Saturday, March 12, 2016, 1:00 - 3:00 - Co-sponsored with Moose Mountains Regional Greenways & NH Farm Museum:
Saturday, February 27, 2016 10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 28th 10:00 - 2:00
March 7, 9:30-12:30, BHF Property: Charlie Bridges lead a snowshoe walk around Branch Hill Farm looking for clues on how some of our resident wildlife were faring the deep snow and extreme cold that winter. It was a delightful walk and as always everyone learns something new on Charlie's walks.
Saturday, April 25th 10:00-12:00 NH Farm Museum: Kari Lygren led a group of 5 children and 7 adults from the NH Farm Museum, across the street into the Branch Hill Farm Forests. We walked along the wood roads and down to the Branch River. Since some major on-going TSI work is being done on the property, we spent lots of time talking about conservation land, tree harvesting, swales, culverts and forest management. The young'uns had some poignant questions. These walks are wonderful and reach kids on different levels. NO PHOTO YET.
May 6, 2015, Silviculture Tour included topics of forest structure, managing for a mixed-aged forest, and methods were discussed. Various operation such as logger, Larry Hersom's Timber Stand Improvement work, Justin Kimball's bronto work, Steve Royle's conventional logging and road work were all discussed and viewed.
Saturday, May 23, 2015: The day of the paddle was very windy and cold. Early reports from the lake mentioned white caps which made us rethink taking all the participants into the lake. On a calm day the lake can be a strenuous paddle and challenging for some folks. Luckily we had looked into a disembarkation site earlier that week. Everyone being flexible, patient and willing to change horses in mid-stream (or kayaks in mid-river) vs cancelling the event, went with the flow and agreed to change the disembarkation site. Jack Savage started us off with an engaging, meaningful discourse on MMRG and requests for memberships. Cynthia Wyatt, managing trustee for Branch Hill Farm is moving the farm toward a "zero waste" facility. All the participants were on board with recycling, reducing and reusing! Once we were on the river it was beautiful!! The trees protected us from the wind and the temperatures seemed warmer. Our presenter, Charlie Moreno who is doing all the forestry work for BHF on both sides of the river had all the paddlers stop at the "big rock" along the river where he took us through a probable history of the area, from the last glacier, 15,000 years ago to the present, including the reforesting of the land, the likely megafauna, the natives, then the colonists up to the present day (as posted on Facebook by Johanna Vienneau). Virginia Long led the bird watching portion in the marshes but unfortunately the circumstances weren't as favorable as last year. The caterers, truck drivers and the paddlers were all flexible and willing to chance locations to support safety first. Once we reached the lake we were all extremely pleased with the decision! Everyone enjoyed the paddle, the delicious picnic and many were very patient as the scheduled end time for the paddle was delayed.
Saturday, August 8, 2015; The best yet! It was well attended with over 600 participants which did not include presenters, volunteers, board or staff. MANY volunteers and presenters commented on how smoothly the event ran and how organized it was. Many repeat festival goers! There were a few glitches but they were rectified. We already have volunteers, raffle item donors and sponsors signing up for next year!
Sunday, October 18, 2015: Jillian Hall with 4-H organized the event. The day was chilly. Approximately 10 riders participated.
Oct 22, 2015: Forest management & silviculture - why it is done and how it can be beneficial to wildlife
Saturday, Oct 31; 9 - 11 am, Branch Hill Farm forest lands in Milton 15 PEOPLE ATTENDED: Consulting forester Charlie Moreno led this walk through the woods and showed examples of innovative methods to improve woodlands and addressed concerns of climate change, invasive plants invasive insects, and previous high-grading. Larry Hersom (the logger for the site) spoke about tools of his trade, precise logging and safety. Co-sponsored with Moose Mountains Regional Greenways.
