Past Events
Winter Wonders Forest Bathing – A Guided Experience
Time: 1:30 -3:30 pm
Place: Pleasant Valley Preserve, McIntosh Rd, Lyme CT
Contact Email: regan@reganstacey.com
Enjoy a relaxing and peaceful guided forest bathing experience that will surprise you with all that is present this time of year. This guided session includes a gentle mindful movement practice, a sensory awakening meditation, and opportunities along the way to connect with nature. The session concludes with tea together in the forest.
Forest bathing is inspired by the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku – taking in the forest atmosphere. As a growing global wellness movement, it is backed by nearly 40 years of scientific research on the holistic benefits of immersing yourself in nature. These benefits include reduced stress and blood pressure, increased creativity and focus, improved mood and sleep, and a boost to immune functions. In addition to the health benefits, this practice offers a pathway of reconnection to our Earth, restoring our relationship with the natural world for the well-being of all.
Registration: $25 – includes the program and tea
Register here.
LLT members receive 10% discount with code LLT10.
Rain or shine event. Challenging weather cancels.
Ages 18+. No pets please.
Regan Stacey is an artist and advocate for the Earth whose passion is to reconnect humans to nature for personal and planetary well-being. Through her private practice, she offers forest bathing sessions and mindfulness in nature retreats.
She is also co-founder of The Forest Therapy School, training forest therapy guides to share this work around the world. Find out more about her work at reganstacey.com or theforesttherapyschool.com
Questions? Email Regan at regan@reganstacey.com
Tuesday Trek: Beebe Preserve – Jim
Time: 9:00
Place: Meet at the parking lot on Old Grassy Hill Road.
Contact Email: Jim.arrigoni@lymelandtrust.org
Presenter: Jim
Gentle 1-mile loop includes an overlook of a beaver wetland and many interesting stone formations along the way. If weather conditions allow, this trek may be suitable for snow shoes or cross-country skis.
Register: Jim.arrigoni@lymelandtrust.org
View the Tuesday Trek Schedule
FULL – Workshop – Propagating Pollinator Plants from Seed
Time: 3:00-4:15 pm
Place: Lyme Grange Hall, 2 Sterling City Road, Lyme CT
Contact Email: lymepollinator@gmail.com
This event is FULL – Including native plants in your garden is a great way to help pollinators. Expand your native plantings inexpensively by growing them yourself from seed. Join the Lyme Pollinator Pathway for this workshop with Jim Sirch Watch a slideshow to learn about the various native plants that can be grown from seed, discover different germination requirements for different kinds of seeds, and learn hands-on how to plant a plastic gallon jug filled with a seed selection to stratify over the winter. Proper after-care will be discussed.
This event is full. Email to be put on a waiting list. Space is limited. Registration required: lymepollinator@gmail.com
Save your empty gallon plastic milk/cider jugs. There will be a few plastic jugs available for those without. Bring garden gloves and a good pair of scissors or sheers to cut the plastic. Other materials will be supplied.
Jim Sirch is the recently retired Education Coordinator at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. He is on the board of the Hamden Land Conservation Trust and the CT Native Plant Working Group. A certified CT Master Gardener, Jim gives talks throughout the state on gardening for pollinators and growing native plants from seed and is dedicated to helping improve backyard biodiversity. Jim also authors a weekly nature blog at www.beyondyourbackdoor.net
Co-sponsored by the Lyme Pollinator Pathway and Lyme Grange CT 147
Canceled – Tuesday Trek: Selden Creek Preserve – Kristina
Time: 9:00 am
Place: Meet at the Selden Creek Preserve parking lot on Joshuatown Rd.
Contact Email: kristina.white@lymelandtrust.org
Presenter: Kristina
Canceled due to weather
Hike to both overlooks and view the creek in winter. 2 miles. Steep in parts.
Register: kristina.white@lymelandtrust.org
View the Tuesday Trek Schedule
New Year’s Day Celebration at the Lyme Public Hall
Time: 4:00-6:00 pm
Place: Lyme Public Hall, 249 Hamburg Rd, Lyme CT
Contact Email: info@LymePublicHall.org
You are cordially invited to the Lyme Public Hall’s traditional welcome to the New Year for the Lyme community, featuring live local music, refreshments, holiday cheer and historic videos from our Archives featuring charming scenes from Lyme’s past.
Come to greet new and old friends and celebrate the season of new beginnings together. We invite those who are so inclined to bring a favorite nibble to share (one that’s safe to set out at room temperature) and any special beverages you would like in addition to the coffee, tea, hot spiced cider and snacks we will provide. This event is free for all; we hope to see you there!
New Year’s Day 2025 Hike with the Lyme Land Trust
Time: Various times
Place: 3 different locations in Lyme
Contact Email: education@lymelandtrust.org
Start 2025 off with a refreshing hike in the Lyme woods. The Lyme Land Trust is offering three walks this year. Register with the walk leader for the time and location you prefer. Space is limited. You may sign up for more than one walk if space and time permits.
- 10:00 am: Gillette Castle State Park – Family Trail Time with Tori. Join Tori and family, including 3 yr old Kade and 1 yr old Quinn, for a “mile-ish” hike geared towards families with children under 5, but no age limit! Meet at the parking lot of Gillette Castle near the visitor center. Gillette Castle State Park, 67 River Rd, East Haddam, CT.
Register: vharris1391@gmail.com - 10:00 am to 12:30ish pm: Pleasant Valley Preserve with Tony Irving. Notice glacial geology and its effect on colonial agricultural practices on a moderate 3.5-mile walk with a long gentle incline to a spectacular overlook. Meet at pull-in parking lot, Macintosh Rd, Lyme, about 1/4 mile west of the intersection of Macintosh road and Rte 156.
Register: anthonyinlyme@gmail.com - 1:30 to 3:30ish pm: Johnston Preserve with Wendy Hill: Hike to beautiful overlook vistas of the hills of Lyme and to the highest point in Lyme at the headwaters of three watersheds. A moderate 2.5 plus miles. Meet at Johnston Preserve parking lot on the south side of Rte 82, about 1.5 miles east of the Hadlyme Country Market and 2 miles west of the intersection of Rte 82 and Rte. 156, Lyme.
Register: openspace@townlyme.org
For more information about the preserves and directions. Everyone is welcome. End times are approximate. Allow extra time. Bring a bottle of water. Inclement weather cancels. Check for updates on the LLT website.
Imagining Lyme–Photo Submission Deadline – Fall
Time: midnight
Place: Submit photos to Imagining Lyme website
Contact Email: education@lymelandtrust.org
Submit up to three of your favorite photos to share. The Lyme Land Trust program Imagining Lyme: A Visual Exploration of Lyme’s Preserves encourages everyone to expand their visual awareness and highlight the beauty of the Lyme preserves owned by the Lyme Land Trust, the Town of Lyme, The Nature Conservancy, or the State of CT by taking photographs prompted by inspiration from professional photographers and artists. Amateur photographers may submit photos. Photographers do not have to be residents of Lyme but all photos must be taken in Lyme in any of these places:
- Lyme Preserves owned and/or managed by the Lyme Land Trust, Town of Lyme, The Nature Conservancy, and the State of CT. View a map of the preserves
- Pollinator/wildlife habitat with native plants in Lyme – May be in a backyard, local farm, preserve or in a Lyme Pollinator Pathway garden in Lyme, CT.
- Trail 53 – The clear sky above Lyme.
For more information and to submit photos
Tree Collective- Teen Hike and Steward Group Meet-up
Time: 1:00-3:30 pm
Place: Register to learn location
Contact Email: reganstacey@gmail.com
The Tree Collective is a program designed to engage young conservationists ages 14-18 in outdoor fun and education while working to maintain trails in our beautiful town of Lyme, CT. It is sponsored by the Lyme Land Trust under the leadership of environmentalist/artist Regan Stacey. Each time we meet, we offer a different topic, often with a hike and trail work in a selected preserve.
Tools and gloves provided.
Registration required: reganstacey@gmail.com.
Click on flyer to enlarge.
Family Trail Time with Tori
Time: 10:00 am
Place: Roaring Brook Preserve, Day Hill Road, Lyme CT
Contact Email: vharris1391@gmail.com
Presenter: Tori Harris
Take a walk to the refreshing waters of Roaring Brook. Map of Roaring Brook Preserve. Join Tori and family on the 4th Sunday of every month for a “mile-ish” hike geared towards families with children under 5, but no age limit!
Kindly email vharris1391@gmail.com to register.
Tori is a Mom of two littles – Kade, 3 yrs, and Quinn, 1 yr. Hiking and wandering in the local preserves, has really given her family the safe space to let Kade run loose and has a calming effect on Quinn. Working full time, volunteering in many organizations and finding time to enjoy the outdoors with the whole family, can be tough, but it is worth it!
SOLD OUT – Winter Solstice Luminary Walk along Roaring Brook
Time: 4:00-5:30 pm
Place: Banningwood Preserve. 19 Town St., Lyme CT
Contact Email: regan@reganstacey.com
Sold Out. Celebrate the Winter Solstice with a Luminary Walk along Roaring Brook. Renew your connection with yourself and the Earth as we tap into nature’s rhythms and the four elements of earth, fire, water, and air on a guided meditative walk. A small closing ceremony will take place at the water’s edge as we then prepare for our return walk along the illuminated path. A restorative time of year, the winter solstice marks a solar turning point, where the darkest day turns the corner to renewed light and we welcome the season of winter—a rebirth of the sun.
Registration: FREE (donations to support Regan‘s offerings to the community are welcome)
Please register here.
Regan Stacey is an artist and environmentalist whose passion is to reconnect humans to nature for the betterment of themselves, their communities, and our beautiful planet, Earth. Through her private practice, she offers forest bathing walks, spiritual life coaching, and mindfulness training. She is also co-founder of The Forest Therapy School, training forest therapy guides to share this work around the world. Find out more about her work at reganstacey.com
