Things to do in the Spring at MFFC

Compiled by Elena Santos, Education Coordinator

• Hike to Page Pond to sit and watch the water. What is happening there?

• Look for early spring ephemerals that are blooming: trout lilies, dutchman’s breeches, violets, jack-in-the-pulpit, and red trilliums

• Get involved in citizen science and document your findings with iNaturalist

• Pick some forsythia branches; bring them inside, force them in water to bloom

• Go for a hike and pay close attention to the trees and forest as you go…what do you notice? See the newly unfurled leaves?

• Start a nature journal! Keep track of dates when flowers and wildlife start to appear

• Sit quietly in the woods, or in a field, and listen to the world waking up

• Take up bird watching. All you need to get started is curiosity (binoculars and a field guide will help too)

• Pull some invasive garlic mustard and make pesto from it (early and young shoots only)

• Hike the MFFC Farm Trail: can you find places where red squirrels have sat and eaten the seeds from pine cones?

• Go foraging for ramps or fiddleheads- be sure to collect responsibly! (take half or less than half from each plant)

• Watch for “bud-out” on different species of trees…what do you notice?

• Lay on the ground and look at the world from a bug’s eye view

• Stomp in a mud puddle, or make mud pies!

• Download the Merlin Bird ID app from Cornell Lab of Ornithology and use it to identify bird calls

• Fly a kite, make a pinwheel

• Collect fallen leaves, sticks, pinecones, and other objects on the ground to make art on the forest floor

• Watch the greening trees creep up the mountainsides

• Keep your eyes open for yellow coltsfoot flowers

• Listen for nighttime peepers and wood frogs

• Try some maple syrup in a new recipe

• Walk by the Children’s Garden every few weeks and watch as it wakes up and grows

• Come up to visit our newborn lambs, chicks, and piglets, expected from April through May!