Boston Flora

Tag: Old Sturbridge Village

  • Saturdays and Sundays, September 24 – 25 and October 1 – 2, 9:30 am – 5:00 pm – Apple Days at Old Sturbridge Village

    Apples ready for harvest is a favorite sign of fall in New England. Enjoy the crisp autumn days at Old Sturbridge Village with special events throughout our Apple Days weekends, Septembr 24 & 25 and October 1 & 2.

    Come tour the orchards, help us pick apples, and taste some nearly forgotten heirloom apple varieties. Throughout the day our interpreters will be cooking and preserving this special fall fruit. Then, try your hand at cider-making, and see the ox-powered Cider Mill in operation (grinding on Saturday, pressing on Sunday.) You can even make your own mulling spices sachet to take home. Details and directions at http://www.osv.org. Admission: $28 Adults, $26 Seniors (55+), $14 Youths (3-17), Children 3 & Under FREE. This event takes place rain or shine and is held indoors and outdoors.

  • Saturday, January 24, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Starting Seeds Indoors

    Get your gardens off to a good start this spring by starting vegetable, flower and herb seeds indoors. This Saturday, January 24 Tower Hill Botanic Garden workshop will help you decide which plants will benefit most from a head start. You will learn the tools and supplies needed, the best sowing and nurturing techniques, and when and how to transition your seedlings into the garden. Participants will sow two flats to take home. Class meets from 1 – 4 at Tower Hill, 11 French Drive in Boylston.

    Christie Higginbottom has worked as a costumed interpreter at Old Sturbridge Village since 1981. From 1984 to 2004 she coordinated the historic horticulture program researching, planning and planting the re-created kitchen and flower gardens at the museum’s historic households. She also supervised the Village’s Herb Garden collection, a garden exhibiting over 300 varieties of historic herbs. From 2004 to 2006 she researched and developed a series of self-guided walking trails interpreting people and the environment in the early 1800s. She researched and designed the 2007-2009 exhibit Taking Root: Gardening in Pots in the early 1800s. Now retired from full-time work at OSV, she continues to work in costume part-time and to present garden programs for the Village. Christie writes and consults on historic gardens and their interpretation, antique plants, and herb use; and she lectures at museums and historic sites, garden clubs, historical societies, and libraries. She teaches home gardening classes at the Adult Education program at Bay Path Regional Vocational High School, the Worcester Regional Environmental Council and other venues. THBG members $35, nonmembers $45. Register online at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Saturday, October 20, 10:00 am – The Art of Grafting

    On October 20 at 10 am, visit Old Sturbridge Village at the height of foliage season and learn how to graft your own fruit trees.  The selection of root stock and fruit varieties will be discussed and simple grafting techniques will be demonstrated in this Garden Thyme lecture.  Free for OSV members, admission charged for non members.  Visit www.osv.org for more information.

  • Tuesday, October 16, and Wednesday, October 17 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Emerald Ash Borer in Massachusetts

    At meetings to be held Tuesday and Wednesday, October 16 and 17, from 6:30 – 8:30, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and Department of Agricultural Resources (DAR), the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), and the USDA’s Forest Service will address the implications surrounding the recent discovery of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) in western Massachusetts. Tuesday’s meeting will take place at the Berkshire Atheneum, One Wendell Avenue in Pittsfield, and Wednesday’s meeting will be held at the Visitors Center Theater of Old Sturbridge Village, 1 Old Sturbridge Village Road in Sturbridge.

    Central to these meetings is the issue of establishing a quarantine boundary within the state that would restrict the movement of certain wood products under certain conditions. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a question-and-answer session, and general feedback will be elicited to help guide the state’s actions as it moves forward with responding to the discovery of this destructive pest.

    If you have questions about the public meeting, please call 617-626-4974 or email DCR.Updates@state.ma.us.

  • Saturday, September 15, 10:00 am – Dried Flowers

    September is the month when dried flowers come into their glory. Learn how to grow period “everlastings” as well as modern plants that are suitable for drying, in this Garden Thyme Program at Old Sturbridge Village on Saturday, September 15 beginning at 10 am. We will cover everything from seed starting to harvest and crafting. Free for OSV members, admission charge for non members.  Visit www.osv.org for directions and more information.

  • Saturday, August 18, 10:00 am – Is It Done Yet? Or, When to Harvest

    Old Sturbridge Village will hold its August Garden Thyme Program on Saturday, August 18, beginning at 10 am (free for Old Sturbridge Village members, admission charge applicable for all others.)  Is that melon ripe? Should you use that squash yet? What’s the best time to pick a beet? The answers to these questions and more will be covered in this session designed to help you get the most out of your vegetable garden.  For directions and more information, visit www.osv.org.

  • Saturday, July 21, 10:00 am – Weed Identification

    Garden Thyme programs are held on the third Saturday of each month and are FREE for members of Old Sturbridge Village.  Led by Village horticultural and agricultural staff, these programs and workshops are held at various sites and deal with a variety of plant-related themes and topics.  Participants gather at the Visitor Center at 10 a.m. each month and are led to the appropriate site or setting. The next such program will take place Saturday, July 21 beginning at 10 am. Learn how to identify weeds, when and why to prevent them, and some of the lore behind these down-to-earth “guardians of the soil”. Come to know, appreciate, and better understand these plants apparently destined to “inherit the earth”. For directions and more information, visit www.osv.org.

  • Saturday, March 19, 8:30 am – 4:00 pm – So You Want to Have a Vegetable Garden!

    Planning your first vegetable garden or hoping to improve the quality of your backyard vegetable garden? Join the staff at Old Sturbridge Village, 1 Old Sturbridge Village Road in Sturbridge on Saturday, March 19, beginning at 8:30 am,  for this full-day workshop to learn practical information and environmentally-sound growing techniques for your home garden. No experience necessary. As a special benefit, participants are invited to a series of follow-up demonstrations.  The cost is $30 ($25 for OSV members), and you may register by calling 1-800-733-1830, emailing osvinfo@osv.org, or logging on to www.osv.org.  Photo by Charlie Kellogg.

  • Saturday, January 29 – Sunday, January 30, 9:30 am – 4:00 pm – Fire and Ice

    Old Sturbridge Village embraces the joys of an old fashioned winter with a “Fire and Ice” celebration, complete with ice skating, sledding on vintage 1830s sleds, and horse-drawn sleigh rides, on Saturday, January 29 – Sunday, January 30, 9:30 – 4. Visitors can watch the Mill Pond ice harvested with vintage ice-cutting tools and learn how early New Englanders cut blocks of ice and shipped them around the world before the invention of electrical refrigeration. Afterward, guests can warm up with hot cider, stories, songs and fireside tales at the Bullard Tavern. For details: 800-733-1830; www.osv.org.

  • Saturday, November 21, 10:00 am – Gifts from the Garden

    Come to Old Sturbridge Village on Saturday, November 21, beginning at 10 am, for another in its Garden Thyme programs.  Roberta McQuaid will conduct a class entitled “Gifts from the Garden.”  Who doesn’t love a homemade gift?  Use the next month to get busy crafting simple, garden inspired gifts, including teas, sachets, potpourris, and the like.  Meet at the Visitor Center, and you will be led to the setting of this workshop.  For more information, log on to www.osv.org.

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