News Archive

Bulb Planting Time!

Tuesday, 05 October 2010 09:49

During the first of our fall school visits, students from the Charles Taylor School in Mattapan  recently enjoyed a beautiful autumn day and learned about science. After lunch, the fifth graders helped plant dozens of tulip bulbs that they will see when they return in the spring! Back at school, they will help teach the younger students how to plant daffodil bulbs. Each of the school's five hundred students will plant a bulb insuring a great display along Morton Street in the spring.

Beekeeper Shares Experiences with Interns

Friday, 06 August 2010 14:17

The Wakefield Estate's beekeeper, Scott Harris provided our landscape interns a close-up look at the life of bees and their importance to the estate's plants and trees, not to mention samples of fresh honey! First, Harris described the basics of keeping a hive and how the hive functions, sharing anecdotes about his successes, challenges, and memorable stings that have occured along the way. After answering the interns' questions, Scott gave all the interns a taste of his own honey produced from the hive at the estate. He then demonstrated how he adds a "super" to increase the honey production and performs basic essential upkeep and maintenance of the hive.

Wakefield Estate Welcomes 2010 Interns!

Monday, 26 July 2010 11:47

Despite the oppressive heat this summer, the Wakefield Estate's 2010 Interns have been hard at work leaving their imprint on the property. On July 6th, we welcomed 4 of its 8 2010 Landscape Interns, with the compliment of 4 additional interns starting July 20th after participating in our second Archeology session or other educational activities off-site. Each year, the intern crew is selected from applicants who are 16-20 year-old greater Boston area students. This year, we have students from Milton High and a wide array of Boston Public High Schools including Pacific Rim, Boston Latin, Boston Prep and John O'Bryant. In addition, this year we are excited to have a student from Canton High for the first time and a student who commutes all the way from Randolph. So far this season, the interns have been busy helping to build a split rail fence, tending to the chickens, clearing and weeding, and working on projects aimed at improving the growing environment of some of our most special trees. Due to the drought, more time than expect has been spent watering our newly planted high-density orchard, raised bed and other plantings, but we try to blend the heavy lifting with good, practical education and landscape training. The interns will work with us until mid-August, heading back to school or off to college in the fall.

Interns Matt Lema and Malcolm Carvahlo work on the split rail fence project with staff groundskeeper, Dave Cafaro.

Interns Tiona Edwards and Evan Timperi water recent plantings with Landscape Supervisor/Ed Coordinator, Erica Max.

The whole crew prepares to get involved in the Piazza Terrace Project, under the direction of Deb Merriam, our horticultural specialist (in center of photo dressed in all white). This year's crew includes (from left to right) Tiona Edwards, Evan Timperi, Malcolm Carvalho, Matt Lema, Luson Joseph, Brandon Williamson, Jeff Waldman, and Sam Dorilas (not shown in this picture).

Intern Brandon Williamson gets a chance to take Polly's golf cart for a spin. The cart is often used for landscape projects.

Wakefield Interns and HP Youth Corp Climb Blue Hill

Saturday, 24 July 2010 00:00

After working together in early July on a woodland clearing project, the Wakefield Interns and HP Youth Conservation Corp spent a day climbing Great Blue Hill. Don McCasland, Program Director for the Blue Hill Observatory, led the hike, sharing the history of GBH and its legacy and development by earlier conservation workers from the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp, a Works Progress Administration initiative) and the SCA (Student Conservation Association). After reaching the top, McCasland and other Blue Hill Observatory staff gave the students a tour of the historic weather station.