Andrew Freedman, Senior Science Writer for Climate Central, will speak at The Fletcher School, Tufts University in Medford on Thursday, February 14, from 5:30 – 7, in Cabot 703. His topic is Extreme Weather and a Changing Climate: Past, Present and Future. The talk is free and no registration is required. The event is sponsored by The Center for International Environment & Resource Policy.
Allan Savory, rancher and restoration ecologist, Founder of the Savory Institute and originator of the Holistic Management approach to restoring grasslands, winner of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge Award, and finalist in the Virgin Earth Challenge, will speak on Friday, January 25 from 2 – 4 at the ASEAN Auditorium, The Fletcher School, Tufts University, 160 Packard Avenue in Medford, on Reversing Global Warming While Meeting Human Needs: An Urgently Needed Land-Based Option. A reception will follow. This is the first in a series of Creating the Future We Want events. Image from www.livinggreenmag.com. Free, but registration required at http://allansavory.eventbrite.com/#.
On Wednesday, November 14, from 7 – 9, Wanda McNair, horticulturist, columnist and educator, will discuss the different types of Begonias, and demonstrate the propagation of such along with discussing and demonstrating the growing of high humidity plants in enclosed containers. She will bring live material to the meeting for her demo. The free program is sponsored by the Somerville Garden Club and will be held at the Tufts Administration Building, 167 Holland Street in Somerville. For information on the Somerville Garden Club, visit www.somervillegardenclub.org.
Tufts Professor Frances Chew will be the featured speaker at the Cambridge Entomological Club’s April meeting on Tuesday, April 10, from 7:30 – 9. She will talk about the Consequences of Multiple Species Invasions: A Native Butterfly Confronts Exotic Plants and Parasitoids.  CEC meetings are held the second Tuesday of the month from October through May. The evening schedule typically includes an informal dinner (6:15 to 7:15 PM) followed by our formal meeting (7:30 – 9:00 PM) in MCZ 101, 26 Oxford Street, Harvard University. The latter begins with club business and is followed by a 50 minute entomology related presentation. Membership is open to amateur and professional entomologists. For more information, email CEC President Jessica Walden-Gray at jessisoutside@gmail.com. Photo from www.lepcurious.blogspot.com.
This collaborative effort on four successive Saturdays beginning April 23 between Historic New England and the MSPCA shows how to raise chickens in your backyard. Program participants attend workshops to learn about different chicken breeds, how to build a chicken coop and keep the flock healthy, as well as about feed, first aid, and safety. Afterward, attendees are certified to help care for the chickens at the farm throughout the season. When the season ends, the chickens will be offered to the participating families for purchase The series also includes a field trip to Nevins Farm and a lecture by Sarah Corchense, D.V.M., of Tufts Veterinary Hospital. The program will take place at the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm, 5 Little’s Lane, Newbury, Massachusetts. Registration required. Please call 978-462-2634 for more information. You may also register on line ($40 for HNE members, $95 for nonmembers, which includes a family membership) at www.historicnewengland.org/events.
Sometimes you just can’t make this stuff up. We recently highlighted the Museum of Science’s Firefly Project, and now we receive notification that the Cambridge Entomological Club will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, January 11 at 7:30 pm in Room 101 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Oxford Street, Cambridge. Adam South will speak on “Seminal Influences: The Role of Male Ejaculates in Firefly Evolution.” Adam is a PhD candidate from Tufts University, and we’d love to see his Facebook profile.
Have you ever wondered what is behind the flashing lights of fireflies? Adam South will discuss his fascinating research exploring firefly mating, sexual selection and nuptial gifts. Male fireflies produce and transfer to the female a proteinacous, spirally coiled spermatophore each time they mate. These types of seminal nuptial gifts have been shown to be intimately connected with pre and post copulatory sexual selection in a diverse array of taxa. This presentation will examine spermatophore production from a phylogenetic perspective, including how it is linked to sex specific patterns of evolution and its role in firefly sexual selection.
The meeting is free and open to the public. Snacks will be provided and you are also welcome to join Club members at 6:15 PM for an informal pre-meeting dinner at Harkness Commons, in the law school cafeteria on the second floor. For more information you may contact David Lubertazzi at lubertazzi@gmail.com. Photo below by Baird Woods.
The mission of the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project (New Entry) at Tufts University is to assist people with limited resources who have an interest in small-scale commercial agriculture, to begin farming in Massachusetts. The broader goals of New Entry are to support the vitality and sustainability of the region’s agriculture, to build long term economic self-reliance and food security among participants and their communities, and to expand access to high-quality, culturally appropriate foods in underserved areas through production of locally-grown foods.
Tufts is now registering students for the next Explore Farming! course. These courses take place on a rolling basis, and the next class will be scheduled once an adequate number of students have enrolled. The class meets for one or two sessions, and is taught three or four times per year.
During the class you will discuss some of the challenges and rewards of farm ownership, as opposed to other means of satisfying your interest in farming. A primary goal of the course is to encourage you to think realistically about the financial feasibility of starting and growing your own farm businesses. Most of the participants have worked on farms for at least one season, and know that they love farming, but are interested in learning how to start their own farm businesses. Whether you decide to pursue starting your own farm business, or would rather continue farming in another way, Tufts has lots of resources to help you move forward in your farming career. For more information log on to www.nesfp.nutrition.tufts.edu.
