Wild Seed Project’s Seed Program Manager, Emily Baisden, will explain how to create habitat in the garden year-round while balancing your workload and garden aesthetics.

Gardens are habitats, but the degree to which they support local wildlife depends on how we plant and manage them. Our plant choices determine who visits, stays or passes by as creatures look for food, shelter, to nest and lay eggs. When and how we decide to clean up leaves or cut plants back affects life cycles of salamanders, bees, birds, moths and butterflies.

Register here.

Join Emily Baisden, Wild Seed Project’s Seed Program Manager, for an interactive program about the importance of native shrubs in creating bird habitat. Come learn about and identify native shrubs around the property, and dive deep into the supportive relationships between these shrubs and specific species of birds. Leave this program feeling inspired to plant native shrubs to attract and support birds in the areas you live, work, and play.

Register here.

Please be aware of ticks — wear proper gear and check for ticks thoroughly after the walk.

Native shrubs are incredibly important species in our Northeastern landscapes that add year-round beauty and provide ecosystem services for many species of fauna. Re-establishing understory and edge habitats where productive, fruit bearing shrubs thrive provides both forage and shelter for many organisms. Native shrubs are magnets for birds and pollinators and provide a vital and attractive landscape layer between ground covers and trees. Join the Wild Seed Project and the Wells Reserve for an interactive program all about native shrubs!

The Wells Reserve created shrubland habitat as part of its New England Cottontail restoration project because these rabbits need the shrubby thickets to survive. Come learn about this rabbit restoration project with New England Habitat Restoration Coordinator Sarah Dudek, and enjoy a shrub identification walk with Emily Baisden of Wild Seed Project! We’ll get a first-hand look at important habitat-providing native shrub species, and provide inspiration for adding shrubs to the places you live, work, and play.

Register here.

Please be aware of ticks — wear proper gear and check for ticks thoroughly after the walk.

Note: The rain date for this program is Wednesday, June 28 (10am-12pm).

Nancy and John Hayden have spent their lives transforming the places they steward into agro-ecological, regenerative, and biodiverse landscapes. The Haydens pursued their goals of enhancing biodiversity and regenerating their land by incorporating agroforestry and permaculture principles into perennial fruit polycultures, a pollinator sanctuary, repurposed greenhouses for growing fruit, hügelkultur, and ecological “pest” management. Along the way, they re-incorporated many native plants, especially native fruit-bearing shrubs, to restore habitat. Come learn from these practiced care-takers in an hour-long webinar about their use of native shrubs for landscape restoration and agricultural uses!

Register here.

Join Wild Seed Project’s Founder, Heather McCargo at the Harvey Butler Rhododendron Sanctuary to explore a five-acre stand of great laurel (Rhododendron maximum), the largest and northernmost stand known in the region, owned by Native Plant Trust. We will discover a multitude of other native plant gems on the rest of the 30-acre property, from yellow blue-bead lily (Clintonia borealis) to painted trillium (Trillium undulatum), hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), and northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis).

Register here.

Please be aware of ticks — wear proper gear and check for ticks thoroughly after the walk.

Join us for a tour of three yard spaces and visit with people who are putting sustainable
practices into action. (Yards are within walking distance of Wild Seed Project.)

Meet and park at Wild Seed Project:  21 Memorial Highway, North Yarmouth, ME

• Stop 1 – Wild Seed Project Office

How to do a lot with a little bit of space! Landscaping at the office with native plants.

• Stop 2 –  Andrea Berry

Getting creative with your outdoor space. Balancing human and wildlife needs.

• Stop 3 – David Messenger

How to build an interactive yard over time. Progression of a multi-layered landscape.

No registration needed. Note: please be aware of ticks — wear proper gear and check for ticks thoroughly afterwards.

Come experience the fecundity of the summer season!

In this Brunswick-based Four Season Walks series, participants will learn how to identify many of the native plants growing around the conservation area. Join Emily Baisden, Wild Seed Project’s Seed Program Manager and resident entomologist to explore the flora and fauna of this area. This will be the second of the four walks. If you came to the spring walk, we encourage you to come to this one as well!

The goal of these walks is to foster relationships with place through relationships with plants, and encourage further stewardship of our community spaces. Come walk and learn with Wild Seed Project!

We will meet at the parks entrance, at the end of Lindbergh Crossing, accessed via Old Bath Rd. Expect an email with more information about parking and preparation the day before the walk.

Register here.

Please be aware of ticks — wear proper gear and check for ticks thoroughly after the walk.

Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik (APCAW) is a group of Indigenous and non-indigenous researchers, Tribal members, and forest caretakers working together to bring more awareness of the cultural and ecological significance of ash trees and efforts to conserve them.

“Ash trees, in particular brown ash (used interchangeably with black ash, Fraxinus nigra), are a cultural keystone species for Wabanaki communities and a crucial part of wetland ecosystems in the Northeast. The spread of the invasive forest pest EAB has caused 99% brown ash tree mortality in other areas of Turtle Island, and will have a considerable effect on ecosystems and traditions as it spreads through the Dawnland.”  – APCAW

Wild Seed Project is proud to serve as a partner in the collaboration, focused on the collecting and sowing of ash seeds.

Come join this conversation with the APCAW team to learn more about ways you and your community can get involved in this effort.

A week before the conversation, we will send out an intro webinar for you to watch if you have not, and the Seed Collection Manual, both of which will be discussed by the APCAW team. We will also send the Zoom link at this time.

We will call for questions before the webinar, and offer those questions to the APCAW team to begin the conversation. We will then open the floor to participants to ask their questions directly to the team.

Register here.

Come join Nell Houde, Wild Seed Project’s Manager of Educational Programs, for a Wildflower Walk at Trout Brook Preserve!

In this walk, participants will learn how to identify many of the plants growing around the conservation area. We will learn as a group how to observe and ask questions of our surroundings, and identify the varied plants, shrubs, trees, ferns, and wildlife along the trail.

The goal of community walks is to foster relationships with place through relationships with plants and encourage further stewardship of our common spaces. Come walk and learn with Wild Seed Project!

Register here. See location map.

Please be aware of ticks — wear proper gear and check for ticks thoroughly after the walk.