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Oscar Lock, a Hotchkiss senior, got pointers and encouragement from Tim Hunter, stewardship director of The Sharon Land Trust, while sawing buckthorn.
John Coston
The return of students on this working walkthrough was part of Hotchkiss’s Fairfield Farm Ecosystem and Adventure Team, a program that incorporates environmental stewardship in the learning experience.
The Hamlin Preserve is a 210-acre property with 2.5 miles of trails, and the Hamlin conifer grove restoration is a large-scale landscape forest preservation project.
Tom Zetterstrom, a tree preservationist, stopped to make the point to Hotchkiss School students that invasives have the power to dominate.John Coston
The group entered at the end of Stone House Road and proceeded into an invasive thicket that has already taken its toll on cedars and pines. Zetterstrom stopped the group for several lecture moments and demonstrations of the proper way to cut bittersweet.
Tim Hunter, stewardship director of the Trust, pulled out a folding handsaw that student Oscar Lock, a senior, used to sever a buckthorn at ground level.
Shaye Lee, a sophomore, took a turn with the saw on some privet.
As the group huddled under a close canopy of invasive vegetation that was overtaking everything in sight, Zetterstrom explained that invasive-laden patch was once productive farmland.
As the two-hour stroll-and-lop ended, the group assembled in a hay field on the property to observe a healthy American elm at the edge of the open field that has been saved by the Trust’s efforts.
Pointing to Red Mountain in the short distance, Zetterstrom told the students: “When you come back for your reunions — maybe in 50 years — you can say I helped save those trees.”
Leila Hawken
Ample seating will provide space for eating in, whether for pastry and beverage or for lunch when choices will include savory tarts, quiches and sandwiches made with house-made spreads using locally sourced ingredients. All baked goods will be made fresh daily, offering lactose-free options. All breads are to be made with sourdough starter, easier to digest and high in nutrients.
Two examples of local sourcing will be the coffee from Ilse Coffee in North Canaan, Connecticut and the tea from Harney’s in Millerton.
Chef Christophe Raza is leading the bakery enterprise, reflecting his training at Le Cordon Bleu, while firmly believing that bakeries should be accessible to all, as they are in his native Belgium. As an example, the bakery’s baguettes will be priced at $2.90. And there will be light-as-air eclairs.
Tarts and Bread will be open seven days each week, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. But, for this one Grand Opening Day on Saturday, April 27, the doors will open at 9:30 a.m.
At the new Tarts and Bread bakery in Amenia, madeliene cookies are just some of the offerings.Provided
