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.
Heavy stone garden ornaments, a specialty of Judy Milne Antiques from Kingston, at Trade Secrets 2025.
Van Ginhoven points to towers of boxes containing event programs, various ribbons, elegant decor and stacks of magazines, all in preparation for the event.
Project SAGE will celebrate its 26th year hosting Trade Secrets, but it’s so much more than a garden event.
“It’s a fundraiser for domestic violence prevention and intervention,” van Ginhoven said. “Anybody who attends knows they’re supporting a really meaningful and important cause.”
The fundraiser accounts for at least 30 percent of the organization’s overall budget, she said, and attracts around 3,000 people from across the region each year, creating an unmatched opportunity for Project SAGE to share its mission and generate support.
The event, though expensive to produce, generates enough income to significantly support Project SAGE’s direct services and prevention services.
Officials said a wave of new underwriters have emerged this year.
“We’re very grateful, because we live in a time when funding is uncertain,” van Ginhoven said.
Hundreds of copies of the annual Trade Secrets guide sat at Project SAGE headquarters, ready for distribution at the event. The book doubles as a domestic violence resource, complete with warning signs, myth-busting information and scripts for difficult conversations.
Volunteers will be present throughout the event to connect with community members. Each volunteer must be certified as a domestic violence counselor in order to work with Project SAGE.
“It means they can help us drive clients, move clients, take them to appointments or the grocery store,” van Ginhoven said.
Project SAGE officials said education about domestic violence should start early. The organization has developed a comprehensive curriculum spanning early childhood through grade 12 and visits schools throughout the region. The class of 2026 will be the first graduating class at Housatonic Valley Regional High School to have received all four years of training from Project SAGE.
Martha Stewart signing her new book at Trade Secrets 2025.Christine Bates
The organization’s partnerships extend throughout the region and include on-site training in schools and nonprofit organizations, including the Sharon Playhouse. Community support also goes directly to Project SAGE, including a recently donated array of colorful gift bags bearing positing affirmations and filled with toiletries and basic necessities from students at the Frederick Gunn School in Washington, Connecticut.
The people who visit Project SAGE have often left uncomfortable or dangerous situations and leave without any belongings.
“Some of them have nothing,” van Ginhoven said. “They just show up because they had the courage to leave.”
Project SAGE staff say many referrals come through local hospitals, police and sister agencies.
The organization serves people in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York.
With the stress of event planning mounting, van Ginhoven spent a “previous life” preparing for this exact moment. She spent 30 working at the intersection of arts and activism, having co-founded WAM Theatre, a Lenox-based organization focused on stories and issues affecting those who self-identify as women and girls. During her tenure, WAM donated $100,000 to 25 local and global organizations working toward gender equity in areas such as girls’ education, teen pregnancy prevention, gender-based violence, sexual trafficking awareness and midwife training.
“I love the adrenaline of putting on a show,” van Ginhoven said with a laugh. With the help of volunteers and organizers, she said she isn’t bothered by the stress.
“The show will go on,” she said.
Caroline Kinsolving and Gary Capozzielo at home in Salisbury with their dogs, Petruchio and Beatrice
“We met during the pandemic, a bleak time,” Kinsolving said. “On our first date, we met at The Hickory Stick Bookshop and walked outside six feet apart. We fell in love.”
They lived in a tiny studio near Averill Farm in Washington, Connecticut.
“He played his violin, I worked on my lines, we walked the dog, and suddenly we were circling each other perfectly,” Capozziello said with a laugh. “When I told her I was a violinist, she mentioned ‘Appalachian Spring’ by Aaron Copland. I sent her a recording of me playing it, and it became our song.”
“For our wedding, we wanted all our friends and family out in the field listening to that music,” Kinsolving said. Capozziello’s friends from Orchestra New England performed the piece at their wedding.
“Circus Fire,” written by Connecticut’s own Jacques Lamarre and directed by Jared Mezzocchi, is a multimedia world-premiere tribute to the Hartford Circus Fire. On July 6, 1944, the big top of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus caught fire, killing 167 and injuring 700 in Connecticut’s worst fire disaster.
Capozziello, who grew up in Fairfield, began: “I came from very limited means, though my parents gave me the kind of support that mattered most. I had a hard time in school. My music teachers, noticing my knack for music, kept me in school.” As he became a teenager, he realized how demanding classical violin truly is. “I had the honor of playing in a master class for Isaac Stern when I was 18,” he said. “That was the wake-up call. He was relentless with my intonation, telling me I must ‘feel the fire in my belly.’”
At SUNY Purchase, he “met a wonderful violin teacher who taught me to play, study and practice five hours a day.” After studying at the New England Conservatory, Capozziello earned his doctorate from The Hartt School in 2018. He now teaches at The Hotchkiss School and performs with the Hartford Symphony.
He explained that his role as assistant concertmaster is the direct line between conductor and musicians, and that the orchestra is “a family dynamic, a democratic unit, truly a living, breathing organism.”
Caroline Kinsolving and Gary Capozzielo Jennifer Almquist
On May 2, Capozziello was soloist with Orchestra New England, performing the world premiere of Neely Bruce’s “Concerto for Violin,” along with “The River” by Jan Swafford and Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” at Battell Chapel at Yale.
“I care about bringing classical music into communities and spaces where people may not expect it,” said Capozziello.“Music is most powerful to me when it feels alive, humanand accessible, not distant or formal.”
For 20 years, Kinsolving has acted in film, television and theater in London, New York and Los Angeles. “I was first onstage at Washington Montessori School playing Peter Pan,” she said. “I improvised a line, got a laugh and liked the feeling.”
She enjoys performing Shakespeare. “I love Titania’s monologue because it speaks to our current climate crisis. Lady Macbeth surprised me. I fell in love with her while I was doing it. I could play those scenes forever; so much range and depth to explore,” she said.
Kinsolving added, “I love Shakespeare’s comedies for the fun and rhythm. I have loved Rosalind, Viola, Olivia, Helena and Kate, yet the top of my bucket list is Beatrice. Each character reflects a shade of my soul. Shakespeare had the brilliance to illuminate them. If I ever get a tattoo, it will be a list of their names.”
Kinsolving, whose parents, poet Susan Kinsolving and author William Kinsolving, live in Lakeville, studied at Milton Academy, universities in China, and Vassar College. Her theater training includes Stella Adler Studio of Acting, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Yale Drama Intensive and she is currently studying online through Juilliard.. She founded Theatre for Good, which donates its proceeds to charity.
Both artists are looking forward to June, when they will have more time to spend with their dogs.
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