 a.m.–1 p.m. in the Lincoln School’s Reed Gym. Click here to register. All participants must download an Acton Pharmacy Vaccine Administration Record and bring the completed form with them.
Join us for a reading, presentation, and Q&A with Lincoln’s Lawrence Buell about his forthcoming book Henry David Thoreau: Thinking Disobediently, the first concise account of Thoreau’s life, thought, and impact in more than half a century. Buell is the Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature Emeritus at Harvard University and has written and lectured worldwide on Transcendentalism, American studies, and the environmental humanities. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for a wine and cheese reception. The book will be available for purchase at the event (address provided upon registration).