Category Archives: Uncategorized

Musings of a Sidewalk Explorer: Woodpeckers

Posted on May 6, 2020 by Danielle Lanson

Ms. Patti, one of our educators who has been teaching preschool and kindergarten aged children at Moose Hill for 25 years, continues her daily walks around her neighborhood and shares what she sees and a few fun activities and resources for you.

The woodpeckers in my neighborhood are announcing themselves to anyone willing to listen by pounding their heads against anything that will produce noise. Some birds have found creative places to drum, as the louder the drumming the more likely to attract a mate or maintain a territory. I actually saw one bird drumming on a chimney cap…it was loud and I can only imagine what it sounded like inside the house. Other possible drumming sites are hollow trees, gutters, transformer boxes, trash cans, siding of homes, phone poles, and tree stumps; basically anything that resonates sound. Find out more about woodpeckers in Massachusetts and what to do if one decides to drum on your house.

I then wondered how woodpeckers could continually bang their heads against a hard surface and not become impaired. Turns out nature took care of that with adaptations to protect them: built-in shock absorbers, the actual structure of their skull and beak redirects pressure away from its head, and perhaps my favorite, it can wrap its tongue around its head (internally) to help cushion the blows. Find out more about how woodpeckers can drum without getting brain damage.

Have some woodpecker fun:

How many knock, knock jokes you can tell?

How many “W” words can you work into a sentence? Here’s my best attempt: “The white woodpecker wilted while waiting for winter to wane.”

Make a cool woodpecker that moves up and down a string like a real one working a tree.

Fold an origami woodpecker.

Send us your best attempts at woodpecker fun on Facebook or Instagram!

How to Shop Safe and Local

Posted on May 4, 2020 by Danielle Lanson

While the Nature Center, Gift Shop, and trails remain closed during this time, the farm will be open and we hope that you will continue to support the local vendors that we partner with to fill our gift shop shelves. Though you can’t shop through us right now, you can still easily shop directly with many of our vendors for all of your upcoming gifts, gardening, or grocery needs – it will be easy to see why we have been so proud to partner with them at Moose Hill.

The two current best ways to directly support Moose Hill are by joining us as a member, taking advantage of the new member special for just $32, and by joining our Organic CSA, where you can get 18 weeks of fresh vegetables worth $27-$32 a week. Guaranteed fresh vegetables without needing to remember to place an order each week – what a great deal! We will be starting our CSA program on time in late May. Arrangements will be made for a safe pick-up process for shareholders and farmers if the COVID-19 situation continues into the CSA season. By purchasing a CSA share now, you’re giving valuable support to our farmers as they continue to work to provide fresh, sustainable food for our community.

While we can’t physically sell the great products from our local partners in our shop right now, we want to help you reach them virtually, or contact free, and continue to show them some love. Visit the list below to check out what your neighbors and community members have available.

CatBird Design – Greeting Cards / Nature Photography / Jewelry and More
Cilla’s Creations – Cement Garden Decorations
Chickadee Seed & Feed – Bird Seed, Feeders, Garden Supplies, Feed, and More
Country Farm Candles – Family Owned Hand Poured Soy Candles
Good Life Creations – Personalized Gifts & Decor
Ink’d – COMMUN-A-TEE T-Shirts and Masks
Jim’s Organic Coffee – Local Coffee Offering 15% Off Your Online Order
Mass Audubon Shop – Limited Version of the Usual Online Shop
Nelumbo Healing Arts – Nature Art, Jewelry, and Hand Crafted Self Care Products.
Our Corner Booth – Handmade Wooden Home Goods & Decor.
The Petal Peddler’s Shop – Unique Handcrafted Paper Flower Bouquets
Ring by Ring Designs – Handmade Jewelry
Simpson Spring – Local Grocery Goods (Including Local Meat), Fresh Spring Water, Gifts, and More
Tea Guys – Local Tea
TreeHouse Farms – Local Eggs, Meat Birds, and More
Ward’s Berry Farm – Local Groceries, Plants, and Moose Hill Maple Syrup
Yellow Ochre Studio – Original Gouache Paintings & Giclee Prints

We hope you are all staying safe and healthy and miss you dearly. Thank you for your continued patronage and shared love of nature.

How to Make a Recycled Nature Journal

Posted on May 2, 2020 by Danielle Lanson

Julia is a teacher-naturalist at Moose Hill who has been with Mass Audubon for over two and a half years and at Moose Hill specifically for the last year and a half. Julia is passionate about conservation and protecting the environment so future generations have the same resources that we have today and she loves sharing that passion with people of all ages. With a background in geology and environmental studies and research projects on fluvial features on mars as well as wetland restoration, she can easily teach on the many aspects at Moose Hill, hopefully sparking an interest or love of the environment in children and adults. She particularly loves seeing a child express excitement over something they learned.

Make your own homemade journal using recycled materials found in your home. Then use it to write and draw about things you see and observe in nature!

Materials:

Cardboard from a cereal box, soda box, or any other cardboard item
Ruler
Pencil/pen
Hole punch
Scissors
Yarn
5 sheets of computer paper/any paper you have in your home

Instructions:

Using the ruler, measure 2 pieces of the card board as a 6” by 9” rectangle using the ruler and pen to mark the measurements.

Cut out the 2 measured cardboard pieces.

Fold 5 sheets of 8” by 10” computer paper in half the “hamburger” way. You may use more paper but keep in mind it will be harder to poke holes in it the more paper you have. You may also use any kind of paper you have.

Using the hole punch, punch three holes along the edge of each cardboard piece and the folded packet of paper. Make sure the holes line up with each other. You can use scissors to make the holes if you do not have a hole punch.

Using your yarn, weave through the holes. Put the yarn down through the top hole, up through the middle hole, and down through the bottom hole.

Then weave the yarn back up through the middle hole, and back down through the top hole.

Then tie the two ends together.

And tada, you have a nature journal! Now get out there and document that nature that is budding in your backyard right now. You can take it another step further and decorate the cover however you see fit so that it is personalized just for you.

We hope you had fun crafting with us today. Be sure to share your findings with us on Facebook or Instagram! We love to see what you come up with.

While the Nature Center, Gift Shop and trails are closed during this time, there are still a number of ways you can support Moose Hill as we prepare for when we once again can welcome everyone back – join Mass Audubon (there’s a new member special for just $32 dollars!); join our CSA, with a regular pick-up worth $27-$32 a week, it’s a guarantee of fresh, organic vegetables this summer; support our partners:

Musings From a Sidewalk Explorer

Posted on April 29, 2020 by Danielle Lanson

I was excited to notice the first buzzing bumblebee bumbling around my yard (it was a bit chilly, so I think that may have been impacting the bee’s flight path). I am sure it was searching for a flower to have a snack; however, to date the only things blooming in my yard are maple trees, daffodils, and a few weedy lawn plants, slim pickings for sure. I am hoping the bumblebee will be back when my blueberry bush is in bloom since bumblebees are blueberry pollinators. Since they are way too big to physically get into a blueberry flower to access the pollen, they use buzz pollination! They grab hold of the flower and vibrate their bodies at the proper frequency so the pollen drops out. Watch this super cool adaptation!

Learn about bumblebees (and other bees/wasps) in Massachusetts.

Learn all about bumblebees.

Celebrate bumblebees…here’s how:

Enjoy blueberry pie, blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes, or the fresh fruit unadorned to show your appreciation of bumblebees!

Let us know your bumblebee (and other pollinator) sightings and activities. Be well and stay safe.

Sugar on Snow from a Vermonter’s View

Posted on February 28, 2020 by Karen Stein

by Danielle Lanson, Administrative Assistant and Office Manager

As a Vermont native, maple syrup wasn’t just something you put on pancakes. It was a tradition, a season, and a way of life. I’ve traded chickens for it, I’ve been paid for home improvements with it, and I’ve sat around pots of boiling sap in a room full of white beards and flannel passing down stories while the sweet steam seeped into my clothing creating memories to cherish in years to come. Maple syrup was about community, more than it was about creating a product. As I got older and my life got busier, there was less time to spend hanging out in sugar shacks but one tradition that always remained was sugar on snow.

Every March, the entire family got together to go experience the essence of Vermont in its chewy and caramelized form over hot cocoa, cider donuts, and laughter. The winters are long up in Vermont, so we celebrate the horizon of spring by pouring piping hot maple syrup over packed snow to create the iconic Sugar on Snow that has become a well-loved tradition signaling the end of winter and the beginning of mud season, which then gives hope for spring.

In honor of these northern traditions, we are excited to offer a Sugar on Snow program for all here at Moose Hill to bring you the full experience of the sugaring season.

Want more? Check out all the great Maple Sugaring Programs: Maple Sugaring Weekends, now two full weekends (great for everyone!); Behind the Scenes tour of our sugaring operation (for the adults); and Fledgling Fridays programs (for you and your child age 3-5 years).

We hope to see you here, enjoying our sweetest season!

Holiday Shopping at Your Local Gift Shop

Posted on November 15, 2019 by Danielle Lanson

If you are looking for unique gifts this Holiday season, be sure to come check out our ever growing and changing gift shop right up at the Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary Nature Center. We are proud to support a wide range of local artists with items such as handmade jewelry, wood burned art, cement garden art, hand poured soy candles, greeting cards, nature and vegetable prints, wool dryer balls, ornaments, hand knit and crocheted hats, and more! Keep checking back throughout the season as new products, including some of those pictured below, arrive in the shop.

On top of all of the lovely local art items, we also have Moose Hill branded items like shirts, hats, water bottles, and bags – most of which were printed locally at Inkd in Mansfield!

We are also getting restocked with plenty of nature themed items that make excellent stocking stuffers! These will be arriving at the shop towards the end of November – keep an eye out on our social media pages for our announcement of their arrival.

At Moose Hill, we strive to support our community and offer as many local items as possible, even down to the soda and bird seed that we sell. So you know that when you shop with us you are not only supporting a local conservation organization, but also a local business or artist. And don’t forget – if you are a member then you get 10% off of most things in the shop, including the bird seed!

We hope you are all having a lovely transition into winter as the sun sets earlier, the nights get colder, and the landscape changes once again. Our 25 miles of trails are beautiful year round with something new to see in every season so be sure to keep us in mind as you plan out your weekends!

CSA Pick-Up: September 24-28

Posted on September 24, 2018 by mtrapp

Wednesday September 26th, Friday September 28th, and Monday October 1st will be the last distribution days for shareholders for the 2018 season. We want to thank all of you for another terrific year!

On the list for pick-up is:

Kale
Beans
Winter squash varieties
Acorn Squash Varieties
Butternut Squash
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Corn Stalks
Popcorn

Important: Make sure to bring sturdy bags to pick-up that can handle a lot of weight. We will have a lot of heavier items such as sweet potatoes and winter squash.

Also: keep an eye out for our end of year survey. Your input on this helps us to improve the program every year.

See you at the Farm!

Undone Stuffed Pepper Casserole

Posted on August 28, 2018 by mtrapp

If you love stuffed peppers but are short on time, this is a great, tasty, and easy recipe that I have been using for years. Here’s how it’s done..

Ingredients:

– 3 large green peppers, coarsely chopped
– 1 lb ground beef
– 3 cloves garlic, minced
– 2 cups cooked long grain brown or white rice
– 24 oz. pasta sauce
– 1 and 1/2 cups of shredded Italian cheese

Directions:

– Heat oven to 350 degrees
– Brown meat with garlic and peppers in a large skillet; drain.
– Return meat mixture to skillet; stir in rice, pasta sauce, and 3/4 cup cheese. (vegan cheese also works great with this recipe!)
– spoon in to 2 quart casserole sprayed with cooking spray.
– top with remaining 3/4 cup of cheese.
– Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Buy-a-Bucket and Vegetables Coming Soon

Posted on August 17, 2018 by mtrapp

Buy-a-Bucket: offered to shareholders on their distribution night and to general visitors, or shareholders, during Farm Stand hours on Saturday/Sunday (11 am-3pm). Please be aware that the orange buckets that are given to harvest with are not meant to be taken home, but are the guide for pricing ($6/harvested bucket for shareholders; $12/harvested bucket for non-shareholders). As always, we suggest that you bring an extra bag to transfer your food in to after picking. If you wish to take the bucket home, it will be an additional $4. For our shareholders – with the variety of pick-your-own and the buy-a-bucket option, you may spend more time in the field, please remember to plan accordingly for arrival at distribution considering the extra time.

Speaking of extra bags – shareholders, we are always in need of a few extra bags for people who forget theirs when they come to distribution. We appreciate everyone who has brought in bags so far this season!

Upcoming crops:

Here now: Melons, Tomatoes
Coming soon: Potatoes, Arugula
On the horizon: Leeks, Sweet potatoes, winter squash.

Curious about what happens with food that is unpicked in the fields? Since there is so much ground to cover in both the lower and upper field, it is impossible to harvest every last thing. For example, some things like squash and zucchini overgrow when left in the field, but can still be used for things like zucchini bread. Boston Area Gleaners (B.A.G.) is a non-profit organization we will be inviting to our fields to get these left overs. They are dedicated to delivering surplus farm crops to those in need. We are happy to have found an organization that can help us to help others!

Gift Shop Changes

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Danielle Lanson

You may have noticed some changes afoot in our Gift Shop at the Nature Center. We are in the middle of a complete revamp so the selections have been a little on the leaner side but that is all soon going to change! We have plans for a grand re-opening in the fall that we will be announcing soon.

The first major change that we are making involves bottled water. Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary will no longer be selling bottled water in order to continue Mass Audubon’s efforts in lowering our carbon footprint. We will instead have an assortment of Mass Audubon and Moose Hill water bottles that you can easily fill at our filtered bottle filling station next to the public bathrooms in the Nature Center. We will have a few different styles and sizes to fit everyone’s needs.

Next, in addition to the Moose Hill honey and maple syrup that we offer seasonally, you will soon start seeing a lot more Moose Hill branded hats, shirts, pins, and other smaller gifts. Our book selection will also be expanding with more options for young and old alike. We will be a great stop come this gift giving season with plenty of novelty options that your friends and family will enjoy for years to come. As we are building up our inventory over these next couple of months, drop in and let us know if there is anything you want to see us selling in the shop. We have a suggestion box next to the cooler in our shop and appreciate hearing your recommendations.

The shop will be closed for the first week of September in preparation for the grand re-opening, so we apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. But once we get everything all cleaned, painted, and organized, we will be having sales every weekend in October on different select items such as bird feeders and books so be sure to stop by!