Greetings!
Spring is right around the corner! And we're getting a head start on celebrating the season. Read on for tips for spring planting and seed starting, opportunities for adventuring outside and some great virtual and other COVID-safe events. We’re excited to introduce a new feature in this issue, where we’ll spotlight a community group making a difference in our state in every issue. We start with Black Owned Maine.
We hope this newsletter puts a little "spring" in your step and adds to your enjoyment of the longer, warmer days that WILL be here soon!
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Winter walking in Mèmak Preserve |
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Looking for a new local adventure destination? A mile-long hiking loop is ready for visitors at Mèmak Preserve, a 46-acre conservation area in mature woods at 78 Lufkin Road in North Yarmouth. The new preserve, managed by Royal River Conservation Trust (RRCT), has a small parking area, so plan ahead. Look for colored trail markers, watch for small stumps in the walkways and be careful if there’s a light covering of snow on ice on the one hill in the mile-long loop. Depending on the season, these woods are filled with woodpeckers, warblers and wildlife and are formed by a diverse mix of red oak, white pine, hemlock, beech, red pine and maple. Fun fact: Mèmak (pronounced like MEMIC) is a Wabanaki word for pileated woodpeckers, associated with luck and friendship in the culture of Maine’s first people. |
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Rose Barboza turned her anger and sadness from the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, into action. Her brainchild, Black Owned Maine, started as a simple online directory of Maine businesses owned by Black people, populated with the companies she knew off the top of her head. Eight months later, it has become a comprehensive resource, a community for entrepreneurs, a funder of grants to families, a content company – and Barboza’s full-time job.
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Is your green thumb tingling? |
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Now's the time! If you are as excited as we are that March marks the start of spring - on the calendar at least - you may also be itching to start your garden. As you plot where to plant your broccoli and cabbage, among other early starters, there are several seeds you can get going indoors today.
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Outdoor adventures in Katahdin |
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Mile-high Katahdin dominates the northcentral Maine landscape for miles around, its great granite walls and ridges drawing visitors to recreate year-round amid the pristine woods and waters in its long shadow. During winter, opportunities abound for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and sightseeing fun in the wild region around the state’s highest peak.
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Eating OUT? Or bringing IN? |
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We're continuing to update our roundup of socially distanced places to eat OUT this winter in dining domes, greenhouses, and fishing shacks and our roundup of places to eat IN with take-and-bake dinners, local meal prep kits and other moveable feasts. Choose your own culinary adventure! |
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Maine Maple Sunday is back! |
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Sweet! Maine Maple weekend is back this spring the weekend of March 27-28. Participating sugar shacks all over Maine will be boiling syrup, giving sugarbush tours, serving “sugar on snow” and selling jugs of syrup. Please wear a mask—and try not to get it stuck to your face! Plan your weekend at getrealmaine.com.
Photo of Maple Maple Sunday at Merrifield Farm in Gorham by Amy Paradysz.
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SeaChange Yogathon (in your jammies, if you want to) |
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SeaChange Yoga brings trauma-informed yoga and meditation practices to Mainers struggling with substance use disorder, housing instability, incarceration, pandemic-induced isolation and the stresses of isolation. To support their work, register for the March 21 virtual all-levels Yogathon, featuring guest presenters such as Jacqui Bonwell, Michelle C. Johnson and David Vaughan. Sliding-scale pricing allows you to pay what you can, starting at $35.
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Manage your home to reduce the risk of COVID-19 |
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With COVID-19 on everyone's minds, indoor air quality has never been more important. Christine G. Crocker, executive director of the Maine Indoor Air Quality Council, has tips on how to keep our homes as healthy as can be.
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Our friends at Nomads celebrated their 25th anniversary recently. Congratulations!
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Online, Maine Audubon
Online, Revision Energy
Online, Maine Audubon
Online, UMaine Cooperative Extension
Online, Bicycle Coalition of Maine
Online, YIMBY Portland and Backyard ADU's
Online, E2Tech
Online, a fundraiser Seachange Yoga
Online, UMaine Cooperative Extension
Online, MOFGA
Online, Coastal Pharmacy & Wellness and Whole Woman Health
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The SunriseGuide is a mission-based media company born out of the belief that business can be a force for positive change. For us, that mission is to help our readers live happier, healthier, more sustainable lives, while helping Maine's sustainable businesses grow and prosper. Will you join us?
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The SunriseGuide, LLC | PO Box 163, Westbrook | (207) 221-3450
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