Kennebunk Elementary School’s Harvest Fair to Bring the Community Together

KENNEBUNK—

Members of the public are invited to attend a Harvest Fair at Kennebunk Elementary School on Thursday, September 22, from 3 to 5:30 p.m. The Fair, part of RSU 21’s celebration of Maine Harvest Lunch, will be held rain or shine in the garden area behind the school gym. The Harvest Fair is an opportunity for students, families, and community members to meet many of the farmers who have grown and raised food for the school cafeterias.
A Farmer’s Market, where fairgoers can purchase produce, will feature a number of farms including: Archer Angus (beef), Chick Farm (organic chicken and vegetables), Fenderson Farms (fresh produce), Groundwork Farm (organic and heirloom vegetables), Pullen Manor Farms (with goats and other live animals), Santoro’s Honey, and Tibbetts Family Farm (corn, tomatoes, winter squash & pumpkins).
The Fair will also include tours of the K.E.S. vegetable garden, storytelling, a scavenger hunt, and a craft project for kids. Admission to the Fair is free.
The Harvest Fair is part of a larger event RSU 21 students will participate in during the school day. This is the 10th year that the district has participated in Maine Harvest Lunch, an event promoted by the Maine School Nutrition Association. RSU 21’s Food Services Director Ellen Demmons and her staff are busy preparing recipes for this year’s celebration. Demmons has created a full week of school lunch menus around the Maine Harvest theme—although the original goal was to develop only a single lunch menu.
Throughout the week of September 19th, school staff will be demonstrating that healthful eating can be done with locally available foods. “It is a lot of extra work,” says Demmons, “but well worth the effort.” On Monday, students will be served Sloppy Joes with Archer Angus Farm’s beef, Maine broccoli, and blueberries and cream. Menu options later in the week include Maine fish tacos with Harris Farms corn on the cob on Tuesday; and baked ziti with summer vegetables and a tossed salad made from Maine Romaine lettuce on Friday.
Although this is a special occasion, Demmons works with local Maine suppliers whenever she can. Giles Farm Apples, potato products from Penobscot McCrum, and Hood dairy products, for example, are staples in the cafeterias. In addition, Tibbetts Family Farm in Lyman collects food waste from the District’s cafeterias to help create compost for use in gardens such as those at the Nonantum Hotel in Kennebunkport.
Mary Gaucher, whose two children attend K.E.S., is working with teachers and parents to plan additional events for the Harvest Week. First graders will be harvesting vegetables from the KES garden to make their own vegetable soup, tying in with the book they are reading, “Stone Soup.”
Gaucher says, “We are excited to invite Tom Reagan, a chef from the community, to give a cooking lesson to the entire grade.”
Additional in-school activities will include a discussion with a local farmer and a “taste-test contest” of different recipes for zucchini and tomatoes to be held during lunches. Nutritious, kid-friendly recipes for the contest were researched by Kennebunk High School student Laura Broderick.
For more information, contact Jennifer Niese, 985-1656 H or 294-2961 cell, turnstone@gwi.net.
Photo caption: John Tibbetts of Tibbetts Family Farm will be among the farmers at the Kennebunk Elementary School Harvest Fair on Thursday, September 22, from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Tibbetts provides pork for pulled pork sandwiches in the school cafeterias and collects leftover food waste to create compost. (Courtesy photo)

South Berwick Girl Donates 125-Year-Old Clay Pipe to Museum

SOUTH BERWICK—

Sarah Arenberg, 10, was swimming off the Rollinsford boat ramp in the Salmon Falls River this summer, when she saw something white glint on the muddy bottom.
“I thought at first that it was a shark’s tooth,” said the Marshwood Great Works School fifth grader, who lives in South Berwick.
To local historians, Sarah’s find was no less interesting: a clay pipe that someone may have smoked near that spot over 125 years ago.
Sarah and her mother, Debbie Arenberg, researched the pipe on the Internet. The name of the maker, W. White, was stamped on the pipe bowl. The Arenbergs learned that the Whites’ factory building in Glasgow, Scotland, was built in 1877 and still stands. It produced pipes through the 1890s.
Sarah recently donated the pipe to the Counting House Museum, owned by the Old Berwick Historical Society.
“We are delighted to have such an interesting object,” said Pat Laska, the society’s president. “Clay pipes were in common use in South Berwick and Rollinsford before the 20th century.”
The pipe, in good condition except that the stem appears shortened, is now on display on the second floor of South Berwick Town Hall, where the society maintains a display case of historical objects.
Photo caption: Sarah Arenberg, age 10, holds an old clay pipe she found this summer while swimming in the Salmon Falls River. Made in Scotland, the pipe is likely more than 125 years old, and is now on display in the Old Berwick Historical Society’s display case on the second floor of South Berwick Town Hall. (Courtesy photo)

DAR Promotes Constitution Awareness

WASHINGTON, D.C.—
September 17, 2011, begins the national celebration of Constitution Week. The weeklong commemoration of America’s most important document is one of our country’s least known official observances. Our Constitution stands as a testament to the tenacity of Americans throughout history to maintain their liberties and freedom, and to ensure those inalienable rights to every American.
The tradition of celebrating the Constitution was started many years ago by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). In 1955, the Daughters petitioned Congress to set aside September 17-23 annually to be dedicated for the observance of Constitution Week. The resolution was later adopted by the U.S. Congress and signed into Public Law #915 on August 2, 1956, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The aims of the celebration are to (1) emphasize citizens’ responsibilities for protecting and defending the Constitution, preserving it for posterity; (2) inform the people that the Constitution is the basis for America’s great heritage and the foundation for our way of life; and (3) encourage the study of the historical events which led to the framing of the Constitution in September 1787.
The United States of America functions as a Republic under the Constitution, which is the oldest document still in active use that outlines the self-government of a people. This landmark idea that men had the inalienable right as individuals to be free and live their lives under their own governance was the impetus of the American Revolution. Today, the Constitution stands as an icon of freedom for people around the world.
“We must remember and teach that those who wrote the Constitution believed that no government can create freedom, but that government must guard freedom rather than encroach upon the freedoms of its people,” stated Merry Ann T. Wright, President General of the DAR. “The Constitution by itself cannot guarantee liberty. A nation’s people can remain free only by being responsible citizens who are willing to learn about the rights of each arm of government and require that each is accountable for its own function. Therefore, Constitution Week is the perfect opportunity to read and study this great document, which is the safeguard of our American liberties. We encourage all citizens across the country to take time this week to guard that which is committed to us by our forefathers... our freedom.”
DAR has served America for 121 years as its foremost cheerleader. In 1928, the Daughters began work on a building as a memorial to the Constitution. John Russell Pope, architect of the Jefferson Memorial, was commissioned to design the performing arts center, known as DAR Constitution Hall. Today, DAR Constitution Hall is the only structure erected in tribute to the Constitution of the United States of America.
Known as the largest women’s patriotic organization in the world, DAR has over 165,000 members with approximately 3,000 chapters in all 50 states and 11 foreign countries. The DAR has long promoted patriotism through commemorative celebrations, memorials, scholarships and activities for children, and programs for new immigrants. For more information about DAR and its programs visit www.dar.org or call (202) 628-1776.