Happy April, Friends,
You can always tell spring has sprung at Gilsland Farm when the gaping mud puddles emerge on our long driveway. Fortunately, our able and indispensable properties team is filling them as fast as they appear.
If you missed the great shoutout to our summer camps in this recent Bangor Daily News article, take a look. I loved the quote from Ron Hall, director of Maine Summer Camps: “You look at what Maine Audubon or others like it do with its camps, and they really try to create future stewards of the environment.” This is what we are about, all day every day — and our summer camps are certainly the perfect introduction to the natural world for our next generation of environmental stewards.
You can learn more about this summer’s sessions and register your children on our website. (There are still a few open slots in our April vacation camps, too.)
As the trees begin to bud, we’re also gearing up to celebrate native plants here at Gilsland Farm. To prepare for this June’s Native Plant Sale, we’re busily constructing a hoop house in which we’ll grow a variety of plants that you can purchase and plant in your own yard. Swing by this month and check on our progress. This effort is a key part of our “Bringing Nature Home” initiative, which we’ve been pursuing with the generous support of Ann and Jim Hancock.
Spring is also time to celebrate Earth Day. Join us Thursday, April 20, for a special Earth Day screening of the Maine Outdoor Film Festival. Or help us get Scarborough Marsh ready for the upcoming season by volunteering to join us for a clean-up day on Saturday, April 22, and help make our corner of the earth a better place.
Another sign of spring at Gilsland Farm: the growing buzz of activity around the pond. The first muskrats have been spotted emerging from their den. Soon, the Spring Peepers and other amphibians will be calling. Red-winged Blackbirds have begun returning, the males establishing their territories around the edges of ponds like ours around the state. Even with the late snow, the excitement of spring has begun in earnest.
We’re excited to make the most of it Maine Audubon. Will you join us?
Sincerely,
Andy Beahm
