DEAR SUN SPOTS: The Garden Angel Committee is gearing up for 2017. The Garden Angel Project was the brain child of Susan Gill, geographical representative on the Franklin County Extension executive board.
In 2012, Gill pitched the idea that sustainable food can be very challenging for seniors, physically disabled, or low- or fixed-income people throughout Franklin County. It is also very important to have nutritional food which can sometimes be very expensive to maintain, she said.
She proposed a program that would supply people with vegetables and herbs, free of charge, for garden boxes made by volunteers, and other 5-gallon containers, which would include donated plants from the Whitehill Farm and Robin’s Flower Pot plus seeds from Farmington Farmers Union hardware and Renys. The boxes and containers would be filled with donated loam from E.L. Vining Co. and donated compost provided by John Perry.
She asked some friends for help and a committee was formed. The program has grown from eight recipients the first year to 24 recipients currently. The project is dependent upon volunteers throughout Franklin County to be able to build or repair boxes as needed, deliver loam, compost, plants and seeds to recipients, and give planting support plus growing and watering advice where needed.
Those who are interested in serving on the committee, helping coordinate the program or being a volunteer in the field are invited to come to our first meeting of the 2017 season on Tuesday, March 14, from 11 a.m. to noon at the Franklin County Extension Office. For more information, please call 207-778-3156. — Linda Gramlich, Secretary Garden Angel Committee.
DEAR SUN SPOTS: I want to thank your readers so much for the cards sent to the Lewiston Youth Advisory Council teens. They opened them on Feb. 21 before their presentation on TALK at City Hall. They were so pleased. They are the good side of our future. I appreciate the information about them that was added to my letter. The more people know about them, the better. I am also grateful to our fire department, which supports them. — Jeanne Raymond, Lewiston.
DEAR SUN SPOTS: About a month or more ago, I sent a request asking if the paper could place a link to the local weather on the Sun Journal website. I never did receive a reply. At one time, a link was offered and I really enjoyed that feature. Can you offer this link again? — Richard, no town.
ANSWER: The Sun Journal’s website will be launching some new features in the coming months, one of which will be a weather widget with current weather and forecast information. It should be a very handy feature, hopefully even more convenient than a link that brings you elsewhere.
If you are asking about the Sun Journal’s eEdition, the digital version of the actual newspaper, that forecast is provided by WGME 13. Because a url does not accompany the weather information printed in the newspaper, there is no link to click in the digital version. You can see WGME’s extended forecast information at wgme.com/weather.
Use the QR code to go to Sun Spots online for additional information and links. This column is for you, our readers. It is for your questions and comments. There are only two rules: You must write to the column and sign your name (we won’t use it if you ask us not to). Please include your phone number. Letters will not be returned or answered by mail, and telephone calls will not be accepted. Your letters will appear as quickly as space allows. Address them to Sun Spots, P.O. Box 4400, Lewiston, ME 04243-4400. Inquiries can be emailed to sunspots@sunjournal.com, tweeted @SJ_SunSpots or posted on the Sun Spots Facebook page at facebook.com/SunJournalSunSpots. This column can also be read online at sunjournal.com/sunspots. We’ve joined Pinterest at pinterest.com/sj_sunspots.
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