State forest throws centennial bash

State forest throws centennial bash

The UConn Woodsmen team saw a log at People’s State Forest’s 100th birthday party.

Patrick L. Sullivan

BARKHAMSTED — The People’s State Forest in Barkhamsted turned 100 this month, and on Sunday, Oct. 6 Matthies Grove was busy with exhibitions and demonstrations.

Owen Laurenzo of Hickory Hollow Working Steers in Belchertown, Massachusetts maneuvered two oxen in place while his father Chris got a big log up on a sled, ready to be pulled 75 yards or so to a portable sawmill, where a team from the University of Connecticut’s College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources awaited.

Elsewhere Jody Bronson and Vicki Nelson from Great Mountain Forest chatted with visitors. Bronson demonstrated how to make an axe handle.

The UConn Woodsmen did various woodly things with crosscut saws, chain saws and peaveys.

John Ferrantino from the Farmington Valley Trout Unlimited chapter was on hand and ready to talk fly-fishing, and members of the Barkhamsted Historical society were highly informative, especially when asked why it’s called the “People’s” state forest.

The answer: Because while some of the 3,059 acres were donated, much of it was purchased with donations from ordinary citizens, thus the moniker.

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Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

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A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

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Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

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For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

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