It has been an unusually chilly spring, even for Midcoast Maine. Snow in April, well it happens, but twice in one week? Sitting in my office on Camden Harbor, sun flooding through my windows and suddenly it darkens, and I see fat snowflakes coming down.

Welcome to Maine.

The seedlings have been growing under the lights since February, and Ma transplanted the kale into the beds in the outdoor greenhouse and planted leafy greens. Ma’s greenhouse is lovely and warm when the outside is cool and breezy, and I am sure my placing a chair in the middle of her work area is annoying, but I love having a toasty and solitary place to read after the day is over.

I am not sure that it is warm enough to start planting yet, not that it stops some of us. I think Ma may have been digging in the dirt yesterday. Who am I to judge, gardening has never been my forte.

Meanwhile, over at Lincolnville Central School, there are big garden things happening. Last fall, the raised beds at the LCS garden had to be removed to make way for the propane tanks for the school’s new boiler. 

The garden has long been a fixture at the school, providing not only an educational opportunity for our children, but also a much appreciated addition to food director Angela Wheaton’s menus.

Rallied by PTO member Lauren Beveridge, and using supplies donated by Viking Lumber, a crew has rebuilt the raised beds in preparation for a new crop of produce this year.

I love seeing the support the town gives to our school. Educating our children is certainly not without a price, but having put three children through nine years at LCS, I have witnessed first hand just how above and beyond the staff, administration, and especially the parents and community go for our students. They arrive at Camden Hill Regional High School incredibly well prepared academically and socially, and in four short years, those young people from Lincolnville are sent out into the world, to the work force, to college, to the service.

The LCS garden will continue, providing hands on learning to our kids, good food for their stomachs. With water and sunshine, the seeds will sprout and grow, and similarly, the education we make available for the young people of Lincolnville will allow them to grow into bright and high achieving adults.

Town Cemeteries

This is the time of year when we start to clean up the resting places of our forebears, and many are already hard at work on this task.

As I mentioned last week, Sunday, May 3 from 1-4 p.m. will be the annual clean up at the French Cemetery, over looking Lincolnville Beach. The Lincolnville Historical Society has a list of all the burial grounds in town, though remember that several of the small ones are on private property.

The Cemetery Trustees are a town committee, so contact the town office if you are looking for more information. Soon the flags will go up on the burial sites of our veterans, in preparation for Memorial Day, and the unofficial start of summer.

Library Happenings

The Lincolnville Library once again has free tickets available for the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay. One set of tickets, two adults and up to five children, are available daily until October 15. Contact the library at 207-706-3896 or email questions@lincolnvillelibrary.org. If you haven’t been to the gardens, it is definitely worth the trip.

Needleworkers will meet Tuesday at 3 p.m. Friday at noon will be MahJongg, with lessons available for beginners. Little ones and their caretakers are invited to join Music Together Saturday at 10 a.m.

Maine remains the one part of the country to stubbornly resist warm spring weather. We always have to be a little different, don’t we. It will get here, and for now, it is best just to accept things as the are, there isn’t much we can do to change the weather. So put on your sweatshirt, avoid shutting down the wood stove for now.

Good luck to our students as they enter the final stretch before summer vacation. I am especially thinking of the class that entered LCS as bright eyed kindergartners in September of 2013, this is it, you made it.

Be kind, be mindful, and reach out at ceobrien246@gmail.com.

Municipal Calendar

Monday, April 27

Select Board, 6 p.m., Town Office

Tuesday, April 28

Library open 3-6 p.m. 208 Main Street

AA Meeting 12:15 p.m., Community Building, 18 Searsmont Road

Budget Committee Public Hearing, 6 p.m., Town Office

Lakes and Ponds Committee, 7;30 p.m., Town Office

Wednesday, April 30

Library open 2-5

Thursday, May 1

Library open 2-5 p.m. 208 Main Street

AA Beginner’s Meeting, 7 p.m., Lincolnville Historical Society, 33 Beach Road

Friday, May 2

AA Meeting 12:15 p.m., Community Building, 18 Searsmont Road

Library open 9-2 p.m., 208 Main Street

Saturday, May 3

Library open 9-12, 208 Main Street

Sunday, May 5

United Christian Church, 9:30 a.m. Worship and Children’s Church, 18 Searsmont Road

Bayshore Baptist Church, 10 a.m. Sunday School for All Ages, 10:40 a.m. Coffee and Baked Goods, 11:00 a.m. worship, 2648 Atlantic Highway