Astronomy
Join our knowledgeable team of volunteer astronomers on Astronomy Hill for views of constellations, star clusters, planets, and more! Gaze through the telescopes, hear stories about the stars, watch a...
Join our knowledgeable team of volunteer astronomers on Astronomy Hill for views of constellations, star clusters, planets, and more! Gaze through the telescopes, hear stories about the stars, watch a...
Join us for a fun-filled evening that includes a night hike, treats around the campfire, night sky viewing, and a celebration of our nocturnal neighbors! Wake up with the sunrise,...
Join us in a celebration of the world’s turtles. Come meet our resident turtles and tortoises and learn what makes each special. Free. Registration is required. Register Here
Join us in a celebration of the world’s turtles. Come meet our resident turtles and tortoises and learn what makes each special. Free. Registration is required. Register Here
Connect with the local landscape by learning to identify trees using their silhouette, branching patterns, leaf shapes, bark, and more. Join arborist Robert Finch for a fun and informative hike...
Come learn a variety of common embroidery stitches while creating either a sampler style or small flower pot design. Finished work will be displayed in a small hoop. This program...
Are you interested in learning a new skill? This introductory course will guide crafters through the basics of working with leather and its tools. Come create a leather pouch using...
Join us for nature stories and related activities as we explore the seasons. Activities may include live animal encounters, nature crafts, walks on the property, and more. This will include...
Shhh, it’s a surprise! Let us help your child create a unique gift for that special someone this coming Father’s Day. This program is: $15 per Member child, $20...
Take a break from your busy schedule and spend an afternoon visiting our farmhouse gardens. Enjoy our Fred Schroeder Pollinator Garden, which will be brimming with native plantings, bees, and...
Join us for nature stories and related activities as we explore the seasons. Activities may include live animal encounters, nature crafts, walks on the property, and more. This will include...
Every three years, we partner with the Redding Garden Club to bring you a self-guided tour of several private gardens here in Redding, CT. This year will include a joyful...
Join our knowledgeable team of volunteer astronomers on Astronomy Hill for views of constellations, star clusters, planets, and more! Gaze through the telescopes, hear stories about the stars, watch a...
Enjoy a woodland walk as you search for mushrooms with Joe and Kathy Brandt and other amateur mycologists from the Connecticut-Westchester Mycological Association. Learn how to identify the mushrooms that...
Spend a lovely evening with friends and neighbors as you enjoy our summer gardens and pastures while dining on delicious freshly harvested foods from the farm, all creatively prepared by celebrated chef, Anna Llanos.
101 Marchant Rd West, Redding, CT 06896
Phone: (203) 938-2117
Email: info@newpondfarm.org
Learning Center Hours: 9 AM-5 PM
Dairy Annex Hours: 7 AM – 7 PM
© 2025 New Pond Farm Education Center, All Rights Reserved. Website by Social Graces Communications.
An Avian Success Story: In the early 1900s European Starlings and English Sparrows were introduced into the northeast. For decades, these aggressive cavity nesters out-competed the more docile bluebirds for nest sites, so their populations were in serious decline. Environmental groups and individuals came to the rescue. Wooden nesting boxes were installed throughout the area and thankfully the Bluebirds proved to be quite adaptable, successfully raising their families in these new homes.
As you walk through our lower pastures and wildflower meadow, you may be fortunate enough to see bluebirds sitting on our nesting boxes. The males have brilliant blue plumage on their wings and back, a rusty colored breast and sides, and white undersides. The wings and back of the females are a more subtle grayish blue.
Once you learn the warbling vocalizations of these members of the thrush family, you will hear them frequently throughout your walk.
In addition to the many insects that make up their summer diet, our bluebirds feast on the berries of native shrubs throughout the fall and winter. We have planted stands of native winterberries (Ilex verticillate) and flowering dogwoods (Cornus florida) to add to our native staghorn sumacs (Rhus typina), and elderberries (Sambucus nigra).
Another bird that DEEP considers a species of special concern is the Purple Martin. Once commonly seen flying over open agricultural lands across the State, these aerial acrobats have been in decline for decades due to lack of open fields and pastures, lack of suitable nesting sites, and competition from aggressive non-native European starlings and house sparrows
For several decades, conservation efforts have been in place across the State to bring back the Purple Martins, and efforts are paying off! Arrangements of specially-sized, artificial hollow gourds have been hung from tall poles in appropriate habitats. Groups like the CT Audubon Society have well established banding programs, and DEEP reports that the Martin populations are on the rise.
New Pond Farm’s pastures seem like a perfect habitat, so during the nesting season, we too have positioned an arrangement of hanging gourds near the white fenceline along the pasture. If you venture over here during the early morning hours in the spring, you may hear the loop of pre-recorded twittering calls that we play in an attempt to attract any migrants. So far, we have just attracted a few scouting birds. Hopefully the spring of 2024 may be our lucky year
Back in the 1980s, a pair of kestrels nested reliably in a box positioned in the large sugar maple along our Farm Road. These exquisite, robin-sized, falcons were an absolute joy to behold as they would soar, hover, and plunge over the pastures and lawns searching for insects, small mammals, amphibians, and reptiles.
For many years we have been without a nesting pair, and for the past several decades DEEP has listed American Kestrels as a species of special concern.
Working with Art Gingert, who is well known in the State for his decades of d devotion to reestablishing nesting pairs of kestrels, we have installed a kestrel box on the eastern side of our pasture. No takers yet, but the box will be back up early in the spring of 2024, and we are hopeful.