News

‘Thank You, Ms. Marianne’: Marianne Kay To Retire from New Canaan Nature Center Preschool

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It is with great sadness and joy that the New Canaan Nature Center is announcing the retirement of our beloved Preschool Director, Marianne Kay.  While we are sad to lose such a dedicated and loving early childhood education professional, but we are happy that she was able to make the decision that will allow her to travel, spend time with her family, and have fun pursuing her hobbies. Marianne Kay began her association with the New Canaan Nature Center 21 years ago, when her daughter, Elisabeth, attended the New Canaan Nature Center Preschool.  Marianne loved the program so much, that she agreed to come on as a part-time teacher just six months later.  From there she became a full-time teacher and then taking on the role of Assistant Director of the Preschool.  In 2011, Marianne was hired as the Preschool Director.  

In her 9 years as the Director, Marianne has poured her heart and soul into our Preschool.  Early childhood education is an exhausting challenge and takes a special kind of person to dedicate their life to cultivating and nurturing young minds.  She comes to work every day with a huge smile on her face, making our parents feel secure that their children are in such loving and capable hands.  

Marianne has grown our preschool not only in numbers, but its integrity as well.  Nature-based preschools are the fastest growing form of early childhood education, and the New Canaan Nature Center was the first nature-based preschool in the country.  Marianne and the teachers work tirelessly to ensure that our program lives up to the high standard they have created.  

The New Canaan Nature Center was extremely lucky to have Marianne Kay for the past 20 years.  As we begin our search for the next Director, we know the program will march on next year, since she has helped create such a strong program, and recruit and train such a wonderful teaching staff.  We know she will still volunteer and be part of our organization, so this is not a good-bye, but a heart-felt thank you and see you soon!

Grace Farms

Professor, Author and Visionary Conservationist Doug Tallamy to Speak in New Canaan

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Renowned author, professor and researcher, Doug Tallamy, will speak on the topic of his recently published book, “Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard.” Tallamy is best known for the national conversation he sparked more than a decade ago about the link between healthy ecosystems and human wellbeing. His first book, “Bringing Nature Home”, emphasized the irrefutably significant tie between native plant species, native insects and the rest of the food chain essential for a healthy world. Sponsored by the ten organizations that comprise the New Canaan Pollinator Pathway, Mr. Tallamy’s presentation will offer specific suggestions of how homeowners can turn their properties into conservation corridors and help make a difference for global biodiversity. The event will take place on Tuesday, March 3 at New Canaan Country School Auditorium, 635 Frogtown Road, starting at 7:30 pm (Doors open at 7:00 pm). Tickets are $15.

Bill Oestmann

Selectmen Vote 3-0 To Keep Nature Center Animals Cool

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Municipal officials on Tuesday approved an approximately $9,000 contract with a Shelton-based company to install equipment designed to keep cool several animals who live in a town-owned building operated by a venerable nonprofit organization on Oenoke Ridge Road. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 in favor of the $9,430 contract with M.A. Garamella, a figure that includes $1,230 in contingency funds. 

The new system at the New Canaan Nature Center Animal Care Building will replace a 20-year-old existing air conditioning unit that had failed, according to Bill Oestmann, the buildings superintendent with the New Canaan Department of Public Works. The project was on DPW’s “list to replace this year,” he said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. The DPW intends to replace the old unit with an air conditioning heat pump which Oestmann said will provide a number of benefits—for example, if the building’s boiler fails, “the heat pump can keep enough heat going to protect the building,” he said. “[It will] also help with the reptiles—when you lose heat in the building you’ve got to move all the animals out,” Oestmann said. 

First Selectman Kevin Moyinhan and Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams voted in favor of the contract.

Around Town

‘They Are Such Lovable, Amazing Animals’: Donkeys Move In at New Canaan Nature Center

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Bill Flynn, executive director of the New Canaan Nature Center, has watched these past five days as visitors to the beloved 13-acre property have gravitated toward a newly installed barn near its well-known “sugar shack.”

There, in a paddock flanked by chickens and goats, four rescued donkeys that have lived for years on a private property New Canaan have taken up residence. “People are just flocking to them,” Flynn said on a cool, overcast morning as preschoolers from the Nature Center’s program as well as First Presbyterian next door gazed on Poppy, Charlie, Tilly and Chipper. 

“It was a struggle for a year and the little bit to get through all of the red tape of them coming here, but people have been really excited and will have a great relationship with them because they are such approachable animals and so social,” he said. “It’s easy to have a connection with them.”

It’s been nearly one year since Flynn and the Nature Center applied to the town to install a new barn for the donkeys, whose longtime owner on North Wilton Road made arrangements for the animals (and still visits them twice daily) as she downsized to a different home within New Canaan. Plans for a single new structure that would house chickens and goats as well as the donkeys gave way, over time, to physically relocating the donkeys’ own original barn on North Wilton Road to the Nature Center itself. 

They moved in last Thursday. 

“The most exciting part is that it feels like this is just what it should be,” Flynn said. “The barn looks exactly the way it should be, it looks great, it fits in with the rest of the farm with the chickens and the goats and we’ve got the Sugar Shack, and groups just gravitate toward them.

New Canaan Nature Center

Syrup Saturday: A Pancakes & PJs Party!

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Saturday, March 9th
8:30am – 11:30am

Bring the whole family and join us for our annual end of syrup season celebration – you won’t want to miss our famously delicious Pancakes & PJ’s party, complete with TONS of fun syrup-related activities! We’ll be serving up flapjacks, syrup, and an array of tasty toppings in the Visitor Center, while leading tree tapping demos, a real maple sap “boil down,” campfire with marshmallows, and a real v. fake syrup taste test. All are welcome and encouraged to dress in their PJ’s! *Please note: While this event’s pancakes & pj’s party is indoors, all other activities take place outdoors!*

General Admission (continuous from 8:30am-11:30am)
Member: $8/person
Non-Member: $10/person
Kids Under 2: Free

Back by Popular Demand for 2019:
VIP Lounge Dining (at 8:30am or 10:00am)

Reserve your very own table and unique dining experience in the VIP Lounge of the NCNC Green House! Let our staff wait on you!