Winter Trailblazing

Winter Trialblazing in Rochester, MA.

As the cold weather approaches, don't run inside and hibernate! The winter is one of the best times to enjoy your local conservation lands. Whether you enjoy hiking or snowshoeing, birding or cross-country skiing, there are great trails for you to explore this winter.

The Wildlands Trailblazers will be working throughout the winter to help maintain these trails for the enjoyment of the public. Below is a list of upcoming volunteer trail work days. All volunteer work days begin at 10am and run approximately 2-3 hours. Tools, training, and water are provided.

Upcoming Wildlands Trailblazers Work Days

• Saturday, December 10th, Harrington's Wilderness, Marshfield
• Saturday, January 21st, Delano & Rounseville II Preserves, Rochester
• Saturday, February 11th, Great River Preserve, Bridgewater

We hope to see you out on the trails this winter!

-Questions & RSVPs can be directed to Alex Etkind, Wildlands Trust Land Steward, AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer, aetkind@wildlandstrust.org

Turkey Talk

Did you know that... Last year, the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Becoming an Outdoors Woman (B.O.W) program partnered with Wildlands Trust to host an Intermediate Turkey Hunt?

The hunt began at dawn on April 30th 2011 at the 230-acre Great River Preserve in Bridgewater, MA. Four intermediate women hunters were led by two experienced hunting guides. One of the women, Cynthia Langill, successfully harvested her first turkey!

The Great River Preserve is one of the few Wildlands Trust’s properties that allows hunting during legal hunting seasons.

Public is Invited to Open House at Davis Douglas Farm Saturday, November 26th, 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Front steps at the Davis-Douglas Farm.

Please stop by to visit the Davis-Douglas Farm and learn about the Wildlands Trust’s plans to relocate its headquarters to the property and to establish a new educational center focused on passive outdoor recreation and land conservation.

This fall, the Trust entered into an agreement to purchase the Davis-Douglas Farm, a beautiful ten-acre property on Long Pond Road. Long a beloved scenic landmark in south Plymouth, this lovely property is currently owned by the Bongiovanni Family.

The Davis-Douglas Farm property.

 “This is a wonderful opportunity to save a beautiful piece of land and to restore the very interesting farmhouse that has been part of the landscape for over a century,” said Charlotte Russell, long time Wildlands Trust board member.  “We look forward to welcoming the Trust back home.”

The Wildlands Trust, a regional land trust serving all of southeastern Massachusetts, was based in Plymouth from 1973 until 1995 before moving to a donated office space in Duxbury.  Since it was founded, the organization has conserved nearly 10,000 acres of land, much of it within Plymouth.

Davis-Douglas Farm is a dream property for the Trust.  Besides being a very important land protection project, it will provide the Trust with ample space for staff, stewardship equipment, and outreach programs.  The Trust plans to rebuild the barn for community education programs and presentations.  They also plan to host a community garden on the property, similar to the one they’ve had in Duxbury for the past 3 years. 

The Davis-Douglas Farm was once part of Howland Davis’ estate on Long Pond, and the Bongiovanni Family has designated that the property be named “Davis-Douglas Farm” to honor both Howland Davis and their grandfather, Percy Douglas, who farmed the land for many years.

“The property holds tremendous meaning to my family and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome,” said David Bongiovanni.  “We support the Trust’s plans and are thrilled to know that the property will look very similar to how it has looked for the last hundred years.”

Property tours will be conducted for the public on Saturday, November 26^th from noon to 2:00 p.m.  For directions to the Farm, visit www.wildlandstrust.org.

For more information, please contact Karen Grey at kgrey@wildlandstrust.org or 781.934.9018.

For the Love of Garlic

On Friday, I swung past Hannaford Supermarket in Kingston and bought a pack of 6 organic garlic bulbs for $1.99. I then headed to our community garden at The Plymouth Area Coalition for the Homeless in Kingston (Bridie's Garden) to plant them. Since it was Veterans Day, there was no school and 3 kids staying at the shelter were able to come out and help me in the garden.

Rock label

We separated the bulbs into individual cloves (there were probably 70 cloves) and planted them about 1" deep along two edges of the garden (using rocks as labels so everyone will know where we planted them).

Making a rock label

We had been avoiding the center of the garden since it was recently tilled and with all the rain - was quite the mud pit. BUT THEN, we had only a few cloves of garlic left and the brilliant idea to plant them in secret spots throughout the garden. So, we ventured from the garden's edges where we had begun our planting and into the mud, when I heard a little girl yell "I'm stuck!" I thought she was kidding at first but it quickly became apparent that she wasn't! I ran out to the center of the garden and pulled her out of the mud. You could hear the suction release when she was freed. BUT THEN, I was stuck too and my shoes were sinking quickly! My feet slipped out of my shoes as I was trying to free myself... and that was the end to the white socks I was wearing. There's not much more to the story, except that everyone was laughing at the end and we can't wait to harvest our garlic next spring. For the love of garlic, gardening, and the opportunity to share that moment with some incredibly cheerful kids from the shelter.... it was totally worth it!

My shoes

 Also, our garden volunteers planted winter rye (a cover crop and nitrogen fixer) in the garden several weeks ago. We were happy to see it sprouting!

Winter rye

-Post by Sarah Kugel, Community Outreach Coordinator, AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer at Wildlands Trust (skugel@wildlandstrust.org)