Saturday, January 25, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – The Kitchen Apothecary: Making Herbal Medicine the Shaker Way

The Fruitlands Museum, 102 Prospect Hill Road, Harvard, Massachusetts, will present The Kitchen Apothecary: Making Herbal Medicine the Shaker Way, on Saturday, January 25 from 1 – 2:30, in partnership with the Herbal Community of Central Massachusetts.  Fee of $10 (Fruitlands members) and $15 (nonmembers) includes admission to WinterFest.  To register, call 978-456-3924, or email programming@fruitlands.org.

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Saturday, January 11, 2:00 pm – Navigating Our Milky Way Galaxy

Earth may be a pint-sized planet and the Sun just an average star, but the Milky Way galaxy is a major player within the cosmos. Astronomer William Waller, author of the new The Milky Way, An Insider’s Guide, will lead a journey through our home galaxy, as viewed both from dark-sky sanctuaries here on Earth and from space satellites that explore the outer limits of the solar system. The author talk and book signing will take place Saturday, January 11, beginning at 2 pm at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge. Regular museum admission rates apply.

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Saturday, January 25, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon – Planning Your Garden for a 4-Season Bounty

This four-part Newton Community Farm series is designed to get your home garden up and running, growing vegetables all year round. The curriculum is split into four sessions and is timed to coincide with the main gardening seasons and the associated tasks. Classes will be held at the instructor’s home in Newton or at class member’s garden site. Class dates are subject to change. Class 1 – Planning Your Garden for a 4-Season Bounty. (January 25th). Class 2 – Garden Structures and Planting. (April 12th). Class 3 – The Mid Season Bounty and Thinking Ahead. (June 21st). Class 4 – Winding down…not really!! Season extension & more. (Sept 13th, 2014). Image below from www.growtolearn.org. For times and registration details, call 339-203-0314, email ncf.education@gmail.com, or visit www.newtoncommunityfarm.org.

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Sunday, January 12 – Friday, January 17 – Seed School

Join Bill McDorman (NS/S Executive Director), Joy Hought, MSc (Director of National Seed School), Hampshire College alum Rowen White (co-founder of Sierra Seed Cooperative) and special guests for a 6-day Seed School session at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Seed School is for gardeners, farmers, herbalists, nurseries, CSAs, non-profits, government agencies and everyone concerned with regional, sustainable and diverse agriculture. Click here to learn more about this groundbreaking course.

Native Seeds/SEARCH is proud to partner with Hampshire College, Massachusetts for its January Term program, January 12th through the 17th. College credit will be available and 12 Hampshire College students will get priority placement for this Seed School session.

January 12-17, 2014
Hampshire College
Amherst, MA

Tuition: $700
Deposit to reserve a spot: $200
Payment can  be made by mailing a check payable to Native Seeds/SEARCH, 3584 E. River Road, Tucson AZ 85718. Indicate “Seed School – January 2014” on your check and include contact information and phone number. For complete information, and to complete your registration following payment, visit http://www.nativeseeds.org/index.php?option=com_rsform&formId=3.

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Saturday, February 1, 3:30 pm – 6:30 pm – Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts Winter Interlude

The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts will hold a fund raising event – Winter Interlude – on Saturday, February 1, from 3:30 pm – 6:30 pm at the Beechwood Hotel, 363 Plantation Street in Worcester.  The cocktail party will feature The Wonderful World of Floral Design.  Enjoy a delightful afternoon walking through a wonderland of floral designs as you feast on delicious hors d’oeuvre and drinks, while listening to live music in a beautiful ballroom highlighted by antique stained glass windows.  Donation $50, cash bar.  For tickets call Bonni Asbjornson at 978-692-8685, or email asbjornson@comcast.net.  For information call Joyce Bakshi at 978-470-0263, or email Joyce.bakshi@comcast.net. All designs and more will be raffled at 6 pm, and a portion of your donation may be tax deductible.

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Saturday, January 11, 12:30 pm – Annual Nepenthes Cutting Class

The next meeting of the New England Carnivorous Plant Society will be held on January 11, 2014 at 12:30 pm at the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center, 1000 Elmwood Avenue, Providence, Rhode Island.

This meeting will be their Annual Nepenthes Cutting Class.  Members and friends are encouraged to bring any overgrown Nepenthes that could use a little cutting back.  Following instruction on taking Nepenthes vine cuttings and tips for sucessful Nepenthes cutting propagation,  members will have the opportunity to take cuttings from the plants brought in to bring home and grow.  This is only possible when members bring in and allow others to take cuttings of their overgrown plants.  So if you have a plant that is vining and needs a little cutting please consider bringing it in!

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Thursday, January 23, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – The Role of Trees in Landscape Art

Robin Kelsey, Ph.D., Shirley Carter Burden Professor of Photography, History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University, will speak in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum on Thursday, January 23, from 7 – 8:30, on The Role of Trees in Landscape Art. Trees have been an essential element of landscape paintings for centuries and, more recently, in landscape photographs. But what roles have trees played? How have they interacted with other landscape elements and supported the genre as a whole? What might we learn about the cultural meaning of trees by looking at landscape pictures? In this lecture, Professor Kelsey will lead a discussion of landscape representation and the meaning of trees. Free for Arboretum members, $10 nonmember.  Thank you www.phototechnique.com for the image below. Register at https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/SelectDate.aspx.

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Wednesday, January 15, 7:00 pm – Food for Thought Film Series: Chasing Ice

Join The Fruitlands Museum on Wednesday, January 15 at 7 pm for a screening of Chasing Ice, the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Harvard’s own Chef Paul will prepare delicious, hearty soups that will warm the body as we consider important questions that are raised in our spotlight films. Free. No registration required. Fruitlands is located at 102 Prospect Hill Road, Harvard, Massachusetts. For more details and information visit www.fruitlands.org.

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Wreath of the Day – Happy New Year

Again we must bid farewell to our Wreath of the Day feature, this time with a wreath created for a customer who doesn’t want a bow.  This wreath will be appropriate for display throughout the winter.  If you missed any installment of Wreath of the Day, visit www.gardenclubbackbay.org, and remember we also posted different wreaths each day on Facebook, so please visit www.facebook.com and “Like” the Garden Club of the Back Bay to see those selections.  Next fall, in the run up to Wreath Week, we will post more previously unpublished pictures as well.  Happy New Year everyone.

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Wreath of the Day – New Year’s Eve Statement

We showcase today one of this year’s favorites, a silver, crystal and green wreath which evolved from the designer’s off season purchase of the silver paper parasols seen on the wreath.  They were originally attached to sticks but were disassembled and strung on to the greenery.  The shiny silver and black ribbon, luminescent pearls, icy crystal sprigs, magnolia leaves, and silver glitter swirly sticks add to the drama.  Our designer (with a background in fashion design, we should add) went on to make two more variations on this theme, some with green sparkling dragonflies.  We may never have these materials again, but we’re happy to have the photographs.

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