Happy Wednesday!
New this week:
Women for Healthy Rural Living Offers Women’s Retreat
on Monhegan Island
Women for Healthy Rural Living is hosting a Women’s Retreat, “Insight and Inspiration,” on Monhegan Island the weekend of May 24-27, 2024. This getaway will provide a unique opportunity for respite and adventure, solitude and connection. Women will have the opportunity to explore artistic and creative passions, revel in a community of women, and bask in nature as you’ve never experienced it before. Monhegan provides the perfect setting—a place of magnificent splendor apart from the hustle and bustle of modern life. Registration runs through January 30th. Space is limited to the first 12 participants. This is a peer-to-peer fundraising event that supports WHRL’s Incredible Edible Milbridge program, a local food initiative that provides free produce and garden education to Western Washington County. To learn more, visit https://whrl.org/monhegan.
Plant Swap & Seed Sale Kickoff on Groundhog Day
On Friday, February 2nd from 1 – 5 pm, Porter Memorial Library invites families to bring in houseplants and seedlings for a plant swap and to support the Library by ordering seed packets through our annual Fedco Seed Sale fundraiser. The Fedco Seed Sale fundraiser will continue through March 8. Anyone who wants to order flower and veggie seed packets during that time can pick up a paper order form at the library, or shop online here. Fedco will donate 50% of the seed sale profit back to the library. Groundhog Day fun at the library includes a children’s activity with Children’s Librarian Julianne van Norden, a raffle (to win a shiny metal, Fedco lunchbox), and a book sale table featuring garden and nature books.
Cooking Matters Pop-Up
Join SNAP Ed Nutrition Educator, Shannon Cherry, at the Downeast Recovery Center during the monthly free produce day (Monday, February 5th) for an interactive pop-up store tour between 10 am and 2 pm. We will explore tips to stretch your food budget while learning about healthier options at the grocery store. All participants will receive a $10 Hannaford card. Download a flyer to share.
Winter Family Fun Day
The Downeast Coastal Conservancy invites families to Middle River Park in Machias on Saturday, February 24th from 11 am — 1 pm for sledding, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, a bonfire, hot dogs, s’mores, hot cocoa and a decorated cardboard box sled contest! (Download a flyer to share.) Prizes for best design and fastest down the hill! Register your sled here and check in with the registration table when you arrive. Questions? Email cathy@downeastcoastalconservancy.org.
February StoryWalk
The February 2024 StoryWalk® at Porter Memorial Library in Machias will feature the beloved children’s book, The Mitten, by Jan Brett. This charming children’s book tells the story of a lost mitten that becomes a cozy shelter for various woodland animals. As the mitten stretches to accommodate more creatures, the tale explores themes of kindness, sharing, and the interconnectedness of nature in a delightful and visually rich narrative. The StoryWalk® at Porter Memorial Library features a different book each month, carefully selected to be woven with themes tied to the season. As visitors stroll along the outdoor path, they can read the story. At the end of their StoryWalk® at Porter Memorial Library, visitors will find a healthy recipe inspired by that month’s book selection that they can make at home. Contact Shannon Cherry for more information.
Down East Spring Birding Festival 2024
Cobscook Institute’s annual Down East Spring Birding Festival on Memorial Day Weekend provides a unique birding experience during spring migration and the breeding season with four days of guided hikes, boat tours, and presentations, all led by local guides with local knowledge. The Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife has named the Down East Spring Birding Festival one of the best in the country, and Yankee Magazine listed it as an Editor’s Choice event in 2014. While birding, festival participants will enjoy the tranquility and great natural beauty of Down East Maine’s Cobscook Bay area. The region sports the greatest variety of habitats on the East Coast, including boreal and northern hardwood forests, bogs, fresh- and salt-water marshes, grassy and shrubby fields, streams and lakes, steep rugged headlands, extensive tidal flats, and coastal islands. Learn more and register here.
Child Care Start-Up Training
Have you been thinking about starting a child care business & being your own boss? Do you want to learn more about the business details of running a child care? Are you wondering how to make sure your child care business is profitable? Free training starts soon through the Child Care Business Lab, a program offered by Brunswick-based CEI that has helped over 30 new child care businesses to start in the last few years. The Child Care Business Lab integrates small business start-up education with child care management & coaching through the licensing & fire marshal process. Everyone who joins will learn how to write policies, create a business plan, create a financial forecast, apply for grants & loans and much more. The Child Care Business Lab is open to all Mainers interested in opening either a child care in their home or in a facility outside their home. More information, including registration, is available at Child Care Business Lab | CEI (ceimaine.org).
Family Caregiver support group
Eastern Area Agency on Aging invites family caregivers to a monthly support group at the Ellsworth Library every 2nd Thursday from 2-3:30 pm. Download our flyer showing all of our locations and our zoom support group for those who can’t make it in person.
Maine Legislative Memorial Scholarship
The Maine Legislature annually recognizes one student from each county who is currently pursuing or planning to pursue an education at a two- or four-year degree-granting Maine college or technical school. Administered through the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME), these awards are given to Maine resident high school seniors or full- or part-time postsecondary students accepted to or enrolled in accredited Maine colleges for graduate or undergraduate degrees. The 2024-2025 application cycle will open on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2024, and scholarship applications will be accepted until the deadline of May 1, 2024. Scholarship awards of $1,000 will be given to one student in each of Maine’s counties. Learn more here.