Winter tree identification walk
WEST TOWNSHEND - A winter tree identification walk is planned for Saturday, March 11. Michael Longo, Sally Newton, and others offer an opportunity to share knowledge and become familiar with the local tree species even when they have no leaves.
Meet at 2 p.m. at the West Townshend Country Store on Route 30 and carpool or caravan to the location. They are tentatively planning to walk near the old air strip on Ball Mountain in Jamaica. Depending on weather, between now and then, snow shoes or micro spikes might be a good idea. For more information, call Newton at 802-884-7141.
Focus on bees at Brattleboro Garden Club meeting
BRATTLEBORO - On Monday, March 13, at 7 p.m. at Brooks Memorial Library, the Brattleboro Garden Club will host a free presentation given by Aliza Fassler, a graduate researcher at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, on native bees.
Attendents can learn where bees go in winter, how to distinguish a bee from a wasp or a native bee from a honeybee, and which native bee species might be in local yards.
The diversity of approximately 4,000 bee species in New England - critical for pollinating plants in forests, gardens, and fields - will be discussed, as well as how humans can help maintain their survival.
For more information, contact Jill at [email protected].
Julia Duke is March artist at Crowell Gallery
NEWFANE - For the month of March, the Crowell Art Gallery features “Pieced Together,” quilts by fabric artist Julia Duke.
Duke, a longtime resident of Brattleboro and more recently Brookline, brings nature indoors through her pallet of moss greens and sunlit golds. Although sewing has always been part of her life, her quilting creativity was ignited 10 years ago through pattern and color drawn from Vermont's rich woodland and verdant countryside.
An artist reception will be held Saturday, March 11, from 1 to 3 p.m. The gallery is located in the Moore Free Library, 23 West Street, and is open during the library's regular hours of Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 1 to 5 p.m., Thursdays 1 to 6 p.m., and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Guilford Chamber Singers seeks singers for June concert
GUILFORD - Guilford Chamber Singers, sponsored by Friends of Music at Guilford, is seeking voices for our June concert, A Cappella a la Carte. They are a well-regarded ensemble led by Tom Baehr, veteran director of 13 concerts since 2014.
This concert's repertoire consists of songs about avians and apians, that is, birds and bees. They include “Skylark,” “Blackbird,” a song about a nightingale and, of course, bees, and other insects. Rehearsals are on Mondays from 7 to 9 p.m., starting March 13 in West Brattleboro. For more information, contact Tom at [email protected] or 802-387-2796.
Natural History Museum wraps up reading series
MARLBORO - Join the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum on March 25 at 4 p.m. for a discussion of Robin Wall Kimmerer's book Braiding Sweetgrass.
Led by Mary Wright, the group will discuss this 2013 nonfiction book by Potawatomi professor Robin Wall Kimmerer. Braiding Sweetgrass focuses on Indigenous knowledge as an alternative or complementary approach to Western mainstream scientific methodologies.
For those who want to read the book first, the Pettee Memorial Library in Wilmington, Whitingham Free Library, and Dover Free Library are all carrying copies. Contact the museum for more information at vermontmuseum.org or follow the event page at facebook.com/vermontmuseum.
This event is free to the public but donations to the museum's educational programming are always appreciated. Refreshments will be served.
This is the last of the three-part Winter Reading Series. Due to the positive response the winter series received, the museum is working on a list for three spring books.
SEVCA seeks donations for Good Buy Stores
WESTMINSTER - Spring cleaning and de-cluttering efforts often reveal unused furniture, unwanted clothes, lamps, fans, coffee makers, and other housewares ready for a new home.
Southeastern Vermont Community Action's (SEVCA) Good Buy Stores are in need of good quality donations to replenish our thrift store merchandise. They can help rehome unwanted items and offer a tax receipt in exchange. Donations directly help community members using the Voucher Program which offers furniture, housewares, and clothing to people in need.
They accept clean clothing and boxes of gently used housewares, books and other items at their two locations in Springfield and Bellows Falls from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day - two boxes or bags per person. They can also pick up furniture and housewares from your home or business weekly. Call the Springfield location at 802-885-7074 to schedule a pick up.