Be part of really big glow for Camp Sunshine

There will be pumpkin carving and lighting on a grand scale Saturday -- in the 5,000 jack-o'-lanterns range -- celebrating the season and raising money for a good cause. If those aren't reasons enough to visit Freeport for Camp Sunshine's annual Pumpkin Festival, the artistic carver in you won't want to miss it.

Area high schools have been charged with carving many of the gourds for the festival. The illuminated pumpkin house will feature 1,000 jack-o'-lanterns carved by staff and students from Freeport High School.

Lake Region High School students will be carving hearts into an additional 400 pumpkins.

"The hearts in the pumpkins remind people of the amazing work Camp Sunshine does to help kids and families with life-threatening illnesses," said Michael Smith, the camp's director of special events.

Some of the pumpkin art you'll see at the festival will be one-of-a-kind creations.

"We have the art department at Westbrook High School doing a pumpkin art aquarium installation. It's an underwater scene etched into pumpkins. There will be algae, sea creatures and even pumpkins suspended in midair to look like fish," said Smith.

Etching by Windham High School students will turn a tower of pumpkins into a miniature field of sunflowers.

High school artists won't be the only ones showing off their carving talents. Local artist Marin Magat will be on site creating the "March of the Lobsters," 50 pumpkin lobsters that will replicate the annual migration of lobsters out to sea each winter.

Festival visitors can contribute to the festival's jack-o'-lantern collection by entering the carving contest, for a $10 fee. A pair of round-trip JetBlue airline tickets is up for grabs for the winner.

People interested in entering the contest are urged to register online this week. Only the first 100 entries will be eligible for the big prize.

The Corporate Carving Challenge is open to local businesses and family groups. Teams will need to fine-tune their skills because this competition is all about speed. The winning team will be the one to carve the most jack-o'-lanterns in 10 minutes.

The pumpkin theme prevails with a whoopie pie-eating contest in the afternoon -- pumpkin-flavored, of course. For those who want a more leisurely snack, pumpkin pies and whoopie pies will be sold all day.

Kids are encouraged to dress in their Halloween costume best and say hello to the festival's mascot, Pumpkin Pete. Children's games and face painting are on tap as well.

The afternoon and evening will feature the musical sounds of Pete Miller, Jerks of Grass, Marie Moreshead and Gypsy Tailwind. Special guest Zack Pomerleau, a 17-year-old blues singer who once benefited from the services of Camp Sunshine, will kick off the musical performances with his band at 1 p.m.

"This festival is a good wholesome event for the entire family, whether you come during the day for the activities or at night for the lighting. And it's all for a good cause," said Smith.

CAMP SUNSHINE PUMPKIN FESTIVAL
WHEN: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30
WHERE: L.L. Bean Discovery Park in Freeport
HOW MUCH: Free for viewing; $10 fee to enter carving contest
FOOD OPTIONS: Pumpkin pies and pumpkin whoopie pies for sale
PARKING: Freeport's downtown parking lots and garage
DON'T MISS: The 5,000 lit jack-o'-lanterns from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday. The jack-o'-lanterns will be lit again from 5 to 8 p.m. Oct. 31 for downtown Freeport trick-or-treaters.
KID-FRIENDLY FACTOR: Great
BENEFITS: All proceeds support Camp Sunshine. If people would like to support Camp Sunshine but are unable to attend the festival, they can text "camp" to 20222 to make a $10 donation.
WEATHER: Rain or shine event
MORE INFO: www.campsunshine.org/pumpkinfestival

Originally published in the Maine Sunday Telegram, October 24, 2010

Corn maze adventure not just for kids

We love getting lost in a corn maze every fall. The kids' favorite is Pumpkin Valley in Dayton and we've visited that maze every year for the past five years. A couple of years ago we took along our GPS unit to "draw" the path of the maze and although didn't fully replicate it, very much enjoyed seeing the track as well as the mileage covered.

Pumpkin Valley Corn maze 2008

We covered 1.8 miles in about an hour and a half in 2008. We also visited Zach's Corn Maze in York another time and mapped that one too. We covered 1.1 miles in an hour that time.

Yesterday was the first free afternoon we have had this fall to visit the maze. We realized it was the first time we'd ever visited so late in the season. Usually the kids are itching to get to the maze and we make our visit in September. But late-October offers a different sort of maze adventure. It was fun - and loud. The dried brown stalks make a lot of noise in the crisp fall wind.

This year we didn't try to 'draw' the whole maze. We simply wanted to see how much mileage we'd cover and how much time it would take us to navigate the maze. Although this was not about rushing and/or being a perfect navigator. We like the bridges so we climbed them a couple of times just for fun and simply enjoyed being back in the maze.

The numbered stations to answer trivia questions in the maze never gets old either... (we always pick the Halloween themed ones). At least we know the majority of answers to get clues on which way to turn at each station to help find the next one. The clues don't really help you find your way but it's a fun feature nonetheless. And L. really enjoys the signs at each station... especially when they feature pigs.

Last month I was explaining to a co-worker who is new to Maine about this particular corn maze. I suggested he take his son because I thought they might enjoy it. But after he said he'd been to corn mazes previously and they weren't all that hard, I knew he didn't get what I was trying to explain. But a picture and a map can sometimes explain things a little better and I'm glad I've got a little GPS know-how.

This maze - and several others around Maine - are not just for little kids (although they will love the adventure too - just make sure they go potty and bring a long a little snack before you enter the maze).

Pumpkin Valley Corn maze 2010

This year we walked 1.3 miles in just under an hour while navigating the maze from start to finish.

If you want to visit a maze this fall, do it soon. Most mazes close the day after Halloween this year.

* Corn Mazes in Maine 2010

School bus stop... for police cruiser pickup

My daughter came home from school yesterday with quite a story. One of the students on her bus was removed by the county sheriff.

According to G., a freshman in high school, this particular kid cusses a lot. She said the cussing is not that unusual in her bus-riding experience this year because a lot of kids cuss on her bus. But this kid is apparently the king of the cuss-ers. He is a freshman in high school.

At the beginning of the school year (about 2 weeks in to it) I had asked G. if I could call the bus garage to share my concerns about her bus but she was adamant.

"No Mom!!!!!!!"  (Yes, that many exclamation points.)

Then I heard from G. last week that the school put an additional monitor on this particular bus and set up assigned seating. G. sits close to the front. She said the kids aren't mean to her but she's not too keen on chatting with any of them either. I let her bring her mp3 player and encourage her to listen to audio books and/or music (loudly) and ignore the antics of the other riders.

I was happy to hear about the additional monitor since my guess was that there were other parents who had made a call despite their own kids' protests (I should have called too).

G. said she never felt in danger or that she thought the king cuss-er kid was violent while she was on this bus. But yesterday something tipped the scales and the bus driver pulled over and called the sheriff. Within 5 minutes (again, according to G., I doubt the school will ever comment on this to parents) that kid was off the bus and in the sheriff's cruiser.

This first year of high school for my daughter has been quite an education for our whole family. I'm willing to give the school the benefit of the doubt that they are handling this bus situation to keep all the kids safe while riding while also being fair to the kids who need a little more guidance about what appropriate behavior should be.

Anyone have any 'interesting' school bus stories to share? What else do I have to look forward to during the next 4 years? I'm asking because neither my husband or I have any experience riding a school bus in high school. We both grew up in urban areas that didn't have school bus transportation.

Oh and yes, I share with my kids about walking a mile uphill to school. But I do skip the "both directions" bit because the truth was, it really was a steep climb on the mile home!

Learning about geology is fun, exciting

When people think about Earth science and geology, “exciting” and “fun” are not necessarily the first words that pop into your head. But with some basic GPS technology and the Internet, geology can be a whole lot of both thanks to the Geological Society of America (GSA) and Geocaching.com.

My family has been exploring geologically significant places on the earth - well New England mostly - with our GPS unit and listings on Geocaching.com for the past couple of years. The website has educational information about each EarthCache location and GPS coordinates to get there.

The GSA’s explanation on its website, EarthCache.org, explains its approach to educating the general public about the geosciences with Geocaching.com.

“People who want to visit Earthcaches can gather information about a site and what they will experience there through educational notes provided. The notes are written so that an upper-middle school student can understand the science concepts.”

When a tween can grasp the concept of a glacial erratic, basalt deposit, conglomerate quartzite, glacial striation and waterfall formation because of a game she played, you can be assured it’s a novice-friendly way to learn about earth science.

ALL ABOUT GLACIERS
One of our first EarthCache adventures was to find a glacial erratic near Conway, NH.. That is geologist vernacular for a large boulder sitting in a place where you’d never expect to find it. The (basic) geological explanation for this piece of misplaced rock is that it was transported thousands of miles from it’s original home by a glacier during the last ice age. The glacier melted so the rock stopped moving.

Upon finding the “largest known glacial erratic in New England” according to the listing, we had to make a post on the website to prove we’d found the location. (You don’t have to post online unless you want to participate in the EarthCache Masters program, which I’ll explain about more in a bit). Our post included the estimated weight of the erratic (on a nearby kiosk) as well as a couple of photos of my girls’ “trick” photography. They used various camera angles to make it look like they were jumping off and/or lifting up the large boulder. Needless to say this geological discovery was a whole lot of fun in a variety of ways for the kids. And now during hikes the kids point out other erratics. They really are all over the place in Maine.

On a hiking adventure at Camden Hills State Park we learned about glacial striations. These grooves are – in basic terms - scratches cut into the bedrock from a large glacier that passed over it during the last ice age. The striations on Mount Megunticook were easy to spot because the EarthCache listing explained that we needed to look for “straight, parallel grooves” once we arrived at the coordinates posted. 

Acadia National Park has an EarthCache program that takes visitors to six unique park locations. It’s part treasure hunt, part brain-teaser because we had to find a clue at the first location to get the coordinates to the next location, and so on. Several of these locations did not have kiosks and are likely overlooked by visitors. In Acadia’s program we found a couple of interesting glacial erratics and learned how fjords are formed. We also went on a hike to learn about Mount Desert Island’s sea level before the last ice age changed it. There is nothing like climbing a mountain and finding a landmark to demonstrate to a child how significant the change in sea level is now (or an adult for that matter).

WATERFALL DISCOVERIES EXCITING
The White Mountains National Forest in New Hampshire has quite a few EarthCache listings as well, most created by laypeople, not park rangers. Since my girls really enjoy waterfalls, we decided to explore several in that national forest.

The Glen Ellis Falls in Jackson near Tuckerman’s Ravine is a short hike from the road and is a beautiful example of a cascading waterfall. The EarthCache listing included a great graphic of different waterfall shapes – block, plunge, tier, punch bowl, etc. – that we printed out and brought along on our adventure. The girls identified the falls shape and speculated about the shapes of other falls we’ve found while hiking.

Our next waterfall EarthCache was the Sabbaday Falls off the Kancamagus Highway. That waterfall was very different from Glen Ellis and the girls declared on the way home they wanted to find more waterfalls and didn’t care if they were EarthCache listings or not.




THE MASTERS PROGRAM
Since the girls like earning patches and pins in various youth programs, they have been motivated to work on the EarthCache Masters Program. This is the GSA’s way to encourage goal-oriented types (children and adults) to learn about geology. There are four pin levels – from Bronze to Platinum. For people to earn their Silver (second) pin, they need to research and post their own EarthCache listing. We thought about this for a while before settling on Mount Apatite. It was a location we’ve enjoyed hiking and mining over the years and can easily identify several different types of rocks and minerals at the mines there. If you do a key word search on EarthCache.org for “Gem Trackers” you’ll find a family-friendly listing explaining the area and the kinds of gems you can find there along with links to the Maine Geological Survey that has even more information.

My family has been EarthCaching for a couple of years and is getting close to our Gold level pin. That level has required us to find 12 EarthCaches in four states. While on a couple of out-of-town trips we made time to visit an EarthCache. We found actual dinosaur footprints in western Massachusetts and learned about how a chain of lakes was formed at a state park in central Florida.

I admit that if you asked me about my earth science class in high school it’s unlikely I would have told you it was enjoyable. But I have a feeling it ranks pretty high on the fun 'o meter with my girls right now.

Originally published in Raising Maine Magazine, October 2010 edition

Kid Tracks: Youthful curiosity inspires discoveries about leaves

It's raining leaves around the state right now and that makes it a great time of year to teach kids (and yourself) about the trees around you.

When the girls were small, I knew very little about the various trees in my backyard, let alone the ones on the hiking trails we visited. My standard reply when the kids presented a leaf for me to identify was "I don't know," followed by, "We'll look it up on the computer when we get home."

Then, while hiking around Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park in Freeport several years ago, we happened upon a ranger who suggested we try the park's Tree Hunt program. It's a self-guided hunt to identify trees.

The activity worksheet was a great introduction to tree identification and having a ranger there to answer questions ensured we matched the tree names with the leaves correctly. This program is still offered at the park periodically (ranger programs are offered every Sunday at 2 p.m., year-round) and no preregistration is required.

Attending a program doesn't always work in my busy family's schedule, so we joined the Maine Tree Club. The club is a statewide educational project that has been around since 2002 and is run through the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, with assistance from the Maine Forest Service, Pine Tree Arboretum and the Pine Tree State 4-H Foundation.

Participants are sent (electronically or hard copy mailing) tree fact sheets each month for a total of 50 trees over the course of the two-year program. The start-up packet includes a notebook to store the monthly mailings as well as the "Forest Trees of Maine" pocket guide and a magnifying lens.

We have found the guide very helpful and it continues to be a staple in our hiking backpack. The kids love the lens and use it to magnify not only tree leaves and needles but flowers, bugs and anything else they find out on the trail.

Amy Witt, a horticulturist for UMaine Cooperative Extension and coordinator of the Maine Tree Club, offers a couple of generalizations (there are exceptions, but for novices it's a place to start) for narrowing down options when you have a leaf in hand and a child eager to identify it.

Witt offers this advice for identifying deciduous trees:

"On the branch, look to see if the leaves are organized in an alternating (zigzag) pattern or opposite (directly across from each other) pattern. For instance, oak tree leaves have an alternate (pattern on the branch) but maple leaves are opposite. There are more alternate pattern trees than opposite, so that can help you narrow it down."

Other differences to look for are leaf lobes (the rounded edges around the leaf) as well as bark, seeds and nuts.

"Maple and oak both have lobes but the lobes on the oak leaves tend to be longer and narrower than maple. Also, oak trees have acorns, so if you see acorns you know it's going to be some kind of oak tree," explains Witt.

According to Witt, evergreens (trees with needles) have different identifiers.

"Pine tree needles are long and in bundles. Spruce needles are short and sharp. Actually the only sharp needles are spruce trees (in Maine). Fir tree needles are also short but not sharp. Hemlock needles are short as well, but they are flatter than the others."

The first tree my kids learned to identify with confidence was the white pine. They learned from a park ranger that there are five letters in the word w-h-i-t-e, which corresponds to the five needles in a bundle on this pine tree.

When we first started identifying trees, we narrowed our focus to four types of evergreens. The kids, 7 and 8 years old at the time, developed their own way to remember each tree.

White pine: "There are five in a bunch and they are very long and soft."

Red spruce: "The needles are as flat as Flat Stanley. The needles grow up to the sky and they are sharp and hard. I don't like getting pricked by the needles."

Balsam fir: "They have longer, flatter needles than the Eastern hemlock. Balsam fir trees are used for Christmas trees."

Eastern hemlock: "They have darker needles than the other pine trees and they have two white stripes underneath. They are short and flat."

My family members are by no means experts at tree identification, but we have learned what indicators to look for and we keep our guidebook handy to confirm our findings. There are times, though, that the kids prefer to make leaf rubbings with crayons and paper and/or collect the colorful leaves on the ground so they can wax them at home to make a collage.

No matter what the preference is on any given hike, fall is a great time to be outside to enjoy the splendor of Maine's many trees.

CHANCE TO LEARN
Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park offers ranger programs year-round at 2 p.m. Sundays, with more options in the summer. The Tree Hunt program is offered periodically year-round. For a schedule of ranger programs, go to Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park's website.

FOR MORE information about the Maine Tree Club, go to Cooperative Extension's Tree Club website.

Originally published in the Maine Sunday Telegram October 10, 2010

Fall festivities in York move to the beach

Harvestfest in York is a two-day affair that includes live entertainment, marketplace vendors, juried crafters, a Go Green Business Expo and many other activities for all ages.

But as the Greater York Region Chamber of Commerce website explains, "It's all about the cow." The ox roast draws the largest crowd.

The ox roast dates back 26 years, when it started as part of the chamber's end-of-the-year celebration. It has grown over the years into a larger community event, but the custom barbecue pit and big iron racks continue to be fired up by the Foster family and Stage Neck Inn staff members to roast the meat for the event's signature sandwiches.

Stephanie Oeser, project coordinator for the Chamber of Commerce, offered an insider tip about the ox roast -- get there early. "They usually sell out in about an hour."

But rest assured there will be plenty of food offered by vendors, with everything from lobster rolls, chowder and burgers to fried dough, kettle corn and hot apple crisp, to keep every taste bud satisfied.
The festival planners made a few changes this year to ensure two days of fun at their new location -- Short Sands Beach.

"We had to make the change of location (from the village to the beach) because of safety issues." Oeser explains. "The great thing about moving is the free public parking in the York's Wild Kingdom lot. People can walk to the beach from there or take the shuttle. This change offers easier access for the public and is totally pedestrian-friendly, because several streets around the beach will be closed (to cars)."
Events at the beach include the Don Campbell Band on Saturday and a Pow Wow featuring drummers, dancers and crafters on Sunday.

Harvestfest also incorporates Kidfest into its weekend events this year, so face painting, balloon twisters and wagon rides as well as tae kwon do, dance, jump rope and hula hoop demonstrations are all part of the fun.
The kid-friendly entertainment of Marcus Gale and Dr. Gasp's Halloween Haunts and Taunts are sure to be crowd pleasers on Saturday.

"Dr. Gasp (Dan Blakeslee) tells Halloween-theme stories that are scary but not too scary for the kids. It's just the right mix," Oeser says.

Pumpkin carving at the Daily Grind Cafe on Saturday afternoon will culminate with lighting of the gourds and the annual Pumpkin Stroll on the beach.

In addition to the Pow Wow Sunday, the a cappella group Tuckermans at 9 and storyteller Shawn Middle- ton will perform. Sunday also will feature pony rides for kids.

"There are some changes this year, but the Harvestfest traditions are alive and better than ever," says Oeser. "It's always a great community event."

HARVESTFEST & KIDFEST
WHEN: Saturday and Sunday Oct. 16-17
WHERE: Short Sands Beach, York
HOW MUCH: Free
FOOD OPTIONS: Varied food vendors
PARKING: York's Wild Kingdom on Route 1. Shuttle service will be available.
DON'T MISS: Ox roast at 11 a.m. Saturday at home plate in the York Beach Ball Field
KID-FRIENDLY FACTOR: Great
BENEFITS: Hospice of York, York Community Food Pantry and local Rotary club
IN CASE OF BAD WEATHER: Rain or shine
MORE INFO: www.gatewaytomaine. org

 Originally published in the Maine Sunday Telegram, October 10, 2010

Cumberland Fair - the beef cow show

G. loves working at the beef farm and halter training the cows there for her 4H project. What she has never been keen on doing is showing her cow at the fair. Her first (and only) experience in the show ring was at a showmanship clinic at a 4H event last summer. That experience did not endear her to the show ring. Her cow Sparkles, aptly named for her firecracker personality, was a feisty heifer who threw around her 1,000+ pound body during the show. But G. received a blue ribbon that day because she managed to keep a handle on that animal and never lost control of her. And as many people told her, that was quite a feat given the heifer's clear agitation that day.

Her 4H leader encouraged her to try showing again (a show ring appearance is considered an end of the year celebration for the project - sort of a dance recital performance for 4H) and a deal was struck to give it another try with one condition. G. wanted another cow for the show ring. She'd work with Sparkles at the farm but felt she needed to halter train a calmer heifer personality for her next public appearance.

So Bailey, a (now) 16-month old heifer was chosen earlier this year to be her show cow for Cumberland Fair.

G. walked Bailey every week all winter and spring around the farm and then walked her weekly through the summer pasture. She truly enjoys working with the large animals and it shows whenever I snap a quick picture at the farm.

The week leading up to the fair required multiple visits to the farm to clip and groom Bailey for the show as well as get her "show box" (supplies she'd need at the fairgrounds the day of the show) ready.

My normally easy-going girl was a nervous, grouchy wreck that week. Her dry wit reared in a not-so-pleasant way on more than one occasion when people asked her if she was looking forward to the show.

"Yeah, for it to be over."

The day of the show she and Bailey arrived with another 4H friend and her young heifer. G. was in high stress mode and her leader reminded her that "what goes up the lead (halter), comes down the lead." Meaning that if G. was stressed, she was going to stress Bailey, her easy-going heifer, as well.

So her 4H leader and several other people suggested G. and her friend L. participate in the clipping contest that morning. The contest involved grooming and clipping a small calf as if they were going to show it at the fair. The girls ended up with a young Belted Galloway. This little "belty" had long hair and required a different sort of grooming job than the usual Herefords the girls were used to working with. But they went right to the task and by the end of it, G. had forgotten to be nervous about showing Bailey because she really enjoyed grooming and clipping the belty.

A good distraction should never be considered over-rated.

G.'s first smile that day.

By the end of the clipping contest G. was back to her happy self 
chatting it up with her 4H leader's husband.

When it came time to walk Bailey in to the show ring G.'s nerves were back. But a couple of loops around the ring with a calm cow reassured G. that Bailey was not going to get crazy like Sparkles did. She and Bailey did three shows and by the end of it G. was thinking the show ring gig wasn't all that bad.

Cumberland Fair wrap up - the sheep

Our time at Cumberland Fair last week is a blur since we were so busy with various activities with the girls and their animals as well as our volunteer time in the 4H kitchen. But I can say with confidence that although we were all exhausted by the end, everyone in my family had a great week at the fair.

L. showed both her lambs as well as both of her pigs. G. showed her cow as well but thankfully G.'s show was just one day. Between L's pigs and sheep, she had shows on four different days (including the day G. was showing her cow).

Needless to say, I don't really even know exactly where to begin with sharing our time at the fair so I guess I'll start with the last event - sheep shearing.

L. raised wool breed lambs and her hope had been all along to shear one to learn how to spin the fleece in to yarn. I wasn't sure how to manage the timing of that but was clued in by another 4H mom that sheep can be sheared in the fall. I thought it would be too cold to shear them at this time of year but it was pointed out that many of the lambs at the fair were sheared for showing (meat breeds are sheared for show, wool breeds have to keep their fleece long to allow the judge to evaluate its quality). I was also told that wool grows very fast so they do just fine during the upcoming colder months.

This goes to show (yet again) how very little I know about livestock.

L. and her lamb Minnie made a great team in the show ring. Symphony was a bit ornery which was par for the course for her yet did well in the ring too. But I have to admit that sheep shows aren't the most exciting at the fair (pig shows are the best I think) and although she didn't do as well as she'd hoped with the sheep obstacle course, that particular event was a darn entertaining hour in the show arena.

A 'just for fun' event, L. laughed her way in line before her run on the obstacle course with Minnie.

The "fashion show" (called the 4H Lead Line at the fair) L. participated in involved making an item out of at least 70% wool (crochet, knit or felted). L. learned how to crochet granny squares this past year so she made a hand bag out of them to model in the show. The difference between this fashion show and others you might see outside the fairgrounds is that the wool breed sheep the 4Her raised is also part of the event. It was made clear by L.'s 4H leader however that the sheep was not to be dressed up, just the human.

L. had a great time at Lead Line and was already brainstorming ideas of something to make for it next year. But, she wanted to do that out of Minnie's fleece since several of the girls in the show had knit items created from their own lamb's fleece.

One of the girls was wearing a sweater her mom knit when she was in the 4H Lead Line and the girl made a scarf to match it for this show. Another knit a poncho out of the wool she spun from the lamb she showed last year.

So it was with much excitement on L.'s part that we headed to the sheep shearing party yesterday at her 4H friend's farm to get both Minnie and Symphony sheared.

During the fair Minnie's fleece looked like this:

Then the shearing party happenings began the day after the fair...

I think this picture of Symphony sort of sums up what both lambs thought of this "party."