children

Last month, in honor of both Earth Day 2021 and the return of group stewardship opportunities in the Fells, the Friends of the Fells hosted a series of volunteer-oriented events throughout the park. Between Wednesday April 21st and Sunday April 26th individuals from 3 clubs and from across the community participated in one of six group events that were held in the Fells.

Volunteers joined in activities like trash cleanups, trail maintenance and repair, invasive plant clearing and meadow restoration, and solving some drainage and flooding issues by cleaning, repairing, and redirecting culverts and drainpipe outlets.

The Winchester HS Fells Club ready for work!

We would especially like to highlight the efforts of 3 organizations for their work this week: Girl Scouts Junior Troop 62732 of Medford, the “Otters” of the BPSA 92nd Mystic Scout Troop (www.92mystic.org), and the Winchester High School Fells Club!

Below is a gallery of the great work accomplished during Earth Week 2021:

Thank you to all the volunteers that participated in this year’s Earth Week events! Your efforts helped make this a successful week of stewardship for the Fells!

Missed out Earth Week volunteer opportunities? Not to worry– we will be adding many more group volunteer events in 2021, so keep an eye on our Program and Events Calendar for updates.

The Friends of the Fells welcomes volunteers of all ages and experience levels! Interested in volunteering, or have a service project to propose? Fill out our volunteer questionnaire:

BECOME A VOLUNTEER

Interested in arranging a group service event in the Fells? Contact Jesse at Jesse.Macdonald@fells.org.

When the Friends of the Fells Youth Programs Director Ann Frenning Kossuth first saw an EarthLoom® on display at a Maine Farmer’s Market, she knew immediately that it would be perfect for summer camp. It could serve not only as a rainy-day activity but also as an intentional way to bring children together in community to create art in a nature setting.

“The EarthLoom is a living symbol of our intention to weave together the fabric of community… It brings the magic of weaving together to groups, celebrations, and ceremonies.” — Weaving a Life Founder Susan Barrett Merrill

To make this special loom of nature materials woven on a man-made frame happen in time for summer 2019, the Friends first secured a $300 grant (with the help of volunteer Michelle Desveaux) from the National Coalition for Education & Cultural Programs (NCECP) via the Stoneham Business and Community Educational Foundation (SBCEF).

After that, Principal Fallon of the Medford Vocational and Technical High School (MVTHS) agreed to let the Friends work with the MVTHS Carpentry Department — pro bono. Mr. Brown and his crew built the loom’s 6-foot+ frame and Jesse MacDonald, our Development Associate, took care of bringing the materials to and from the shop — ultimately delivering it direct to the Tudor Barn.

Tudor Barn image credit: Mike Ryan

Transformation

Years ago, under former Executive Director Mike Ryan’s oversight, the mid-19th-century stone Tudor Barn (above) was lovingly restored with the help of $15,000 in fundraising efforts by the Friends of the Fells. Since then, however, the building has not been used to its maximum potential. Happily, this year by storing and using the EarthLoom at the Tudor Barn, it has transformed the use of the space by youth actively weaving in the summer forest program.

All images (other than Tudor Barn) courtesy of Fells Forest Programs camp instructors.

Spaces still available for some weeks in Summer 2019. Sign up today! https://www.friendsofthefells.org/youth-programs/

Middlesex Fells StoryWalk®

Saturday, July 20 – Sunday August 18

“Magnificent Monarchs” by Linda Glaser is our next StoryWalk®. What a great way to combine literature, exercise, and family fun! This title contains colorful illustrations that keep step with the, simple, sometimes rhyming text. Learn about these fascinating beauties and their complex lives!

The StoryWalk® is a collaboration of the Friends of the Middlesex Fells Reservation, MA Department of Conservation and Recreation, Mass in Motion, Medford Family Network and the North Suburban Child and Family Resource Network.

The self-guided, sunrise-to-sunset walking tour begins at the DCR Botume House Visitor Center at 4 Woodland Rd. in Stoneham and continues along the Spot Pond shoreline path.

Foster your child’s connection with nature as well as their literacy skills by participating in our StoryWalk® in the Fells!

The StoryWalk™ Project was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, VT and developed in collaboration with the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition and the Kellogg Hubbard Library.

Middlesex Fells StoryWalk®

Saturday, July 22 – Sunday August 6

Thank you so much for joining us today!

The walk begins at Greenwood Park, in Stoneham (across from the Stone Zoo), and will continue along the Crystal Springs Trail in an easy, 1/3-mile loop.

Foster your child’s connection with nature as well as their literacy skills by participating in our StoryWalk® in the Fells!

The StoryWalkTM Project was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, VT and developed in collaboration with the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition and the Kellogg Hubbard Library.

“Camp Out! The Ultimate Kids’ Guide from the Backyard to the Backwoods,” by Lynn Brunelle ($13.95) is the perfect primer for any family contemplating a camping trip with young children. Such an endeavor is a daunting prospect for new (and new-ish) parents. All the information needed for a successful camping trip with kids is contained in this book, presented in a light-hearted, kid-friendly style. At nearly 400-pages, Brunelle has thought of everything including what to pack, how to set up camp, and helpful menus and recipes for backpacking trips or car camping.

Even if you aren’t planning on an overnight trip, the bulk of the book – over 200 pages – is dedicated to fun and games that could be enjoyed on any day trip or hike with children. The “Backpack Naturalist” section includes experiments and activities that are intriguing yet simple to follow. The section “Campsite Crafting” has several creative activities that any parent or educator could do with budding artists. “Let Loose” includes games and songs for long car rides, daytime, and nighttime at the campsite.

In spite of the length, the book does not feel too dense or filled with extraneous information. The editing, formatting, and illustrations make it a very enjoyable reference that personally, I would not want to go camping without!

“The Kid’s Guide to Exploring Nature,” from the Children’s Education Staff at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden ($12.95), is another valuable resource for any adult interested in imparting a love of nature on a young child in their life. This 120-page book is best enjoyed with the participation of an engaged adult, such as an educator, willing to impart the information contained in the rather-dense pages. The activities in this book can be enjoyed in the backyard or within a couple hours from any city in the Northeast. While the introduction on “how to be a nature explorer” may have benefited from more editing and kid-centric enticement (Campout! Is much better in this regard), the rest of the book is helpfully organized by seasons and typical settings, such as “beach”, “city”, “woods”, and “meadow.” This novel approach makes it the ideal practical reference guide for Friends of the Fells members to pick up and put down frequently throughout the year.

What really sets this book apart from other guides in this genre are the full-page photo-realistic illustrations, the scale and size of which have been enhanced to emphasize various natural elements in a given setting. These illustrations of trees in urban settings and common woodland plants and animals will be immediately recognizable to you and your little ones. They are also highly effective educational guides and inspiring works of art.

Armed with the wisdom of a seasoned camper and naturalist, you may feel inspired to take your knowledge beyond the Middlesex Fells Reservation. The following titles published by the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) are great resources for hikes near and far with kids of all ages. For hikes close to home, check out “Outdoors With Kids: Boston” by Kim Foley MacKinnon, which includes 88 hikes in Massachusetts alone, organized by proximity to Boston, and denoting the appropriate age groups for each hike. Beyond Massachusetts, MacKinnon provides several options to explore in Rhode Island, Connecticut, southern New Hampshire and Maine. Further afield, “Outdoors With Kids: Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont” by Ethan Hipple and published in 2014 includes 75 of the “best family camping, hiking, and paddling trips” based on age and child’s ability. Each trip includes a map, photograph, driving directions, a thoughtful description of the hike, nearby facilities, and information on fees, if any. Even though most of the information contained in these AMC titles is available on the internet, these books make it a cinch to compare excursions side-by-side with all of the pertinent information at your fingertips: How far? How difficult? Can we bring the dog, and what else is around there? E-book and paperback versions of the AMC books are available from Amazon.

Happy trails!

Growing up on Cape Cod, I spent at least a third of my childhood playing in the woods. My dad is a land surveyor and my mom and avid walker and horseback rider, so the trails we’d hike on weekends varied in length and location, and each trek came with off-the-cuff information about our local history, location of town boundaries, emergence of spring flowers, and insider information about the best places to look for pheasant, quail, deer, and horse tracks.

Accompanied by dedicated volunteer co-leaders Laurie and Dennis, I am honored to lead the weekly Babes in the Woods hikes, a tradition now 15 years strong. While many of you know that Babes is a hike for parents and their babies, what many may not know is that the hike meets year-round. What I love most about these hikes is that the Fells is a place where, like the Cape, you can easily become lost in your surroundings, especially in the calm of winter. And while the outdoors is a perfect place for solitary reflection, I think nature is meant, ultimately, to be shared.

What I’ve found the most spectacular over the last six months has been the change of the trails as one season becomes the next. We tend to rotate our hikes between five or six trails and amend them based on weather. It’s been amazing to see that a trail we hiked in July is now almost unrecognizable as the same path and the distance over which you can see now that the trees are bare.

Our winter hikes have transitioned from an hour-long hike to an hour and a half long jaunt with a short break midway for the dissemination of food and water to our younger set, who have ranged in age from four weeks to over two years. The new school of nature education lauds the return of children to unexplored outdoor spaces and away from electronic devices. Babes in the Woods exposes children to their natural surroundings at about as early an age as possible. Even the babies who slept through the entire hike in their earliest weeks of life are now keeping themselves awake and investigating with their eyes the canopy of trees, sky, and clouds under which we pass. I can only imagine the positive impact this will have on these babes as they grow into nature-loving toddlers.

Our group is dynamic; Most of the hikers who joined us in early June have returned to work, their babies to daycare, while others have been kept away by the cold. We’ll head into January with our small but intrepid group of regulars, a friendly and diverse mix of moms, dads, and guardians. We’ll hike through the cold and, most likely, some snow and watch as the flora and fauna make their gradual shifts through winter into spring. At the point at which we start to see some green buds and crocus points, I imagine we’ll begin to meet some new recruits and see a few returnees who will be ready to set out with us again in the milder temperatures. Whether you’re a brand new parent or a fourth-year hiker, we look forward to having you along!

~Gillian Badwan

Thank You To All Our Earth Week Volunteers!