Tuesdays, October 2 – October 30, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Master Tree Steward Training

Learn the skills essential to urban and community forestry and become tree stewards in your community at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Tuesday nights, October 2 – 30, from 6 – 9. Topics covered include basic pruning techniques and safety, tree identification and biology, proper tree planting and care, tree pests and diseases, tree health assessment, and urban soil challenges. To complete this program, participants must commit to at volunteering for at least 20 hours in the urban forest of Worcester or at Tower Hill Botanic Garden.

Coordinated by Worcester Tree Initiative

Session 1:
Introduction to the program/Welcome
Basic Pruning Techniques & Safety in the Field – Classroom Training
The Value of Urban Trees
Hands-on Indoor Pruning
Field Tree ID

Session 2:
Hands-on Outdoor Tree Pruning
Tree Biology
Tree Diseases/Fungi
Tree ID

Session 3:
How to Properly Plant a Tree
Tree Establishment and Ongoing Tree Care
Tree Health Assessment Intro
Identifying Common Urban Trees

Session 4:
Community Pests/Diseases: How to Identify & What to do.
Soil, Plant Nutrition & Urban Soil Challenges
Tree Identification: Shapes of Leaves, Texture of Bark, Leaf Scars, etc.
Identifying Common Urban Trees

Session 5:
Evolving Forest – Migration of Pests and Change in Agricultural Zones
Tree Care Leadership in your Community
Test
Certificates/Volunteer Sign Up

SKILL LEVEL: ALL LEVELS. THBG members $120, nonmembers $140. Register online at www.towerhillbg.org.

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Saturday, September 29, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm, and Sunday, September 30, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm – Dahlia Show

See hundreds of colorful blooms in every size imaginable – from silver dollar to dinner plate – at the  New England Dahlia Show at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Saturday and Sunday, September 29 and 30.  Floral designs will also be featured, and tubers will be available for purchase.  Free with admission to the gardens.  For more information visit www.towerhillbg.org.  Presented by the New England Dahlia Society.

On Sunday at 1 pm, Chau Matt will present For the Love of Dahlias, also free with admission. With the sudden explosion in renewed popularity, the dahlia addiction is real. Learn cultivation techniques that work in the northeast, including planting instructions, staking advice, end-of-season care, winter storage, and much more. We’ll delve into growing for show versus growing for gardens and professional cut flowers. We’ll demystify the 20,000+ dahlia varieties with their immense combinations of sizes, forms, and colors. Learn to fully appreciate outrageously showy dahlias, from tiny pompoms to giant decoratives.

Chau is a visual designer with a lifelong passion for horticulture. Being a millennial, he carries a fresh perspective with a constant curiosity, an eagerness to learn, and a bit of laughter to share. Chau is a budding floral farmer who is only into his third season, but has already won numerous high awards at dahlia shows throughout New England. Chau helped found the New England Dahlia Society (NEDS) and is its current VP; he is also a student judge of the American Dahlia Society (ADS). For directions and more information visit http://towerhillbg.org.

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Sunday, September 30, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – 45th Annual NRT Harvest and Craft Fair

The Natural Resources Trust of Easton will hold its 45th Annual NRT Harvest and Craft Fair on Sunday, September 30 from 10 – 4  in the sheep pasture in North Easton, Massachusetts. The NRT’s Harvest and Craft Fair is the NRT’s largest fundraiser of the year. All proceeds from admission fees, NRT food booth sales, activity fees, and booth rentals at the fair are used to directly support the operation of Sheep Pasture’s animal areas, trails, and conservation property, as well as other activities that support the mission of the NRT. Your support at the fair makes a difference in your community.
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2018 Admission: $10 – Adults $5 – Adult NRT Members (with coupon) $5 – Seniors $5 – Children (ages 5-18) Free – ​Children under 5. All admission funds directly support the operations of the NRT throughout the year. Admission gates are cash only. ATM services are available outside ​of the fairgrounds at North Easton Savings Bank on Main Street. Please note that no pets are allowed on the fair grounds, including dogs/pets in backpacks, carrying bags/ portable kennels, or on or off leash. For the safety of pets, we do not recommend leaving pets in vehicles while guests attend the fair. Service animals are welcome.

Some highlights of the 2018 Harvest Fair scheduled:

Meet the alpacas from Kave Rock Alpacas

Chainsaw carving by Dave Conklin

Over 60 juried crafters and local artisans

Musical guests for NRT Celebrates Local Music!

Children’s fun with the Toe Jam Puppet Band – 2 shows! 11:30 and 1:00

Fabulous food from local restaurants, including The Farmer’s Daughter and Rosemary Fresh

Family fun, including face painting, pony rides, and pumpkin decorating

Children’s play area, with free outdoor children’s games

Dance to the Rowdies of the Meadow, musician Craig Goldberg, and American Beauties, all-American music

Meet volunteers from local non-profits to learn about the good work they are doing in the community

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Saturday & Sunday, September 29 & 30, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm – 21st Annual Country Fair at Hancock Shaker Village

This year marks the 21st year of Hancock Shaker Village’s heritage Country Fair, a heritage fall celebration featuring regional artisans, local farmers, and local food. Explore some of the best that the Berkshires have to offer in a magical historical setting. Take part in workshops, sit in on demonstrations, and compete in our hot sauce contest! Kid-friendly activities range from face painting and crazy balloon creations to egg tosses and chicken races. Country Fair is a convergence of historical enthusiasts, nature lovers, artisans, chefs, and so much more. There’s truly something for everyone.The event takes place Saturday, September 29 – Sunday, September 30, 2018 from 10am-5pm. The Village is located at 1843 West Housatonic Street in Pittsfield. $20 for adults, $18 Seniors, $8 ages 13 – 17, and kids 12 and under are free. For details visit https://hancockshakervillage.org/whats-new/country-fair-2018/

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Saturday, September 29, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Fall Wildflowers, Fruit, and Foliage

Fall is a time of intense activity for plants. Asters and goldenrods provide a last burst of color and insect pollinators abound. Learn to identify seasonal wildflowers and spring- flowering plants in fruit. Through classroom instruction and a walk in the Garden in the Woods, you will learn the science behind what happens as plants prepare for winter. Bring a hand lens and Wildflowers of New England. The New England Wild Flower Society class, taught by Neela de Zoysa, takes place Saturday, September 29 from 10 – 2, and costs $53 for NEWFS members, $64 for nonmembers. Register at www.newenglandwild.org.

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Boston Groundwater Trust’s Award Winning Informational Videos

The Boston Groundwater Trust is pleased to announce the debut of award winning informational videos.

Monitoring and managing groundwater levels is critical to preserving the thousands of wood pile-supported buildings in many of Boston’s historic filled land neighborhoods. The videos provide a brief overview of the how Boston became the City that it is today, an insight to the overall activities of the Trust, how groundwater levels are monitored and managed, and the process of identifying and (if required) repairing wood piles that have become compromised.

The three-part series of videos was awarded the prestigious Golden Telly Award in May, 2018. Since 1979, the Telly Awards have honored excellence in local, regional and cable television commercials, and digital video. The Telly Awards received over 12,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents this year alone.

The videos and additional information can be found here on the homepage of http://www.bostongroundwater.org/. For further details, please contact Christian Simonelli, Executive Director, at csimonelli@bgwt.org.

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Proposals for Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King Memorial on Boston Common

MLK Boston is a privately funded non-profit working closely with the City of Boston to create a new memorial and programs about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King and their time and work together in Boston.  MLK Boston is now working on the creation of the memorial, to be located in the Boston Common. Public input is solicited, and renderings are on view now at the main branch of the Boston Public Library on Boylston Street until October 16, and at the Bolling Building in Dudley Square. WBUR has published a very good summary of the finalists at http://www.wbur.org/artery/2018/09/18/mlk-memorial-boston-common-artist-proposals.  Vote at http://mlkboston.org/art/

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Thursday, October 4, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Seed and Fruit Morphology

Join the New England Wild Flower Society’s Seed Bank Coordinator, Michael Piantedosi, on October 4 from 6 – 9 at Garden in the Woods to explore the variety of plant reproduction forms in the New England flora. Participants examine the wide array of fruiting morphologies in various plant families and gain a comprehensive understanding of the evolutionary advantages of fruit and seed physiology for distribution, germination, and perpetuation of species. $40 for NEWFS members, $48 for nonmembers. Register at www.newenglandwild.org.

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Saturday, September 29, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – A New View of Olde Cape Cod: How LiDAR Lights Up the Landscape

Visit The Cape Cod Museum of Natural History on Saturday, September 29  at 1 pm for an interesting lecture entitled A New View of Olde Cape Cod: How LiDAR Lights Up the Landscape. Would you like to see the Cape’s landscape just as it was after the last major glacial advance, and in great detail? Richard Heeley will explore that landscape with a new technique, called LiDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging. In airborne LiDAR, pulsed laser beams are transmitted from an aircraft, bounce off solid ground, and return to the detection unit. So many pulses are sent that some always pass through vegetative cover, and the remainder is filtered out.

Heeley will take a detailed look at the area in Barnstable and Sandwich that surrounds the Olde Fairgrounds Golf Course and the West Barnstable Conservation Area. He will also look at the entire area containing the moraine ridges that constitute the “backbone of Cape Cod,” from a little east of Bass River to Buzzards Bay–an area covering nearly two thirds of the Cape’s landmass. This will provide an overview of how the Upper Cape was constructed, and the LiDAR mapping will be supplemented with topographic mapping and cross sections available online through a U.S. Geological Survey program called “the National Map.”

Richard studied geology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he completed a Master of Science degree in Hydrogeology specializing in glacial geology.

Free with Museum Admission

For more information please call: 508-896-3867, ext. 133, or visit http://www.ccmnh.org/Events/A-New-View-of-Olde-Cape-Cod

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