3 Things You'll See at Land's Sake in Sunday's Forestry Festival

Though the morning will be full of wonderful presentations and talks by respected figures in New England forestry at the Recreation Department (register here to attend morning panels), the real excitement for the public will be at the free Forestry Festival at Land’s Sake Farm at 90 Wellesley Street in the afternoon.

1. Local Craftsmen and Furniture Makers

Ellen Kaspern, Frank Hamm, and Marc Thibeault will all be set up to demonstrate their crafts. Ellen Kaspern, a graduate of the North Bennet Street School in Boston, custom designs and builds furniture and cabinetry. She will be demonstrating techniques used to make decorative inlays. Frank Hamm will be building a trellis made from local pieces of eastern red cedar. Marc Thibeault, a craft furniture-maker who works with 17th century techniques, will be using a single log of red oak to create a stunning piece of furniture throughout the event.

2. UConn Woodsmen Team

Have you ever seen a team of lumberjacks and jills racing to saw and chop their way through logs? We’ll have the UConn Woodsmen Team demonstrating and practicing some of their exciting events throughout the festival. You can even join a team member in trying your hand at the two-man crosscut saw!

3. Man vs. Machine Woodsplitting Competition

Who can split and stack half a cord of wood faster: two people using a modern log splitter or two people using mauls and brute strength? Come see the competition and find out!

There will also be a Wild Edibles Walk guided by expert Russ Cohen departing Land’s Sake at 2:45, a portable sawmill and wood splitting tutorials. Stop by the informational tables from the American Chestnut Foundation, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, National Grid, and the New England Forestry Foundation to learn about the exciting and important projects they have going on, and bring your kids to visit with Farmer Amy and learn about tree rings. There may even be some crafts for kids!

Visit Land’s Sake’s website for more information and a full schedule of activities for the day.