Community 

(1-MAY-25) When I first started gardening, I did not know the difference between an annual and a perennial. I found out pretty quickly that perennials grow back every year, while annuals need to be planted every year.

Perennials not only come back every year, they also grow bigger over time. I have hostas that are now giants. 

Perennials are actually a thrifty way to garden. Buy them once, and as the years go by, you can divide them and have more plants, all for the price of the original investment.

(30-Apr-25) The arrival of spring in Boxborough brings the desire to get started cleaning out our gardens, raking our yards, removing dead trees and getting outside to move our bodies more. I want to encourage delay, procrastination and laziness on all fronts except the getting outside to move our bodies more.

This time of year, the insects that overwintered in your leaves and brush have not hatched out yet. To complete their life cycle, they need consistently warmer temperatures to mature properly and complete their very important roles in our yards. If we rake, chop or burn too early, we kill all those helpful creatures that help change an ailing environment into a flourishing environment. 

The same is true for our trees. All the trees you see now are being sized up and used as nesting sights for a wide range of birds. Some early species already have nests and eggs. If we trim limbs or cut down any trees now through summer, we eliminate the choices the birds have and many will not successfully raise young. This issue is very similar to a tight housing market, if there is no available real estate, young families are not successful in finding a home for their kids to grow safely.  

Dead trees are especially priceless to cavity nesters like chickadees, bluebirds, wrens, titmouse and woodpeckers to name a few. Larger dead trees provide nesting cavities to pileated woodpeckers, barred owls, kestrels, wood ducks and others. Our local bird populations are under enormous stress from climate change, urban sprawl, pesticide spraying and lack of insects for food so keeping trees around when we can will have wide-reaching and positive effects for them going forward. 

With this in mind, I encourage people to not cut anything now. Wait until early Fall and Winter to take down trees that need to be removed. If it is dead but not a risk to home and family, let it stand. The varieties of bird, insect and amphibian life it supports makes it invaluable to the biodiversity we see around us.  

Next time you are accessing the trees around you, look at them through different eyes and see their great worth. Try to be  thoughtful about ways to preserve them for as long as possible and delay, procrastinate and be lazy until Fall. Make your decisions then and not before. 

(24-APR-25) After a long wait, it is finally time for us to clean up the gardens. However, before you get out there, remember to protect yourself from ticks. Wear long pants, shirts, gloves, etc. After gardening, I take my garden clothes off and throw them in a hot dryer for 20 minutes, then take a shower and do a tick check. 

Rake out the garden beds. Be cautious if you see emerging plants.

Weed, weed, weed. And, after weeding, keep those weeds out of your compost! I use two plastic tubs to keep the weeds separate: an orange one for weeds and a green one for plants and leaves.

Once your garden beds are cleaned up, it is time to add some compost to enrich the soil.

If you have a problem with deer, try using Milorganite. I buy it at the local hardware store and find the deer do not like the smell; I do not notice any smell. Just throw it on your beds like you’re throwing chicken feed. 

If you are new to gardening, or just getting back into it, consider joining the Boxborough Garden Club. We love to talk about plants and gardens. Please email Flo Hanover at fhanover10@gmail.com for more information.

(17-APR-25) Every year when spring comes I am raring to go. However, I know from past experience that I need to start slowly. One year, I hurt my thumb potting up ten 6-packs of pansies that were hard to get out of the trays. Who would expect to get injured doing that? Well, now I do! I am careful not to overwork my hands and I do things slowly.

Here are a few tips on gardening safely:

• Wear gloves. Dress in long pants and shirts to reduce exposure to ticks.

• Start slowly. Don’t work for hours the first days you are out there. Make sure you wear a watch to find out how long you have been working.

• Stretch before and after gardening.

• Rotate tasks. Move around your yard and vary your jobs. I try not to do one thing for too long, especially if it involves leaning over. 

• Make a list and prioritize what needs to be done.

• Be careful how you carry watering cans–keep them close to your body, not extended out. When watering, turn to face the hose instead of dragging it behind you.

• If you cannot kneel, you can find other ways to garden. I sit on a plastic bucket with a cushion that rotates so that I can get down to the garden area. It works well.  Of course, there are raised gardens for anyone who wants to garden from a standing position.

• Take breaks.

• Stay hydrated.

• Wear a hat with a net once the bugs come out. No, this is not a fashion statement, but will help you stay focused on what you are doing instead of batting flies.

• Get help when needed. I am lucky that my husband is a great help, but we have also had some extra help from some great young people. NextDoor is a good resource.

Remember: enjoy being outside and give up on perfection. I have been trying for years!

Please join the Boxborough Garden Club. We will be meeting at the Herb Garden over the summer to care for the garden as well as picnic and share gardening ideas. Contact Flo Hanover at hanover10@gmail.com for more information.

(10-APR-25) This is the time of year you will notice lots of bulbs in bloom. I love seeing them in early spring while we are waiting for more plants to come up. Perhaps you have never grown bulbs and are wondering how to get started. Here are a few tips on growing bulbs:

• Bulbs are planted in the fall

• Bulbs are relatively easy to grow and require little maintenance

• Bulbs should be planted in an area with at least six hours of sun a day

• Bulbs come back every year!

Now is the time to look at your yard to see where you would like to grow your bulbs. Bulbs that do well in our area include daffodils, crocus, snow drops, early snow glories, winter aconite and grape hyacinths. Although tulips do okay, they often do not come back.  

The good news is the spring catalogs are out in full force offering the best prices of the year. If you don’t get a catalog, you can order them online or go to a garden center. Order the bulbs now and they will be shipped to you at the correct time in the fall to plant them.

When you order bulbs, remember you will have to plant them! (Are your eyes bigger than your stomach?) Every fall when the bags arrive the reality sets in, but the end results are worth it. 

If you already have bulbs, give them some bulb food once they have stopped blooming and the foliage is still green and healthy looking. Leave the foliage in place after they bloom. Even though it may not look pretty, it really is good for the plants to wait to cut their foliage until it is fully yellowed.

Would you like more information about gardening? The Boxborough Garden Club welcomes new members! Please email Flo Hanover to learn more at fhanover10@gmail.com.

Editor’s Note: This week, we are introducing a new column, “Sustainability Matters,” written for Boxborough News by Ellen Hickey. Ellen is a Boxborough resident, enjoys the outdoors, and is  interested in all things sustainable. 

(13-Mar-25) If you are thinking about reducing the amount of single-use packaging that comes into your home, have you considered using reusable produce bags when grocery shopping, instead of plastic produce bags? 

Plastic bags cannot be recycled at the Boxborough Transfer Station and must instead be disposed of with solid waste. This is because plastic bags can get tangled in recycling machinery. As single-use plastics break down into microplastics, they can leach into soil and water. (To learn about how to dispose of plastic bags, see the Boxborough News article, Sustainable Solutions: What to Do with Plastic Produce Bags.) 

Ideally, you might already have bags and containers you can use, but if you are thinking about purchasing reusable produce bags, features to consider are size, material the bags are made of, what sort of closure they have, and whether there is a tare weight label. 

Reusable produce bags come in a variety of sizes and materials. Typical sizes range from 8 x 10 inches to 12 x 17 inches. Some bags include tare weight labels, which can be helpful when shopping at stores that sell food in bulk. “Tare weight” is the weight of the empty container. Mesh bags with a looser weave can be great for larger items, but if purchasing smaller items like dried beans or nuts, a finer weave is useful. 

I find it helpful at the checkout if the bags are not opaque so the cashier can see the contents. If possible, try to make any labels or tags visible. While many bags have only a drawstring, some have a cord lock on the string to help keep the contents secure.

Keep in mind that using reusable produce bags may also require a few extra steps when arriving back home. For example, some types of produce such as leafy greens may need to be transferred to an airtight container or wrapped in damp paper towels to prevent drying out.

(6-MAR-25) During the initial phase of taking a step forward, your heel hits the ground and your body weight transfers to the outside of the arch along the length of your foot.  It then moves across the ball of the foot from pinky toe to big toe and pushes off the big toe to propel your body forward. We automatically do this action thousands of times a day, one step at a time. But if you slow the physical motion down and focus on that simple, small movement, step after step, your brain will focus on that precise action and unwanted thoughts begin to fall away. Your mind focuses on the movement of energy across your foot and this transforms walking into a mindful meditation process.  

You can take this walking mindful meditation into the woods and combine it with Forest Bathing (Shinrin-yoku). Forest Bathing is a practice of surrounding ourselves in nature and enjoying the outdoors. Boxborough makes Forest Bathing easy. We are blessed with miles of marked trails through conservation lands through fields, wetlands, ponds and forests. The smells, sights and sounds are unique to each area, and by paying attention to your connection with the ground, you change this Forest Bathing walk into a mindful meditation. Slowing down the fully expected movements will turn them into an unexpected action, and mindfulness walking meditation is created.  

You benefit by increasing your time outside with a quiet mind. This precise foot placement also helps to work the muscles around your ankles for strength and flexibility. As the muscles in your feet become stronger, you increase your ability to balance, and the risk of falling is minimized. All this greatness stems from mindful foot placements while walking in the woods on a regular basis. 

(26-FEB-25) On Saturday, February 15, eight hardy gardeners from Boxborough’s Garden Club traveled to Danielson, CT to visit Logee’s Greenhouses. 

Logee’s has been in business since 1892 and is currently being run by a third-generation owner. While it looks tiny from the street, Logee’s is actually a complex of six greenhouses. The houses are quite warm so it is best to leave jackets in the car before entering. Once inside, you can wander through the houses and see amazing and colorful tropical plants. You can also purchase plants to take home.

In the Lemon Tree House, there is a Ponderosa Lemon tree which produces lemons the size of grapefruits. The tree has been there since 1900! The Fern House is the oldest of the houses, dating back to 1892. The “Big House” is home to cacti, succulents and clivia and the centerpiece is the 150-year-old tree that has ten varieties of oranges! Logees is truly a plant lover’s paradise. For more information, go to www.logees.com.

On the day that the Garden Club visited, there were people of all ages “oohing and aahing” at the sights. Some of us purchased plants to take home and, following our mini tropical vacation, we stopped for a delightful lunch just up the street. Most Garden Club field trips end with a bite to eat and some time for members to visit.

The Boxborough Garden Club invites you to join us for future field trips and activities! For more information, please email Flo Hanover at fhanover10@gmail.com. 

(20-Feb-25) The Well-Being Committee’s free Winter “Movement Series” at Sargent Memorial Library wrapped up on Saturday, February 15 with a joyful, energizing Zumba session led by Boxborough’s own Gina Flaherty of Gina’s Studio. Despite some challenging winter weather, each of the four Movement sessions was well attended, filling the library meeting room with smiling faces ready to stretch, dance, and workout. 

The sessions included Tai Chi, led by Narcyz Latecki of Chinese Martial Arts in Acton; Bollywood dance, led by Shikha Vashishtha of Studio Bollywood Boston; and yoga, led by Ann Seymour of Daring Dog Yoga in Boxborough. The sessions were free to the community thanks to an Acton-Boxborough Cultural Council grant secured by Boxborough Community Services Coordinator Wendy Trinks. The sessions were organized and promoted by the Boxborough Well-Being Committee. 

“Our primary goal is to support the health and well-being of Boxborough residents. What could be better than offering a chance to be together doing something healthy?” says Well-Being Committee Chair Mary Pavlik. The Well-Being Committee organized a similar Movement series in June 2024.

Mary Halvey-Dove, a Boxborough resident and Well-Being Committee member who attended most of the sessions, said, “The best part of this series for me was enjoying seeing both new and old smiling faces while learning something new.” 

“The Well-Being team would like to thank Ann Seymour for organizing as well as teaching,” said Chair Pavlik, “and thank all the instructors for keeping our community moving and shaking during some frosty times these past two months.”

(30-JAN-25) On January 25, a group of fifteen gathered at the Sargent Memorial Library for a free Tai Chi class with Narcyz Latecki of Chinese Martial Arts in Acton. 

The class was the first in a four-part “Movement Series” organized and overseen by the Boxborough Well-Being Committee and supported through an Acton-Boxborough Cultural Council grant secured by Boxborough Community Services Coordinator Wendy Trinks.

“The class was a great distraction from the cold weather outside,” said participant and Well-Being Committee member Mary Halvey Dove. “In addition to sharing some secrets to remaining young, the instructor taught us proper breathing techniques, six Tai Chi movements we could do at home and also demonstrated part of the Tai Chi Long Form. Future movement series classes include Bollywood dance, yoga and Zumba. These are all great ways to get moving in these cold and somewhat dreary winter months.” 

The series will continue for the next three Saturdays, all at 10 a.m., at the Sargent Memorial Library. February 1 will be a Bollywood dance class, February 8 will be a yoga class, and February 15 will be a Zumba class. Each session is free and open to all, but registration is required. Each session must be registered for separately.  

The second session on February 1 will be led by Shikha Vashishtha of Studio Bollywood Boston. She says, “In this session we will explore the rich and vibrant forms of dances that celebrate the diverse traditions, emotions, and storytelling of Indian cinema popularly called Bollywood….”

The third session on February 8 will be led by Ann Seymour of Daring Dog Yoga in Boxborough, who “has 37 years of yoga experience with extensive training in Iyengar which has inspired her to learn more about anatomy, physiology, kinesiology and how to modify traditional yoga poses.” For this session, she says “please wear layered comfortable clothing and bring a mat if you have one.”

The fourth session on February 15 will be led by Gina Flaherty of Gina’s Studio in Boborough. She says, “All are welcome to join for fun and dance in our family friendly Zumba class. We will have lots of upbeat music and moves that will have everyone moving their feet to the beat. All you need to participate is comfortable clothing, sneakers, water, and your smile.” 

(28-JAN-25) After the storms in 2024, many homeowners face the challenge of cleaning up their yards. Burning of brush, cane, driftwood, and forestry debris is allowed in Boxborough from Jan. 15 to May 1, as regulated by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). 

Boxborough News reached out to Fire Chief John Kivlan for more information. Kivlan provided guidelines that include the permit requirement, what you can burn, and when you can burn. He also provided some safety guidelines and alternatives to open burning. Visit the Boxborough News Notices page (www.boxboroughnews.org/notices) to read Chief Kivlan’s note. 

The Boxborough Fire Department’s web page outlines the rules and regulations for burning and provides a link to register for a daily burn permit when conditions are safe: boxborough-ma.gov/251/Burn-Permits. 

(16-JAN-25) “Let’s do it again!” was the refrain heard immediately following the free movement series offered at Sargent Library in June 2024, which included serene Tai Chi, an energetic Zumba lesson, and joyful Bollywood dancing. The Winter 2025 series will offer these three sessions and add yoga for anyone to enjoy, including beginners, families and seniors. 

The series will take place on four consecutive Saturdays at the Sargent Memorial Library beginning January 25th, all at 10 a.m. Each session is free and open to all, but registration is required. Each session must be registered for separately.  

The series is organized and overseen by the Boxborough Well-Being Committee. “Our primary goal is to support the health and well-being of Boxborough residents. What could be better than offering a chance to be together doing something healthy?” says Well-Being Committee Chair Mary Pavlik. 

The Winter 2025 series is supported through an Acton-Boxborough Cultural Council grant secured by Boxborough Community Services Coordinator Wendy Trinks.

As she did for the series last summer, local yoga instructor Ann Seymour - a former Well-Being Committee member and current VP of the Friends of the Library - contacted local instructors to lead a varied set of four sessions free to the community. Seymour’s enthusiasm for the series is contagious. She shares, “the Movement Series at Sargent Library is a wonderful opportunity to build connection and community. We are all grateful to be able to share our specialties with others. Nothing makes us happier than watching people play with new ways of moving their bodies through space and having a fun time doing it. Plus, this program encourages people to come to the library to meet new people and no one goes away as a stranger." 

The first session on January 25 will be led by Narcyz Latecki of Chinese Martial Arts in Acton. According to the description for this session, “Master Latecki has over 40 years of martial arts and Tai Chi experience. He continues to study, research, and share his knowledge with his students. Tai Chi combines the Healing energies of Qi for relaxation, breath control and energy with martial arts movements for strength and focus. This Tai Chi class will introduce you to basic Tai Chi principles, breathing methods, relaxation, stretching, balance exercise, and fundamental Tai chi movements.”

(15-Jan-25) Boxborough’s annual Winterfest, sponsored by the Boxborough Recreation Commission, will be held on Saturday, January 25, 2025 at Steele Farm, 484 Middle Road, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Winterfest has been a Boxborough tradition for at least twenty years. It began when a group of residents wanted to get their families out for some sledding and fresh air, and the Boxborough Recreation Commission decided that a sledding event would be a great way to get neighbors together during the doldrums of winter. 

What began as an afternoon of sledding has progressed to an annual community party. Over the years, the Recreation Commission has added to the festivities with music, food and drink, local vendors, and activities for kids. While the event has grown bigger, it has always taken place at Steele Farm. Last year, the event brought approximately 200 people together. 

This year’s celebration will include a bonfire, sledding if possible, live music, and a “human foosball” game courtesy of the Harvard Lions Club. Local organizations and vendors expected to attend include the Boxborough Historical Society, the Steele Farm Committee, and the Boxborough Minutemen. Ace Hardware will be donating free popcorn and Dunkin Donuts will be donating free hot chocolate, both of which will be served by high school volunteers. Local musician Sara Rice will sing and play guitar.

Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase from Dirigible Brewing, a local favorite just over the town line in Littleton. Two Friends Chocolates and local Girl Scouts will be selling treats as well. “The highlight, of course, is the sledding and the bonfire,” says Recreation Commission member and event organizer Megan Connor. 

“We hope that we will have a fun afternoon of sledding, but the last 10 years that I have run this event, no luck! Except for the one year we cancelled due to too much snow that had fallen the day before and people could not dig out to make it there. We hope it will be a snowy afternoon, but if not, we have lots of activities planned for all to come on out and enjoy some fresh air with their friends and neighbors.”

For the first time this year, Winterfest attendees are welcome to park down the street at Town Hall and use the Boxborough Connects MART shuttle for a ride to and from Steele Farm. 

The rain/snow date for the event is Sunday, January 26, 2025 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m