Topsfield’s Sustainability Advisory Committee and Topsfield Town Library are proud to co-sponsor a Speaker Series focused on creating a greener, more sustainable Topsfield.
Join us for the following four programs during Spring 2026:
Katie Hone: The Monarch Gardener presents "Sustaining the Monarch, One Yard at a Time (Thursday, March 26, 6pm, Library Activity Room)
Learn about the monarch butterfly – its natural history, migration, the reasons for its decline and the many conservation efforts that are currently underway along its migration pathway. Then experience an entire season of blooms that you can plant in your own yard to help monarchs and other pollinators.
Biography: Katie Hone has been gardening for her entire adult life. She is known for the riot of native flowers she planted at her Ipswich, MA property along the Ipswich River.In 2009 Katie left her dream job working with animals at the New England Aquarium to become a fulltime mom. She worked gardening into her daughter’s lives as a way to occupy them as well as teach them about plants while getting them dirty. In 2012 she was the recipient of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Slow the Flow Grant. This helped her transform her family’s Ipswich River-front property from the traditional foundation plantings they inherited from the former owners into a haven for wildlife, while also minimizing storm runoff into the river. When she added native milkweeds to the gardens she found monarch butterfly eggs on it and began raising them with her young girls. This spawned her love of monarchs and pollinator host plants.
Now Katie brings her knowledge of monarch butterflies and pollinator gardens to schools, garden clubs and community groups and encourages landowners and municipalities to plant milkweed and native plants. When she is not educating she’s exploring the Ipswich area with her family as well as working her dream job: running a small native plant nursery growing over 100 species of native New England perennials and shrubs. From May through September she sells these plants from her nursery, The Monarch Gardener, at Nutter Farm in Topsfield, MA.
Composting: Healthier Soil, Stronger Communities, and a Greener Planet (Thursday, April 9, 6pm, Library Activity Room)
We are excited to host Jon Laurie from Black Earth Compost to discuss composting. Our current trash system is not sustainable, so we will show how food scrap diversion is an essential piece of the puzzle when looking at sustainable practices. Finished compost helps to add nutrients back into our soil systems while sequestering more carbon and retaining moisture. Participating in composting programs is a great way to give back to your local community and feel good about where your ‘waste’ is going.
Think Recycling Is Just Getting Thrown Away? Think Again! (Monday, May 18, 6pm, Library Activity Room)
You’ve probably seen the headlines claiming that most recycling ends up in the trash. Not here! In Topsfield, curbside recycling really is recycled — and we can show you exactly how it works.
Join us for an inside look at what happens after your bin leaves the curb. We’ll share video and real data from our tour of the recycling facility where our community’s materials are sorted, processed, and sent to verified end markets. In fact, over 90% of our town’s recycling finds a new life.
Bring your toughest recycling questions — You’ll leave feeling confident, informed, and empowered to recycle right.
Let’s turn confusion into clarity — and keep recycling working for our community!
Presented by members of the Topsfield Sustainability Committee together with Town Hall staff.
Ipswich River Watershed Association: Water Conservation Tips and Best Practices (Monday, June 1, 6pm, Library Activity Room)
As part of our partnership, we are excited to host Molly Courson, Resiliency Program Director for the the Ipswich River Watershed Association. Join us for an informative evening to learn about practical ways to conserve water, creating a more sustainable landscape at home, and about how the Ipswich River Watershed Association is working towards a more climate resilient future for our watershed.
