SHARON – What do you call a pond with no fish that disappears for half the year? Scientists call it a vernal pool, and it is no riddle, but a vital component of the Northwest Corner’s woodland ecosystems.
Much like a riddle, however, these murky, transient ponds harbor secrets below the surface, and with a little prodding, can reveal surprising truths. On Saturday, April 11, the Sharon Land Trust hosted an evening hike in the aim of doing just that and demystifying these misunderstood resources.
As the sun was setting high on the ridge of Red Mountain, local science teacher Joseph Markow – who guided the excursion alongside landscape professional and sustainability expert Robin Zitter and Sharon Land Trust staff – pointed to a depression full of inky black water.
Without vernal pools, he said, “wood frogs would disappear very quickly.” The wood frog, a small, primarily land-dwelling amphibian, is an example of an “obligate” species, Markow explained – an animal that has adapted to rely on ephemeral wetlands to breed since they are devoid of fish, which eat the eggs and young of amphibians.
As Markow spoke, he gestured towards a lumpy, jelly-like mass half submerged in the murk that resembled a clump of soaked chia seeds: a cluster of wood frog eggs. An undiscerning developer may not notice the signs of life in what otherwise looks like a puddle in the woods, he said. And if the survey is done when the summer heat has dried up the pond, the habitat may be missed entirely.
Zitter sits on Sharon’s Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission, which co-hosted Saturday evening’s hike, and said that this is a reason the town needs to codify protections for these delicate resources that so many species, especially amphibians, rely on. She said the IWWC is taking steps to insert those protections into the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development, a ten-year guidance document that is due for an update this year.
Alec Linden
She pointed out many species that rely on vernal pools actually spend most of their lives in the terrestrial territory surrounding it – known by ecologists as “upland” habitat. It’s not only the ponds themselves that need protection, she explained, but the broader landscape that supports these types of wetlands.
Luckily, the vernal ponds on Red Mountain are in no immediate danger, at least from development. Its ridgeline and expansive, wooded slopes are part of a network of protected forest and agricultural lands. The Sharon Land Trust’s 278-acre Hamlin Preserve, within which Saturday’s hike was held, connects to the Mary Moore Preserve, another Land Trust property, via a trail that traverses easement-conserved land on the Wike Farm.
The hilltop forest was relatively quiet Saturday evening, which Markow attributed to a brisk wind and recent cold. Like humans, frogs prefer to wait for more comfortable conditions before breaking out in springtime song.
On a warmer evening, Markow said the area around the pond would likely be abuzz with a shrill chorus from the spring peepers – tiny tree frogs whose emergence is a classic symbol of the end of a New England winter.
Markow said that close, extensive exposure to the pitchy trill of spring peepers can actually damage hearing. “They’re louder than a rock concert at times,” he said, reaching 90 decibels at close range.
Markow was ready for a subdued night. Before taking the group into the woods, he gave a presentation with a cast of critters he’d plucked from a vernal pool near his house earlier in the day. A microscope setup provided viewers with an up-close view of the tiny and aptly named fingernail clam, which spends its entire lifespan in vernal pools, burying itself in moist mud to survive when the water dries up.
He also demonstrated another uniquely adapted species. “You’ll see a stick just get up and start walking around,” he said while passing around a small sample vial with a wriggling brown mass inside, “and that’s a caddisfly.” The resourceful larvae of these insects use found materials in the vernal pools to create a protective armor around themselves.
The crowd favorite was a small red-backed salamander that he showed off straight from the palm of his hand. “It’s cool enough today that they are pretty calm,” he said, just before the amphibian started to wriggle with purpose. “It’s waking up in your hand!” came a shout from the crowd.
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‘The Laundry Room,’ a painting by Maira Kalman from the exhibition “Shaker Outpost: Design, Commerce, and Culture” at the Shaker Museum’s pop-up space in Chatham.
“I always approach my work from an aspect of love,” she said. “I fall in love with a face or a chair or a shoe. And then it is my pleasure to paint. That is how I approached the pieces I chose for the installation. They spoke to me. They SANG to me.”
Her selections for the Shaker Outpost include clothing of daily life — hats, shoes, socks, gloves — alongside objects shaped by hand and necessity. A pair of bear fur mittens, a glove form, a forged iron stake. Items that once moved through ordinary days now sit in conversation with Kalman’s paintings, which draw from the museum’s photographic archive. “As I looked at the photo archive, I gravitated to images that made me happy,” she said. “The Shaker work is so full of delicate elegance and superb utility. I love that.”
Maira KalmanPhoto by Kimisa H.
The idea of utility that is elevated to poetry is at the center of the show. Kalman described the impulse to “edit your life” after encountering Shaker design, and here that instinct becomes both curatorial method and invitation. “After seeing their work, you want to run home and throw out everything you have,” she said. “You want to edit your life. You only want what is essential. The simplicity and beauty of Shaker design are rarely equaled… They have wit and wisdom. Clarity and kindness. They are practical and they sing. You just cannot go wrong.”
The exhibition also marks a return. After more than two years at the Kinderhook Knitting Mill, the museum’s programming comes back to Chatham — if only temporarily — before the opening of its future permanent home.
The pop-up exhibition at 4 Depot Square in downtown Chatham extends beyond the gallery walls. A small, carefully assembled General Store — also curated by Kalman — offers books, textiles, notecards and handmade goods by local artisans. Like the Shakers’ own public-facing shops, it blurs the line between commerce and ethos, asking what it means to buy something made with care. It is, deliberately, a place to linger.
Kalman sees the Shakers as kindred spirits. “Even though my mother was a Russian born Jew, she could have been a Shaker,” she said. “But then all of the women in my family could have been. A sense of beauty, care, simplicity and love imbued all that they did. They were frugal and fastidious.”
That inheritance feels newly relevant. “Today we have a very fast-moving day. Never enough time,” she said. “And I think that the sense of taking time to make beauty resonates very much these days. It restores the soul.”
Kalman worked closely with her son, Alex Kalman, on this exhibit. “Working with my son Alex Kalman on this installation has been a joy,” she said. “He curates for his museum MMUSEUMM, in a defunct elevator shaft on Cortland Alley in Manhattan. He is always looking for the intersection of humor and human expression and endeavor. That is how I approach the installation at the Shaker Outpost. Everything should matter.”
Shaker Outpost: Design, Commerce, and Culture runs through July 5 at 4 Depot Square in Chatham, with subsequent installations by Paula Greif and Kiki Smith later in the year. For more information, visit shakermuseum.us.
The Ticking Tent Spring Market returns to Spring Hill Vineyards in New Preston on May 2.
Juarez is president of Christina Juarez & Co., a communications and business development consultancy. Reynaert is market director at ELLE DECOR, an interiors stylist and author of “The Layered Home,” which he will sign at the event.
Benjamin Reynaert and Christina Juarez, co-founders of The Ticking Tent. Their one-day Spring Market returns to New Preston on May 2 at Spring Hill Vineyards on Bee Brook Road.Jennifer Almquist
“The Ticking Tent is about reimagining the joy of discovery — bringing together antiques dealers, artisans and design enthusiasts in a setting where community and creativity thrive,” Reynaert said.
Among returning vendors is Rhonda Eleish of Eleish Van Breems Home, with shops in New Preston, Roxbury, Westport and Nantucket. “The Ticking Tent is a fun event where you can shop curated goods, meet friends and enjoy the setting,” she said.
The market partners with ELLE DECOR as national media sponsor, along with Home & Garden CT & NY, Connecticut Cottages & Gardens, New England Home CT and Litchfield Magazine.
For information and tickets, visit thetickingtent.com or follow @thetickingtent.
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