Discover engaging opportunities to explore seasonal recreational activities, learn about the historical connections to winter in the Kennebec region, develop new skills, and embrace the joy of the season. With interactive experiences for all ages, this celebration invites everyone to uncover new hobbies and enjoy the beauty of winter.

Join us for a family literacy snowshoe adventure!

Wander through serene, snow-covered trails with ease using snowshoes and enjoy a story along the way! 

Perfect for the whole family! 

Sleds and snowshoes are available for use on a first come, first served basis. 

About the Instructor

Collaborative Outdoor Education is led by Kelli M Gilzow Stowell, Outdoor Educator from Augusta Adult & Community Education. Family Literacy is appropriate for all ages, abilities, and can usually be modified for inclusivity!

Experience the thrill of fishing at a frozen lake! Learn to use an auger, bait and set your trap! 

Ice fishing equipment is available for use. Stay for a short while, set your own trap, and enjoy some time on the pond! 

About the Instructor

Collaborative Outdoor Education is led by Kelli M Gilzow Stowell, Outdoor Educator from Augusta Adult & Community Education. Family Literacy is appropriate for all ages, abilities, and can usually be modified for inclusivity!

Experience spring through nature journaling!

Using a combination of approaches to reflect what we've seen; we will draw, use prompts to evoke and scavenge for delight! Journal will be provided! 

About the Instructor

Collaborative Outdoor Education is led by Kelli M Gilzow Stowell, Outdoor Educator from Augusta Adult & Community Education. Family Literacy is appropriate for all ages, abilities, and can usually be modified for inclusivity!

This is a four-session workshop held on Tuesdays from 6:30-8pm. Session dates are April 1, 8, 15, and 22. Registration includes all four weeks.

Join us for a creative and inspiring workshop that combines birdwatching, writing, and art to deepen your connection to nature. In this four-session workshop, we’ll read and discuss select passages from The Backyard Bird Chronicles and use these as inspiration to create illustrated journals of our own bird observations.

Amy Tan’s delightful book The Backyard Bird Chronicles demonstrates how careful observation and recording of the activities of the feathered visitors to our yards and feeders can turn these mysterious wild creatures into familiar friends, each with its own story to tell.

Through in-class lessons and take-home exercises, participants will:

• Learn the basics of nature drawing and writing.
• Develop skills in observing and recording bird behavior.
• Cultivate a creative practice that fosters a deeper appreciation for the natural world.

Each participant will receive a blank book for their backyard bird journal, and art supplies will be available for use during class. This workshop welcomes participants of all experience levels—no prior writing, art, or birdwatching skills are required.

To fully enjoy the workshop, participants should have access to:

• A place to observe wild birds outside of class.
• A copy of The Backyard Bird Chronicles.
• A field guide to birds.
• Basic art supplies (pencil, pen, and colored pencils) for at-home exercises.

Accessibility Information

We aim to make this class as inclusive as possible. Please reach out if you have accessibility concerns to see how we can accommodate.

• Location: The venue is wheelchair accessible, with accessible restrooms
• Seating and Workspace: Tables and chairs are provided

About the Instructor

​Andrea Lani is the author of Uphill Both Ways: Hiking toward Happiness on the Colorado Trail (Bison Books 2022). Her writing has recently appeared in Still Point Arts Quarterly, Northern Woodlands, and Labor of Love: A Literary Mama Staff Anthology, among other publications, and she's a regular contributor to Green & Healthy Maine Magazine. She's been honored with two Hewnoaks Artist Residencies, has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and was a finalist in the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance 2024 CrimeFlash fiction contest. Andrea has degrees in human ecology and creative writing from College of The Atlantic and the Stonecoast MFA Program and was an editor at Literary Mama for nine years. ​As an Author Accelerator certified book coach, Andrea guides emerging writers in developing and revising novels and memoirs, and as a Maine Master Naturalist, she teaches nature writing and nature journaling workshops around the state. She lives in central Maine.​​​

Website: www.andrealani.com

Have you ever wanted to make delicious meals over a fire? This hands-on class is perfect for outdoor enthusiasts and aspiring backcountry chefs! Together, we’ll explore a variety of cooking techniques and recipes that will elevate your outdoor cooking skills.

What You'll Learn

• Cooking with a Dutch oven: hearty meals and baked goods made easy.
• Using pie irons for creative and tasty dishes.
• Grilling over an open fire and cooking with simple wood sticks.
• Mastering camp stove cooking for a variety of meals.
• Baking cookies in a Coleman oven—yes, you can bake outdoors!

This class includes a feast of food, so be sure to bring your appetite! You’ll leave with new skills, favorite recipes, and the confidence to create gourmet meals under the stars.

What to Expect

• A fun, interactive class with plenty of hands-on opportunities.
• All tools, ingredients, and equipment will be provided.
• Recipes and techniques are designed for beginners and seasoned campers alike

Accessibility Information

We aim to make this class enjoyable and welcoming for all:

• Location: The venue is wheelchair accessible, with accessible restrooms.
• Physical activity: Participants will be standing and moving around, with some lifting and handling of cooking tools. Chairs will be available to all participants. Please reach out to discuss accommodations if needed. 
• Dietary considerations: Let us know of any dietary restrictions or allergies, and we’ll do our best to accommodate.

About the Instructor

Wood Thrush Wilderness is an outdoor guiding and educational business that helps people connect more deeply with themselves and the natural world. As Licensed Recreation Maine Guides, we offer guided canoe expeditions throughout the state of Maine. We also offer classes and training in outdoor education, wilderness medicine, and traditional crafts such as basketry. 

Website: https://www.woodthrushwilderness.com/

Register early and save! Only $250 if you sign up by April 15th—price increases to $275 on April 16th.

Members recieve a 10% discount on this program! 

Click here to become a member! 

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Sit in the grass. Trace raindrops down a windowpane. Examine a tree. Take a walk.Watch the light reflect off stone sculptures. Observe. Immerse. Beauty is everywhere.

In this 6-week workshop, held at Viles Arboretum either outdoors or indoors dependingon the weather, we will write poetry in response to the landscape by using observational journaling and fresh poetic techniques.

If you love learning about nature and learning new tools to expand your poetry practice, this workshop is for you. Go out into a field, agrove, a barn, and write poems about what is all around you, and how you are part of itall. From romantic poetry to ecopoetry, this workshop will inspire poetry that, as Joseph Campbell says, “to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match yournature with Nature."

Workshop Schedule

5/21 - Week 1—Seeing. Craft technique: Imagery.Welcome, Introduction, free write, craft lesson, nature writing. HW: complete poem.

5/28 - Week 2—Listening. Craft technique: Anaphora.Introduction, free write, craft lesson, nature writing. HW: complete poem.

6/4 - Week 3—Feeling. Craft technique: Syntax. Introduction, free write, craft lesson, nature writing. HW: complete poem.

6/11 - Week 4—Remembering. Craft technique: Still Life poems. Introduction, free write, craft lesson, nature writing. HW: complete poem.

6/18 - Week 5—Desiring. Craft technique: Portrait poems. Introduction, free write, craft lesson, nature writing. HW: complete poem.

6/25 - Week 6—Imagining. Craft technique: Modern sonnets. Introduction, free write, craft lesson, nature writing. Share favorite poem written.

About the Instructor

Meghan Sterling lives in Gardiner, Maine with her family. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Rhino Poetry, The Los Angeles Review, Rattle, Colorado Review, Pinch Journal, Radar Poetry, Rust & Moth, SWIMM, The West Review, Pirene’s Fountain, the Inflectionist Review, Rise Up Review, the Mom Egg Review and many others.  Her chapbook, How We Drift, was published by Blue Lyra Press. She was Featured Poet in Frost Meadow Review’s Spring 2020 issue, a Dibner Fellow at the 2020 Black Fly Writer’s Retreat, and a Hewnoaks Artists’ Colony Resident in 2019 and 2021. She was co-editor of the anthology, A Dangerous New World: Maine Voices on the Climate Crisis, published by Littoral Books.  Her debut full-length poetry collection, These Few Seeds (Terrapin Books) came out in 2021 and was shortlisted for the Eric Offer Grand Prize Award. Her second full-length collection, View from a Borrowed Field, won Lily Poetry Review’s Paul Nemser Book Prize and came out in March 2023. Her chapbook, Self-Portrait with Ghosts of the Diaspora (Harbor Editions) came out in April 2023. Her third full-length collection, Comfort the Mourners (Everybody Press) came out summer 2023. You Are Here to Break Apart (Lily Poetry Review Press), is forthcoming in 2025 and Sick Poems from the Lovebed (Harbor Editions) is forthcoming in 2026. When she isn’t writing poetry, being a mom or swimming, she teaches workshops and works as a professional writer.

This program is part of the L.L. Bean Outdoor Discovery Program. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

How many species can you spot? L.L.Bean’s skilled guides have teamed up with a local birding expert, Casey Hynes, to lead you on a quiet, slow-paced hike through one of Maine’s top birding locations. After a quick refresher on how to tune your binoculars, you’ll embark on an easy walk through woodlands and open fields, listening and looking for the many birds that make these areas home – with plenty of educational narration along the way.

Participants with all levels of birding experience are welcome. Binoculars will be provided.

Months of Operation: May-October

Duration: Approximately 2 hours

Begins: Varies

Age Requirements: Minimum Age: 12 (17 & under with parent/guardian)

Registration: This program is part of the L.L. Bean Outdoor Discovery Program. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER