Homesteading Group: Rooted Together
| Date | Thursday, May 1, 2025 |
| Time | 6:00 – 7:30 pm |
| Description | Rooted Together Homesteading Community is for anyone who homesteads, or wants to learn more about homesteading (think seed starting, transplanting, backyard poultry, small-scale farming, being self-sufficient, canning and preserving, and more). Come together to share ideas, troubleshoot, and more. Rooted Together Homesteading Community will focus on gardening the meeting on Thursday, May 1st. Topics of discussion could be seed starting including seed germination, choosing which seeds to start and when to start them as well as containers for planting. Additionally, conversations around transplanting may occur including focusing on when and how to harden off plants and preparing the soil for transplanting. Conversing about direct sowing of seeds, garden troubleshooting and networking with fellow homesteaders will also take place. Finally, we’ll have a seed swap. Please feel free to bring any seeds you have from the last 3-4 years that you’d like to contribute to the swap. You do not need to bring seeds to participate in the seed swap. |
| Location | Proudfit Hall |
| Registration | No registration needed |
| Contact | 518-854-7463 or slm-director@sals.edu for questions |
Dinner and a Documentary
| Date | Friday, May 16, 2025 |
| Time | 6:00 – 8:00 pm |
| Description | Bring your own dinner (microwave is available) and join together with other people to watch a documentary. Bancroft Library will show Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us? This documentary was created more than a decade ago, but still resonates with its story of the importance of pollinators to farms and ecosystems. QUEEN OF THE SUN: What Are the Bees Telling Us? is a profound, alternative look at the global bee crisis from award-winning filmmaker Taggart Siegel, director of REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN. Taking us on a journey through the catastrophic disappearance of bees and the mysterious world of the beehive, this engaging and ultimately uplifting film weaves an unusual and dramatic story of the heartfelt struggles of beekeepers, scientists and philosophers from around the world including Michael Pollan, Gunther Hauk and Vandana Shiva. Together they reveal both the problems and the solutions in renewing a culture in balance with nature. Have a suggestion for another Dinner and a Documentary screening? Let us know! Anyone is welcome to come to the event! |
| Location | Proudfit Hall |
| Registration | No registration needed |
| Contact | 518-854-7463 or slm-director@sals.edu for questions |
“Car”dboard Box Car and Drive-In Movie
| Date | Saturday, May 31, 2025 |
| Time | 11:00 am |
| Description | The last Saturday in May, Mrs. Stokem and Mrs. Hickland will lead a fun class for kids: making a car out of a cardboard box. After the boxes have been painted, paper plate wheels added, and cars adorned with fun embellishments, children can “park” in their cars to watch Disney Pixar’s Cars shorts film (approximately 20 minutes) |
| Location | Proudfit Hall |
| Registration | Registration is helpful. Program has limited supplies. |
| Contact | 518-854-7463 or slm-director@sals.edu for questions |
Build a Bluebird House
| Date | Saturday, June 7, 2025 |
| Time | 10:30 am – 11:30 am |
| Description | Bancroft Library will provide pre-made bluebird house kits courtesy of volunteer Mark Cooney and the Bancroft Bird Watchers group. Families or individuals are welcome to come to this program and assemble your birdhouse. Paint will also be available if you would like to decorate your constructed box! Participants will leave with info on bluebirds and instruction sheets to build future birdhouses. |
| Location | Proudfit Hall |
| Registration | Registration is Required. Limit of one box per family group/individual |
| Contact | 518-854-7463 or slm-director@sals.edu for questions or to register |
Bird Talk: Avian Research at the Albany Pine Bush
| Date | Thursday, June 26, 2025 |
| Time | 6:00 pm |
| Description | Inland pine barrens are a rare yet important habitat for shrubland birds in the northeastern U.S. However, many of these ecosystems are limited to fragmented remnants in heavily urbanized landscapes. The 3,407-acre Albany Pine Bush Preserve protects the remnants of an inland pine barrens following decades of loss, fragmentation, and degradation due to human development, species invasions, and fire suppression. To understand the effects of their protection efforts, researchers have been monitoring the response of bird populations at the Pine Bush, conducting point counts, capturing birds to band and release, and documenting the territory fidelity of two target shrubland birds: the Prairie Warbler and the Eastern Whip-poor-will. Neil Gifford will provide a synopsis of the individual studies and conservation work being conducted there and share that their efforts have had a positive impact on the local shrubland bird community. |
| Location | Proudfit Hall |
| Registration | Registration is helpful. Program has limited supplies. |
| Contact | 518-854-7463 or slm-director@sals.edu for questions |