Boston Flora

Month: October 2009

  • Saturday, October 17, 9:30 am – 2:30 pm – Chainsaws: Use, Safety, and Maintenance

    Are you the new owner of a chainsaw or a weekend woodcutter? If so, are you using your chainsaw safely? If you’re at all in doubt, please put the saw down now and register for this class on Saturday, October 17, beginning at 9:30 a.m.,  at the Arnold Arboretum. In this lecture and demonstration by ISA-certified arborist John DelRosso, Head Arborist of the Arboretum, you will learn the basics of chainsaw use. John will talk about essential safety equipment and maintenance requirements. He will demonstrate sharpening and bar tensioning and discuss limbing and felling techniques, including tension cuts. Bring your saw, along with ear protection, for the maintenance discussion. Bring a lunch, too, and dress for the outdoors.  C’mon, haven’t you all secretly longed to work with a big, loud power tool? Fee $60 Arboretum member, $75 nonmember.  To register, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu. The awesome photo below was taken by Jason Levesque, and can be viewed, along with other fabulous and quirky shots, on xstuntkidx’s photostream on Flickr.com.

    sarax chainsaw massacre by xstuntkidx.

  • Saturday, October 17, 10 am – 1:30 pm – Fall in the Bog

    A thick, floating mass of sphagnum moss, oxygen-poor water, and plants adapted to very low nutrient conditions characterize quaking bogs. The Philbrick-Cricenti Quaking Bog, one of the best examples of these unique peatlands, offers a chance to explore a trail about a mile in length, while staying high and dry atop a boardwalk. A host of bog plants are to be discovered as you transition from a red maple-sphagnum swamp, through a black spruce-larch swamp, to the Tundra Garden Loop where you find vegetation similar to that in more northern areas where boreal forest meets the open Arctic tundra. The walk will be led by Roland “Boot” Boutwell, and is sponsored by the New England Wild Flower Society. Bring a bag lunch, water, and a hand lens if you have one.  Cost for NEWFS members is $28, $32 for nonmembers.  Limit 10 participants.  To register, and for directions, log on to www.newfs.org, or call 508-877-7630.

    http://www.nhdfl.org/library/images/photo-index/DSC_0037a.jpg

  • Saturday, October 17, 1:00 – 3:00 pm – Backyard Beekeeping

    Consider keeping a beehive in your backyard for pollination in addition to collecting and harvesting your own honey supply. This discussion at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, on Saturday, October 17 from 1 – 3, will cover the basics of bees and beekeeping for the homeowner. Learn about the equipment, site selection, how to start a hive, maintenance, collection and storage of honey. Topics including bee diseases, health care and protection from predators will be covered. This class gives a realistic perspective for beginner and novice beekeepers. Learn how you can help save the bees! Dominic Palumbo owns Moon in the Pond Farm, a NOFA (Northeast Organic Farmers Association) certified organic farm in Sheffield, Mass. He produces organic eggs, meat, wool, yarn and honey. He teaches regularly for Berkshire Botanical Garden on topics related to family farming.  BBG members $16, non members $21.  For more information, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.

    http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/n/no/noshoes/138317_bee_keeping_11.jpg

  • Saturday, October 10, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm – Native Earth Teaching Farm Popcorn Festival

    Celebrate the coming of fall on Saturday, October 10, from 10 – 3, at the Native Earth Teaching Farm Popcorn Festival.  Lots to taste, explore and experience – and lots of popcorn for all.  There will by wool dyeing of the farm’s hand spun wool with flowers, goat walking, taste testings, a quest, and hands-on demos. Sponsored in part by the Martha’s Vineyard Cultural Council, all are welcome to this free event, taking place at the Native Earth Teaching Farm, 94 North Road, Chilmark.  For more information, call 508-645-3304, email contact-us@mvol.com, or check the website, www.nativeearthteachingfarm.org.

    http://www.bodyfuelorganics.ca/site/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/Yellow_Popcorn_49369666c7248.jpg

  • Saturday, October 17 – Keene Pumpkin Festival

    The 19th Annual Keene Pumpkin Festival will take place Saturday, October 17, in Keene, New Hampshire. ” The arrival of the Pumpkin Festival has a warming effect, like the aroma of coffee brewing in a morning kitchen”, according to The Keene Sentinel.  “The Pumpkin Festival began as a modest event for the people of Keene and their friends.  It was great fun, and sure proof that there is more than one way to carve, cook and stack a pumpkin.  [Nineteen] years later, all has changed.  Keene’s once cozy little celebration has gained world-wide stature.  It is, for lack of a better word, a spectacle.”  In the past, over 25,000 pumpkins decorated the streets.  Over 1,000 costumed children take part in the Costume Parade, non profit organizations take in more than $200,000, a 1,300 pound pumpkin, the largest pumpkin ever displayed at the time, was brought in, sometimes weddings are planned, craft and food vendors line the streets, and more than 800 volunteers donate their time.  For more information, and directions, log on to www.pumpkinfestival.com.

    http://www.hoardedordinaries.com/lori/images/2006-10-21.jpg

  • Saturday, October 17, 10:30 am – Bay State African Violet Society Annual Meeting and Plant Sale

    The Annual Meeting of the Bay State African Violet Society will be held Saturday, October 17, beginning at 10:30 am at the Parish of St. Michael, Bedford, Massachusetts.  Following the plant sale, there will be a luncheon beginning at 12:30 with a guest speaker addressing members on special issues in cultivating African violets.  In addition, this year there will be a panel of experts to answer your questions.

    The Bay State African Violet Society was organized in 1959, as an affiliate of the African Violet Society of America (AVSA), the national organization for African Violet enthusiasts. BSAVS provides a forum for lovers of African violets to share their interest in the propagation and culture of these beautiful gesneriads.

    As a member, you will receive four issues of the Society’s official newsletter, Ye Bay Stater. You also become eligible to enter your plants and designs in our African violet shows, sanctioned by the African Violet Society of America.

    Activities include the annual Spring Flower Show and Sale; the annual Meeting in October with a program on AVs presented by a well-known speaker; and other activities such as potting clinics.  All offer the opportunity to socialize with and learn from other violet enthusiasts.  For more information, log on to www.baystateafricanviolet.org.

    http://behnkes.com/website/images/stories/Misc/african-violet-1.jpg

  • Saturday, October 24 – Boston CROP Hunger Walk

    The Union United Methodist Church is hosting the first ever CROP Walk (Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty) on October 24. It’s a six-mile walk through the South End, Roxbury and Jamaica Plain to raise funds for local hunger relief and anti-poverty programs, including The Food Project! For more information, or to donate online, visit http://www.churchworldservice.org/bostonma.

    CROP Hunger Walks help children and families worldwide — and right here in the U.S. — to have food for today, while building for a better tomorrow. Each year some two million CROP Walkers, volunteers, and sponsors put their hearts and soles in motion, raising over $16 million per year to help end hunger and poverty around the world — and in their own communities.

  • Wednesday, October 14, 10:00 am – Naturally Simple

    Looking for an alternative to using flowers flown in from all around the world with a high carbon footprint? Are you trying to buy locally, or even create beauty with found materials? Join arranger Joan Parker for an entertaining program of innovation and delight with original flower designs.  The program is overflowing with new ideas, some gathered on her travels to Europe and South America.  Naturally Simple is a fresh look at virtually everything.  With Joan’s theatrical background and craftsman’s degree in metalworking, she has explored art and design on many levels.  Her zest for life and experience has led her into wild and interesting adventures.  This special program is co-sponsored by The Garden Club of the Back Bay and The College Club of Boston.   An optional lunch with our speaker ($20) will follow the meeting.  Registration required. For more information, email info@bostonflora.com.

    http://www.sourenala.com/images/grassGarden_6.jpg

  • Friday, October 30, 6:30 – 9:00 pm – Spirit of Stonehurst

    Visit the hallowed halls of Stonehurst, an icon of American architecture, on Friday, October 30, from 6:30 – 9:00 pm.  Enjoy food, brew, and a bit of magic, too!

    Designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and Frederick Law Olmsted, Stonehurst, the Robert Treat Paine Estate, is the only museum devoted to these two pioneering figures in American architectural and landscape design history. At Stonehurst, these close friends and collaborators forged a uniquely American architecture by focusing on the intimate, almost seamless integration of the natural and man-made worlds. Richardson and Olmsted, like Winslow Homer, Emily Dickinson and Mark Twain, were among the great artists of the post-Civil War era who asserted cultural independence from Europe by cultivating an aesthetic deeply rooted in the American landscape.

    The 109 acre Stonehurst estate is located nearby at 100 Robert Treat Paine Drive in Waltham, Massachusetts.  Tickets are $150 each, and sponsorship opportunities at higher levels are available. For more information, log on to www.stonehurstwaltham.org, or telephone 781-314-3290.  You may also make a check payable to Friends of Stonehurst and mail it to Stonehurst, 100 Robert Treat Paine Drive, Waltham, MA 02452.

    http://farm1.static.flickr.com/106/302189722_703784f652.jpg

  • Thursdays, November 5 – December 17, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm – Drawing the Garden Landscape

    The Landscape Institute of Boston Architectural College offers a degree in Landscape Architecture, but for those who are interested, certain courses may be audited at a lower price, without receiving academic credits.  One such course is Drawing the Garden Landscape, taught by Clare Walker Leslie.  This module gives students an opportunity to gain confidence and experience in their drawing skills.  Classes focus on methods for using pencil, pen and ink, colored pencil, and watercolor pencil.  Particular attention will be paid to techniques for drawing individual plant specimens, group assemblages, plants in a landscape composition, perspective, walls, paths, water, buildings, and people in a garden setting.  The goal is to learn how to draw better so that clients (or your loving family) can more clearly understand proposed garden designs.  Emphasis will be on gardens in different seasons and conditions.  Attention will be paid to the specific needs of each student.  Several drawing sessions will be conducted outdoors.  Each student is required to produce and present a final drawing suitable for presentation to a client or inclusion in a portfolio.  The audit fee is $950 (compared to $1,380 if you wish to accrue credits).  Course number VS026.  For more information, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu/programs.