Trustees of Reservations

Winter on Crane Beach offers us a unique opportunity to go where we've never gone before - on the sand! Join us on a fun and educational oversand adventure as we explore the winter landscape of Castle Neck and Crane Beach. You will learn all about the natural history of the barrier beach as we keep a look out for winter wildlife including snowy owls!

Skip the pasta machine and get ready to use your hands to create orecchiette (little ears), cavatelli (dimpled pasta) and more with Chef Emily! This simple pasta dough has just three ingredients, and is easily shaped by both big and little hands. Parents and kids will work together to mix and knead their dough, shape the noodles, then share a delicious meal using local produce and meats from Appleton Farms. Chef Emily will use the finished pasta to demo an easy seasonal recipe and everyone will have time at the end to eat.

If you don't eat too much pie on Thanskgiving, you're not doing it right. Work off your feast and spend time together outside with a brisk hike through the dunes trails behind Crane Beach. The cool air, stark beauty, and natural stillness are a much better way to spend your day than braving the lines at the mall!

The Nisse – a farm elf from Scandinavian folklore – will visit Appleton Farms. While we wait for the Nisse to awake from his slumber in the hayloft, there will be children's holiday crafts, cookies and hot chocolate, and carolers. Upon his decent from the hayloft, the Nisse must be offered his porridge. If his porridge isn't just right, he will play tricks on the farmers and tie the cows tails in knots! If he likes his porridge, he will let us help spread the magic seeds bringing good fortune to the farm in the year ahead.