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Your Monthly News & Updates
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Photo by Maine Federation of Farmers' Markets
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August is the month to...
By Cathryn Kloetzli, Extension Professional in Agriculture and Food Systems, UMaine Extension Oxford County; and Trisha Smith, Home Horticulture Aide, Piscataquis County
Harvest vegetables! Check out this table, which gives an overview on how best to store and wash fresh fruits and vegetables to maintain excellent flavor and quality until you eat them.
Plan your Fair season! Maine's agricultural fairs are great educational entertainment for your entire family. Each fair has its unique charm and flavor. Find one near you, or travel to see something new! See the Maine Association of Agricultural Fairs website
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Protect and build soil health- Add "geen manures" aka
cover crops,
which you till into the garden. They outcompete weeds, add nutrients, conserve water, preserve soil structure, enhance microbial action in the soil, contribute organic matter, and more.
Keep your eye on weather conditions favoring Late Blight. MyPest Page tracks Weather, Plant Disease Risk, and Degree-Day/Phenology Models.
Check for insect pest damage to your plants by making "walk throughs" weekly. Look for leaf, stem, and blossom damage. Check the undersides of leaves for egg masses. Make an accurate identification of the pest(s) before making any treatments. Visit UMaine Extension's Insect Pests, Plant Diseases &Pesticide Safety website for fact sheets about common insect pests in Maine. Submit an Insect Specimen for free identification and diagnostic help.
Spruce up your lawn. Handle a few trouble spots or reseed your lawn.The best time to seed a lawn is from mid-August through mid-September. Late August is also the time to introduce beneficial nematodes for a biological approach to grub control.
Shop at farmers' markets for veggies you don't grow yourself, plus local meat, dairy, bread, flowers, and more! Find a farmers' market near you. August 6-13 is National Farmers' Market Week. Post pictures from your favorite market to social media with #lovemainemarkets in the caption be part of the story.
Drop in at Rogers Farm on a Tuesday evening with gardening questions, 5:30-6:30. 914 Bennoch Rd., Old Town. Call 942-7396 or email laurie.bowen@maine.edu for details. Demonstration gardens are open daily during daylight hours.
Be aware of the threat of ticks. Learn more about ticks at
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Upcoming Events and Activities-
Do you know of a class, activity, or event that may interest gardeners in Piscataquis, Penobscot, or Somerset Counties? Please forward information to trisha.smith1@maine.edu for possible inclusion in our next newsletter.
Check UMaine Extension's calendar for educational opportunities all over the state
- July 28-August 6-Bangor State Fair-click for schedule and information.
- August 6-13-National Farmers' Market Week
- August 8-Audobon-ding with Bangor Greendrinks, Fields Pond Audobon Center, Holden. 5-8 pm. $5 suggested donation, family-friendly. Proceeds from the event go toward helping Bangor Greendrinks provide grants to fund worthy projects that help make Bangor greener.
- August 10- Weed Identification Walk with Extension Educator Donna Coffin. Stutzman's Farm Stand and Bakery, Dover-Foxcroft, 6-8 pm. Free.
- August 10- Forever Farm Party, Balfour Farm 461 Webb Rd., Pittsfield. 5-8 pm. Free. Local food, drinks, and music. Family-friendly. Learn more about Maine Farmland Trust's work to preserve Maine's farms and communities.
- August 10-19-Skowhegan State Fair-Learn more here.
- August 15-Protecting Native Species with The Wild Seed Project-Camden Public Library, Camden. 7-8:30 pm. More details on Facebook.
- August 16-Raised Beds and Containers Gardening Series, Session 4: Extending Your Growing Season. UMaine Extension Somerset County office in Skowhegan, 9-11am. one or all of the classes. Register here.
- August 18-History of the Appalachian Trail in Eastern Maine, Monson Appalachian Trail Visitor Center, Monson. 7-9 pm. Free.
- August 18-20-Maine Apple Camp, Camp NEOFA, Liberty. $165 MOFGA members/$215 non-members. Registration includes housing and meals. Register online.
- August 19-Maine Permaculture Day 2017. 9-5, various sites around Maine. Admission is free, please pre-register. A list/map will be made available 10 days prior to the event.
- August 24-27-Piscataquis Valley Fair-Learn more here.
- September 1-4-Harmony Free Fair-Follow them on Facebook.
- September 2-Skowhegan Craft Brew Festival, downtown Skowhegan, 2-7 pm. www.skowhegancraftbrewfest.com FMI.
- September 9-Fall Field Day at Rogers Farm, 914 Bennoch Rd., Old Town,10-1pm, rain or shine. Free events, no registration needed.
- September 13-Raised Beds and Containers Gardening Series, Session 5: Using Your Harvest. UMaine Extension Somerset County office in Skowhegan, 9-11am. $20 for the series, take one or all of the classes. Register here.
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Located on Route 146 in North New Portland, Maine, 20 minutes from Skowhegan.
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Photo by Reeser Manley
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Northern Bayberry: A Resilient, Functional Native Shrub for the Sunny Maine Garden
By Marjorie Peronto, Extension Educator, UMaine Extension Hancock County
Morella pensylvanica, aka
Myrica pensylvanica (Northern Bayberry) is a native shrub that grows wild from Newfoundland to Maryland. Although it is reliably evergreen in its southern range, it is typically deciduous or semi-evergreen in Maine. Along the rocky coast in Acadia National Park, northern bayberry forms immense colonies of windswept, salt-sprayed plants that reach only two feet in height.
Because of its ability to tolerate heat and drought once established, landscapers often select this shrub when faced with poor sandy soils where few other plants will grow.
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| Photo by Lynne Holland |
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Not Your Grandmother's Cutting Garden
By Lynne Holland, Community Education Assistant (Home Horticulture), UMaine Extension Androscoggin and Sagadahoc Counties
In old crime films when they have no leads, they round up the "usual suspects" and try to pin it on one of them. While snow is still on the ground and plans are being made for the gardening season ahead, cutting gardens are not unlike that mystery with no clues - gardeners often fall back to the "usual suspects." As a floral designer with more decades of experience than I care to admit, I have always challenged myself to expand the definition of floral arranging options to keep things interesting throughout the year. My definition of and choices for a cutting garden might surprise you.
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Fair Season in Maine
By Trisha Smith, Community Education Assistant (Home Horticulture), UMaine Extension Piscataquis County
Maine has a rich tradition of celebrating summer and harvest seasons with agricultural fairs. The longest-running fair in the United States is the Skowhegan State Fair, which will celebrate its bicentennial in 2018. Fryeburg hosts Maine's largest, attracting 300,000 people every year. You could
visit a different Maine fair every week from the end of June through the first week of October!
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MASTER GARDENER VOLUNTEERS-PLEASE REPORT YOUR HOURS!
Check in with the MGV coordinator in your county. We appreciate all you do in our communities!
It's important that our county, state, and federal funders know about your efforts and impact in our communities. Choose the link to the online form for the county where you were trained (unless you have made other arrangements):
Extension's reporting deadline is September 30, but you may enter your hours anytime. Google forms will magically compile your entries!
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Food & Nutrition: The Cost of Preserving in Maine
By Kathy Savoie, Extension Associate Professor, UMaine Extension Cumberland County
In Maine, freezing and hot water bath canning are the two most economical means of preserving the harvest at home, according to a new study by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, just in time for this year's growing season.
The study, "The Cost of Preserving in Maine," by UMaine Extension Associate Professor and Registered Dietitian Kathy Savoie and Kate McCarty, Community Education Assistant, found freezing fruits and vegetables was most cost-efficient at an average 38 cents per pound including 16 cents in energy per pound, compared to 73 cents per pound including 01 cents in energy per pound using the hot water bath canning method.
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Volunteer and Employment Opportunities
Kids will be back to school soon! There is always a need for quality after school activities. If you're interested in working with youth, consider becoming a 4-H volunteer leader. Learn more about 4-H here, and find out what it takes to be a volunteer.
County Extension Association Executive Committees are crucial to the success of Extension in our communities. In partnership with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension staff, the Executive Committee of each County Extension Association assists with providing input on local educational programming needs, helps hire staff, and oversees the county budget appropriations that support educational Extension programs for county residents.
Read more here, and contact
your county's Cooperative Extension office.
Shared Earthly Blessings community garden in Dexter welcomes volunteers. Work days are Saturdays 9-11 and Wednesday afternoons at the Sherburne Farm, about 2 miles out of Dexter on the Ripley Rd (Rt 23). Produce is grown, harvested, packed, and delivered to local seniors. For more information call John Gornall at 207.924.5232.
Maine Harvest for Hunger-When you donate your fresh produce to a food cupboard, soup kitchen, shelter, school, or needy neighbor, please report using Harvest for Hunger's
online form or give your county Extension office a call. We love to document how generous Maine gardeners are!
University of Maine Cooperative Extension has employment opportunities across the state. Find the list
here.
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The Maine Food System, What's That?
University of Maine Cooperative Extension helps support, sustain, and grow the $3.9 billion food-based economy in Maine. We are the only entity in our state that touches every aspect of the Maine Food System, where policy, research, production, processing, commerce, nutrition, and food security and safety are integral and interrelated. Read more here.
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| Graphic by Michael Mendoza |
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If you eat, you are part of the Maine Food System!
You may also be growing food for yourself and/or others, supporting farmers' markets and CSAs, volunteering at food cupboards, community meals, or soup kitchens. If you aren't, we're trying to make it easier for you to get involved.
Organizations that address food insecurity with distributions of free food and meals exist in most communities. Many welcome volunteers as well as donations of food, including fresh garden produce in season. Access to refrigeration and timing of food distributions can limit an organization's ability to accept donations. It is best to contact them first. With this in mind, we aim to provide a comprehensive list of these organizations. Please do not hesitate to email trisha.smith1@maine.edu with additional or corrected information.
The Maine Food Atlas is an interactive mapping project created by the Maine Network of Community Food Councils and the Center for Community GIS. Explore or even contribute-The Maine Food Atlas relies on individuals to submit and update listings.
Click here to see a list of organizations tackling food insecurity in Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Somerset Counties.
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Organizations of Interest
Click the links to learn more, find a chapter near you, and get involved.
The Garden Club Federation of Maine National Garden Clubs, Inc. provides education, resources and national networking opportunities for its members, to promote the love of gardening, floral design, civic and environmental responsibility.
Maine Federation of Farmers' Markets' mission is to cultivate a vibrant, sustainable farmers' market community as a vital part of Maine's local food network. The Federation works with farmers, consumers, and communities to make wholesome, locally-grown foods available to all residents, to educate consumers about food resources, and to support farm viability.
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) The purpose of the Association is to help farmers and gardeners: grow organic food, fiber and other crops; protect the environment; recycle natural resources; increase local food production; support rural communities; and illuminate for consumers the connection between healthful food and environmentally sound farming practices.
Maine State Beekeepers Association
Northern Penobscot County Beekepers Association
The Grange provides opportunities for individuals and families to develop to their highest potential in order to build stronger communities and states, as well as a stronger nation.
To inquire about finding a nearby Grange, contact Walter Boomsma at
grange@boomsmaonline.com
Transition Towns The Transition Movement is comprised of vibrant, grassroots community initiatives that seek to build community resilience in the face of such challenges as peak oil, climate change and the economic crisis. Transition Initiatives differentiate themselves from other sustainability and "environmental" groups by seeking to mitigate these converging global crises by engaging their communities in home-grown, citizen-led education, action, and multi-stakeholder planning to increase local self reliance and resilience.
Transition Skowhegan meets every 1st Thursday at 6 pm, Skowhegan Public Library.
Contact Iver Lofving 474-7370 or Jason Tessier 474-4380
Dexter Dover Area Towns in Transition (DDATT) meets every first Friday at 6 pm, Abbott Memorial Library, Dexter. Contact Sam Brown 277-4221 or email info@ddatt.org
Wild Seed Project works to increase the use of [Maine] native plants in all landscape settings in order to conserve biodiversity, encourage plant adaption in the face of climate change, safeguard wildlife habitat, and create pollination and migration corridors for insects and birds. Check out their
Native Plant Blog.
Maine Agriculture in the Classroom promotes the understanding of agriculture and natural resources among students, educators, and the general public. Curricula and resources for educators and others working with young people. Check out newsletters and/or subscribe
here.
Maine Farm to School Network supports the rapidly spreading farm to school movement in Maine. This network knits together a wide diversity of students, teachers, school nutritionists, parents, farmers and groups who support child nutrition and Maine agriculture.
Search their resource database,
join the network.
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Mission
University of Maine Cooperative Extension is the major educational outreach program of the University of Maine with offices statewide. UMaine Extension provides Maine people with research-based educational programs to help them live fuller, more productive lives.
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Quick Links
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Mention or display of a trademark, proprietary product, or firm in text or figures does not constitute an endorsement and does not imply approval to the exclusion of other suitable products or firms.
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Contributors
Donna Coffin, Extension Educator
The goal of the Central Maine Gardening Newsletter is to connect gardeners with resources and events that encourage and inform.
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he University of Maine does not discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, including transgender status and gender expression, national origin, citizenship status, age, disability, genetic information or veteran status in employment, education, and all other programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies: Director, Office of Equal Opportunity, 101 North Stevens Hall, 207.581.1226.
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Open Monday - Friday
8 am to 4:30 pm
307 Maine Ave. Bangor, ME 04401 207-942-7396 or 800-287-1485
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Open Monday, Thursday, Friday
8 am to 4:30 pm,
Open By-chance on Wednesday
, Closed Tuesday
165 East Main St. Dover-Foxcroft, ME 04426 207-564-3301 or 800-287-1491
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Open Monday - Friday
8 am to 4:30 pm
7 County Drive Skowhegan, ME 04976-3117 Phone: 207.474.9622 or 800.287.1495 (in Maine)
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