Travelers Circle Storytelling & Potluck
North Branch Nature Center 713 Elm Street, Montpelier, VermontJoin us for a casual evening of stories and a shared community meal. We encourage everyone to contribute a short story of their travels (though there is no pressure to speak), and "travel" may entail a trip to the store or a trip across the world! The experience is a bit like jamming on musical instruments: what you hear inspires what you share. The evening will start with a potluck at 5:30, and storytelling will begin around 6. Please bring your own dishes and silverware.
Stick Season “Spooning” – Woodcarving with Ken Benton
North Branch Nature Center 713 Elm Street, Montpelier, VermontLearn the story behind the wood as we go from log to spoon. We’ll follow the process covering tree identification, natural history, ethical harvest and processing from the round into billets. Moving indoors, we’ll learn to read the grain while laying out patterns and carving away all wood that isn’t spoon. By the end of the day you’ll come away with a nearly finished spoon with a built in story to tell dinner guests while serving food. Bring your own fixed blade knife and come dressed for the weather. Led by NBNC Naturalist and Director of Education, Ken Benton.
Robin’s Nest Nature Playgroup
North Branch Nature Center 713 Elm Street, Montpelier, VermontRobin’s Nest Nature Playgroup is a free activity for families to gather, learn, and play in nature. Guided by the idea that children need to spend ample time outdoors, we offer a community experience in the world of nature and will model ways the natural environment can be used as a tool for learning and play.
Robin’s Nest Nature Playgroup
North Branch Nature Center 713 Elm Street, Montpelier, VermontRobin’s Nest Nature Playgroup is a free activity for families to gather, learn, and play in nature. Guided by the idea that children need to spend ample time outdoors, we offer a community experience in the world of nature and will model ways the natural environment can be used as a tool for learning and play.
Robin’s Nest Nature Playgroup
North Branch Nature Center 713 Elm Street, Montpelier, VermontRobin’s Nest Nature Playgroup is a free activity for families to gather, learn, and play in nature. Guided by the idea that children need to spend ample time outdoors, we offer a community experience in the world of nature and will model ways the natural environment can be used as a tool for learning and play.
Winter Wildlife Tracking Institute
North Branch Nature Center 713 Elm Street, Montpelier, VermontIn-person sessions: Jan 21, Feb 18, Mar 25* | 9 am - 4 pm (in-person sessions may be rescheduled to the following day in the event of poor weather) Virtual sessions (Zoom): Feb 1, March 8 | 6 - 7:30 pm $315 | Financial support available (email us to inquire) Group Size: 14 max |…
Winter Wildlife Tracking 101
North Branch Nature Center 713 Elm Street, Montpelier, VermontFrom bobcats to hawks, all animals leave sign of their activities. Join NBNC Teacher-Naturalist Dave Muska as he introduces you to the fundamentals of tracking and awareness to better understand the stories animals leave behind. In this class, you’ll be introduced to basic tracking skills and concepts such as clear print identification, track patterns, as well as techniques to develop your skill in tracking. This is a great class for photographers, hunters, or anyone who wishes to deepen their outdoor experience.
Patterns Across Nature – Drawing Class with Rachel Mirus
North Branch Nature Center 713 Elm Street, Montpelier, VermontA four-part drawing class | Thursday evenings in February at NBNC | Beautiful spirals, spots, and stripes recur throughout the natural world, but where do they come from and why do they turn up so often? This course mixes observational and creative drawing to explore common natural patterns, starting with sketching exercises to build the observation skills that are foundational for both artists and naturalists, then moving into playful and imaginative art making. Using a selection of beginner-friendly media, we will explore symmetry in animal bodies, spirals from shells to spider webs, spots and stripes as decorations, and branching fractals.
Wildlife Tracking Club
North Branch Nature Center 713 Elm Street, Montpelier, VermontExplore with NBNC naturalists and fellow nature lovers in search of wildlife tracks and sign every Saturday morning in February. This casual weekly outing is a great way to learn or brush up on track and trail identification in a community of curious trackers of all experience levels. NBNC is a wildlife corridor regularly traveled by coyote, fox, deer, fisher, mink, and much more.
Wildlife Tracking Club
North Branch Nature Center 713 Elm Street, Montpelier, VermontExplore with NBNC naturalists and fellow nature lovers in search of wildlife tracks and sign every Saturday morning in February. This casual weekly outing is a great way to learn or brush up on track and trail identification in a community of curious trackers of all experience levels. NBNC is a wildlife corridor regularly traveled by coyote, fox, deer, fisher, mink, and much more.
Wildlife Tracking Club
North Branch Nature Center 713 Elm Street, Montpelier, VermontExplore with NBNC naturalists and fellow nature lovers in search of wildlife tracks and sign every Saturday morning in February. This casual weekly outing is a great way to learn or brush up on track and trail identification in a community of curious trackers of all experience levels. NBNC is a wildlife corridor regularly traveled by coyote, fox, deer, fisher, mink, and much more.
Intermediate Winter Wildlife Tracking
North Branch Nature Center 713 Elm Street, Montpelier, VermontJoin NBNC naturalist and wildlife tracker Dave Muska for a full day of tracking and trailing wildlife, aimed at participants already holding some basic knowledge of track and sign identification. We'll start in the classroom to review the tracks, gaits, habitats, and signs of species we might encounter on the late winter landscape. We'll then head out on the land to search for sign and explore the who, what, where, when, why and how of animal tracks.
Wildlife Tracking Club
North Branch Nature Center 713 Elm Street, Montpelier, VermontExplore with NBNC naturalists and fellow nature lovers in search of wildlife tracks and sign every Saturday morning in February. This casual weekly outing is a great way to learn or brush up on track and trail identification in a community of curious trackers of all experience levels. NBNC is a wildlife corridor regularly traveled by coyote, fox, deer, fisher, mink, and much more.
Winter Tree Identification with Jonathan Shapiro
North Branch Nature Center 713 Elm Street, Montpelier, VermontLearning to identify trees can be a powerful way to connect to your local landscape. They are big, charismatic, and always around us, and knowing who they are provides a baseline of ecological understanding for the rest of our surroundings. Join Jonathan Shapiro of Fox Paw School for a dive into tree ID, focusing on a pattern-based approach that we are hardwired to understand. We'll talk about tree silhouettes, branching patterns, leaf shapes, bark, and more, and you'll leave with the observational skills to learn not only trees, but the rest of your landscape as well. By meeting in three different seasons, we'll have the opportunity to see how trees' lives change throughout the cycle of the year, and how they fit into the broader ecological context of our North Woods home.
