Engage Your Senses This Spring Across Metro West

Spring is a time for regrowth and renewal. Check out these four ways to boost your sensory experience this season. 

Look

Each spring, ephemeral plants pop up around the sanctuaries. These short-lived blooms only stick around for a little while, so it’s prime time to take a walk and see what you can find on the trail’s edge. Keep an eye out for Mayapple, Trout Lily, Trillium, Wood Anemone, and more. 

Where: At Broadmoor, take a stroll on Old Orchard Trail or Glacial Hill Trail for a good chance of seeing these quickly passing flowers. 

Listen

Around ponds, mallards and their ducklings skim the water for food. If you stand quietly by the water’s edge, you’ll hear them busily foraging. And, in fields and forests, listen for the calls and songs of birds like Red-eyed Vireos and House Wrens.   

Where: At Habitat, head to Weeks Pond Trail to enjoy a walk through the woods, leading you to a clearing with a trail around Weeks Pond where ducks often nest and raise their young. 

Smell

Head to the forest and breathe in the earthy scent of the woods waking up from the winter. Mosses are growing over logs, ferns have started popping up, and spring rain is soaking the ground.  

Where: At Waseeka, walk through Sassafras Trail, where the path's edge is lined with emerging ferns. 

Taste

The Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) season at Drumlin Farm begins on May 22, and shareholders can look forward to picking up weekly shares of fresh, farm-grown food. Spring CSA members can expect to enjoy spinach, mesclun mix, salad radish, scallions, herbs, and more! 

Where: Weekly pick-ups at Drumlin Farm’s farmstand in Lincoln. Not ready to join a CSA? You can also purchase select crops, eggs, and meat next to the nature center. Beginning in May, our farmers will be at the Union Square Farmers Market in Somerville on Saturdays.