Views from the Drumlin

What a Beautiful Morning... I Think I'll Go Outside for a While...

Can you hear it?

Everything is in bloom and the day couldn't be better for capturing the phenomenal spring colors.

 

 

It's also Arbor Day today! And in keeping with the spirit, a business that's right down the street in Lincoln, SavATree & SavALawn, donated their time to the farm today to perform tree maintenance. They're removing some dead wood that poses a threat of falling on buildings, and will be doing some work in our sugar bush later today trimming some trees. Thank you to the folks at SavATree!

 

Our crops team has been putting in long days seeding, planting, and transplanting in the greenhouse and in the fields. Greg and one of the apprentices were busy transplanting this morning. A recent crops update from Greg read, in part,

"At this time of year, you’ll always see our greenhouse filled with trays of new seedlings. Once the tender seedlings get strong enough, they are moved from inside the greenhouse, where they are accustomed to a very controlled environment, to the cold frames outside. There, we can still protect them from wind and frost while they become more robust. Each stage of their growth is very important to the final health of the plant and the produce it provides.

We transplant every seedling from our greenhouse to the fields by hand. This week, we have transplanted tens of thousands of onions, beets, lettuces, scallions, and swiss chard plants. In order for transplants to healthily adjust to new conditions, they must be “watered in.” Roots re-grip soil much easier in wet soil. Since we do not irrigate here at Drumlin Farm (we avoid it’s intensive water and energy use), we must time our transplanting with forecasted rain."

The seedling sale is coming up soon- May 21 and 22, from 10am-4pm. The sale will include:

• 6 packs of mixed heirloom tomatoes
• sungold cherry tomatoes
• mixed basils
• Italian basil
• mixed-color sweet peppers
• mixed Asian and Italian eggplants
• lettuce
• cucumbers
• summer squash
• flowers
• parsley
• hanging nasturtium baskets

 

 

The birding this time of year is really starting to get busy. Warblers have been spotted on the sanctuary, as well as a brown thrasher. I wish I could say I had photos of those birds, but all I've got for you today are some attractive goldfinches....

 

Every critter was out enjoying the early morning sun. If you haven't had a chance to watch the lambs play in the pasture you really have to make time to stop by. Send us your photos if you catch some good shots!

 

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the adorable piglets. They are so tiny compared to their robustly sized mother.

 

 Enjoy what should be a beautiful weekend!

April Vacation

With spring vacation wrapping up last week was a busy one at the farm. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the lambs and kid goats and the spring atmosphere on the farm. Thanks to our staff of teacher-naturalists there were also plenty of free visitor education programs to enjoy. Here's a staff member with an injured captive screech owl. Did you know that unlike other birds that flee when they are startled, screech owls stay still with their ear tufts up? This "make like a tree" reaction is an attempt to blend in and not be noticed.

 

It's almost that time of year when the trees and shrubs have a nearly glowing green hazy appearance. I love that particular shade of green that only appears this time of year - it literally screams "SPRING!"

 

We'll be back later in the week with more news from the farm, but here's a little teaser about a new critter at the farm....

 

Suburban Cowboys

I'll tell you upfront that the alternate title of this post is "All's Well that Ends Well." Yesterday afternoon was very exciting here at the farm. And when I say very exciting, I mean "Wow- now that's something you don't see every day!"

Seems we were on the hunt for a pair of fugitives. Here's a clue at their last known location

  
I'm no expert tracker, but that looks like cow to me.
All of Drumlin Farm's cows were accounted for, resting comfortably in their pasture.

 

Turns out there were two loose cows. They were from a herd that normally grazes on some land bordering Boyce Field. Apparently, they were so curious about Drumlin that they had to come take a look for themselves.

Luckily, cows don't hide that well and soon enough they were spotted.

 

After some maneuvering on foot and in truck, a coalition of "suburban cowboys and cowgirls" cornered this cow, (and the other escapee) and both were cordially escorted back to their pasture.

 
 
All in a day's work!

An addendum from earlier in the week...

Is it a really large odd skunk? Well, that's what it looked like from a distance.

 

Really, it was a black lamb and a white lamb lying together in near perfect symmetry- quite the illusion. Check out all the lambs this weekend during our Nature Art Festival. The solar sculpture garden was being installed today- it looks fantastic.

Turkeys Here, Seedlings There

There was quite the mating spectacle greeting me at the farm this morning. With no fewer than 6 toms and only 3 hens, the display wars were on.  I particularly fancied this fine fellow's display. For more information on wild turkeys visit the Living with Wildlife section of the Mass Audubon website.

 
If you'd like to see the turkeys morning and late afternoon are best, and they are often near the bottom of the hill or right around the admissions area.

From the "signs of spring" department the greenhouse is packed full with seedlings. Some particularly photo worthy specimens this morning...

Nasturtium seedlings (these could be yours at our annual seedling sale in May).

 

Teeny, tiny Swiss Chard, if ever a seedling was cute I think this is it (it "beet" out the baby beetlets-like the pun?!)

 

And finally some very respectable looking eggplant.

 
Out on my own this week after a much more successful birdwalk last week I spotted only the usual suspects cardinals, tree swallows, crows, nuthatches, chickadees, and this red-winged blackbird that refused to give me a clear shot.

 

 While I was out in Boyce Field I also spied this impromptu sculpture. Like it? If you come to our Nature Art Festival on April 16 you can learn how to balance rocks like this. It's one of several nature arts you can see or try that day. We'll also have a fabulous photo exhibit from last year's Mass Audubon photo contest. It's on again this year if you'd like to enter.

 

Have you seen the new artwork adorning our fireplace in the back of the nature center? Preschool parents Damon Lehrer and Aimee LeBrun created this for us. It depicts each of the four preschool classes, the foxes, crickets, turtles, salamanders, and foxes. Thank you so much!

 

If you're still looking for a preschool for this coming fall, we still have spaces available in our afternoon sessions. Contact Paula if you have questions at 781-259-2224.

 
That's all for today. Get out and enjoy the sun!

 

Disregard the weather - lambs and sheep shearing mean spring!

What a week it's been on the farm! Last Saturday was Woolapalooza. As I've said before it really is a staff favorite, and judging from the number of folks who visited us that day (about 3,000), I'd say it's a family favorite too. A few shots from the day:

Here's an action shot of the sheepherding demonstration. It's amazing to watch the dogs at work, a terrific combination of instinct and training (by Kate who does our sheepherding demonstrations).

 

Kevin shears all of our sheep each year during Woolapalooza. Rather than electric clippers, he uses shears.

 

Look how soft and white the fleece looks near the skin. He leaves about an inch of fleece on the sheep.

 

Bart the goat was a bit too curious, so he had to be confined while his usual companions, the sheep, were being sheared. He watched the proceedings like a hawk.

 

Here's what I'm calling the "Bart's a prisoner," shot. Soon enough though he was back out romping around the pasture with his newly shorn companions.

 

The "after" shot of two of the newly shorn ewes.

 

Along our "sheep-to-sweater trail," visitors could see how wool is processed and how products are made from it. Here's a felted hat created by one of our teacher- naturalists Tia.
 

Post Woolapalooza the sheep fun continued with many, many lambs being born.

Today we have so many lambs that the sounds of babies bleating is nearly earsplitting! With a total of 16, we are now truly in the midst of our spring baby-boomlet.

 

 This little newborn was still trying to hunt down where to get the milk!

 
 

But let's not forget about the goat kids. They've gone from soft and adorable, to curious, active, and really very entertaining! Seems like the ram is very relaxed about being used as a trampoline.

 

Birding at the farm has also started to pick up. There were even reports of an eastern meadowlark here at Drumlin Farm. Our staff has been out trying to find it, but no luck yet. We have however, seen a wide variety of other birds. Pam and I spotted (or rather Pam spotted and then painstakingly identified and showed me where to look) 21 species on a recent morning walk.

Here's a shot of a particularly willing model, a song sparrow. Don't forget, starting this weekend is the Spring Optics Sale at the shop, members get 15% off binoculars, scopes, tripods and accessories!

 

And in Drumlin Farm in the media news- we were thrilled to have a visit from Béa of La Tartine Gourmande (a local food blog) this week! We've seen her beautiful photos from her visits to the farm before and it was great fun to show her around in person. If you're looking for some cooking inspiration check it out (take note CSA members, it's a great source for seasonal recipes).