Boston Flora

Tag: Project Native

  • Saturday, September 22, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Seed Saving

    Join Dottie “Lou” Kratt on Saturday, Septembver 22 from 10 – 1 at Berkshire Botanical Garden in this hands-on workshop to learn how to save seeds from your garden. Topics covered will be proper handling, collecting times, cleaning and storage. The primary focus will be native perennials and annuals. Participants will collect seeds from the grounds of BBG and be able to take some seeds home for next year’s garden!

    Dottie “Lou” Kratt is the owner of Northeast Native Seeds, a small native seed company specializing in local native species. Previously, Lou was the Propagation and Seed Bank Manager for Project Native and a gardener at BBG.

    Advance registration is highly recommended, but walk-ins are always welcome, space permitting. $25 for BBG members, $35 for nonmembers. Register online at www.berkshirebotanical.org.

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  • Project Native Nursery & Farm Becomes Helia Native Nursery

    Award-winning landscape designer Bridghe McCracken is the new owner of Project Native’s 52-acre farm in Great Barrington and will continue to run it as a native-plant nursery, seed bank, and wildlife habitat sanctuary.  In addition to the native plants available from the nursery, she will operate a sustainable living garden store that includes handmade tools, organic garden supplies, artisan outdoor pots and furniture, as well as local goods such as teas, medicinal plants, honey and candles. Project Native Founder Raina Weber returned to the Berkshires for two months to help McCracken sustain the nursery and expand upon the native habitat restoration work that has been underway since Project Native first acquired the former dairy farm twelve years ago.  The farm will be now known as Helia Native Nursery.  For more information visit http://helianativenursery.com/about/.

  • Saturday, August 16, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Native Floral Arranging

    Learn how to collect native flowers from Project Native’s seed bank and meadow on Saturday, August 16 from 10 – noon with Lou Kratt. Each participant will learn how to collect floral materials, conditioning methods, and will design their own arrangement to take home. Creative ideas for unique containers will be discussed as well as using branches and grasses to achieve unique designs. Participants should bring 2-3 containers to design in, pruners, and scissors. Dress appropriately for the weather. Please bring a good hat, sunscreen, gloves, water bottle, and closed-toe shoes. This is a rain or shine event. Pre-registration required. *To register call BCC at 413-236-5202. Project Native is located at 342 N. Plain Road, Route 41, Housatonic, MA.

  • Monday, July 21, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm – Project Native: The Balance and Beauty of Natural Ecosystems

    Located in picturesque Great Barrington, Project Native is a non-profit, native plant nursery and wildlife sanctuary in Western Massachusetts.  In this diverse and beautiful natural ecosystem, Project Native inspires a love of nature that motivates visitors to create, restore, and maintain healthy landscapes.  To accomplish its mission, Project Native grows and sells native plants, maintains a wildlife sanctuary, produces experiential educational programs for all ages, and manages a native butterfly house.  The Ecological  Landscape Alliance tour on Monday, July 21 from 10:30 – 12:30 will include the Project Native Seed Bank, the Restored Woodland, Meadow, Native Plant Nursery, and Native Butterfly House.

    Opened in August 2013, the Native Butterfly House was developed in order to promote the connection between native habitats and local wildlife.  The new 35-by-55 foot structure encloses a garden of native plants grown at Project Native, all of which support the life cycle of native butterflies.  There is no single plant that provides all a butterfly needs to breed and feed.  Butterflies need a community of native plants, and different types of butterflies need different communities.  Join Karen Lyness LeBlanc to learn more about this intricate web and to explore the balance and beauty associated with native plants in the landscape.  $15 for ELA members, $25 for nonmembers.  Register online at https://www.eventville.com/catalog/eventregistration1.asp?eventid=1011084.

  • Saturday, March 29, 7:00 pm, and Sunday, March 30, 10:00 am – 10:00 pm – Project Native Film Festival

    Project Native will kick off its 4th Annual Environmental Film Festival on Saturday, March 29 at 7 pm with a special screening of Revolution, an award winning film by Rob Stewart, at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.  Free, and recommended for grade 5 and up.

    Then, on Sunday, March 30, from 10 – 10 at the Triplex Theatre in Great Barrington, the films begin with Flight of the Butterflies in 3D (10 am), Salmon Confidential (10:10), Carpe Diem: A Fishy Tale (11:45), Have You Seen Arana? (1:00), GMO-OMG (3:00) Backyard & Tar (5:05), Gold Fever (6:25), and Bringing It Home (8:00).  Free Admission, but seating is limited.  Tickets will be available at the box office the day of the festival.  For more information visit www.projectnative.org/Film_Festival.html.

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  • Saturday, November 16, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm – Bring Nature into the Garden

    Join landscape designer Bridghe McCracken on Saturday, November 16 from 9 – 1 at Berkshire Botanical Garden for a detailed program on how to create a biodiverse garden habitat for birds, bees, butterflies, bats and dragonflies—good for both the garden and the gardener. This program will give participants practical knowledge for how to plan and provide for wildlife based on ecological principles. Learn about the plants and plans needed to design a garden full of life for the property. BBG members $40 nonmembers $50.  Register at 413-298-3926 or online at www.berkshirebotanical.org.

    Bridghe McCracken has been designing biologically vibrant landscapes for over ten years. Her design and building company, Helia Land Design, specializes in ecological landscape design, land stewardship, ecosystem restoration and designing food systems. She is a certified Organic Landcare Professional from the Northeast Organic Farmers Association. In 2006 she began a partnership with Project Native as their Chief Landscape Designer, which allows her to stay abreast of the latest available native plants. She teaches permaculture as an adjunct professor at Bard College at Simon’s Rock.

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  • Sunday, April 7, 10:00 am – 10:00 pm – Project Native 3rd Environmental Film Festival

    Project Native, the non-profit horticultural farm and wildlife sanctuary in South Berkshire County, MA, has announced its 3rd Environmental Film Festival. Scheduled for Sunday, April 7, at the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington, this free festival showcases documentary films that illuminate global issues and actions that affect our shared future. In addition to a selection of kids’ films, the following full-length films are scheduled throughout the day: Bidder 70, Bitter Seeds, The Carbon Rush, People of a Feather, and YERT: Your Environmental Road Trip. Project Native’s website, www.projectnative.org,  lists the most up-to-date schedule.
    The 2013 sponsors include The Dr. Robert C. and Tina Sohn Foundation, Berkshares, Berkshire Co-op Market, Berkshire Grown, Berkshire Natural Resources Council, Bobbie Hallig, Gould Farm, George Wislocki, GoodWorks Insurance, Hawthorne Valley Association, Hazen Paper, JPC Capital, The Bookloft, and The Nature Conservancy.

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  • Sunday, March 25, 10:00 am – 10:00 pm – Project Native 2nd Environmental Film Festival

    Project Native 2nd Environmental Film Festival will take place on Sunday, March 25, 2012 at the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington, beginning at 10 am. All films will be free to the public. Last year over 600 people from 6 states attended the festival. Films on a variety of topics, from 90-minute features to a series of short films for children, will inspire, enrage, and motivate audiences to engage. This event is supported in part by a grant from the Dr. Robert C. and Tina Sohn Foundation.

    For additional information on sponsorship opportunities, please contact Karen Lyness LeBlanc at 413-274-3433 or projectnative@verizon.net.