The Hawthorn

The Hawthorn

Fall 2013

2013 HOLIDAY BAZAAR

The Merry Elves Make It Happen The Merryspring Holiday Bazaar could not happen without the “Merry Elves.” These wonderful volunteers have been gathering in the basement of the Ross Cen-ter on Wednesday afternoons (and some other days, too) during the months of October and November to craft their special nature-based items for the Holiday Bazaar. The ideas they come up with are truly “super” natural. And they do this every year for the joy of helping Merryspring and the thrill of watching “their” handmade gifts being enjoyed by so many holiday shoppers.

Members Only Dec. 5 Open to Everyone Dec. 7 Mark your calendars now so you won’t miss the Merryspring Holiday Bazaar on Christmas by the Sea weekend. Always a special event, the Bazaar gives you an opportunity to double your gift-giving, since every purchase of our wonderful holiday decorations and gifts goes to benefit Merryspring Nature Center.

Members will have first choice of the goodies at the Ross Center on Thursday, Dec. 5, at the Members Only Sale from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. The Holiday Bazaar is then open to everyone on Saturday, Dec. 7, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you are not now a member, you can become one at the Bazaar. Members receive a 10% dis-count on all purchases.

As in past years, the Merryspring Holiday Bazaar will feature a variety of natural and nature-based gifts — many crafted by our talented volunteers — for your holiday purchases. Balsam wreaths (either decorated or plain), birch bark wreaths, evergreen swags, bundles of greens, winterberry, holly, miniature box-wood trees, and attractive centerpieces will be available at the sale. However, we strongly encourage you to pre-order so you can be sure to get the decorations and color scheme you want. The Merryspring elves are waiting to create some-thing just for you, so check out the catalog by going to the Holiday Bazaar page on the Merryspring website http://www.merryspring.org and clicking on the Bazaar link for a copy of the catalog.

In addition to holiday greenery, we will have gloves, tools, and books for the gar-dener or naturalist on your list. We also will have an array of unique gifts that will be available only at Merryspring during the sale. Here are just a few samples to whet your holiday shopping appetite: delicious homemade spiced pecans, herbal sachets, paperwhites in decorative gift bags or pre-planted containers, supplies to make your own decorations, pet treats, botanical greeting cards, note cards, ornaments, and much, much more.

And while you’re shopping at the Bazaar, be sure to enter our Holiday Raffle. Tickets are $1.00 each (or six for $5) for a chance to win a framed loon etching ($200 value), a Merryspring signature balsam wreath decorated with natural materials ($35 value), or a Merryspring Boxwood Table Tree ($25 value).

The Hawthorn Fall 2013 Page 2

Inside this issue: Merryspring Nature Center

P.O. Box 893, Camden, ME 04843 Tel: (207) 236-2239 Fax: (207) 230-0663 Email: info@merryspring.org www.merryspring.org

Mission Statement

Merryspring’s mission is to practice, teach, and advocate sound princi-ples of ecology, conservation, and horticulture in order to protect our natural environment and to provide natural landscapes and cultivated areas for public enjoyment.

Hours of Operation The park is open free of charge from dawn to dusk every day of the year. Our offices and library are open Tuesday through Friday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., or by appointment.

Membership Fees

Keeping in Touch You can sign up for our eUpdates at www.merryspring.org to receive the latest news on programs and events. Or you can visit Mer-ryspring’s Facebook page, where you can check on upcoming events. Go to www.tinyurl.com/merryspring-facebook/.

Board of Trustees Ray Andresen, President Glenn Jenks, Vice President Richard Ailes, Treasurer Frank Callanan, Secretary Kathleen Kull Karin Rector Susan Shaw Matthew Speno

Staff Toni Goodridge, Administrative Mgr. Brett Willard, Program Mgr. Cindy Gerry, Garden Mgr. David Cadbury, Property Mgr.

©2013—All Rights Reserved

Individual $35

Family $50

Business $50-100

Wish List Merryspring could use these items:

Battery-powered drills

Winter bird seed

Children’s art supplies

Garden trowels, garden tools

Bug-catching jars

Arch for Children’s Garden

Cindy Gerry of Lincolnville has joined the Merryspring staff as our new Garden Manager.

A native Mainer, Cindy has lived in Greece, Saudi Arabia, and on both east and west coasts of United States. With degrees in psychology and business management, and her work as an Airborne Arabic Linguist in the US Air Force, the next logi-cal step was to work as a professional gardener.

Cindy has been a professional gardener in the Midcoast area since moving back to Maine in 2000.

As a member of Nancy Jackson's crew and independently, she was integral in the design, installation and maintenance of a variety of gardens. “Working with Nancy Jackson's crew enabled me to collaborate with a group of very talented gardeners on a huge variety of gardens, each with its own challenges and each with a different esthetic,” Cindy said.

She also has experience in bringing damaged shoreland par-cels into compliance with EPA and DEP standards. She con-tinues to work with her community on educational and his-toric gardens. And she has written gardening columns for the Pen Bay Pilot and Village Soup as The Lady Gardener. Through this work she developed a strong artistic and practi-cal sense towards gardening and will be applying that at Merryspring this year.

“I came to Merryspring as a volunteer 13 years ago,” she added. “I am very excited to return as the garden manager and look forward to working with the community and the organization to make this a great year. I welcome any and all volunteers to come together to work, to learn, and to laugh.”

Cindy lives in Lincolnville with her almost grown up family and several animals.

IRA Contributions Okay

As part of the "fiscal cliff" tax compromise legislation passed earlier this year, Congress rein-stated taxpayers' ability to take required annual distributions from their IRAs and contribute those withdrawals directly to charitable organizations like Mer-ryspring, treating them as tax-free distributions. It's a convenient way to satisfy IRA distribution requirements, support your favor-ite charitable causes, and receive a tax break.

This provision, called the qualified charitable distribution (QCD) rule, technically expired on December 31, 2011. But thanks to the American Taxpayer Relief Act, taxpayers can take QCDs for all of the 2013 tax year.

If you want to take advantage of the charitable IRA rollover, be sure to discuss the specifics of your gift with your tax advisor.

Holiday Bazaar 1

Merry Elves 1

New Garden Manager 2

IRA Contributions 2

Community Outreach 3

Window Dressers 3

The Year in Pictures 4

Events Calendar 5

Merryspring Intern 6

Stewardship 6

Volunteer Opportunities 6

Kitchen Tour Recap 7

Merryspring Reservations 8

Cindy Gerry Joins Merryspring As New Garden Manager

The Hawthorn Fall 2013 Page 3

Expanding Beyond Our Park Boundaries Over the past two years, Merryspring has greatly expanded its commu-nity outreach efforts. Aside from hosting talks, weekend workshops, and family events like our Winter Ecology Festival and Summer Fairy Festival, the Nature Center is becoming known as an environmental education resource both inside and outside the park.

2013 has been a busy year for outreach. Merryspring has exhibited at the Penobscot Bay Chamber of Commerce’s Business and Community Expo and presented its children’s and summer programs at the Camden-Rockport Elementary School Activity Fair. Program Manager Brett Willard has also been a featured speaker at the West Bay Rotary Club and has met with local Boy Scout and Girl Scout leadership committees. Merryspring has also worked extensively with the Knox-Lincoln Soil & Wa-ter Conservation District, exhibiting at both its annual plant sale and the Conservation Fair at Union Fairgrounds.

Brett has taught a variety of topics to children at many area organizations. Some of these efforts have included programs in animal tracking and terrarium building at the Coastal Children’s Museum in Rockland, seed starting and companion planting at the Rock-land Public Library, and building fairy houses at the Jackson Memorial Library in Tenants Harbor. Brett also started seedlings and planted them for the new vegetable bed at the Rockport Public Library’s Children’s Garden.

In addition to these programs outside the Nature Center, Merryspring still remains a popular destination for field trips. This year Merryspring hosted field trips from the Warren Community School, Union Elementary School, Camden/Rockport Elementary School, the Pen Bay YMCA, and Youthlinks. Merryspring also partnered with the Rockland Public Library, working our annual Children’s Garden Club program in with the require-ments for their “Dig Into Reading” summer reading program. Many Cub Scout and Girl Scout groups have also held meetings at the park, and mem-bers of the Wayfinder School and Pen Bay YMCA Leaders In Training camp have held service learning projects improving the Merryspring grounds.

Looking ahead to 2014, Merryspring hopes to forge new relationships and strengthen its existing community partnerships. With several new grounds and education projects on the horizon and a renewed interest in expand-ing our scope, Merryspring plans to continue being one of the premier

nature and horticultural education centers in the Midcoast region.

Dressing Up Our Windows No, we’re not talking about holiday greens or snowflake stencils. We’re talking about the energy-saving window inserts that Mer-ryspring recently purchased from Window Dressers of Rockland to help reduce heating costs in the Ross Center.

Window Dressers is a non-profit organization that seeks to reduce Maine’s reliance on fuel consumption by manufacturing and selling insulating interior window inserts at cost to residents of mid-coast Maine. The inserts not only reduce heating costs but also reduce the production of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that is harmful to the environment.

Last summer, as part of its weekly lecture series, Merryspring invited Window Dressers to give a presentation on its energy-conservation work. Impressed, the Merryspring Board recognized that installing window inserts in part of the Ross Center not only would be a good opportunity to reduce heating costs but also provide a good example of energy conservation.

The interior storm window inserts are simple wooden frames covered on both sides with a clear polyolefin shrink film, with a dead airspace inside. Around the outside is weather stripping, which acts as a gasket. The inserts are available for the cost of materials only since all fabrication is done by volunteer labor. Window Dressers estimates that a typical house in Maine loses 30% of its heat out the window, and that installing the inserts could realize a 15% to 25% reduction in heating costs.

Brett shows off a nesting box at the Conservation Fair.

Brett Willard spies a woodpecker during a Fairy House pro-gram at Jackson Memorial Library in Tenants Harbor.

Community Outreach

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Another Event-Full Year at Merryspring We’ve had a very busy year at Merryspring, conducting more than 100 education-related events that attracted at least 2,000 people to the Nature Center in 2013. This wonderful programming included 36 Tuesday Talks covering topics ranging from heir-loom plants to maple sugaring, from integrated pest management to the geologic history of Maine, and from bat echolocation to the social life of woodchucks. It also included 11 weekend workshops on such popular topics as vermiculture, seed saving, prun-ing, foraging, and canning. Merryspring also played host to a Winter Ecology Festival in February, a Summer Fairy Festival in June, the weekly Children’s Garden Club from July through August, four Free Family Workshops during the summer, the annual All Hal-lows Eve celebration in October, and a series of art classes during the spring and fall.

Tom Jackson gives pruning instructions during a fall pruning workshop.

Attendees at left take part in a Fall Foraging Workshop with Tom Seymour

Members of the Children’s Garden Club learn about pollination from Brett Willard

Wendy Andresen leads an outdoor class on Tending the Perennial Garden.

The Hawthorn Fall 2013 Page 5

WINTER TUESDAY TALKS Sponsored by

Allen Insurance and Financial and The First

January 28 Wildlife Migrations on Maine’s Coastal Islands — Beth Goettel

February 4 Hatchet Cove Farm — Reba Richardson & Bill Pleucker

February 11 East Asian Garden Tour — Liz Stanley & Lee Schneller

February 18 Gardening Off the Grid — Regina Bartholemew

February 25 New Plants for 2014 — Hammon Buck

March 4 Sedges of Maine — Matt Arsenault

March 11 Grassland Birds — Noah Perlut

March 18 Biggest Trees in Maine — Jan Santerre

March 25 Seaweed Botanicals — Carly Weinberg

April 1 Early American Naturalists — Richard Judd

April 8 Veazie Dam Removal — Cheryl Daigle

April 15 Climbing in Camden — Alan Rees

April 22 Our Native Bumblebees — Amy Campbell

April 29 Marine Corals of Maine — Rhian Waller

May 6 Dragonfly Larvae as Indicators of Water Quality — Sarah Nelson

May 13 Gardening for Birds with Native Plants — Sharon Turner

May 20 A Birding Tour of Maine — Ron Joseph

May 27 18th Century Herbs — Betsy Ann Golon

June 3 Tending the Perennial Garden in June — Wendy Andresen

June 10 Weed Identification and Organic Control — Eric Sideman

June 18 To Be Announced

June 24 NO TALK

July 1 Rose Day — Glenn Jenks

SPRING TUESDAY TALKS Sponsored by The First

2014 Events Ca le nd ar

All Tuesday Talks begin at 12 noon and generally last about one hour.

Winter Ecology Festival

February 1, 10:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. A celebration of Maine’s winter wildlife and forests. Hot drinks and snacks throughout the day.

Gardening for Mental and Physical Health

March 15, 10 a.m.—12 p.m. Master Gardener Sharon Turner demonstrates the restorative and rejuvena-tive benefits of gardening.

Spring Foraging

May 3, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Tom Seymour returns to lead another of his popular wild food foraging walks.

Annual Plant Sale

May 10, 9 a.m.—2 p.m. Plants grown in our own perennial and herb beds and greenhouse, along with divisions from Midcoast gardeners, round out this major fundraiser. Members get first pick on Friday, May 9, 4—6 p.m.

The Hawthorn Fall 2013 Page 6

Merryspring Gets New Intern Meet Mitch! Mitchell Bartlett is an 18-year-old student at the Wayfinder School (formerly the Community School) in Camden. Mitch has joined Merryspring this fall as our new intern through the school’s work place-ment program.

Hailing from Naples, Maine, Mitch started at the Wayfinder School this year, and he’ll graduate in May with his high school diploma.

Mitch came to Merryspring through a community service project where he and others closed up the children’s garden for winter. Enjoying his time at Merryspring, he decided to volunteer here regularly on Tuesday mornings as part of his work placement. When not at Merryspring, he also works at Hello Hello Books in Rockland.

Since starting at Merryspring, Mitch has helped with a number of projects: closing up the children’s garden, removing annuals from the annual bor-

der, collaring and composting the rose garden, marking trails in the Arboretum, and more. He has also participated in staff meet-ings and is learning the behind-the-scenes work that goes into the daily workings of Merryspring.

Mitch enjoys working outdoors at Merryspring, as well as learning about plants, trees, and wildlife. He also hopes to learn about how a non-profit nature center is run. Outside of school and work, Mitch likes playing lacrosse, drawing, reading, and writing. When he finishes high school, he hopes to go to college in Maine for art and business management.

Volunteer Opportunities Merryspring is always looking for more volunteers. We can use your help with our gardens, trails, woodlands, li-brary, gift shop, educational programs, and — of course — our three major fundraising events. As you can see in the box on the opposite page, Merryspring’s volunteers have made — and continue to make — a tremendous contribu-tion to our success and financial stability through these fundraisers.

Right now we are looking for help with the following:

• Crafting items for the Holiday Bazaar

• Making merchandise tags for the Bazaar

• Selling and wrapping gifts at the Bazaar

• Parking and directing traffic during the Bazaar

Stewardship, For Now and The Future Merryspring is a special plot of land. Look at any aerial view of the area and you'll notice Merryspring is at a boundary of development. To the east and south is a high density of homes, businesses, and roads. The west and north are characterized by woods, streams, farmlands and mountains. To the east are the trappings of human development, to the west those of the environment that supports us.

Being situated at the transition between nature and development is ideal for Merryspring's special mission of ecology education. In every season, many groups and individuals traverse the gardens, fields, and trails, following program leaders or their own spirit. In the park visi-tors benefit from the stewardship of the land: lawns mowed, trails cleared and marked, and signs marking species of flora and features of interest.

The lion's share of all stewardship is undertaken by volunteers! And volunteering is easy. Just call or send an email to the Merryspring office (236-2239 or info@merryspring.org) or to Frank Callanan at 236-3807 or frank@dataprone.com. Frank heads up the Tierra Club, a sort of clearing house for stewardship work.

Volunteer opportunities range widely. Accomplishments in the Spring and Summer of this year included lots of trail pruning producing large slash piles; weekly mowing and weed-whacking; replacement of a footbridge; installation of a stepping stone path on a low-lying trail, marking the new Interpretive Trail with signs, sawing and removing downed trees, and more.

Upcoming events will include installation of additional signage in the trail system, oneor two days in early winter for burning slash piles. And of course there are gardening tasks each season too, from seed-ing to transplanting through weeding and preparing the winter beds.

Tierra Club members pose after completing a one-day project.

The Hawthorn Fall 2013 Page 7

Kitchen Tour Still A Tasty Summer Treat The Merryspring Kitchen Tour proved to be a big midsummer treat once again in 2013 as more than 550 people — our largest crowd in several years — enjoyed a festive day of visiting eight memorable kitchens and sampling the tasty treats provided by 16 area chefs and caterers.

While it lasts just one day, this annual fundraising event takes months of preparation and perseverance to pull it all together, and for that we are truly indebted to our 2013 KT Committee of Kathie Kull, Dorothea Graham, Edie Kyle, Meg Barclay, Barbara Bausch, Mary Waltz, and Ray Andresen. We are also very grateful to Anne Kilham, who designed a beautiful new logo that will grace our Kitchen Tour for years to come.

Merryspring would also like to thank everyone who contributed to the suc-cess of this year’s tour, especially the local homeowners who opened their doors and to the local chefs who provided the culinary delights for our attendees.

Our deepest gratitude goes to these gracious homeowners, without whom there would have been no tour: Marjorie and Bill Bell, Brooks Crane and Weber Roberts, David Dickey, Bettina Doulton, Donna and Greg Knowlton, Maureen and Rick Morse, Linda and Chris Pearse, and Mary-beth and Steve Pullum.

Special thanks also goes to these restaurants and food purveyors who pro-vided delicious samples throughout the day: Blue Sky Cantina;Café Miranda; Cappy’s Bakery; Conscious Kitchen; FOG Bar & Café; 40 Paper; French & Brawn; Hartstone Inn; Hatchet Mountain Publick House; The Highlands Coffee House; Inn at Sunrise Point; Laura Cabot Catering; The Market Basket; Megunticook Market; Starlight Custom Cakes; and Vincent’s at The Whitehall Inn.

We would also like to express our deepest appreciation to EBS Style Solutions, which has been the primary business sponsor of the Tour for many years, and to Banger Savings Bank, which has been a co-sponsor of the event for the past two years. Thanks also to Francine Bistro and Shepherd’s Pie for providing the raffle prizes and to Stonewall Kitchen for providing a gift basket as a door

prize. Another round of thanks goes to Hope Elephants, which gave several Tour-goers as extra treat by opening its doors for a special viewing of Rosie and Opal.

Finally, we’d like to thank the many businesses, designers, craftspeo-ple, and friends who supported the Tour, including: 17-90 Lighting Showroom; A.E. Sampson & Son; Agren Appliance & Television; Bench Dogs; Chatfield Design Fine Interiors; Cold Mountain Build-ers; Cornerstone Kitchens; Crestwood Kitchens & Bath Design Cen-ter; David C. Olivas, DDS; Distinctive Tile & Design; Dominic Paul Mercadante Architecture; Dream Kitchen Studio; Fixtures … De-signer Plumbing Showroom; Freshwater Stone; John Edward Gilles-pie, Architect; Judith Grossman Decorating; Kelsey’s Appliance and Sleep Center; Lee Schneller Fine Gardens; Lighting Concepts; Maine Coast Construction; Maple Street Design Studio; Margo Moore In-teriors; McCormick & Associates Builders; Mid-Coast Masonry; Mike Farmer, Farley & Son Landscaping; New View Studio; North Atlantic Painting; Once A Tree; Peter T. Gross Architects; Phi Home Designs; Rankin’s Hardware & Building Supplies; Rockport Steel; Scholz& Barclay Architecture; Seacoast Security; Silverio Architec-ture & Design; Smith & May—Hearth & Patio Showroom; Stephen G. Smith Architects; Stonescape Masonry; Surroundings; The Good Table; The Harley Company; The Well Tempered Kitchen; Treekeep-ers/Johnson’s Arboriculture; Valliere Design Studio; Viking Lumber; Vision Builders; and Windsor Chairmakers.

Looking for Next Year’s Kitchens We’re already starting to look for local kitchens for the 2014 Kitchen Tour, which will take place on Wednesday, August 6. If you would like to nominate your kitchen, or know of someone who has recently built a new house or remodeled an older kitchen, please call the Merryspring office (236-2239) or send an email to info@merryspring.org.

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P.O. Box 893 Camden, ME 04843

Reserve Merryspring for Your Event

Remember to think of Merryspring when you or your friends are planning a wedding, memorial service, meeting, or other event. Conveniently located yet away from the noise and bustle of the towns of Camden and Rockport, Merryspring offers stunning gar-dens and an outdoor hexagon perfect for small ceremonies. A well-tended lawn bordered by flower beds filled with spectacular color from June through September will accommodate a tent for up to 200 guests.

For more information about rates and available dates, please con-tact the Merryspring office at 236-2239, info@merryspring.org or visit www.merryspring.org.