Walking in the Tall Trees

Today we met up with some friends at the Natural Resource Trust of Easton's Sheep Pasture in North Easton, MA for a winter scavenger hunt .  These friends are aiming to spend 1,000 hours outside  in 2021 and inspired this blog!  There is no cost to visit the Sheep Pasture, which is a stone's throw from some of our other favorite spots in the area: Langwater Farm , Corfinio restaurant, and Hilliard's candy store. We started at the parking lot by the main office, and then walked back toward the road to visit the sheep, who were playing outside in the snow with some geese.  We were surprised to see a little altercation between a sheep and a feisty goose!  We headed back to the chicken coops near the parking area to say hello to a few families of chickens. Then, we took the Rhododendron Trail to the Ames Parker Loop , which ended back at the parking lot.  I forgot to start the GPS feature on my watch, but I would guesstimate that the whole hike was about a mi...

 This is my first post!  Today we hiked at the  Gertrude M Boyden Wildlife Refuge (aka the Bird Sanctuary)  in Taunton, MA.  The park is owned and operated by the City's Conservation Commission and was featured in the local newspaper a few years ago .  I hadn't been before, but my husband Scott has fond memories of running there in high school.  There is no cost to visit. We did about a one-mile loop.  Starting from the parking lot, we passed a few painted "alligators" along the way and headed to the Fairy Trail, where the girls loved to check out a dozen or so beautifully handmade fairy houses.  That trail led to a "Fragrance Garden," which was lovingly built as part of an Eagle Scout project in 2005.   From there, we walked to the River Trail, which sadly had fallen into disrepair due to fallen trees and erosion.  There was also an unfortunate amount of graffiti and litter.  But the natural beauty of the River Trail is u...