County Highlights

Maine Food System

Alexander Bosse, Nutrition Education Professional – EFNEP Youth Curriculum Coordinator

Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program

The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) improves the health and well-being of limited-income families and youth by positively impacting their skills in nutrition, food purchasing, food safety, and food preparation. EFNEP Community Education Assistants (CEAs) involve participants in activities such as cooking, menu planning, and food budgeting to help them gain knowledge and skills to create lasting change. EFNEP CEAs have provided educational programs to a variety of community groups throughout Androscoggin and Sagadahoc counties in the past, including public schools, vocational technology schools, Summer Food Service program sites, the Boys & Girls Club, Maine Immigrant and Refugee Services, various group home settings, local housing authorities, local food pantries, as well as in individuals’ homes. 

With the need for more support following the Covid-19 pandemic, EFNEP hired a new Nutrition Education Professional/Supervisor position at the beginning of November 2020. With his office based out of the Androscoggin/Sagadahoc counties office, Alex Bosse has been an integral part of the EFNEP team, supervising 3-5 CEAs in southern Maine, helping to support CEAs statewide in early 2021 by adapting existing grades K-2, 3-5, and 6-8 curricula to be delivered remotely, providing support and coaching for monthly statewide Fedcap nutrition education classes throughout the year, collaboration and mentorship with 4-H staff and EFNEP CEAs to deliver nutrition education classes for the 4-H Summer Learning Series in 2021, as well as identifying and adapting middle school and high school curricula to be used to develop trainings and materials for implementation by EFNEP CEAs statewide. Since 2022, Alex Bosse has played a crucial role in the creation and development of a Brightspace training course and training plan that has actively been utilized with new hires and is being enhanced and updated for new hires in 2024 (see paragraph below). Since early 2023, Alex has played  an active role supporting, coaching, supervising, and training new EFNEP CEAs in the southern region of Maine.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a pause on hiring for new EFNEP CEA’s statewide until 2022. Three new EFNEP CEA positions were filled in 2023, and after two failed searches for an EFNEP CEA position in Androscoggin/Sagadahoc counties in 2022 and 2023, the EFNEP team (in coordination with staff at the Androscoggin/Sagadahoc County office) have shifted focus to hiring new EFNEP CEAs in other counties statewide for 2024.

For statewide outcomes for EFNEP, please visit our webpage to see how EFNEP is making a difference in Maine

In collaboration with members of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Food Team, EFNEP staff helped contribute towards the creation of a new food and nutrition blog in 2021 called Spoonful. The blog was developed to provide an additional method to reach and educate Maine people.

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4-H Positive Youth Development

Laura Personette, 4-H Youth Development Professional for Androscoggin and Sagadahoc Counties Maine 4-H Community Central Program Coordinator

Program Highlights

4-H supports young people from elementary through high school with programs designed to shape future leaders and innovators. Fueled by research-driven programming, 4-H’ers engage in hands-on learning activities in science, citizenship, life skills, leadership development, and healthy living. Laura Personette has worked with Extension for ten years, as the Lewiston Professional and Program Coordinator for Maine 4-H Community Central. In 2023, Laura began a new role as the 4-H Youth Development Professional for Androscoggin and Sagadahoc Counties, working with youth, volunteers, teachers, and afterschool providers to strengthen and support the 4-H Youth Development program locally. The 4-H Youth Development program in Androscoggin and Sagadahoc counties currently serves youth in long-term and short-term club programs and school or community-based programs. 4-H Staff working out of the Androscoggin/Sagadahoc office that support youth locally and in regional/statewide capacities are: Emily Booth, 4-H Science Professional with STEM Ambassadors; Andrew Hudacs, Assistant Extension Professor focusing on Teen Leadership and Workforce Development; Kristy Ouellette, Extension Professor, Positive Youth Development Specialist, and member of the Maine 4-H State Program Leadership Team; Margaruette Seguin, 4-H Professional with Oh Yea! 4-H Grows True Leaders; and Sarah Sparks, 4-H Science Professional focusing on positive youth development through STEM experiences including 4-H STEM Ambassadors, 4-H Summer of Science and the 4-H Virtual Learning Hub.

Local Impacts 4-H Has on Youth

• Since 2008, 94% (44) of 4-H teens that have graduated from high school have gone on to higher education. Teens reported the information learned through 4-H assisted them in being better prepared for college. Teens report the connection to the University of Maine as a component of the 4-H youth development program has influenced their decision to attend. Five 4-H alumni are currently attending UMaine System Schools. Four 4-H alumni have graduated from the University of Maine.
• In 2023, all long-term club program participants completed community service projects with their clubs, including cleaning gardens at a local library and designing social media campaigns for an area non-profit supporting homeless youth.

Local Program Achievements

Androscoggin/Sagadahoc Teen Council: In the 2022 – 2023 year the council focused on strengthening skills in the areas of teamwork, self development, and leadership. With support from Jess Woodcock, 4-H Leaders Association President, the council visited the Bates College Museum of Art, completed an interview workshop series with the LA Chamber of Commerce, attended a women’s self-defense class and participated in many leadership and teamwork based activities.

County Public Speaking: In 2022 – 2023 100% of our county participants qualified for the State Public Speaking Tournament. These young people ranged in age from 10-18. They spoke on a variety of topics, including “10 Ways to Not Be a Good Leader” and a presentation on US Flag Etiquette that were selected to represent the state of Maine at the Eastern States Exposition.

STEM Ambassador / County 4-H partnership: And/Sag County 4-H partnered with Maine State STEM Ambassadors to provide hands-on science and engineering education to local youth in a 4-week series of workshops. Series focused on renewable energy and engineering design challenges. This opportunity was offered in libraries and afterschool settings to recruit new members in the county.

 

Maine 4-H Community Central

Community Central’s goal is to engage high school students from Lewiston and Portland in leadership opportunities, strengthen workforce and college/career readiness skills, and build social capital through programming offered at public housing, school, and community partner sites. The project is funded through a grant from the Children, Youth, and Families at Risk (CYFAR) Program through USDA/NIFA, and remains an initiative to connect schools, families, and communities through a “programming where the youth are” model.

Teen 4-H clubs meet weekly with 4-H staff to participate in workshops that strengthen critical workforce skills. Through these learning and mentoring sessions, teens discover and connect with their sparks. “Sparks are what help youth see the potential within themselves. Sparking the inner passions, interests, and talents of young people that inspire them on the path to thriving is central to youth development work” (http://4h.ucanr.edu).

As a result of ongoing locally conducted needs assessments and economic policy from Educate Maine, 4-H staff identified six critical career vacancies, which are predicted for the state by 2032 (Educate Maine, 2018). There are four categories that the program is focusing on, with natural connections to local businesses and college pathways within the University of Maine System and are of interest to our teen populations: Teacher Preparation (UMaine 4-H Summer of Science), Maine Food Systems, Community and Civic Engagement – including Legal, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) – including Medical.

Teens work with staff to identify areas of interest in the workforce and earn a stipend by participating in community-based learning experiences one to four times annually. Between 2019 and 2024, Community Central will reach 200 high-context participants (grades 8-12, ages 13-18) and 300 secondary participants (grades 3-6, ages 9-12).

In 2023 we continued our partnership with 21st Century Learning Centers at Lewiston High School (LHS) to support programming in a central location. This powerful partnership continues to allow students to access 21st Century academic support and after-school snack/dinner, and eliminates a large barrier to participation through bus transportation availability. The ability to provide transportation allowed us to offer equitable access to the program. Our partnership with Lewiston Housing’s Hillview Resource Center further broadened accessibility to the program by providing program sessions for resident high school students later in the evening.

In 2023 two program members were nominated to the Maine 4-H State Youth Council. Both members were accepted onto the council and have taken on leadership roles on a planning subcommittee and as council secretary.

Community Central hosted the Community Organizing Alliance to offer hands on civic engagement learning with the LEO Program. LEO (Leading, Engaging, Organizing) facilitates trainings on ways for young leaders to engage in community organizing and policy making. After graduating from the program, participants become advocates at the local and state level with a focus on equitable policy making.

Connect with us on Instagram: @4h.communitycentral.lewiston

This material is based upon the work of 4-H Community Central Maine, a project supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, United States (U.S.) Department of Agriculture, through a cooperative agreement with The University of Maine under award number 2019-41520-29982.
General information about the CYFAR grant program can be accessed on the USDA website.

For further information about the CYFAR-funded project highlighted in this publication, contact:

CYFAR Project Name: 4-H Community Central Maine
Principal Investigator: Kristy L Ouellette
Email Address: kristy.ouellette@maine.edu

4-H Summer of Science

4-H Summer of Science exposes youth to informal STEM programming in a fun and meaningful way. It uses hands-on learning activities to mitigate summer learning loss and engage youth in science. 4-H Summer of Science brings STEM to communities all over the state of Maine, meeting kids where they are already participating in summer programming in Androscoggin, Sagadahoc, and Cumberland counties. UMaine Extension staff created, modified, and delivered curricula with a focus on Environmental DNA.

The program is designed around a Teens as Teachers model with high school students being trained to deliver the science activities with the support of college Interns. Maine 4-H Summer of Science was held at free-or-reduced lunch sites, libraries, summer school programs, community youth providers, and summer camps. Funding through Maine EPSCOR and 4-H Community Central provides stipends to college interns and teen teachers.

In 2023, Androscoggin/Sagadahoc counties hosted three Interns (including a local 4-H alum), who oversaw 18 Teen Teachers and provided programming at 15 sites. Over 200 youth entering grades 4-6 participated in Auburn, Lewiston, Greene, Livermore Falls, Sabattus, Bath, and Topsham.

4-H Youth Have A Voice

Youth Have a Voice is a statewide program open to high school youth who are interested in taking a more active role in serving their local communities, the state, or the country. The purpose of the program is for Maine teens to be introduced to civic processes, connect with peers and adults through civic engagement, and complete a service project in their community. Participating youth learn leadership skills and ways to manage service projects.  The program was piloted with six youth during a nine-month period in 2023-2024.  In 2024-2025, the program will be modified to the needs of participants and resources available. For more information, please feel free to contact Dr. Andrew Hudacs, (207) 581-8204, andrew.hudacs@maine.edu, or explore the program website.

4-H Sustainable Woodland Agriculture

The 2024 Sustainable Woodland Agriculture program, marketed as Maple Sugaring 101: From Sap, to Syrup, to Sales, was a statewide 5-week program available for youth 4-H ages 10 and older to learn about the entire maple sugaring process. Participants learned about the complete process, from forest management, tapping trees, transporting sap, using an evaporator, grading, and storing syrup, to operating a maple sugaring business. Furthermore, youth learned about other non-timber agricultural practices for mixed hardwood forests in Maine. The program was implemented through multiple learning modalities that included, three virtual sessions by Zoom, learning guides and materials, and in-person visits to sugarhouses.  Participants met other young maple sugar makers across the state during the virtual learning sessions and in-person visits to sugarhouses. Lastly, participants learned how to boil maple sap on a homemade evaporator from discussions at sugarhouses and during the virtual learning sessions. A total of 35 youth from four different counties registered for the program. This was a substantial increase in the number of members from 2023 (six youth from one county).  Moreover, parents and club leaders reported having several additional youths participate who were siblings, friends, or homeschool “classmates” of registered youth.  Therefore, the total number of actual participants could not be determined.  For more information about the program, please explore the program website.

Oh Yea! 4-H Grows True Leaders

Oh Yea! 4-H Grows True Leaders, in partnership with the Somali Bantu Community Association in Lewiston, has successfully run three programs this year in the fall, spring, and summer. Serving approximately 30 teenagers and 30 elementary-aged students, these programs aim to prepare youth for diverse careers and effective community leadership by fostering skills in communication, collaboration, cooking, and gardening. This initiative also provides workforce development, leadership opportunities, and intergenerational mentorship, helping youth deepen their connection to Somali Bantu culture through traditional gardening methods and recipes.

In the fall, the program began with a 12-week food systems-based workshop series for Somali Bantu teenagers, where youth would harvest crops from a farm one week, such as apples from Ricker Hill Orchards in partnership with the Androscoggin County Gleaners, and prepare recipes using those crops the following week, such as pressing and bottling apple cider. In the spring, the ECHO (Explore Careers: Honor the Outdoors!) program involved middle and high school students visiting local farms and outdoor organizations to learn about careers from professionals, culminating in community presentations and a celebration with food. Currently, the summer program employs six teens and one community volunteer who teach elementary students gardening at Liberation Farms and cooking at St. Mary’s Nutrition Center.

This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2023-69018-39175

4-H Virtual Learning

Maine 4-H virtual learning is a statewide initiative that provides remote access to 4-H activities. Through the 4-H Virtual Learning Hub and Summer Learning series, young people around the state are able to join together and learn about topics of interest. Continuing past the peak of the pandemic, Maine families have continued to engage in 4-H virtual programs. Youth develop a sense of belonging, develop positive relationships with adults and peers, build new skills, and explore new topics across borders. Virtual programs reduce barriers to participation, including cost, transportation, and conflict with working parents’ schedules. In 2023, 117 youth participated in virtual 4-H offerings. Topics included engineering, algae, sharks, and more.

Sustainable Community and Economic Development

Agriculture and Natural Resources

Jason Lilley, Assistant Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and Maple Industry Educator

Program Overview

The Sustainable Agriculture program develops and delivers educational programming and resources for the agricultural community of Cumberland, Androscoggin and Sagadahoc Counties. These resources serve to increase farm economic viability, safety, and environmental and community sustainability. Specific areas of community support offered by our program in 2023 include;

• Responding to at least 198 inquiries for resources or recommendations on farming topics, conducting site visits to support farmers with troubleshooting and decision making to at least 37 farms, and organizing and delivering at least 32 educational programs.
• Assisting farmers with climate change adaptation planning and practice adoption. This includes soil health and cover cropping research, irrigation demonstrations, and soil moisture management demos, including on-farm demonstrations and collaborations on those practices. 30% of our inquiries were related to soils topics such as increasing efficiency of nutrient applications, enhancing cover cropping techniques, and reducing tillage. All of these recommended practices serve to increase farm profitability, increase crop yields, and significantly improve water quality in surrounding communities.
• Develop and distribute bi-weekly farming newsletters to over 3,000 recipients. Topics included financial assistance opportunities, general farm safety, soil health topics, and upcoming events.
• Design and deliver educational programming to support the maple industry in Maine with quality control, business management, and forest sustainability topics.
• Consulting with 8 beginning and prospective farmers to share the realities of farming, available resources to help launch farm businesses, and to connect them with various service provider specialists to support all aspects of their production and business goals.

Soil Health Outreach and Research: Enhancing Farm Sustainability and Water Quality

A survey conducted by our program revealed that 78% of farmer respondents leave some aspect of their farm soils exposed and prone to erosion over winter. The unanimous cause of this is due to late season crops being harvested too late to plant a cover crop to protect the soils. Our team received funding from the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program to investigate the practice of seeding cover crops over standing cash crops for the purpose of establishing living soil coverage. In addition to research farm trials, our team has recruited 7 Southern Maine vegetable farmers to trial and demonstrate this practice. In year two of this trial (2023) we have learned about the practical and logistical considerations of this practice, in addition to the positive effects of this practice on soil moisture, weed competition, and crop growth.

Year one and two farmer collaborators have expressed great interest in continuing this practice, therefore protecting their soils and surrounding waterways in the winter and spring seasons. This practice also increases access to fields during wet seasons, and increases the crop quality due to reduced soil splashing. For year three of the project, more farmers are enrolled to trial the practice.

Maple Outreach and Consumer Education

Maple production is an important enterprise in Maine, being of cultural importance to the state and region and providing economic opportunities for many farms in the area. Maple is also an excellent teaching tool for k-12 classrooms to introduce youth to tree physiology and forestry topics, food processing and farm business topics, and climate change. Our program delivered educational programming on;

• Introductory Backyard Maple Syrup production courses that reached nearly 1300 individuals.
• Consumer education programming to inform the general public about the maple syrup grades, and uses for the various grades to about 850 individuals.
• Maple specific curriculum materials to support career and technical high school programs with resources and education to teach their students about all aspects of the maple industry. (6 Schools)
• A full day conference on Maple Sugarbush Management and Best Practices in the face of climate change (54 participants) and other climate change resilience programming.
• In-depth and hands-on maple quality control programming for 103 individuals.

Other Workshops, Field Days, and Outreach

• Led 9 workshops, twilight tours, and webinars on cover cropping, soil health, and reduced tillage for farmers.
• Organized the Northeast Cover Crop Council Conference in Portland to bring together leading researchers, Extension educators, industry partners, and farmers from throughout the Northeast region.
• Delivered 7 farm and tractor safety programs to 109 individuals

Master Gardener Volunteers

Volunteer Training

In the fall of 2022, we had 20 Master Gardener Volunteer Trainees begin their classes for Androscoggin, Sagadahoc, and Kennebec Counties. These trainees came Androscoggin, Sagadahoc and Kennebeck Counties. 15 were certified at the end of December 2023, plus 3 that deferred to the next class and 3 who dropped out of the class. In Fall 2023 we welcomed a new class of interns from four counties.

Volunteer Action

Due to the continuously changing nature of public interactions throughout the year, our projects fell into two distinct groups: In-person/Hands-on and Online Educational. In-person projects were generally on-site and outdoors at gardens, farms, or fields indoor projects. Educational trainings were generally virtual or asynchronous. The Home Garden Answer Team once again met virtually all year. The Plant Sale Map resource team was completely virtual as well. The Onion Project team met virtually for planning and in person for distribution.

Master Gardener Volunteers focused in the spring on individual projects including a seed sorting project, onion plant sorting and distribution, and writing articles for the Maine Home Garden News. Summer projects generally had a slow start due to weather issues. During the growing season, in-person volunteering was in the field with a focus on Harvest for Hunger food security work and other food projects in the community. In the fall, most volunteering was focused on maintenance of growing sites and preparation for the next year.  Over 2300 hours of volunteer work were done by Master Gardener Volunteers in 2023.

Food Security

2023 was once again a very busy year in the area of Food Security. The Androscoggin Gleaners and the Merrymeeting Gleaners have volunteers in addition to Master Gardener Volunteers so both programs continued to operate throughout the year in collaboration with a network of food-focused organizations. Merrymeeting Gleaners (52,625 lbs)  gleaned year-round once again. This program is housed within the larger Midcoast Hunger Prevention Program (MCHPP) with a full-time coordinator who is an employee of MCHPP (Dave Baecher). Through a Sewall Foundation grant the Androscoggin Gleaners (15,303 lbs)hired a part-time Gleaning Coordinator in September 2022 (Erik Wilson). In addition various MGVs grew food in their home gardens and donated it (1500 lbs) The total for the season was just over 66,400 lbs.  In addition the Androscoggin Gleaners also distributed 41 boxes of fresh produce in November in time for the holiday season.

Statewide, 203,991 pounds of food were gleaned and donated through the Maine Harvest for Hunger Program in 2023, bringing the total since 2000 to over 3.84 million pounds of food. The combined total for Androscoggin and Sagadahoc counties was just over 66,400 pounds. Of note is that 3500 pounds came from Master Gardener Volunteers and community gardens, with the rest coming from gleaning.  The And/Sag group continues to have the highest total poundage for the state and is about 17% of the state total.

Both gleaning groups participated in other food security programs not reflected in the poundage total and servicing over 65 food-providing sites. These programs included the distribution of onion plants, seeds, and seedlings through local pantries in the spring. These hyper-local programs match available plants/seeds to community sites that are growing food as well as provide expertise if needed.

On a sad note, Scott Roberts lost his battle with cancer near the end of the year. He was a former ASCEA Chairman and one of the original Androscoggin Gleaners after  In true Scott Roberts form he waited until the end of the gleaning season to head to, as he called it, “the Choir Invisible”.

Community Gardens

Development of Community and School Gardens continues to be a growing trend. We currently support over a dozen community, library, or school garden projects. We have also strengthened our collaboration with ReTree Us, a non-profit organization that works with schools to grow orchards and fall gardens at schools throughout the state. MGVs from both counties regularly volunteer and glean at Growing to Give, a food bank farm on the Brunswick/Durham line

Bulk Onion Order and Bulk Seed Donation

In 2023, the onion project went statewide and is now a part of the statewide Home Horticulture program.

Nine county offices/projects participated in the onion order as well as some Extension staff. Two order forms and two delivery dates were available. The first order form was for personal garden onion orders and pay-it-forward donations.  The pay-it-forward donation option netted over $1080 in donations.  Our vendor also “comped” us one case of Leeks ($125 value) for just over $1,200 in donation value.  We had 170 orders for people’s personal gardens from Kittery to Presque Isle.

The second order was a “wish list order” for Harvest for Hunger projects. Through the generosity of  Master Gardener Volunteer donations, we could cover all the project orders for free. We had 80 project orders which was nearly 20,000 onion plants.  Project orders are generally larger orders since they are for larger spaces like community gardens, school gardens, etc. so 28% of the plants we brought in were donated to projects.

Home Garden and Landscape

Each year, hundreds of home gardeners visit or contact the Androscoggin and Sagadahoc Counties Extension office via phone or email to ask questions about insect and plant identification, soil testing, and vegetable garden or landscape questions. We answered just under 200 such questions in 2023. Roughly 12% of these clients were from Sagadahoc County and 29% were from Androscoggin County. Additionally, we saw an uptick in the questions that come to us via the state “Ask the Expert”, social media, and the internet where it is not always possible to know where the question originates. Our team works with plant pathologists, insect and disease specialists, and the tick lab in Orono to provide accurate identification and recommendations for clients with concerns about ticks, bedbugs, poisonous plants, and other potentially harmful pests. Some pests of note for our area include the Browntail Moth, jumping worms, and dog ticks. The primary process for asking and answering questions is via email with 35% of the questions being done that way followed by phone (27%) and phone and email (7%).

Due to the amount of rain we had, there was a noticeable amount of inquiries regarding trees and leaf loss. Both Maine DACF and Extension addressed this in bulletins in August and September. In 2023, there were several new/expanded pests and invasive species and that resulted in a high number of questions.

Community Impact

In 2023, MGVs worked on more than 50 projects in Androscoggin and Sagadahoc Counties, gleaning, educating children, low-income seniors, and many other members of the general population in the production of food crops and low-input gardening. MGVs in Androscoggin and Sagadahoc Counties contributed more than 2,300 hours during 2023. Based on the $31.80/hour value of volunteer time from the Independent Sector Estimate in April 2022, (the most recent figure available), the value of that time is over $73,150  The value of the food donated in our counties was over $112,880 based on the 2023 value of $1.70 per pound. Our nearly 70 Master Gardener Volunteers had a measurable impact on our communities.

Homemakers

In 2023, the Androscoggin Extension Homemakers Club, called Living Innovations Homemakers, had a steady flow of learning and community service through various experiences and themes. Through their own learning opportunities, members were able to share their products with the community in various ways.  For example, in March, members stuffed plastic easter eggs with trinkets and an encouraging message then hid the eggs along the walking path in Lisbon for children to find.  In April, they teamed up with MGV Janis to learn about planting seeds and weeding the garden using the garden space behind the Extension building.  This project was a joint effort with local 4-H youth members.  During May, the homemakers learned about making patriotic themed picnic foods, the meaning of Memorial Day, and made cards for veterans living at the state VA center in Augusta.  August was a month of change for the group as they were introduced to the new advisor, Heidi Palmer, and said goodbye to Cathy.  Still, they were eager to support the local community and gathered school supplies to donate to area schools creating approximately 25 bags with crayons, glue, pencils, rulers, and notebooks.

This small group of individuals, five in all, impacted over 100 community members with their giving and encouragement throughout the year.

Living Innovations Homemakers, based at the Lisbon Extension office, meets monthly to learn a new skill, perform a community service, and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow members.  Living Innovations is a 501(c)(3) that partners with families in Maine and surrounding states to “support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to lead good lives at home and in their communities with innovative programming and services.”

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2022-2023 Androscoggin-Sagadahoc Counties Annual Report: Digital Presence →