Category Archives: Get Outdoors

Things To Do This Weekend: March 26-27

A sheep festival, mud art, an egg hunt, and a bat house building workshop are a few of the ways you can celebrate nature with us this weekend. See all the programs and register online.

Lambs at Drumlin Farm

Lambs at Drumlin Farm

Greater Boston

Celebrate the coming of spring at Woolapalooza, Drumlin Farm’s annual festival featuring fiber, food, and fun! Festival highlights include sheep shearing demonstration, hands-on activities, local fiber artisan demonstrations, and Drumlin Farm’s new spring babies. (All ages)

Vernal pools are home to frogs, salamanders, and even fairy shrimp. Find out about these incredible, temporary bodies of water during Blue Hills Trailside Museum’s Vernal Pool Mysteries in Milton. After learning inside, we will visit one a vernal pool to discover why these “wicked big puddles” are one of the best places to study the health of the nature of Massachusetts. (Families, registration required)

Spring is mud season in New England, but what is so special about it? Come down to the Boston Nature Center for Magnificent Mud and learn all about the properties of mud, how it can help you eat well, and the animals that call it home. Try your hand at some mud art as well! (Families, registration required)

More in Greater Boston

North of Boston

Venture out with Joppa Flats’ talented guides for Saturday Morning Birding to find birds in one of the best year-round birding locations in the country: the Newburyport/Plum Island area. Beginners and birders of all levels are welcome to drop in and join us. (Adults)

More in North of Boston

South of Boston

Go on an Egg Hunt at Oak Knoll in Attleboro. We’ll start in the nature center where we will dye eggs with natural dyes and talk about the various types of eggs and biofacts. Then, we’ll head outside to search for eggs in our field and see how well they are camouflaged. (Children ages 3-12, registration required)

We need your help to protect fragile piping plover and American oystercatcher nesting sites. During the Coastal Waterbird Work Day at Allens Pond in Dartmouth/Westport, join Mass Audubon’s Coastal Waterbird Team to erect fencing that is used to symbolically fence off areas where these two beach-nesting birds nest. (Ages 12+, registration required)

More in South of Boston

Berkshires

Join Pleasant Valley for the hands-on Bat House Building Workshop to build a bat box. We’ll share information about bats in our area and their natural history as well as how to identify an appropriate location for your bat box. (All ages, registration required)

More in the Berkshires

Make Your Winter Even Sweeter

Maple sugaring—collecting and boiling maple sap to make syrup and other sugary products—is a beloved late-winter activity in Massachusetts.

Dip into the history and science of this sweet treat by reading the latest issue of Connections, Mass Audubon’s member newsletter, and checking out Much Ado About Maple blog post.

Better yet, experience it in person at one of these wildlife sanctuaries:

Drumlin Farm sugaring

  • Blue Hills Trailside Museum in Milton offers Maple Sugar Days at Brookwood Farm in Canton on March 19 and 20. Learn how maple sugar was made through the ages and sample some delicious syrup.
  • Drumlin Farm in Lincoln gives visitors the opportunity to get an up-close view of a working maple syrup evaporator. The wildlife sanctuary offers related family programs such as Sip Some Sap on March 10. Plus, tuck into a hearty meal at the Sap-to-Syrup Farmer’s Breakfast on March 12 and 13.
  • Ipswich River in Topsfield presents sugaring-off tours in February and March and other programs that show how the sweet stuff makes it from tree to table. Don’t miss the annual Spring Flapjack Fling on March 19—eat a pancake breakfast, go on a sugaring tour, or do both!
  • Moose Hill in Sharon throws a Maple Sugaring Festival on March 13, 19, and 20. Take part in fun activities and go on a guided walk to discover the history and process of turning sap into syrup.
  • North River in Marshfield has a Maple Sugaring Celebration on March 19. Participate in outdoor stations that explore maple trees and tree tapping throughout history, tap a tree, and sample different grades of syrup and maple sugar with silver dollar pancakes.

Ready to make your own maple products? The Audubon Shop sells taps, how-to guides, and books with maple sugar history, science, and recipes.