The Trustees and Notch Brewing are partnering to bring a series of family-friendly, outdoor ‘biergarten’ experiences to some of our parks, farms, and cultural sites this year.
Back by popular demand! The Trustees and Notch Brewing are partnering up again to bring you another series of family-friendly outdoor Biergartens. Relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings of our gardens, farms, historic homes, and parks throughout the summer while enjoying one of Notch’s locally crafted session beers. Not just for grown-ups and beer drinkers – modeled after the popular European style Biergartens, it’s a family affair. Scavenger hunts and quests for children, property tours for adults, plus lawn games with plenty of room to spread out and explore for all.
We will plant Pansies and other spring plants into a spring basket to make a living Easter Basket that can be given as a gift or kept for your Easter doorstep. Nothing says Easter and springtime like Pansies!
Most new gardeners learn by trial and error which can be costly, frustrating, and discouraging. However, when equipped with basic information about soil, water, and plants, you can successfully bring your visions to reality. Knowing about pests and their treatment, how to design your garden, and how to factor natural elements like wind, shade, sun into this design will enhance your accomplishment and benefit the environment.
The fourth annual Grow Spring! Expo, a celebration of local agriculture, horticulture, and environmental preservation, returns to Topsfield on March 18, 10 AM - 3 PM. Held at the Emerson Center, the Gould Barn, and The Commons, this year’s event is sponsored by the Topsfield Garden Club, the Topsfield Historical Society, The Commons, The Congregational Church of Topsfield and the Essex Agricultural Society.
The spring equinox is the day when the day and night are the same length – a perfect time to celebrate all things spring. We’ll start off learning about spring and seed growth, then plan our own seeds in decorated flower pots to bring some spring home with us. Then we’ll get outside together to explore the Castle Hill gardens and look for signs of spring before wrapping up with a snack.
Brave the dark of the night in the Dunes of the Crane Wildlife Refuge! We start with an introduction to night sounds, so you are prepared to identify the sounds you will hear, then we hike silently through the darkness, letting our ears make up for our lack of sight. What will you hear? Frogs? Owls? Foxes? Who knows! Debrief and relax with a drink around the campfire to wrap up the evening’s adventure.
House of Seven Gables hosts a Trails & Sails tour that focuses on the gardens and grounds! Join us for our newly developed historic grounds tour – one of a series of specialized tours currently in the works at The House of the Seven Gables. Take a stroll through the lesser-known history of our gardens and grounds. Learn about the original layout of the site through archival images and maps, then delve into Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel through his depictions of the fictional Pyncheon gardens.
Join us at the Warm Weather Seedling Sale to pick up your fruiting veggie seedlings! We'll have a wide range of organically-grown seedlings from our friends at Cedar Rock Gardens available for purchase. These seedlings thrive in the warmer weather and include bell peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and basil.
You spent the summer watching them flit about your gardens, now it’s time to wish them well on their trip down to Mexico – it’s the Monarch Migration Celebration at Stevens-Coolidge Place! This celebration will kick off with a children’s pollinator parade around the property (costumes encouraged!) bringing all visitors to an afternoon of demos, crafts & stories, seed bomb making and gardening tips to bring these orange friends to your yard in the spring.
Butterfly release at 2:30pm
