To register for the following events click on the "Calendar" link to the left and locate the event you would like to attend.

Birding at the Blue Ridge Center
with the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy
Saturdays, May 7, 28, June 25 and July 23, 2011.   Registration not required.
Meet at the Education Center at 8 am, Free program

Farm Tour and Plant Sale
Saturday/Sunday, May 21 and 22, 2011, Time: 10 am – 4 pm
Registration not required.
Come take part in free tours of Mountain View Farm and learn about the intricacies and importance of sustainable agriculture.  There will also be other vendors with products and information, as well.  Stop by the Nature Photography table and meet Leigh Scott, Exec. Director of BRCES.  Visit the BRCES information table to learn about all of our 2011 programs from Jeffrey Alvey, BRCES Program Director. With adult programs on gardening and sustainable living, and nature programs for children, BRCES will have something for everyone in 2011!

Ancestral Cooking Class: A Feast the Old-Fashioned Way
Sunday, May 22, 2011, Time: 1 pm – 6 pm
This class gives you the skills to be a stone-age chef! Join us for an original cooking class, taught by the experts from Earth Connections. Learn how to build a stone fireplace with reflector, and use it to slow roast venison on a spit, and a stone oven and steam pit to cook root crops. Grill ribs, sausages and spiced vegetables over the fire with an Algonquin-style green wood grill "Barbecue;” boil soup with hot rocks to make a rich broth of wild edible greens and shoots; and fry bacon and steaks on a stone frying pan. Traditional eating utensils, cooking containers and other subjects will also be covered. Vegetarians are welcome to come, and we’ll be sure that you have enough to eat – just be sure to let us know.  The dinner menu includes sassafras tea, venison roast from the spit, beef kielbasa, wild weed soup, rock-fried beef steaks, green wood grilled vegetables (including zucchini and squash), steam-pit-cooked potatoes and yams, and rock-oven-baked dessert (a surprise).

Registration: $75 per person ~ Attire: Comfortable outdoor clothing, closed toed shoes, and sunscreen.

Lost Ladybug Safari and Picnic Lunch
Saturday, June 11, 2011, Time: TBA
What’s red and black and a whole bunch of fun?  Ladybugs, of course!  Join us on a family-friendly safari for some rare species of ladybugs, which we will capture and photograph for researchers at Cornell — and then release.  The luncheon menu includes kid-friendly picnic foods:  pita sandwiches, walking salad (peanut-butter-and-raisin-stuffed apples), potato salad, trail mix, and fruit juice.

Registration:  $15/adult, $5/youth (Ages 6 to 18), 5 and under free ~ Attire:  Comfortable clothes, closed toed shoes, and sunscreen

Nature Scavenger Hunt and Picnic Lunch
Saturday, June 25, 2011, 11 am – 2 pm
Think you're a great detective?  Test your skills on this family-friendly competition!  We'll split into teams and roam around the Blue Ridge Center, searching for items on the scavenger hunt list.  You might just win a prize!  The luncheon menu includes:  Make-your-own sandwich platter (featuring fresh-baked breads with deli meats and cheeses), potato salad, homemade cookies, and fruit juice.

Registration:  $15/adult, $5/youth (Ages 6 to 18), 5 and under free ~ Attire:  Comfortable clothes, closed toed shoes, and sunscreen

Firefly Fling
Saturday, June 25, 2011, 7 pm – 9:30 pm
Fireflies (aka lightning bugs) are lighting up the night sky at the Blue Ridge Center. Join naturalist Cliff Fairweather of the Audubon Society to find out what fireflies really are, how and why they light up, why some fireflies are cannibals, and other cool things about firefly lives. After a firefly talk, we'll take a walk to look for fireflies and other creatures of the evening.

 Registration: $10/adult, $3/youth (Ages 6-18), 5 and under free ~ Attire:  Comfortable clothes with long pants, closed toed shoes