News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.
Meet some local wildlife, go on a guided walk or a scavenger hunt, and make art at “Wild About Lincoln” on Saturday, June 1 at Drumlin Farm—and it’s all free for Lincoln residents.
[Read more…] about Meet local wildlife at “Wild About Lincoln” on June 1
ABBA (photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
Sport the great fashions of the past and boogie to music from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s at this adults-only annual event to benefit Codman Community Farms on Saturday, May 18 starting at 7:30 p.m.
See and be seen in your craziest dance attire! No costumes required, but there will be much respect for the biggest hair and the most polyester. Come dance, watch your friends lip-sync on the patented Codman air guitar stage, or just hang out with other Codman Community Farms supporters.
This is a great fund-raising event that helps support the farm. Tickets are $25 and are available at the farm or by emailing info@codmanfarm.org.
The Lincoln Water Department has teamed up with Upcycle Products Inc. to offer 55-gallon plastic and oak rain barrels for sale to residents. Using rain barrels to water your garden reduces the water drawn from the town’s drinking water supply, allowing Lincoln to meet the state’s water conservation goals while simultaneously saving you money—and the soft, chemical-free water is very good for grass and other plants.
The plastic rain barrels were originally used for transporting food products to the U.S. from overseas while the oak barrels were used for whiskey—so this program not only promotes water conservation but also diverts large quantities of material from the waste stream.
To see colors, styles and prices for the barrels, go to the Upcycle Products webpage for Lincoln. Order barrels by May 16 and pick them up at Stonegate Gardens on May 22 from 4-6 p.m. Tell your out-of-town friends they can order too!
Here’s a selection of interesting events coming up in town. Mark your calendars!
Saturday, April 20
1-3 p.m., Codman Community Farms
Kids of all ages will make a fairy gardens to take home. If you have a dinner-plate-size basket or bowl you’d like to use, please bring it with you. We’ll have some on hand if you don’t. Led by Susan Cummings.
Please RSVP to sustev@comcast.net. The cost is $5.
Dr. Michael Rich
Thursday, April 25
7-8:30 p.m., Brooks Auditorium
Ask the “media-trician” about kids and media! Lincoln PTO Parent Education presents Dr. Michael Rich, MD, MPH, of Children’s Hospital Boston (CHB), who will talk about the positive and negative effects of media exposure on our children. Hear the latest research about children’s use of media and implications for their health from Dr. Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at CHB. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Lincoln Cultural Council, a local agency that is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. The Lincoln School PTO also provided funding.
Sunday, May 5
5 p.m., 53 South Great Rd., Lincoln
Enjoy a chamber concert at the home of Laura Bossert and Terry King (53 South Great Road) on Sunday, May 5 at 5 p.m. overlooking Farrar Pond and Pincushion Island to benefit Farrar Pond. Wine and hors d’oeuvres followed by a chamber music concert featuring Arensky’s Two Cello Quartet and Dvořák’s Piano Quintet in A Major. See the Lincoln Squirrel calendar listing for details on the musicians.
Seating is limited and tickets are $75. To purchase, send a check payable to “Massachusetts Audubon Society” (the fiscal agent for the pond) with “Farrar Pond Music Benefit” in the memo line. Mail to Ron McAdow, 59 South Great Road, Lincoln MA 01773. We will hold your tickets at the door. Please include an e-mail address for ticket confirmation. The full amount of your tickets/donation is tax deductible. The money held by Mass Audubon is used to fight invasive vegetation and to maintain the dam and the beaver deceivers.
“Farrar Pond is a unique place in Lincoln where creative zoning has resulted in conservation land and trails around a beautiful pond,” said Farrar Pond Associates president Will Winchell. “The Farrar Pond Associates, associated trusts and the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust work to maintain it in its natural state. There are a number of invasive plant species that need to be controlled to preserve the pond and we are dependent on donations to accomplish this often costly process. What better way to support Farrar Pond than a glorious evening of music, refreshments, and getting to know each other?”
Codman Community Farms is starting its own meat CSA (community-supported agriculture) network. Enjoy monthly pickups of 10 pounds of Codman Farm-raised beef and pork. CSA members get the finest meat and support Codman Community Farms in a new and meaningful way.
If you love Codman-raised meat, so do others. By joining the CSA, you’ll get first dibs on the best meat you’ll ever meet.
Here’s how it works: Purchase a full share lasting six months for $600 and choose your six-month pick-up period (July to December or January to June). Each month, pick up various cuts and ground meats totaling 5 lbs. of pork and 5 lbs. of beef. Members also have the option of a no-beef, all-pork share. Pickup for members is the first Thursday evening of each month from 4-7 p.m. in the Codman barn.
For more information or to sign up, visit the Codman farm store in April or email info@codmanfarm.org. We need a minimum number of 30 shares to run the program, so don’t hesitate to sign up for the most delicious, healthy, local meat available.
This map shows the locations of the first projects on the campaign wish list (click to enlarge).
By Alice Waugh
Drumlin Farm recently kicked off a campaign aimed at raising money to fund improvements starting with a new education center, wildlife care center and fox exhibit.
The “Landscapes for Learning” campaign aims to bring in $4.7 million over four to five years, said Christy Foote-Smith, Drumlin Farm’s sanctuary director. The campaign aligns with specific goals outlined in Drumlin Farm’s strategic plan. As of December 2012, Drumlin had raised more than $900,000, including a grant of $384,000 from the Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund.
“We’re off to a running start. I don’t expect it to continue at that pace, though I wouldn’t be unhappy if it did,” Foote-Smith said at a Board of Selectmen meeting on December 17, 2012.
That sum will be enough to pay for improvements to the service barn, much of which was destroyed in a 1980 fire and rebuilt. Those changes include more classroom space and an expanded root cellar, which will help Drumlin expand its Winter CSA (community-supported agriculture) program.
“We have the field space, but we just don’t have places to store” the produce, Foote-Smith said.
Construction work on the barn should begin this summer, with completion scheduled for mid-2014, Foote-Smith said. Next on the list is either a new wildlife care center or a new education center to be built near the existing education building, Foote-Smith said. The current wildlife care center south of Route 117 is in an old poultry house, which will be razed and rebuilt on the same stone foundation, Foote-Smith said.
The new fox exhibit will replace the current “Drumlin Underground” exhibit, which can never be made handicapped-accessible, Foote-Smith noted. Also planned for campaign’s proceeds is a new equipment shed near Boyce Field, and new deer and coyote exhibits.
Noting that programs such as the summer camp are at full visitor capacity for the property, Foote-Smith noted Drumlin isn’t aiming to increase attendance except perhaps during the winter and other times of the year when attendance is relatively low.
“That’s not a goal we have moving forward,” she told the selectmen. “We expect our growth to happen mostly around our outreach programs,” such as satellite camps and staff visits to schools.
Anyone who wants more information about the campaign or wishes to donate may email Foote-Smith at cfsmith@massaudubon.org.
The earlier Lincoln Squirrel post neglected to give the time, date and location of the “Future of Farming in Lincoln” meeting. It will be on March 13 at Bemis Hall starting at 7:30 p.m. The Squirrel regrets the omission.
Did you know that there are 497 acres of land in active farming in Lincoln—and that there are another 287.5 acres in town that could be farmed? See maps and learn more about this current and potential farmland in Lincoln at the Lincoln Agricultural Commission‘s third annual community meeting, “The Future of Farming in Lincoln: A Community Conversation.” At the meeting, the LAC will to review town farming information with farmers and other landowners and discuss ways we might bring more land into farming in Lincoln. Everyone is welcome.
The LAC was formed by a 2008 Town Meeting vote to preserve and protect Lincoln agriculture. Members representing farms and farming interests in the town are appointed by the Board of Selectmen.
Looking back from the vantage point of the Blizzard of ’13, it looks Ms. G. was right when she predicted six more weeks of winter.
Ms. G, Drumlin Farm’s resident groundhog, emerged from her carrying crate on February 2 and saw her shadow, a prediction contradiction with her better-know fellow woodchuck, Punxsutawney Phil. But the dozens of observers gathered around her on the bare frozen ground didn’t mind — they showed their appreciation in the usual way, though the applause was considerably muffled by mittens and gloves. Before her pronouncement, some even briefly chanted, “Six more weeks! Six more weeks!”
 Ms. G clambers aboard her stump as she prepares to make her prediction. (Photo: Alice Waugh) |
 The crowd, some with “Ms. G for State Groundhog” signs, wait for her pronouncement. (Photo: Alice Waugh) |
Mish Michaels, Ms G’s campaign manager. (Photo: Alice Waugh)
The morning was also a campaign event for Ms. G., who is running hard for the post of Official State Groundhog with the backing of former local TV meteorologist and environmental reporter Mish Michaels of Wellesley. Michaels is helping children at the Hunnewell School as they try to move a bill through the state legislature that will, if approved, give statewide stature to the Lincoln groundhog.
“I’m her campaign manager at this point,” said Michaels, who sported a groundhog hat and campaign sign.
In addition to her political/rodential work, Michaels is creating on a children’s book with her young daughter called “A Groundhog’s Shadowy Road to Fame” and running an online children’s clothing business called Natural Cloud Cover (“organic clothing for the weather watcher in every kid!”).
After a few minutes of watching Ms. G. clamber over a tree stump in the frigid air, many of the children and their parents trooped inside to get their weather questions answered by a panel of local meteorologists. Inevitably, one of the kids asked whether we would have any more snow this year — a reasonable question during what had been an almost snowless season.
The short answer, said WBZ-TV’s Joe Joyce, was yes, though neither he nor his colleagues could predict when. “We keep getting it inch by inch. It’s been a frustrating season,” he said. Little did he know…
Drumlin Farm’s resident groundhog, Ms. G.
By Alice Waugh
Will there be six more weeks of winter? Only the shadow knows—Ms. G’s shadow, that is. Come to Drumlin Farm on Saturday, Feb. 2 to see Drumlin’s resident groundhog — the potential future Groundhog of the Commonwealth.
The festivities kick off at 10:00 sharp at Drumlin’s main entrance, where WBZ-TV meteorologist Joe Joyce will be broadcasting the weather report live starting at 7 a.m. After everyone gets the long-term forecast from Ms. G and learns a bit about woodchuck behavior, there will be coffee, crafts and treats provided by Whole Foods Market of Wayland and Wellesley.
Groundhog Day at Drumlin actually features several TV weather experts. From 10:30 a.m.to noon, Mish Michaels, Joe Jones of WBZ-TV, Terry Eliasen (executive weather producer at WBZ), and Cindy Fitzgibbon (a former Fox-25 meteorologist) will be on hand to answer weather-related questions—and Ms. G will also be available for photos form her adoring public (see below for a full rundown of the day’s activities). Learn more about Ms. G and other groundhogs as well as the origins of Groundhog Day here.
[Read more…] about Lincoln groundhog basks in media attention, hopes for future stardom