The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

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News acorns – 04/27/15

(Editor’s note: This incorporates a correction to the second item made on April 29.)

Talk this Sunday on Flint homestead

The Lincoln Historical Society and the Lincoln Historical Commission present “The Flint House: Past, Present Future” on Sunday, May 3 at 2 p.m. in Bemis Hall. Come hear a talk by local historian Jack Maclean and see historic images of the Flint house, which was built on a mid-17th-century grant of 750 acres to the Flint family. The program also describes a planned tour of the house on October 4. This event also includes a brief annual meeting of the Lincoln Historical Society.

The Flint family homestead, across Lexington Road from the large white barn commonly referred to as Flint’s barn, dates back to the early 1700s and is filled with mementos of the town and the Flints. The house is protected by a Preservation Restriction Easement, the first agreement of its kind in Lincoln, which will be explained by the Lincoln Historic Commission.

Wednesday walks, other activities offered

springTrail walks led by Conservation Department staff are taking place until June 3, rain or shine, on Wednesdays from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Click here for a list of dates and locations. Sponsored by the Lincoln Conservation Commission and the Lincoln Council on Aging.

The Lincoln Land Conservation Trust (LLCT) is organizing three other events. For more information, see this LLCT web page.
  • “Bogs and Baas,” a two-part walk led by Ellen Meadors and Betty Levin on Thursday, May 21 at 10 a.m.
  • The Lincoln Land Conservation Trust (LLCT) annual meeting featuring naturalist and photographer Cherrie Corey apeaking on “Our Sense of Place” on Tuesday, May 26 at 7:30 p.m. in Bemis Hall.
  • “Caterpillars LIVE,” a family-friendly program on caterpillars with naturalist photographer Sam Jaffee on  Sunday, June 14 at 3 p.m. at Hartwell Pod A. Jaffee and his helpers will bring along live specimens for a show-and-tell presentation. Then he’ll lead small groups of participants on a short walk around the area to find specimens in their natural habitat, showing how easy it is to get into nature and make your own discoveries. Requested donation of $5 per person or $15 for families of three or more.
Maple syrup fundraiser brings in over $1,000

Lincoln School third-graders and Matlock Farm raised $1,000.50 for UNICEF during this year’s second annual maple syrup fundraiser. They would like to thank all those who bought their syrup and made this possible.

Garlic mustard pull is gearing up
Garlic mustard weed.

Garlic mustard weed (click to enlarge).

Lincoln’s annual garlic mustard weed pull is about to get underway. Free paper bags for the weeds will be distributed to residents at the transfer station on Wednesday, April 29 and Saturday, May 2 from 9 a.m. to noon, courtesy of the Lincoln Garden Club. The Department of Public Works will have a designated area at its Lewis Street facility for residents to drop off their bags of garlic mustard. Additionally, the Conservation Department will pick up full bags of garlic mustard in neighborhoods through May 31 if you contact them beforehand at 781-259-2612 or mckinnond@lincolntown.org. The DPW and the Conservation Department ask that you not put any wall lettuce in your bags.

Residents are also invited to pull garlic mustard as a group at the deCordova Sculpture Park and adjacent conservation land on Saturday, May 9 from 9 a.m. to noon (park at the far end of the deCordova parking lot). To volunteer, contact Conservation Department ranger Jane Layton at 781-259-2612 or laytonj@lincolntown.org.

Farrington hopes its nature programming will blossom

farr-crowd

Children enjoy the green open space at Farrington Nature Linc.

By Alice C. Waugh

A century-old Lincoln facility originally built to offer rural respite to undernourished city girls has reinvented itself and hopes to expand its programs that connect low-income urban children to the natural world.

Lincoln is known for its farms and conservation land, but Farrington Nature Linc is a bit of a hidden gem with its own particular niche, said executive director Wendy Matusovich. “There are many nature programs in Lincoln, but none of them have exactly the same lens as we do, which is to focus exclusively on kids from urban communities who don’t otherwise have access to nature. So few people in the Lincoln area know what we really do or what we are,” she said.

“Now and then we’ll get a child who’s afraid to sit down or run barefoot on the grass because they don’t know what’s there,” Matusovich added. “They don’t know what it’s like to be quiet in nature.”

At the rear of Farrington’s 75-acre property just north of Route 2 sits a 1912 brick dormitory. In his will, Charles Farrington, who died in 1907 and posthumously created Farrington Memorial in honor of his parents, asked his trustees to purchase a “healthy and beautiful locality to which children may be sent for a longer or shorter time to recuperate their health and draw new life, physical, mental and moral, to meet the responsibilities that may come to them.”

After World War II, the City Missionary Society hosted a variety of programs on the property, and from 1977 to 2004, Gould Farm ran a community residence for young adults with mental illness. However, after they left and another tenant for the dormitory couldn’t be found, Farrington lost the occupancy license for the building. It’s no longer in use and has fallen into disrepair, with floors strewn with chunks of fallen plaster and bits of parquet. To return it to its full overnight functionality, Farrington would have to rebuild it from the inside to bring it up to code, which would cost several million dollars, Matusovich said.

farr-calf

A boy makes friends with a calf at Farrington Nature Linc.

Since 2002, the property (now called Farrington Nature Linc) has been managed as a summer and after-school educational site hosting visits by Boston-area groups of children for single-day and multi-day nature experiences. Kids get the chance to hike through Farrington’s 75 acres of woodlands, fields and ponds; look for tadpoles and frogs in their pond and vernal pools; learn how plants grow in Farrington’s garden; and meet farm animals loaned to Farrington in the summer by Codman Farm.

Farrington Nature Linc is aiming to serve more kids and offer programs at during the school year as well as the summer. In 2014, it ran day programs during school vacations for the first time, with snowshoeing, sledding and hot chocolate in February and salamander searching, art projects and “frog chorus” in April. It also piloted a summer overnight camping experience with the help of a grant from the Clipper Ship Foundation. As a result, 121 children experienced night hikes, campfires and star gazing for the first time.

Also on the Farrington property, which was once a working farm, are the original 18th-century barn and farmhouse, which is now rented to tenants and also used for Farrington’s office. With proceeds from grants, donations and fundraising events—including a family spring hike on April 18 and the Fairy Festival on May 16—the board (which includes Lincoln residents Brooks Mostue, Susan Taylor, Sandra Bradlee and Jane Tierney) hopes to winterize the barn to allow indoor programs during the cold months and add staff time. Staff noticed during the first February program that while the kids had winter coat, many did not have snow pants or waterproof boots, so they also plan to build up an inventory of winter gear for their young visitors.

“The board is committed to helping Farrington grow into a year-round organization,” Matusovich said. To that end, it hopes to eventually rehabilitate the dormitory building and also boost its endowment, which currently supports only the summer programming. It also hosts birthday parties, family hikes and other activities that are open to all. The actual cost for a summer day visit to Farrington Nature Linc is about $6 per child, but Farrington has a sliding scale, so most groups only pay $1 per child and Farrington subsidizes the difference, Matusovich noted. Eighty percent of the children who visit qualify for the federally subsidized lunch program

Matusovich herself was further inspired after hearing Richard Louv speak at a conference last year. Louv is founder of the Children and Nature Network and author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder who urges kids to swap some of their screen time for green time. “It was an amazing day that gave me the state of the current research, which I hadn’t taken the time to delve into yet,” she said.

News acorns – 4/15/15

FarringtonFairyLogo“Art in the Garden” at Stonegate

Stonegate Gardens (339 South Great Road, Lincoln) will have a representative from the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum at its “Art in the Garden” event on Saturday, April 18 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Also featured: stone sculpture by Inspired Stones of Concord, screen prints by Rusty & Ingrid Creative Co. of Gloucester, and stone carvings by Kevin Duffy of Arlington.

Fairy Festival at Farrington

Calling all fairies, elves, gnomes and other magical creatures! Come to Farrington Nature Linc (291 Cambridge Turnpike) on Saturday, May 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and take an elf training class, create a wizard stick or magic wand, and visit the fairy post office and kitchen. Meet the Fairy Queen and help her make fairy houses in our spruce forest. This event is perfect for children ages 4-10, but younger and older kids are also welcome. Elves and fairies should be accompanied by an adult. Online preregistration is required; tickets are $20 per child-adult pair, plus $5 for each additional child.

“Proms, Parties & Parked Cars”

Join Sarah Greeley, David Bloom and L-S Connections on Wednesday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School cafeteria for a discussion geared towards helping parents plan for the upcoming proms with their children. The event is open to parents of all grades, since you may have a ninth- or tenth-grader who’s planning to attend the Junior or Senior Prom. We’ll be going over key logistics for prom night (bus, limo or car to the prom?) as well as sharing tips and strategies for handling last-minute changes in prom plans. This is an opportunity to brainstorm with other parents how to handle the myriad of issues that come up around prom, such as parties and parked cars. You’ll leave the cafeteria with a Plan B sheet, a list of questions to ask your students and other parents, and the realization that you’re not alone in struggling with these issues.

“Walking Sculpture” opens at deCordova in May

The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum will unveil Walking Sculpture 1967–2015, an exhibition about the history and practice of walking as a means for questioning social, political, economic and artistic hierarchies, on Saturday, May 9. It will be on view in the galleries and the Sculpture Park through September 13.

Inspired by Michelangelo Pistoletto’s 1967 performance Walking Sculpture, in which the artist rolled a newspaper sphere through city streets in Turin, Italy, Walking Sculpture 1967–2015 features an international selection of artists who engage in walking as an autonomous form of art, as cartography, as an exploration of physical experience and as social practice. Sculpture, video, photography, and performance converge in this exhibition to address the multidisciplinary practice of ambulation through the cityscape and the countryside. The exhibit is accompanied by a robust slate of public programming, including commissioned and artist-led walks in the sculpture park and in surrounding conservation lands in Lincoln and Concord.

Minuteman High School in the media

The April 2015 issue of School Administrator magazine includes an article written by Dr. Edward A. Bouquillon, Minuteman’s superintendent-director, titled “Career Skills v. Academics:  Not an Either/Or Proposition.” Last September, Minuteman High School was featured in a national radio broadcast on American RadioWorks titled “A 21st-Century Vocational High School.” Minuteman is also mentioned in Job U:  How to Find Wealth and Success by Developing the Skills Companies Actually Need by Nicholas Wyman, published in paperback in January 2015.

News acorns – 4/13/15

acornFarm and third-graders make syrup for charity

Matlock Farm is selling maple syrup they made with the help of Lincoln School third-graders and donating the proceeds to charity.

After the children collected sap from trees at the school and did a math/science project on the amount they got. Then Nancy Bergen and Ephraim Flint of Matlock Farm added sap from other trees in town and boiled it in their evaporator. The third-graders chose UNICEF as the charity to receive the proceeds from the sale of syrup. Anyone interested in purchasing some should come to Matlock Farm at 27 Lexington Rd. or call ahead to see if they’re at home (781-259-8402). Quart jars of syrup are $25 and there are a few pint jars that sell for $12.50.

This is the second year of the maple syrup collaboration. Organizers hope to beat last year’s tally of $550 that was donated to Partners in Health.

Lincoln Minute Men events coming up

The Lincoln Minute Men (LMM) invite residents to the following activities in the days before and after Patriots Day. For more information, click on one of the event titles on the Lincoln Minute Men website and battleroad.org. For photos of past events, visit the LMM Facebook page.

Tuesday, April 14

  • 7:30 p.m. — Talk on “Finding Parker’s Revenge Battlefield” (Bemis Hall)

Saturday, April 18

  • 9:30 a.m. to noon — Lincoln Minute Men interpret the home of William Smith and his wife Catherine (Route 2A across from Bedford Road intersection)
  • 2 p.m. — Parker’s Revenge Battle (behind Visitors Center, 250 N. Great Road, Lincoln)
  • 4 p.m. — Battle of Tower Park (1200 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington). The Lincoln Minute Men inhabit the 1775 home of their first captain. Later, hundreds of British and Colonial soldiers recreate the running battle along the deadly stretch of road on the border of Lincoln and Lexington. Then, both sides regroup to battle at Tower Park in Lexington.

Sunday, April 19

  • 2-3:30 p.m. — Lincoln Salute: Festival of 18th-century fife and drum music (Pierce Park)
  • 7 p.m. — Alarm and muster (lawn opposite the First Parish Church, 3 Bedford Rd., Lincoln). An ancient Revolutionary War veteran reminisces about those fateful early hours of April 19, 1775. Capt. William Smith rides down the hill to alarm the citizens of Lincoln. Bells ring, drums roll and the LMM fall in on the steps of the church to receive their marching orders to defend Concord. Then march with the LMM to Pierce House for a firing demonstration.

Monday, April 20

  • 6:45 a.m. — Dawn tribute and march to the Concord parade (start outside Bemis Hall). The LMM salute the Patriots buried in the Old Meeting House Cemetery as they emerge from the mists of the burial ground for roll call. Fifers play a lament and the muskets fire a volley. Then join the LMM on their three-mile walk to Concord amid colonial music and musket fire for the parade that begins at 9 a.m. All ages welcome.

Sunday, April 26

  • 2:30 p.m. — Old Burial Ground tribute (starts at Pierce House). –March with the LMM and the regulars from Pierce House to the Old Burial Ground on Lexington Road to honor the Patriot dead and five British soldiers killed in Lincoln along the Battle Road. Hear Mary Hartwell tell her story of their burial. Ceremonies include music and musket salutes by both sides. A reception follows at Pierce House at 4 p.m. courtesy of the Lincoln Historical Society.

News acorns – 4/9/15

Film series about “odd jobs”

Job, profession, vocation, career—what we do or did to “earn our living” is who we were or are or will become. Does it then follow that the “oddest” jobs just might attract the oddest people, who might then provide the most peculiar and engaging stories, true or fictitious? Find out in the “Odd Jobs” film series presented this month by the Lincoln Library Film Society:

  • Tuesday, April 14 at 7 p.m. — Kitchen Stories (Salmer fra kjøkkenet), 2003. In Norwegian and Swedish with English subtitles. 95 minutes.
  • Tuesday, April 21 at 7 p.m  — Watchtower (Gözetleme kulesi), 2012. In Turkish with English subtitles. 96 minutes.
  • Tuesday, April 28 at 7 p.m — Pickpocket, 1959. In French with English subtitles. 75 minutes.
Marimekko's Unikko fabric by Maija Isola.

Marimekko’s Unikko fabric by Maija Isola.

Talk on Design Research store on April 26

Put on your new or vintage Marimekko dress and dig out your beloved Sarpaneva casserole pot and bring them to “Remembering Design Research,” a modern design program in Lincoln on Sunday, April 26 at 3 p.m. in Bemis Hall.Former Design Research (D/R) co-owner Jane Thompson’s slide show will describe the heydays of the pioneering modern design store in Harvard Square (1953-1979), and textile historian Susan Ward will illustrate the history of the Finnish Marimekko fabric and fashion company, whose brightly colored fabrics and dresses were one of D/R’s mainstays. There’ll also be groovy ’60s music, a Marimekko fashion show, a show-and-tell, book signing, silent auction, raffle prizes and fabulous Finnish treats. Tickets are $27. More information is available on the Friends of Modern Architecture/Lincoln’s website.

Registration open for Minuteman postgrad, community programs

Minuteman Technical Institute (MTI), part of part of Minuteman High School, is now accepting applications for September 2015 admission into nine different postgraduate programs: advanced automotive technology, building construction technology, cosmetology, culinary arts/baking, dental assisting, early education and care, electrical wiring, hospitality management and plumbing. Minuteman Community Education also offers April vacation and summer programs for children up to grade 12 as well as continuing education for adults.

Adults may apply to an MTI program to hone their skills in a technical area, retrain for new employment or learn new skills. MTI offers interest-free payment plans for all of its programs, and students who live in one of Minuteman’s 16 district towns receive a 50 percent tuition discount. Open houses with more information about postgraduate programs and the application process will be held on May 12 and June 9 at 6 p.m. at the school (758 Marrett Rd., Lexington). For more information and to apply, go to www.MinutemanTI.org or call 781-861-7151.

Spring Fling features a capella group, puppets

Celebrate the end of a long winter at the Lincoln Public Library’s Spring Fling on Saturday, May 2 from 1–4 p.m. At 1 p.m., Tufts University’s co-ed a cappella group the Amalgamates will perform. The group has released 13 CDs and has performed at venues including Fenway Park and the National Portrait Gallery in London. At 3 p.m., the Toe Jam Puppet Band will be on hand to perform interactive songs, stories and& puppets, including a barn dance and a car wash song where kids get sprayed. Refreshments will be served throughout the afternoon.

News acorns – 4/3/15

acornBunny Bonanza at Pierce House this Saturday

All Lincoln School families are invited to hop on over to the Pierce House on Saturday, April 4 at 10 a.m. for the Lincoln Family Association‘s Bunny Bonanza. Welcome springtime with musicians, refreshments, and of course a massive egg hunt for all ages (please bring your own basket). Festivities begin promptly at 10 a.m. LFA members are free; non-members are $10 per child.

Meetings to discuss special education issues

[Read more…] about News acorns – 4/3/15

Storyteller presents Kurdish folk tales

Diane Edgecomb

Diane Edgecomb

All Lincoln residents middle-school age and older are invited to a free performance on Sunday, April 12 at 2 p.m. at Bemis Hall of “One Thousand Doorways: Journey among the Kurds of Turkey,” the true account of storyteller Diane Edgecomb’s decade-long quest to document the vanishing folk tales of the Kurds of Turkey. This solo performance, based on true events, sheds light on the Kurds’ struggles and their ancient culture.

A chance meeting with a young Kurdish refugee set Edgecomb on a quest of danger and discovery to bring to the world the ancient legends of this oppressed culture. This is a deeply moving, richly entertaining story of her journey through the remote mountains of Turkey and of the extraordinary people who shared their lives and their stories. Share her experiences from her first humorous meetings with carpet dealers and chain-smoking elders to her travels up sheer mountain passes to remote villages usually forbidden to outsiders.

A featured performer at festivals and theaters throughout the country, Edgecomb is known for her ability to embody the various characters in her pieces. She has been hailed by Publisher’s Weekly as “a storyteller in the grand tradition, a virtuoso of the spoken word…an entire cast rolled into one.” Her storytelling was recently featured on NPR’s “Living on Earth” program.

This event is supported in part by a grant from the Lincoln Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. For more information, call the Lincoln Council on Aging at 781-259-8811.