Ridgefield Conservation Commission

10/13/2026

Registration glitch for RCC Library Talk

A Registration glitch at the Ridgefield Library incorrectly implied that seats were not available for this Thursday’s talk at 7 pm on our successful Purple Martin colony. Nothing could be further from the truth and there are plenty of seats available. So go to its website and register or just show up and be amazed by a great narrative and photos. You might even get to see a snake!

10/12/2026

Purple Martins: A Ridgefield Success Story

McKeon Farm has become the location of one of the largest nesting colonies of purple martins in Connecticut with over 360 hatchlings in 2026. Learn about its start and success from Commissioner Allan Welby, this Thursday, October 15, 7 pm, at the Ridgefield Library. He will review the multi-year effort to establish this population of dive-bombing birds.

Allan is an avid (he would say "obsessed") birder. He leads bird watching trips and workshops for Connecticut and New York nature organizations and particularly enjoys introducing newcomers to the wonders of the bird world. Allan is also past president of the Chicago Ornithological Society and editor of its monthly magazine, The Undertail Covert.

10/12/2026

Join me this Thursday, October 15, 7pm at Ridgefield Public Library. I will be giving a presentation on "Purple Martins, A Ridgefield Success Story," covering a five year Conservation Commission project that established one of the largest breeding colonies of Purple Martins in Connecticut.

McKeon Farm has become the location of one of the largest nesting colonies of purple martins in Connecticut with over 360 hatchlings in 2026.

10/08/2026

09/26/2026

Pawpaws are in!

I think the most underrated and unknown (as well as the largest) native fruit in North America is the pawpaw (though some would argue that the persimmon deserves this placement). The Asimina triloba grows throughout the midwestern, southern, and eastern part of the United States. Its fruit, which is the size of a small mango and tastes like a cross between a mango and banana, is just becoming ripe now. It needs to be hand pollinated in Spring as its flowers start out as females and the transform into males. Pollen from male flowers must be transferred to female ones of a genetically different tree.

The fruit is very fragile, which is why it is rare to find any in stores or farm stands. It also has a vary short time between being ripe and rotten. And on top of that both the large seeds and skin are toxic! What's not to like? (RCC commissioners looked at the proffered fruit with some skepticism.)

But if you can get past all this you are in for a treat. If you can find them, give them a try. I don't think you will be disappointed.

09/23/2026

The Fall Newsletter is Out!

The RCC has just published its Fall Newsletter. Contents include:

Update on Taylors Pond Dam removal
Support for a lanternfly control project
Migration to battery-powered equipment

And Much More!

Check it out at https://ridgefieldconservation.org/so/1aQ1OF7Me?languageTag=en&cid=34ab09d3-1b0d-4a5b-adf1-6ed81217d250

09/20/2026

Visiting the McKeon Sheep

Wonder where the sheep at McKeon wondered off to last year? They are all on a lovely 100-acre-plus farm in nearby Lagrangeville, NY. Their shepherdess, Dr. Whitney Freeman, invited the Commission to visit them as well as tour their new home, an old apple orchard. Whitney is practicing the same type of regenerative agriculture that she did at McKeon Farm with amazing results after just one year. The fields are full of wildflowers, fresh grasses, and clovers. Small stands of woodlands with quaking aspens, shagbark hickories, sugar maples, oaks, and other native trees surround the fields. Sheep, pigs, turkeys, and cows meander about. From a high vantage point, you can spot the Catskills across the Hudson River. While we miss Whitney and her animals, we are proud of what she is accomplishing with land that used to be quarried and abused. If you want to visit her farm, she offers tours every second Sunday of each month (October is the last this year).

09/04/2026

Nature-friendly Landscaping

Autumn is actually the best time to plant and reconsider your gardens and lawns. Join RCC chairman Erik Keller for a discussion at the Ridgefield Library on Thursday, September 10, 7 pm, about nature-friendly landscaping practices. In his discussion he will cover a variety of options as to how best care for lawns, trees/shrubs, annuals/perennials, as well as the safe use of pesticides/herbicides/fertilizers.

Erik has been a member of the commission since 2019 and is a certified Master Gardener in Connecticut. He has also received certification in horticultural therapy from the New York Botanical Garden and is the author of the book, “A Therapist’s Garden”. You can register for the talk at https://ridgefieldlibrary.librarymarket.com/event/ridgefield-conservation-council-147134

09/02/2026

Apple Time at McKeon Farm

The Commission has been planting new trees at the McKeon Farm apple orchard for the past three years. Another quartet of heirloom apple trees (Hunt Russet) will be planted this fall. Commissioner Erik Keller recently visited the orchard and harvested five different types of apples. Among the batch he picked were a pair of Roxbury Russets, the oldest apple cultivar to be grown in the United States. (Its origin is pegged to Roxbury, Massachusetts, around 1635 and was planted in Connecticut around 1650.) The Commission hopes to reestablish the orchard over the next decade to produce the number and variety of fruits that it did in its heyday.

08/14/2026

There are many amazing things to spot in our neighborhoods if you just keep your eyes open. This morning, walking my dog, I spotted what I thought was an errant soccer ball. To my surprise and joy, it was actually a giant puffball mushroom nearly a foot in diameter. This edible fungus emerged after the torrential spurts of rain we have had in the last few days.