Visual artist Amy Stein will talk about her unique process of creating and photographing modern dioramas based upon actual news accounts of encounters between humans and wildlife in rural Pennsylvania. The event is free with museum admission, and will take place Friday, January 22, beginning at 4:00 pm, at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.
Wildlife biologist Stephen Destefano’s newest book, Coyote at the Kitchen Door, and the work of photographer Amy Stein both address the blurred boundary between human life and wildlife in modern society.
Bears, deer, fox, coyote and birds are increasingly encroaching upon areas considered to be ‘ours’. On Saturday, January 23, beginning at 2 pm, they’ll discuss how they approach this intersection, each from his/her own perspective. Booksigning to follow. Cost: Free with museum admission. For more information, email: hmnhpr@oeb.harvard.edu, or log on to http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/press-room/domesticated.html.
This event is presented by and held at the Harvard Museum of Natural History in conjunction with a new exhibition, opening January 22, 2010, of striking, large-scale color photographs by New York-based visual artist Amy Stein. Domesticated: Modern Dioramas of our New Natural History, explores the tenuous relationship between humans and animals as human civilization increasingly encroaches upon nature. The exhibit will be on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History through April 18, 2010.
Join author Amy Cotler at The Bookloft, 322 Stockbridge Road in Great Barrington, Massachusetts (near the Price Chopper) on Saturday, January 23, beginning at 1 pm, for a book signing of Amy’s new book The Locavore Way, an event which will include appearances by local food vendors. Amy will also be signing at the West Stockbridge Library, 21 State Line Road (Route 201) on February 5 at 7 pm, and will be with Slow Food Boston during the first week in May, details to be announced. For a complete calendar of signing events, log on to www.amycotler.com.
Amy Cotler brings 3 decades as a culinary professional (AKA food fanatic) and farm to table advocate to her books and other offerings. A longtime advocate of seasonal cooking and local eating, she is the founding director of Berkshire Grown, which became an early model for local farm and food advocacy. She consults, teaches and lectures nationally on food and farm to table issues.
Ms. Cotler worked as the web food forum host for The New York Times and her food articles have been published in periodicals, including Fine Cooking, Kitchen Garden, Cook’s and Orion. She has written 5 cookbooks, including Fresh from the Farm: The Massachusetts Farm to School Cookbook, a training tool for schools, which was distributed to every school Massachusetts and is now available free on-line.
Her new book, published in November 2009, brings together her culinary and local food advocacy experience. The Locavore Way, Discover and Enjoy the Pleasures of Locally Grown Foods is a people’s solution to The Omnivore’s Dilemma, a hands-on guide to becoming someone who seeks out and savors local foods.
A veteran chef and cooking teacher, Ms. Cotler has taught home cooks and professionals at Institute for Culinary Education and Culinary Institute of America, where she also researched and wrote text for their professional cookbook.She has developed close to 1000 recipes, including many for the Joy of Cooking. Her media appearances include The Television Food Network and National Public Radio.
Do you love to eat local fruits and veggies all summer but return to waxy cucumbers and barely ripe tomatoes once the air chills? Learn how to enjoy eating locally year round at Drumlin Farm’s delicious Winter Harvest Dinner on Friday, February 5, beginning at 7 pm. The menu will include homemade cheese from local milk, Tuscan kale soup, vegetarian frittata, Drumlin Farm meat and roasted winter vegetables. Fresh baked pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream will complete the winter feast. In addition to the awesome food, there will be a guest speaker for the evening who will encourage our growing enthusiasm for local, sustainable agriculture. $32 per person for Massachusetts Audubon members, $40 for non members. Please register by January 30 by calling 781-259-2200, or logging on to www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/Sanctuaries/Drumlin_Farm/listing.php?program_code=1527-DFA10WI1. Drumlin Farm is located at 208 South Great Road in Lincoln, Massachusetts.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum continues its Landscape Visions Lecture Series with an illustrated talk by Bettina Bergmann, Professor of Art at Mount Holyoke College, on Saturday, January 23, beginning at 1:30 pm.
Ancient Romans envisioned an afterlife spent in idyllic, eternally blooming environs. This vision, depicted on reliefs and frescoes and described in epitaphs and poetry, is also seen in plantings found in excavations near Roman tombs. Tickets are $15 for the general public, $12 for Seniors, $5 for members of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and free for students. For more information, or to purchase tickets, call 617-566-1401, or log on to www.gardnermuseum.org.
Join Michael Lance, owner and designer with Wild Regeneration, at the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum on three Mondays, February 8, February 22, and March 1, from 6:30 – 8:30 pm, for this native plant design class. Gardeners, smitten by a display of natives at a garden center, erroneously infer all sorts of attributes from the word “native,â€such as “hardy,â€â€œresilient,â€â€œtough,â€or even “better.â€All of these traits may indeed apply to any native plant; however, this is dependent on the conditions in which the plant is grown. For example, a tough native wetland plant won’t be resilient when planted along the hot, dry edge of a driveway. In this class with designer Michael Lance you will learn about native plants that would be most suitable to your garden site. Michael will present some of the plants that he incorporates when designing gardens for clients, with class sessions about native trees, shrubs, and perennials. He’ll emphasize edible and medicinal plants, trees and shrubs that exhibit ornamental characteristics, and perennials that can withstand and thrive in urban and suburban New England conditions. Throughout the class Michael will incorporate organic techniques and his philosophy for developing healthy and beneficial garden habitats.
Fee $70 Arnold Arboretum member, $85 nonmember. To register, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.
The Esplanade Association and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation invite you to Esplanade 2020: Crafting a Vision for the Esplanade’s Future. This community input session will be held Wednesday, January 20, in the McKim Conference Room B at the Boston Public Library on Boylston Street, beginning at 5 pm. From 5 – 6, learn the history of the Esplanade from Karl Haglund, historian and DCR Project Manager for the New Charles River Basin. From 6 – 8, there will be a community input session, which will be comprised of (1) a group input exercise, (2) a breakout session, with participants discussing particular park issues and ideas, and (3) a series of summary reports from the breakout groups back to the general assembly of participants. At 8 there will be a reception. The Esplanade Association will moderate the exercise, record the ideas offered by participants, and use this information as the foundation for a ten-year vision of Esplanade 2020. For more information, log on to www.esplanadeassociation.org, or contact Chris Murton at 617-227-0365, or email cmurton@esplanadeassociation.org.
Like dabs of paint and brush strokes in a painting, individual plants and their placement are what creates a garden or yard. It’s easy to walk into a nursery or garden store and become overwhelmed by the wide selection of plants, tools, soil choices, gardening tips, and helpful accessories. With so many choices how is it possible to comprise plant schemes with ease? This class will give an overview of the first steps to take in creating your perfect plant palette. You will discuss the basic design features of plants and how to use them in combination to make your available garden space into the retreat you wish it to be. Topics will include using plant forms to define outdoor rooms, using leaves and/or bark as a prominent feature of the garden, and using flowers and fruits to accent the garden. You’ll talk about color theory and the use of texture to create a balanced composition in the landscape. This course, sponsored by Brookline Adult Education, will be held on Thursday, February 4, beginning at 7 pm, at Brookline High School. The fee is $28, and you may register on-line at www.brooklineadulted.org, or by phone at 617-730-2700. The instructor, Kimberly Turner, is a principal of KDTurner Design, a landscape architecture firm in Newton. She has a background in both horticulture and landscape architecture and is the author of the soon to be published book Botany For Designers.
Many of you saw an informative report by Emily Rooney on WGBH’s Greater Boston, discussing the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy’s planned demolition of a beautifully planted section of the Rose Kennedy Greenway in order to construct a building and an ice rink. Click HERE to see the spot if you missed it the first time around. The issue will be discussed at a meeting, open to the public, on Wednesday, January 13 beginning at 4:00 pm at 185 Kneeland Street, in the 1st floor conference room. Please make every effort to attend, ask questions, and make your feelings known to the Conservancy Board. There are serious issues raised when an organization funded by our tax dollars acts unilaterally without proper hearings and feedback from the public.
Join members of The Garden Club of the Back Bay on Wednesday, January 13 beginning at 10:00 am at The College Club, 44 Commonwealth Avenue, for a January meeting featuring Chris Kurth of Siena Farms in Sudbury, Massachusetts. Over the last 20 years, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of “shares” to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (a/k/a a “membership” or a “subscription”) and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season. This arrangements creates several rewards for both the farmer and the consumer, and Chris will detail how this grass roots movement has had a profound impact on how we eat. Many of our members know Chris from The Farmer’s Market on Copley Square, where his beautiful produce is always in high demand. He supplies a number of Boston’s best restaurants as well. If you are a GCBB member, you will receive, or may already have received, a written notice of the meeting. If not, please rsvp to info@bostonflora.com. There is no charge for the meeting, but there will be an optional lunch at the Club following the talk, which will cost $20, and reservations are essential.
