The gardens in Milbridge experienced their first fall frost around September 19th– brr! Thanks to our head gardeners’ succession planting, cool weather vegetables like beets and a variety of lettuces continue to be available to visitors to our two gardens. With that, the gardens are starting to be cleaned out and prepped for winter. It has been a great season, full of flowers, vegetables, volunteers, buzzing bees, and happy gardeners alike! If you’d like to volunteer to help settle the gardens before the cold descends, please reach out.
Word continues to spread about the IEM’s bountiful gardens. On September 2, News Center Maine came to the Commons and did a story on IEM. Check out the video below! A few days later, photographer Molly Haley came to photograph gardens at the Red Barn Motel and the Milbridge Commons for an article coming out in Downeast Magazine in November about communities doing good in Maine. IEM will be featured along with other communities around the state.
On September 24, Richard McMullen from McMullen Services came to prepare the yard behind 87 Main St. for our greenhouse. In October, Farmer Michael and other IEM team members will work on erecting a 15 ft. x 25 ft. gree
nhouse from Sunglo Greenhouses. This will allow us to extend our growing season and have a place to start seedlings come spring.
This year, the Victory Garden Project (VGP) made it possible for almost fifty families to have container gardens in their yards. The VGP was a collaborative project between several local organizations, including WHRL. We are now collaborating with Elin McKinnon from the Community Caring Collaborative to continue the benefit of the VGP by creating a monthly gardening newsletter. We hope to continue to support our community’s connection to and engagement with gardening through the winter.
As one season winds down, we are grateful for the bounty of the earth, the generosity of our community and the promise of the seasons to come.