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

nature

Four-legged furry visitors

Lincoln yards were visited by some wildlife on April, the night there was a dusting of snow, and thanks to motion-detecting outdoor cameras, we have them on tape (or on pixels), and residents shared them on LincolnTalk. Click an image to play the video.

Mollye Lockwood’s camera caught this curious black bear, complete with sound effects.

Most likely the same bear…

 

“I caught this guy on the trail cam around 6:30 this morning. Super cute. Hide ya chickens,” John Nolan wrote. (NOTE: After you hit the Play button, move your cursor arrow out of the frame to get a clear view.)

Another glimpse of the feline from Lockwood’s camera.

…And on April 15, “our bobcat returned.” Nolan wrote. “Judging by the tail wag, she seems happy.”

Once again, we are put in mind of the humorous Onion “news” video about a similar occurrence (note: language rated R.)

Ms. G predicts an early spring on Groundhog Day

Ms. G gathers data for her long-range weather forecast on Groundhog Day at Drumlin Farm.

(Editor’s note: this is press release from Mass Audubon in Lincoln.)

Ms. G did not see her shadow on an overcast Groundhog Day morning (February 2) at Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in Lincoln, which means everyone can look forward to an early spring. If the Official Groundhog of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts had seen her shadow, we’d all be facing six more weeks of winter.

This is the fifth straight year that Ms. G did not see her shadow. Over the 16 years she has been making her prognostications, she is now even with eight predictions apiece of early springs and six more weeks of winter. Unlike in the past, this year she agreed with her Pennsylvania peer, Punxsutawney Phil.

The always anticipated seasonal gathering at Drumlin Farm again attracted an enthusiastic mix of attendees, from Ms. G fans including lots of families with kids to nature lovers and weather followers, the latter happy to consider woodchuck folklore as meteorologically valid for a day.

Mass Audubon Metro West Regional Director Scott McCue welcomed those participants and others to the Groundhog Day celebration, which also featured family-friendly groundhog crafts, opportunities to observe other resident wildlife, and exploring the 291-acre sanctuary’s trail network. McCue and Senior Teacher Naturalist Tia Pinney discussed how New England wildlife survives the winter and how the changing climate is impacting their habitats.

This year’s format was a bit different, with Ms. G’s meet-and-greet and prognostication taking place in the sanctuary’s Farm Life Center rather than outside. Ms. G is in the midst of hormone-related hair loss that is common among juvenile females, despite being completely healthy. Due to that hair loss, our Wildlife Care experts decided, out of an abundance of caution, to keep her indoors safe from the chilly winter weather.

Although Ms. G couldn’t go outside, she enlisted the help of approximately 30 kids in attendance who went out to look for their shadows but did not see any. They reported their findings to Ms. G, who then made a prediction of early spring. Ms. G is grateful for her helpers this year and is already looking forward to being back outside next Groundhog Day.

Gov. Healey coming to Lincoln on Groundhog Day

The incomparable Ms. G.

Gov. Maura Healey will join the crowd when Ms. G, the official groundhog of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, makes her annual prediction at the Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in Lincoln for Groundhog Day on Thursday, Feb. 2. Families and children attend the popular event each year, eager to watch Ms. G emerge from hibernation and explore her special enclosure, which includes groundhog treats like fresh veggies.

Beginning at 9:30 a.m., attendees can learn how animals, including Drumlin Farm’s sheep, keep themselves warm and healthy in cold weather. Ms. G will make her appearance at 10 a.m., with Mass Audubon President David J. O’Neill and State Sen. Michael Barrett, a leading voice for climate change and renewable energy on Beacon Hill, welcoming the governor and attendees. Participants will then be encouraged to enjoy other event-related programs from making groundhog crafts to meeting live animal ambassadors and learning how they adapt to winter as the climate changes. 

“The impacts of climate change and loss of biodiversity in New England are already clear,” O’Neill said. “They can only strengthen our resolve to find policy- and nature-based solutions to the major environmental challenges of our times.”              

Free with admission. To learn more, visit massaudubon.org/groundhogday. 

Updates on Winter Carnival

Due to the forecast for extreme cold this weekend, there are some changes to the Winter Carnival schedule for this weekend:

  • The MCC Winter Carnival Games on Saturday, Feb. 4 from 10 a.m.–noon will take place in the Smith gym rather than outside Town Hall.
  • The Family Night Hike and Owl Prowl on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Drumlin Farm, the Winter Shrub & Tree ID Walk on Saturday at 10 a.m., the Winter Family Nature Walk on Saturday at 2 p.m. have been canceled.

See the updated post headlined “Winter Carnival kicks off this Friday” for more information on activities.

Getting down and dirty on Pigeon Hill

The combined (and muddy) efforts of the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, the Conservation Commission and volunteers replaced 250 feet of old duck board with wider, and above-water duck boards across a wetland area on the north side of Pigeon Hill. The rebuilt section will mean a safe trail for walkers, joggers, kids, and dogs. Left to right: Jim Hutchinson (Lincoln’s newest Select Board member), Conservation Department Land Steward Ryan Brown, Peter Wyatt, and Jim Lennon.

New book probes the past and present at Mt. Misery

The front and back covers of Ron McAdow’s “Imagining the Past at Mount Misery.”

How did Mount Misery get its name? Who built the 350-year-old sawmill? What forces shaped this  strange, eventful, terrain? These are some of the questions answered in Imagining the Past at Mount Misery, a new booklet by Lincoln resident Ron McAdow.

The book offers a trail guide to the Mount Misery conservation land with color photos, maps, and diagrams explaining the history and geology along a two-mile walk on the property. McAdow lives near the trails and walks then frequently, “and I discovered this land had an unexpectedly fascinating history,” he said. That part of Lincoln was originally in Concord, and in the century before Lincoln was incorporated in 1754, the Billings family, and their sawmill and farms, were part of Concord’s history. After doing research at the Concord and Lincoln libraries and online, “I invited friends for a walk, and told them what I’d learned. They found it interesting and encouraged me to write it down.”

McAdow was executive director of Sudbury Valley Trustees from 2003 to 2013. Before that, wrote guides for paddling local rivers, with one book on the Concord, Sudbury, and Assabet Rivers and its follow-up, Charles River: Exploring Nature and History on Foot and by Canoe. For the Appalachian Mountain Club, he also co-authored a book called Into the Mountains; the Stories of New England’s Most Celebrated Peaks. More recently, he’s been writing fiction, and he’s also editor in chief at Personal History Press, where he formats and ghost-writes family memoirs for clients.

“I began [the latest book title]with the word ‘imagining’ because if you use your imagination on this walk, at some points you’re on an island overlooking a huge frigid lake, while at other times you’re walking along the bottom of a what was a lobe of ice, looking up at sand and gravel deposited by meltwater streams as the last ice sheet melted,” McAdow said. “If you go back only 350 years, you can help an English immigrant and his sons try to figure out how to scratch a living from the sand the glacier left behind. It grows pine trees well enough; how are they to be converted to lumber, and how are those boards to be transported to market? We don’t have precise information about these topics — but we can fill in, provisionally, by imagining the needs of the people who lived here. When we stand on the top of Mount Misery we know for sure what Henry Thoreau’s impressions were, when he had climbed that hill, because he recorded them in his journal.”

Ron McAdow

In writing this kind of guide, “recreation meets education. It can’t be a tome, but it needs enough of the right details to be interesting,” he said. “The challenges start with locating information, then sorting what’s plausible from what seems to be mistaken and verifying or correcting conclusions with people who know more about local history than I do. I appreciate the assistance of the Lincoln Historical Society! The next challenge is to figure out a format that will suit the purpose. I had just completed a square color book about a family farm for a client of my Personal History Press. I thought it was attractive and flexible format, so I used it for the guide. Balancing space given to different subjects and choosing visual materials is fun but not easy.”

McAdow will give an online slide talk about the project at the monthly Conservation Coffee hosted by Lincoln Land Conservation Trust and Rural Land Foundation on Thursday, Dec. 2; call 781-259-9251 or email llct@lincolnconservation.org for details. Imagining the Past at Mount Misery is available at Something Special in Lincoln and Verrill Farm in Concord; his other two books are available at the Mass Audubon Shop at Drumlin Farm and Sudbury Valley Trustees’ Wolbach Farm.

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“On Belonging in Outdoor Spaces” speaker on Nov. 10

Join the Fall 2021 continuation of the “On Belonging” speaker series with “N’Sibo: the River to Which I Belong” featuring Rich Holschuh via Zoom on Wednesday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m.

The concept of “indigeneity” denotes the original people of a place. This is not a dualistic relationship but rather an understanding that the people are the land and the land is the people, including all of our relations. Holschuh will explore principles of relationship, reciprocity, and responsibility, along with an examination of how these ways of being have been embraced or rejected in the Northeast, along with the implications. Visit www.onbelongingoutdoors.org to learn more and register to receive the Zoom link.

Holschuh is a resident of Wantastegok (Brattleboro, Vt.) and an independent historic and cultural researcher. He has served on the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs and is a public liaison and tribal historic preservation officer for the Elnu Abenaki Tribe, members of the contemporary Indigenous community in Vermont. Rich is founder and director of the Atowi Project. His work draws on indigenous history, linguistics, geography, and culture to share beneficial ways of seeing and being in relationship with place.

This is a free program. Fall funding provided by The Sudbury Foundation. This speaker series is hosted by Farrington Nature Linc, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Mass Audubon, Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, The Food Project, The Walden Woods Project. 

Sen. Barrett to speak on Mass. climate bill

The Lincoln Land Conservation Trust invites everyone to attend a Zoom meeting with state Sen. Mike Barrett on Monday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. In “We Got a Climate Bill for Massachusetts. Now What?” he’ll talk about the far-reaching climate bill that became law in Massachusetts this spring, what needs to be done to make sure it is fully implemented, and what concerned citizens in Lincoln can do to help. There will be time for Q&A. Click here to register for the Zoom link.

The LLCT’s mission includes helping Lincolnites learn more about climate change and what they can do about it. This presentation is co-sponsored by the First Parish in Lincoln Green Committee, St. Anne’s Climate Justice Ministry, and Lincoln Mothers Out Front. 

Session on talking to kids about invisibility of Native Americans

The Lincoln METCO Parent Board will host “Talking to Kids About Stereotypes and Invisibility of Indigenous Native Americans,” the second Diversity and Dialogue event honoring Native American Heritage Month on Wednesday, Nov. 17 from 6–7:30 p.m. Missing information and misinformation about the First Nations people of the Americas has made stereotypes hyper-visible and truths invisible. The journey of un-erasing Indigenous voices and learning what we were not taught or mistaught starts with accurate information. It continues by having conversations with families, friends, community members, and our children. Understanding tribal land acknowledgements is a next step in making Indigenous voices visible. Join Lincoln School teacher Claudia Fox Tree as she confronts “invisibility” and implicit bias, while focusing on how to engage children through books, videos, and conversations. A resource list with books and links to videos and articles will be provided. Click here to join the Zoom meeting (passcode: 994150).

Make holiday wreaths at Codman farm

Using fresh evergreen branches, Codman-grown dried flowers, seed pods, fruits, and foraged elements, you will learn how to design and make a beautiful, all-natural wreath to decorate your home for the holidays. We’ll provide all course materials and tools needed, plus some delicious treats from our farm and local vendors. Bring a beverage of your choice and we’ll provide the rest!

Due to high demand, there will be two workshop dates: Saturday, Nov. 27 from 2–4 p.m. or Saturday Dec. 7 from 2–4 p.m. No experience necessary, though the class is best suited for adults and teens. Please bring a mask; class will be held in the greenhouse. Cost is $95 per participant. Sign up on the CCF events page. Questions? Email jess@codmanfarm.org.

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Fireside event at Farrington Nature Linc

Enjoy a crisp evening by the fire as Doria Hughes tells stories about the fall, nature and animals on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 6:30 p.m. at Farrington Nature Linc. Tickets for Tales & Treats: Slightly Scary Stories and S’mores are $10 each or $30 for a family of four. Feel free to bring blankets and/or chairs to sit around the fire, and wear or bring layers as it gets colder once the sun goes down.

Family fundraiser features cornhole tournament

Form a two-person kid or adult team (age 16+) to play in the cornhole tournament on Sunday, Oct. 17 from 2–6 p.m. at Codman Community Farms. The event is a fundraiser organized by the Doo family, whose daughter Kalea is living with moyamoya disease. The event also features pumpkin decorating courtesy of Stonegate Gardens, live music by Jimmy’s Down Band, a magic show with Ed Popielarczyk at 5 p.m., a bounce house, Hawaiian shaved ice, local beer and hard cider, food trucks and snacks, and a raffle. Click here for more information and to register, donate, or sponsor and keep a custom-made cornhole board. Questions? Email doofam@gmail.com.

Codman Harvest Feast tickets now on sale

Tickets are now on sale for the annual Codman Community Farms Harvest Feast on Saturday, Oct. 23  from 5–9 p.m. The feast will take place under a big tent and feature live music by the Splinters as well as CCF’s slow-roasted, Lincoln-pasture-raised pork served with homemade cornbread, roasted potatoes, bean and green salads, and apple desserts. Dinner will be followed by a special raffle and dancing under the stars. Buy tickets online ($40 for CCF member and $50 for nonmembers) and click here to learn about other fall events at CCF including Sugar Shack Storytime, Harvest Wreath Happy Hour, and a three-session course on growing your own mushrooms.

Kids’ activities at the library

The Lincoln Public Library has several special events for children this month:

“Who Gets to Make History? The Story of Statues and Monuments”
Wednesday, Oct. 20 at 6:30 p.m.
What are monuments for? Whose stories do they hold up for celebration? Whose stories do they erase or keep hidden? In this virtual workshop, Wee the People, a Boston-based social justice group, will explore what monuments mean and reimagine how they can celebrate values of community, equity, and justice. Intended for school-aged children. Email dleopold@minlib.net to register and receive a Zoom invite. 

Pumpkin Palooza
Saturday, Oct. 23 from 10:30–12 p.m.
Wear your costume and join us on the library lawn for Halloween fun: pumpkin painting, fortune telling, crafts, and more. Drop in; best for ages 6 and under. Rain date: October 30. 

Special Halloween Storytime and Parade
Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 10 a.m. 
Wear your costume for some Halloween fun, stories, dancing, and a parade on the library lawn. For babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.

Click here to learn about children’s book groups and other events, or call 781-259-8465 x4 with any questions.

Halloween at deCordova

Celebrate Halloween at deCordova Sculpture Park on October 22, 23, 29, 30, and 31. Watch the moon travel across the sky as you and your family complete a series of ghoulish activities, all inspired by mysterious artworks. Explore different disguises, create monstrous shadows, and solve tantalizing mysteries. Click here to purchase tickets.

Two from Lincoln earn National Merit Scholar commendations

Two Lincoln students, Amie Jiang and Casey King, are among Lincoln-Sudbury’s Commended National Merit Scholars this year. The others from L-S are Akim Abramkin, Tarkan Ayata, Matthew Boone, Joshua Cohen, Joshua Geel, Jishnu Ghosh, Lyx Huston, Henry Knapick, Benjamin Krasnow, Max Reinhardt, Benjamin Rippy, Zachary Schwarzwald, Madeleine Swire, Sarah Watson, Robyn Wessman, Richard Yao, and Brian Yin.

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Juneteenth films and online exhibit

In honor of Juneteenth and its history, the Lincoln Public Library is offering two films and an online special display about the new state and federal holiday. Online Special Displays will be an ongoing project to highlight the library’s collection and various websites that patrons may find informative, as well as and streaming video available through its Kanopy subscription.

Friday, June 18 at 12:00 p.m.
Into the Fire, 1861-1896 — an episode of the PBS series The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross (2013) featuring Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Learn more and view the trailer on Kanopy here. Register for the film screening on Zoom here. Please contact Kate at ktranquada@minlib.net with any questions.

Saturday, June 19 at 12:00 p.m.
Miss Juneteenth (2020). Learn more and view the trailer on Kanopy here. Register for the film screening on Zoom here. Please contact Robin at rrapoport@minlib.net with any questions.

Riverfest 2021 activities this weekend 

Sudbury, Assabet and Concord Wild and Scenic Rivers (SuAsCo) is offering free guided group activities on and along portions of the three rivers on June 19 and June 20 during the 22nd annual Riverfest celebration. Activities will include cycling, paddling, nature and history walks, and many children’s activities including fishing lessons, a Snakes of the World presentation, and an exhibit on reptiles that live along river banks.

One guided boating group will depart from the canoe landing parking lot on Route 117 in Lincoln, and others will launch from sites in neighboring towns. Multiple community activities will be held at the historic Old Manse in Concord. See a complete list of this weekend’s events. For more information about the Wild and Scenic Rivers and River Stewardship Council, click here.

Summer concerts at Codman Pool

The following free summer concerts will take place on three Wednesdays at 6 p.m. at the Codman Pool, courtesy of the Parks and Recreation Department. Click here for details. Concerts will be cancelled or rescheduled for rain; check LincolnRec.com for updates.

  • July 14 — Kat Chapman Trio
  • July 21 — Knock on Wood
  • July 28 — Marc Berger

Summer concerts at deCordova

The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum has announced a new outdoor Summer Performance Series that explores different traditions, histories, and arts that inspires social justice.

Performances will take place on the lawn at deCordova at 6 p.m. Tickets are $35 fo adults and $15 for children; click here to purchase. Please bring a picnic blanket or chairs if desired. In case of rain, performances will be rescheduled for a Thursday in August. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Lincoln Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Lincoln resident graduates from Cotting School

Zoe Clapp, daughter of Pamela Clapp of Lincoln and Andre Clapp of Somerville, graduated from Cotting School in Lexington on June 5  as a member of the school’s 127th graduating class. Zoe received the the school’s Award for Improved Adaptability, given to recognize a graduate who has shown an increased willingness to try new things, no matter how challenging they may be. The Cotting School enables students with special needs to achieve their highest learning potential and level of independence.