Upcoming Land Trust Programs & Activities in May

by | May 11, 2022 | Announcements, Community Events

The Lyme Land Trust is planning to offer the following programs and activities for the remainder of May.  For the complete details on any of these activities, please go here.

Children’s Activities

Saturday, May 14, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Hiking Club for Middle School-Aged Children
Every month, this hiking group for middle school-aged children explores the natural world at a different preserve.  The club is organized by volunteer environmentalist/artist Regan Stacey.  Register to learn this month’s hike location by sending an email to reganstacey@gmail.com.  For more information, go here.

Saturday, May 14, 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Sapling Club for Elementary School-Aged Children
Every month, this hiking group for elementary school-aged children engages in outside play in the forest.  Parents are welcome to stay and participate, or drop off their children.  The club is organized by volunteer environmentalist/artist Regan Stacey.  Registration is required.  Parents can register their children by sending an email to reganstacey@gmail.com.  For more information, go here. 

Adult Activities

Tuesdays in May, 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Tuesday Treks
Weekly walks through different Town preserves will be offered every Tuesday morning in May.  For more information, go here.

Friday, May 13, 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Nix the Knotweed in Whalebone Cove
The Town of Lyme’s Open Space Coordinator, together with Friends of Whalebone Cove, the Lyme Pollinator Pathway and the Lyme Land Trust, is holding another “Nix the Knotweed Day” to remove the invasive plant from Whalebone Cove.  Volunteers are encouraged to bring their own work gloves, clippers, cutters or loppers, and bottled water.  The plan is to cut the knotweed down to the ground and bag the plant material using the “method of 3s,” which involves undertaking three chops a year, then repeating the process for three years to eliminate the knotweed for good without herbicide. The cuttings must be carefully disposed of since each little piece will regrow into a new plant.  Interested volunteers should send an email to trughouse@comcast.net to register. For more information, go here.  A brochure explaining how to eliminate knotweed at home can be found by clicking here.

Saturday, May 14, 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Nix the Knotweed at Reeds Landing
For the details of this special volunteer project, go here.

Sunday, May 22, 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
“May Flowers” Forest Bathing Excursion
This forest bathing excursion along the forest and streams of Hartman Park, which ends with a flower blossom tea, will invite participants to engage with nature and take in the restorative health benefits of being in the forest. Registration is required. The cost is $32 per person; LLT members receive a 15% discount with code LLT15.  For more information or to register, go here.

Friday, May 27, 8:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
May Astronomy Observing Session
Join others at the Lyme Land Trust’s dark sky observing site for an evening of stargazing. Register to learn the location. To register, send an email to scott.mallory@gmail.com.  For more information, go here. 

Volunteers Needed To Install Rain Garden at Reed Landing May 14

by | May 11, 2022 | Announcements, Community Events

The Town of Lyme is looking for volunteers on Saturday, May 14, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., to help install a dry swale rain garden at Reed Landing – the small, open space property owned by the Town on the bank of the Eightmile River, at the corner of Joshuatown Road and Old Hamburg Road. To volunteer to help, send an email to openspace@townlyme.org.

Dry swale rain gardens slow the velocity of stormwater runoff from roads and other impermeable surfaces, filter pollution and help control erosion. The native plantings in such gardens not only protect water quality, but also provide a habitat for a variety of pollinators, including bees, birds, butterflies and their larva, wasps and other wildlife. Many native insects depend upon specific native plants for survival; and birds depend upon these insects for food.

The staff of New England Pollinator Gardens will be on hand to direct the planting of the garden and teach volunteers how to create a native plant garden.  After planting the garden, volunteers will help remove Japanese knotweed and other invasive plants from Reed Landing.

The project is sponsored by the Town of Lyme, the Lyme Pollinator Pathway and the Lyme Land Trust.  Funding for the project is being provided by the Eightmile Wild & Scenic Committee. For more information on this volunteer project, go here.

Senior Center Offers Free Poetry Writing Class

by | May 9, 2022 | Announcements, Community Events

Starting Thursday, May 12, the Lymes’ Senior Center is offering a free, five-week-long, poetry-writing class for area seniors taught by Old Lyme’s Poet Laureate, Dr. Roger Singer.  The class will meet for five consecutive Thursday mornings from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the center.  For more information or to register for the class, send an email to sgould@oldlyme-ct.gov or call the center at 860-434-4127.