Category Archives: Uncategorized

Crops Update: Straw Mulching and Hungry Deer

Posted on June 25, 2020 by Ryan D.

Strawberries, snap peas, garlic scapes, the solstice, and Father’s Day. Every year, the confluence of these crops and events also coincides with our annual pick-your-own strawberries weekend. The hot and dry weather has favored the strawberry crop, but COVID canceled our plans to invite the public into the patch.

Instead, small groups of volunteers helped us pick berries on Wednesday and Friday of last week. Thanks to them, all spring CSA shareholders received a pint of strawberries on Wednesday afternoon, and on Saturday morning, we took over 300 pints to market! The few flats we didn’t sell there we donated to Food For Free on the way home.

This week marks the opening of the summer CSA program, and we look forward to once again working with volunteers to pick berries for members and for market-goers. Many thanks to volunteer coordinator Pam Sowizral for organizing the harvesters, and thanks to all who have pitched in so far.

At the beginning of last week, before temperatures hit the 90s, we raced to pound tomato stakes and spread straw mulch. Above, from left to right, Greg Poelker-McKee, Jen Healy, Paige Taylor, Margot Becker, and Margaret Hayes have just loaded dozens of fifty-pound bales for transport to the main tomato patch. Nobody enjoys getting itchy straw in their masks, shoes, and pockets, but it’s motivating to know that the process would be far more uncomfortable in high heat and humidity.

The team made quick work of the project, and now we’re keeping an eye on the forecast to find a cooler day to stake and mulch the second succession of field tomatoes. We planted those last Thursday afternoon, and the deer quickly found them and ate an entire bed! Deer pressure seems to be heavier than in years past, and their current favorites are peas, lettuce, tomatoes, and beets.

In other wildlife news, at least three Killdeer nests have hatched-out and we’re plowing around two others where the adults are still sitting on eggs. The Red-tailed Hawk keeps trying to eat the little ones, but the parents are as protective of them as they are of the nests.

On Saturday afternoon, we planted a half-acre of pumpkins—the last of the big summer planting projects. Now the days are getting shorter, and the remaining large planting jobs are fall brassicas: kale, collards, storage cabbage, and kohlrabi. Later this week, we’ll transplant acorn squash and Brussels sprouts to the field. Acorn squash matures quickly and is susceptible to sunscald, so we seed it two weeks later than other winter squash.

This week, we’ll also try to seed oats and field peas on vacant fields in the hope of catching a thunderstorm. Our last rain was on June 11, and all crops need a drink right now. But as you can see in the above picture taken on Sunday, despite the lack of rain, crops continue to thrive in our rich soil. Our low backs are about to get a serious workout bringing in the summer squash. Everybody, do your sit-ups!

Your Farmers

Crops Update: Late Strawberries & Early Chard

Posted on June 9, 2020 by Ryan D.

The second half of May was dry and hot, but it ended with two mornings of light frost on the first and second of June. Overall, the cold spring has delayed the start of pea and strawberry season, but we do hope to start picking sugar snap peas by mid-week. We still haven’t seen even a hint of pink in the strawberry patch; June 5 or 6 is usually when we pick the first fully red berry of the season. Hopefully, the weekend’s rain and the predicted sunny weather will speed up ripening.

We were planting flowers on Saturday afternoon when the first real rain in 21 days arrived in the form of a beautiful thunderstorm. We sheltered in the hoop house and caught up on some weeding and trellising there.

Earlier in the week, we were dismayed to find only about 30% germination under a greens row cover we had seeded during the dry spell. Our supply of arugula, radish, and other greens like baby kale and bok choi depend on our system of weekly seeding and covering to protect these crops from flea beetle damage. Each week, we also open the previous week’s cover to hoe the beds and check germination. While spring greens have been bountiful up to this point in the season, we may see a decline in availability starting next week as we begin to harvest from drought-affected successional seedings.

But all the dry weather has been ideal for transplanting, and in the past week, we planted more rounds of lettuce, basil, cucumbers, and scallions, the second succession of sweet corn, and the first round of cantaloupe, watermelon, and eggplant.

This Week's Harvest — This Week’s Harvest

After years of not very successfully battling the flea beetles and Colorado potato beetles that feed on eggplant, we’ve covered this year’s transplants with Proteknet—a lightweight nylon net that floats above the crop on a series of metal hoops. We’ve also used this method to keep leaf miners out of the chard patch, and not only has it excluded pests, but the additional heat trapped under the cover has given us full-size leaves earlier than in any previous season. Above, you can see a chard bunch we harvested yesterday along with some of the other good stuff coming out of the fields right now: clockwise from noon, Lacinato kale, scallions, chard, raab, turnips, basil, Chinese broccoli, and green garlic.

This past week, we were thrilled to have the help of volunteers with the bagging of CSA shares. Above, from left to right, you can see Anna, Kate, Sheila, Margaret, Mike, and Sandra (mio madre!) putting together 190 shares. Thank you! And additional thanks to Pam for coordinating the effort, and to Margaret for keeping track of all the crates of veggies and moving them out of the walk-in fridge and box truck to the packing area.

More help also arrived this week as my sister’s eldest, Margot, graduated from high school and started volunteering with the team. It’s great to have Margot here, and so far we’ve been motivated to cook with all this amazing produce—turnips and green garlic five nights in a row, and not sick of them yet! We vary the dressing but usually start with Drumlin maple syrup and Sir Kensington’s spicy brown mustard. Places to go from there: lemon juice/lemonade, rice vinegar, shoyu, plain yogurt, vanilla yogurt, apricot jam, peach kefir, ume plum vinegar, pepper, olive oil, sesame oil, vermouth, balsamic, etc.

Your Farmers

Crops Update: Onions, Onions, and More Onions

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Ryan D.

Onion starts in the black trays and lettuce and Chinese broccoli seedlings in the white

Beautiful weather the first weekend in May helped us make progress in our crop establishment work. On the back of the truck, you can see onion starts in the black trays and lettuce and Chinese broccoli seedlings in the white.

Last Thursday morning we harvested arugula from the field for the first time in 2020. We seeded it on March 22. Some of it will be going to our partnering restaurants, some to Codman Farm here in Lincoln for resale at their store, and some to Food for Free—a Cambridge-based non-profit devoted to improving access to healthy food, especially through schools. In response to challenges posed by the pandemic, we’ve been delivering carrots, eggs, and greens to Food for Free for the past month. You can learn more about our food donation program and how to support it here.

Hoophouse carrots seeded back in mid-February

All prior harvests beginning in January and continuing through the beginning of May came from the hoophouse. Above, you can see what was going on in the hoophouse: The green growth in front of the ladder is carrots seeded in mid-February. We plan to begin harvesting those within two weeks. The spools hanging from the hoop house frame, and looking like air quotes, are called Rollerhooks. Each one contains about 100 ft. of twine (several seasons’ worth), to which we’ll be clipping cucumber and tomato vines. We’ll transplant the cukes and cherry tomatoes and expect each vine to grow to be 20–25 feet in length by mid-summer. The riddle to be solved is how to fit that size of plant in a house whose peak is 20 feet tall, and how to harvest near the tops of the vines? We’ve got a plan for that. Can you guess it?

Above is a photo taken yesterday that previews this week’s CSA share, the first of the season. We seeded the scallions into trays in the greenhouse in January and then transplanted them into the unheated hoophouse in February. On March 22, we seeded the bi-colored French Breakfast radishes directly into the field where they have been growing under a protective cover ever since. The Red Russian kale was seeded on that same day in March. The lone carrot is a vision of things to come. We seeded carrots into the hoophouse in mid-January; they still need a little more time to grow before we harvest them for you.

You can see those carrots growing along the Southern (left) wall of the hoophouse. Last week, we cleared out the last of the winter spinach and lettuce and then planted early cucumbers and tomatoes in their place. In anticipation of Saturday night’s freeze, we hooped and covered the cukes and tomatoes with a winter-weight row cover. We didn’t trust that the hoophouse’s single layer of plastic would provide enough protection. All plants looked healthy when we removed the cover this morning. We’ll cover the plants again on Tuesday evening as we’re expecting another frost in what has been an unusually cold spring.

Despite the cold days and frequent rain, we’re on schedule with our field plantings. Above, you can see us on Sunday afternoon raking-in the trench holding the last of the seed potatoes. And on Friday, we finally crossed the finish line of 2020’s Onion Marathon—48,000 transplants in 13 days. Next up is transplanting sweet corn, trellising peas, thinning beets and hoeing down weeds.

Your Farmers

Crops Update: Surviving the Heat

Posted on July 25, 2019 by Kelly R.

We made it through the one hundred degree days without spontaneously combusting, which might come as surprise given the dire tone of the media’s coverage of the heat. We moved a little more slowly, drank more water, and sweated, but the breeze blew and cooled our bodies and we got things done. Then it rained again, and the mud tried to twist our boots off as we plodded up and down the sodden fields carrying crates of greens. We took advantage of the cloudy and cool weather to begin the garlic harvest—lots of heavy lifting.

Last week, before the warmest days arrived, we got great help from three volunteer groups. We’ve been working with groups from Care.com for many years, and this past Tuesday about twenty volunteers from the company helped us weed beans, dig potatoes, and harvest the first of the storage onions (pictured below). They also helped carry the onions up into the barn loft for drying, which is a workout similar to holding a thirty pound kettle bell on the stairmaster!

On Wednesday afternoon, the Virginia-based Church of the Brethren visited after having spent the morning weeding at another area farm. This congregation focuses its volunteer efforts on agriculture and food justice. After planting many trays of fennel, basil and lettuce, the chaperones gave the kids the choice of weeding beets with us or touring the farm. They voted to weed with us, and it was a pleasure to have their help a while longer.

On Thursday afternoon, civil engineers from Green International returned to the farm for a second year of volunteering and planted many trays of fall broccoli, cabbage and turnips (pictured below), totaling over 4,000 individual seedlings. And on Friday, volunteers from the community helped us dig potatoes and pick beans for market, before weeding two beds of carrots.

Thanks all for helping us in the fields, and a special thank you to the Crops team for setting up the stand on Sunday and pre-harvesting for restaurants on Monday while I was enjoying a rare two days away from the farm with family and friends on Cape Cod. We ate corn and cucumbers and were grateful for those who work in all kinds of weather to feed us.

See you in the field,

Your Farmers

Crops Update: Week 22

Posted on October 9, 2018 by Kelly R.

Still no frost, not even a night in the high thirties. This is unusual, as our low lying fields usually get zapped in the last week of September or first week of October. We expected a frost last Friday night, and so worked that afternoon with 20 volunteers from Shire biotech to scour the eggplant and tomato patches in a last call harvest. Shire volunteers then helped us bring in the last of the popcorn crop, and they even had time to dip their toes into the quicksand of the sweet potato harvest—don’t worry; they made it out alive!

Shire Volunteers

We continued mucking around in the sweet potatoes the following afternoon with 22 students from Brandeis. While it may look like we’re having a fist fight with the soil, we mean it no harm; though I can’t say the same for it, we end each session dazed and badly in need of a nap! And even with all that good help, we’re still only a third of the way through the patch, having brought in over half a ton of sweet potatoes.

Volunteers harvesting sweet potatoes

By way of comparison, 12 volunteers from Global Atlantic helped us harvest 1,100 pounds of potatoes in only an hour this past Thursday. The soil in the potato patch is lighter, and the plants have the good sense to develop their roots in a neat bundle in the space directly below them. Thank you, kind potato plants, and thanks to the volunteers from Global Atlantic, who also helped us harvest peppers in anticipation of that frost that never came.

But looking ahead, a frost seems likely for our fields this coming Saturday night. We’ll continue harvesting as if that were the case, and you may see row covers going up to protect late season greens. In the meantime, we’re taking advantage of the warm weather and so will have a mix of summer and fall crops available at the stand, in the CSA shares and at market this week.

See you in the field,

Your Farmers

Date Ideas for Drumlin Farm Love Birds

Posted on August 9, 2018 by Kelly R.

Try something different with your budding romance or long term partner with these one-of-a-kind date ideas! There’s always something new and fun to discover at Drumlin Farm, start your own adventure together today…

Upgrade Your Romantic Strolls

There’s so man opportunities to make the most of your time outdoors at Drumlin Farm. Step your romantic stroll game up a notch by joining us on one of our guided walks! Our regular Naturalist Walks explore the sanctuary and cover all things natural that we happen to come across. Or get a little more specific by focusing your time on one feature, like at our Fungi Field Walk. Love birds that love birding won’t want to miss out on Thursday Morning Bird Walks either!

Spice It Up in the Kitchen

Don’t spend your night sitting on the couch watching Chopped again, learn new kitchen techniques and start cooking together! Cooking is a fun way to plan together, bond, and create delicious treats from the heart. Make personalized jams and jellies for your breakfasts or as a mid-afternoon snack at our Jams and Preserves program or create long lasting food to compliment your long lasting love at Pickling & Canning on September 29. Does your partner love Kimchi? If so we bet they’d love the homemade version! Treat them to an experience learning about these time-tested kitchen skills and and taste-tested delicacies.

See the Farm via Hayride

When was the last time you traveled by hayride? Love makes us act like kids again, and our Hayrides are the perfect throwback to simpler times. Take a load off your feet and enjoy our rustic limo ride around the farm site-seeing. Hayrides depart from the Red Barn (weather permitting) every 15 minutes and you can pick up tickets at the admissions window for $2.50/person–a romantic cruise without breaking the bank!

Dance Together at Our Summer Music Series Concert

Enjoy sweet tunes, a beautiful sunset, a packed picnic, and an ice cream at our last of the season Summer Music Series concert to see local band Say Darling! Relax on the grass and enjoy the music together, or get moving and dance the night away–shoes optional!

Get Away

As beautiful as Lincoln is, sometimes you just want to get away. Take a trip with your sweetheart on a variety of birding and nature-filled trips with Drumlin Farm. Take a day trip birding Plum Island or walk the beach looking for shorebirds in Rhode Island. Make it an overnight trip to Cape Cod or the Atlantic Flyway for even more adventure!

A Fun Errand: Grocery Shop at the Farmstand

Wholesome ingredients make for love-filled meals; treat yourselves to a date night in made with restaurant quality ingredients from our open-air farmstand. Turn a boring errand like shopping for groceries into a relaxing, grounding experience with your partner. You’ll find quality humane meat you won’t see at your grocery store, and a variety of summer produce like watermelon, carrots, cucumbers, rainbow chard, and more. Bring your ingredients home to cook a delicious meal for two!

Take in the View from the Top of the Drumlin

Did you know, on a clear day, you can see Wachusett Mountain in Princeton from the top of the Drumlin? The view from the top of our name-sake glacial formation is incredible at any time of day. At sunset warm colors paint the sky, and at sunrise morning bird activity fills the air. Reach the summit and soak in the view at your next visit. How romantic!

The drumlin at sunset.

Discover Hidden Trails

Just when you think you’ve seen all of Drumlin Farm, you stumble on another side path less traveled by. Many smaller trails and rest areas are tucked away throughout the farm, waiting for you. Grab your favorite hiking buddy and bring a field guide and magnifying glass to discover something new!

Visit the Animals

Have you ever seen an owl turn it’s head all the way around in real life? Have you ever seen a red fox up close? Do you know how different countries around the world imitate chicken noises? Our animal exhibits aren’t just for kids, and you’re guaranteed to learn something new together. Take a picture with our friendly cows, measure your arm span compared to a vultures wings, and feel the fluffy wool of our adorable sheep and lambs. Stroll the farm yard and visit our animal ambassadors on a unique date like no other!

Bonus: Remember Your Trip with a Gift from the The Audubon Shop

The Mass Audubon Shop, located at Drumlin Farm, is filled with gifts for nature lovers and more. Pick up a bird feeder for your home, a plush animal for your bed, or a beautiful piece of jewelry inspired by the natural world. Every time you look at it or use your souvenir you’ll think of your special date day at Drumlin Farm and the memories made with your loved one!

Marvelous March

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Kelly R.

There’s no better feeling than the sun on your skin and fresh air in your lungs on one of the first warm days of spring. Don’t blink though – before you know it the season will be over! Live March to the fullest by celebrating all it has to offer, including sheep shearing and lamb season, Saint Patrick’s Day, wildlife observation and care, and all things maple.

Maple Magic – Friday, March 2 / 3:30 pm-5:00 pm (families with children ages 0-12). It’s maple sugaring time! Visit the relaxing maple grove to check the taps and taste some sap. Learn how we’ve made maple syrup from past to present and delight your taste buds with a sweet maple treat.
Homeschool Maple Science and History – Wednesday, March 7 / 1:30 pm-4:30 pm (children ages 5-12). Especially designed for homeschooled children, you’ll learn about the structure and seasonal adaptations of maple trees as we visit the sugar shack and experiment with sap, syrup and sugar. We’ll venture out to the sugar bush, collect sap, learn about sugaring equipment of today and yesteryear, and enjoy a maple treat.
Sip Some Sap – Thursday, March 8 / 10:00 am – 11:30 am (families with children 3-12 years old). Listen to a story about maple sugaring and take a walk out to our sugar bush. We’ll check out the evaporator to see how sap is turned into syrup, and get to try some ourselves.
Vacation Week Programs captivated by what sap looks like before it becomes syrup.
March Into Spring Series – Fridays, March 9, 16, & 23 / 3:30-5:00 pm (families with children ages 3-6). Learn about sugar and syruping, spring chickens, and wool in this fun family series that covers everything great about March. Play together while exploring the farm and meeting the animals that call it home.
Sap-to-Syrup Farmer’s Breakfast – Saturday & Sunday, March 10 & 11 / 9:00 am – 1:00 pm (adults and families with children of all ages). This annual celebration is the tastiest of them all! Learn about the maple sugaring process while enjoying a delicious breakfast of pancakes, real maple syrup, and Drumlin Farm’s own sausage and roasted potatoes. Drumlin Farm made syrup will also be available for purchase.
Visit our sugar bush to check the sap buckets and enjoy this calm stand of trees.
St. Paddy’s Party – Thursday, March 15 / 10:00-11:30 am (families with children ages 0-8). Did you know that ‘drumlin’ is a Gaelic word for “littlest ridge?” We’ll plant shamrocks, greet a snake, and enjoy some boxty, a traditional Irish potato treat. We might even dance a jig or two to celebrate this greenest of holidays.
Afternoon Chores & More – Saturday, March 17 / 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm (families with children ages 4-12). Get ready for chore time! Walk the site in a farmer’s shoes, helping us care for livestock. We will feed chickens and collect eggs, and bring hay to the sheep, goats, and cows. After finishing, we’ll treat ourselves to a farm snack.
Spring Wildlife Caretakers – Sundays, March 18, April 15, & May 20 / 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm (teens ages 13-17 years old). The first class of our ever-popular teen wildlife group starts in March – perfect for anyone thinking about a career in wildlife care, or that has a passion for animals. Join other like-minded teens to learn about wildlife health, animal enrichment, diet requirements, food preparation, and other related topics. Go behind the scenes and get a close-up experience under the guidance of our wildlife care staff.
Bread & Bunnies – Thursday, March 22 / 10:00-11:30 am (families with children ages 0-7). Hop on down to the kitchen for some hare-raising fun. We’ll visit a rabbit on the farmyard then head into the kitchen to bake bunny’s favorite treat: carrot bread!
Woolapalooza – Saturday, March 24 / 10:00am-4:00 pm (adults and families with children of all ages). Visit our newborn lambs, see live sheep shearing and herding demonstrations, shop local fiber artisan crafts, and more! Woolapalooza is our annual celebration of all things wool, and a fabulously fun time to visit the farm and participate in our mission to connect people with nature.
Welcome our new baby lambs to the farm at Woolapalooza!
Birding Great Bay and the New Hampshire Coast – Sunday, March 25 / 7:00 am-5:00 pm (adults). Explore an area few Massachusetts birders visit. We’ll start at Great Bay, 5000 acres of tidal water in New Hampshire, then follow the coastline to Salisbury, Massachusetts, stopping at vantage points to look for sea ducks, loons, grebes, snow bunting, horned lark, bald eagle, snowy owl, and wintering shorebirds.
Simple Cheesemaking – Saturday, March 31, 2018 12:00-4:00 pm (adults). Cheesemaking is delicious, fun, and surprisingly simple! During this workshop, you’ll make and sample several different cheeses, learning about their makeup and history. You’ll leave with more samples, recipes, resources, and the skills you need to pursue cheesemaking, one of the oldest forms of food preservation, on your own.
Learn the skills to enjoy fresh homemade cheese whenever you want!

The Road to Net Zero: January ELC Progress

Posted on February 15, 2018 by Kelly R.

Progress on the Environmental Learning Center continues at a brisk pace even through the winter weather! Work now has focused mostly on completing the building envelope and beginning interior construction. Here’s a peek at what happened during January.

The month began with huge quantities of insulation going up on both the walls and roof to ensure the building uses as little energy as possible to heat and cool. With 4” on the outside walls and 7” over our heads, we know that our staff will be warm in winter and cool in summer within this net-zero cocoon.

The windows have all been installed now as well, with plenty of weather-stripping tape to eliminate all drafts. The building passed its “blower-door test” (which pressurizes the interior to measure leaking air) with flying colors, registering one of the highest scores our design team has ever seen on a project.

From the outside, the building was temporarily colored in “Mass Audubon blue” as a vapor barrier was installed on all sides to allow the well-insulated structure to breathe properly. This blue will be covered by cedar and metal siding, but we will always know our Mass Audubon roots are there.

With the building nicely sealed, attention turned to the interior as the ceilings and walls took shape. Plastic sheeting over the ceiling joists will hold blown-in cellulose for even more insulation and also noise reduction.

The interior spaces are also now coming to life, and we can see the working spaces for our staff emerge. One fun feature is the custom housing for aquarium tanks in the welcome area, greeting school teachers and camp parents with a wildlife display as they check in for their programs.

Up above, our crew foreman Bob worked long hours to get the curve of the ceiling just right as it ascends from the front door, past a skylight, and into the great room. We hope the rising arc of the ceiling reminds people of a swooping bird or racing clouds overhead.

Next up has been the electrical and network wiring, miles and miles of cables and fiber to keep us all working hard in the 21^st century!

January came to a close with a special milestone: a “beam signing” day where Drumlin Farm staff and friends could leave their names and a special message for future inhabitants and visitors to the building. We were inspired by the well-wishes that will be hiding behind the walls to guide our work, and maybe someday be uncovered by future generations.

The event was also a chance for our staff to get a glimpse inside the hard hat area and imagine how this project will change not just the physical space where they work, but how they will be able to collaborate and connect with the people who come here. We are excited to think of how a Drumlin Farm experience can shape the future of our world.

Look for more updates coming soon. If you would like to learn more about the project, or get involved yourself, we invite you to learn more here.

Renata Pomponi

Sanctuary Director

Planting the Seeds for CSA 2018

Posted on February 7, 2018 by Kelly R.

Drumlin Farm’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program is the heart of our farm operation and how we most closely connect our customers to the food they enjoy and the land where it’s grown.The CSA model was introduced as way to provide consumers direct access to farms, while insulating farmers against unpredictable growing conditions. Customers could make an up-front investment in a “share” of the harvest, and then come to the farm each week to collect their “return”, with abundant quantities in a favorable growing year, less in a difficult one. With the recent proliferation of farmers’ markets, farm stands, and grocery home-delivery options, one may reasonably ask, “Given all my options, why would I still choose to join a farm-based CSA?” The answer is: “For the same reasons you choose to take a walk outside as opposed to on a treadmill–you like what you experience out there!”

Enjoy the fresh air, warm sun, and a little dirt under your nails dirt under your nails at Boycle Field.

At Drumlin Farm, our fields are open to the public, maintained so that our work is legible even if we’re not there to explain what’s happening. We want you to be able to track the development of your carrots from seed to harvestable root and your peas from shoots to pods hanging from the trellis. And beyond the fields, there’s even more to engage with at Drumlin: cooking classes for kids and adults, yoga classes, summer concerts and summer camp, guided hikes, daily drop-in activities, wooded trails, ponds, hilltop views, livestock barns, and wildlife displays, including our most recent additions, a young red fox and a reclusive porcupine.

The CSA is just one of the many paths that leads into our vibrant community farm and wildlife sanctuary. Through this path, shareholders can truly connect to the seasons and to the health of Drumlin’s land and surrounding ecosystems. Historically, that CSA path has also been something of a yellow brick road with returns on initial investment averaging 20%!

Some improvements we’ve made to our CSA programs for 2018 include the availability of half shares and a reconfiguration of the distributions to better align with members’ schedules. Our Spring, Summer, and Fall CSA registration is now open, with many options for work shares, pick-your-own shares, half shares, flower, and fruit shares. We look forward to meeting you in the fields!

Fun in February

Posted on January 31, 2018 by Kelly R.

It’s the shortest month of the year but also one of the busiest! Before we’re looking back from March 1st, asking where the month just went and when it’ll warm up, take some time to check out all that’s going on at Drumlin.

See Ms. G’s Forecast on Groundhog Day – Friday February 2 at 10:00 am

Will we have 6 more weeks of winter or an early spring? Find out from the Official Groundhog of Massachusetts: Drumlin Farm’s Ms. G! After her annual forecast, explore the sanctuary for new activities and treats.

Move over Punxsutawney Phil, here comes Ms. G!

Go Birding In and Out of State

Need to get away? This month, we have two out of state birding trips that are sure to challenge your birding skills. Looking to stay local? Sign up for one of our birding programs that focuses on one of our favorite types of birds – raptors.

Preschool Open House – Saturday February 3 at 10:00 am

We can’t wait to learn with you! Give your child a fun, unique, and adventurous learning experience that will last a lifetime at Drumlin Farm Preschool. You’re invited to tour the sanctuary, meet staff, and learn more about our program at this upcoming open house.

Wonders of Wool: Needle Felting – Sunday, February 4 at 1:00 pm

Calling all crafters! Needle felting is a great way to relieve stress and create something from the heart. Take up this easy to learn, Pinterest-worthy, hobby perfect for practicing during the winter.

Doe – a deer – a needle felt deer!

Stew & Brew: Eat, Drink, and Be Merry – Friday, February 9 at 6:30 pm

Warm stew and cold brew, what could be better? Eat, drink, and be merry with stews made from local, seasonal ingredients, including Drumlin Farm-raised meats and veggies. Wash it down with a variety of beers from local breweries including Jack’s Abby, Rapscillion, and Cambridge Brewing Company.

Chickadee Birders: Birding 101 – Sunday, February 11 at 1:00 pm

Share your favorite hobby with your growing chickadees. Children ages 7-11, accompanied by an adult, are invited to learn the basics of birding and identifying. Fair warning, though, they may fall in love with it too!

Don’t Forget! Valentine’s Day is February 14

Love is in the air! Treat the special person in your life to a unique date at Drumlin Farm. Walk the trails hand in hand and enjoy the beautiful vistas from the top of the Drumlin, overlooking the expansive Boyce Field. Who knew farms could be so romantic?

Sign up for the Spring, Summer & Fall CSA – Early bird registration ends February 9th

Receive delicious, fresh, seasonal produce from our CSAs. You’ll thank yourself for signing up early when enjoying these fresh ingredients all year round.

Salads in the making

Get a Little Wild with Wild by the Fire: Sleepy Snakes– Friday, February 16 at 10:00 am

Our local reptiles have been sleeping, but a warm day in February might wake up a snake! We’ll learn how to slither and slide while we listen to sagas of serpents. We’ll also create a snake of our own to take home.

Three Day Weekend Celebration

President’s Day is Monday February 19th. At a loss for what to do with the kids on this free Monday? A trip to visit the animals is sure to excite them while keeping their brains engaged and spending important time outdoors.

Take a February Vacation – Monday February 19 to Friday February 23

Make February Vacation Week a real vacation with outdoor fun activities! With single-day and full-week options, we’re busy with sanctuary explorations, wildlife visits, and educational crafts and activities all week long.

Beekeeping for Beginners – Tuesdays, February 27 to March 27 at 7:00 pm

What’s the buzz? Take action in your life to personally support the hard working pollinators that make so much of our lives possible. Learn the basics of backyard beekeeping and look at honey in a whole new way.