Goal making was something I truly despised when I was in high school but now I find it something I live by. Whether a professional goal or personal goal. I find it nice to have something to work towards. Goals don’t have to be big. Setting some small attainable ones that you can easily do is a great way to start and even can be encouraging to make bigger ones. So make that list and check off things as you go and start a new list when you complete that one. Or maybe you do short term goals and long term goals as some take longer than others.

The Bethel Outing Club Ski and Snowboard Sale is a place where local vendors and vendors from farther afield come to sell winter gear every October. Winter gear includes alpine and nordic skis, boots and poles, snowboards and snowboard boots, helmets, ice skates, hockey sticks, snowshoes, ski and boot bags, packs, winter clothing such as hats, mittens, jacket/coats, snow/ski pants, socks, and miscellaneous other items. There was even a fat-tired unicycle one year!

As well as new gear, folks can bring in used gear to sell. There is a special area to check this gear in. It needs to be inventoried and tagged by the seller and this may be done ahead of time or when it is brought in for the sale. Tagging ahead of time will save you money on tags (4 free and then 25 cents per tag up to 20, $1/tag after 20). Tags purchased the day of the sale at the sale are $1 each. Tags and inventory sheets will be available at the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce and True North Adventureware starting October 1st and until 2pm on Friday, October 23^rd. More information about selling your used gear is at bethelouting.org. Used gear not sold Friday night is marked down 50% in the hopes of selling it Saturday. If you don’t want your item marked down 50%, you must pick it up by 9pm Friday when the sale closes for the night. The BOC takes a 20% commission which is used to purchase ski gear used by our local youth, aid in the ski programs for them, as well as helping send them to the Bill Koch Festival at the end of the ski season. The Bethel Outing Club Ski and Snowboard Sale will take place Friday, October 23rd from 6-9pm and Saturday, October 24th from 9 till noon at the Gould Academy Field House, 74 Church Street, Bethel.

Just a reminder that the Household Hazardous Waste Event is Saturday, August 29^th from 9am-12pm at Bethel Public Works at 39 Davis Road in Bethel. Information about what can be brought can be found on the town’s website.

Tax bills are expected to go out in the mail today to owners as of April 1, 2026. If you sold your property after April 1, 2026, the taxes were committed to you and you will receive a bill. Courtesy bills are sent to new owners. If you do not receive your bill, you can find a copy on the town’s website or call the office to confirm your address and we can email you a copy. Payments can be made on the town’s website as well.

The Town Office will be closed on Monday, September 7^th in observance of Labor Day and on Wednesday, September 9^th to attend training. Please plan accordingly.

Good luck to all the students and parents that started school yesterday. I know it is a big adjustment getting back into a schedule again. I know we aren’t ready to let the summer break go just yet. Usually, I’m ready for school to begin but not this year. It went too quick and still so much to do.

Have a great week and send me your news to be included in next week’s column to newrynews24@gmail.com.

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No baking again this past weekend as it was too humid and I didn’t want to make the house any worse than it already was. I did, however, process more beets and put up eight jars of pickled beets. The electric pressure canner that you can also water bath in has been amazing. I did learn that I should not run that and the Instant Pot at the same time as it will trip the breaker. Old houses always have quirks and ours is too much on the kitchen breaker.

Green beans have finally come in after their haircut from Betty the hen. I also used the Instant Pot to briefly cook those and they went in the freezer as well. Cucumbers are plentiful but it is kind of a hunt as the squash that is growing next to it has taken over and they are hard to locate. We’ll rethink our garden layout next year to try to avoid this.

Less than two weeks and school begins again. It sure has gone fast. The School Board has started up again after taking July off.

The Comprehensive Plan Committee met on Monday to review the Farming and Agriculture chapters. They will meet next in October and review Natural Resources. One of the things discussed was landscapes and views that we would like to remain as is such as fields. So I’m including a picture of one of my favorite views, my backyard looking up towards my farm. Many stop to take pictures from Route 26 but don’t get the chance to see it from the other direction.

The Household Hazardous Waste Event is taking place on Saturday, August 29, from 9am-12pm at Bethel Public Works, 39 Davis Road in Bethel. Check the town’s website for acceptable items.

The Planning Board Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, August 19, at 6pm has been cancelled and they will meet next on Wednesday, September 2, at 6pm. If you are interested in becoming an Alternate, please contact the Town Office for more details.

The Select Board meets next on Tuesday, August 18, at 4:30pm. The agenda will be posted on the town’s website.

That’s all for this week. If you have news to add, please email me at newrynews24@gmail.com and I’ll add it to next week’s news.

We visited the Smiths to c…

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The garden continues to grow and I can see little cucumbers coming and we all know how quickly they grow so I better keep an eye on them as they will be good size before I know it. Some of the beets are big enough to pick and I better get freezing and pickling soon before other crops are ready to be processed.

The squash and pumpkins have lovely yellow flowers and hopefully we’ll have a bounty of both. I never did get to any greenhouses this year so I did not get a zucchini plant but hopefully someone has a few extra they can share, which is usually the case, so I can make some bread.

Sunday, we took advantage of Open Farm Day and made a trip to Canton to visit Conant Acres with some friends. We had a great time seeing everything and talking with them about their operation. We also enjoyed food from Volkernick’s Sausage and Riley’s Lemonade. If you haven’t tried either, I strongly suggest if you see their trailers to try them out.

While I still consider it summer, many fall items are making their way into the stores such as candy corn and pumpkin creamer. So with that I decided to make some pumpkin bread and a carrot cake in an effort to make more room in the freezer. I’ll continue to use up my corn, beans, carrots, and beets to make room for this year’s harvest.

While going to check out some flowers out back I saw something quickly fly past, so I set out to investigate and came upon what I believe to be a Hummingbird Moth. It was like a cross between multiple animals: humming bird, bee, and butterfly/moth. I found it oddly interesting and took several pictures as it moved about quickly.

The Select Board’s next meeting is Tuesday at 4:30 pm. Agendas and approved minutes can be found on the town’s website, newrymaine.org. The Planning Board continues to look for an alternate. Please reach out to the town office, if you are interested. Start cleaning up and gathering your household hazardous waste as you can dispose of it at Bethel Public Work on Saturday, August 29^th from 9am-12pm. Visit the town’s website for more information of acceptable items.

Have a great week. Send me your news to newrynews24@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to add it to my column next week.

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The garden continues to do well despite limited rain. We have watered it at night as it is quite dry. The beans are recovering from their haircut by Betty the hen and hopefully we’ll have some. The squash plants have quickly doubled in size and hopefully we’ll have plenty of those as well. My Instant Pot is ready for processing. I’m waiting on cucumbers as my lettuce is ready. It was excellent in my sandwich as well as salads. I’ll have to add this to the seed list again for next year.

I took a break from baking and stopped at Mandy B’s Bakery and picked up some cinnamon buns which were excellent. It is hard to get motivated to bake in the warm weather. I did make some hard boiled eggs and have them pickling as this was a request from the boys. My hens are laying at least a dozen eggs a day right now. We had egg salad sandwiches as well as potato salad which are a perfect summer supper. The Instant Pot makes the peeling process so much easier. If only I had known this years ago. Steaming is the best way to make hard boiled eggs and have them easily peel.

I have been enjoying the pool after blowing up some new chair floats. The temperature has been perfect; even adding water as the level had dropped did not cool it down too much.

A little bit of hay was done on Saturday and Sunday we made the trip to Mercer to pick up our bull River who had been hanging out at a turkey farm. I was disappointed that the bakery was closed but so happy for Blake, the main baker, as she got engaged. We’ll definitely have to make a trip over again to grab some donuts or whatever other goodies she has whipped up.

The Comprehensive Plan Committee met on Monday and great progress is being made. The next chapter is Agriculture and Foresty which are quite limited in this area now compared to what they used to be.

The Planning Board continues to look for an alternate member. If you are interested, please contact the Town Office.

A big thank you to Heather Vail who keeps our planters and hanging baskets at the Town Office looking spectacular. The colors this year are beautiful.

All day Tuesday it looked like rain and I waited for thunderstorms and rain which I never saw. There was some light rumbling in the evening but unless I slept through it, the weather reports were extremely wrong for this area, but that is nothing new. It did however rain Wednesday morning. I was out for a run and it started to sprinkle but the sky didn’t look any different than it did 24 hours before so I kept going. The drops increased and I looked up at the sky laughed and told Mother Nature to “Bring it on!” Well, she did and I was a mile away. I still laughed and picked up my pace heading home. I got wet but wasn’t soaked and it was still a great start to the day.

Send me your news to newrynews24@gmail.com and I’ll add it to my column. Have a great week and stay cool.

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Eliot and I decided to venture to Wayne to pick strawberries at Stevenson’s. I haven’t gone picking in years and Eliot had never been. The picking was amazing and we may have gone a little overboard but it was hard not to. With six flats of strawberries, I set to work making jam using my digital canner. Although I had reservations with so many steps in the manual, it went great and I am a huge fan. I managed to can 20 jars of jam and with several flats of berries still remaining I made a couple of strawberry rhubarb pies before my rhubarb passes. While the pies baked, I set to work making a couple of loaves of strawberry bread. I also whipped up some biscuits for strawberry shortcake of course. A fruit salad was made and several quarts of remaining berries were frozen for later use. We both decided next year we better not pick quite so many.

I was convinced I could smell strawberries in the car for days and worried there was one that had rolled under the seat to rot so I decided it was a great time to clean and vacuum the car to confirm this was not the case. No strawberries were found although a few pieces of straw had escaped and possibly were where the strawberry smell came from.

The garden continues to do well besides the green beans as Betty, the pet chicken, decided they were a great snack. She has since been grounded to the barn in hopes that they can recover and the beans actually grow back. I sure do miss seeing her roaming around the yard and hopping up on my porch swing to visit.

With a stretch of good weather and a friend with hay down, we ventured to Bethel to help with square bales. Eliot enjoyed throwing hay as we only put up round bales. I was sure my dad was smiling down watching us out in the field. We used to say, “A family that hays together stays together.”

We are in a heat stretch but the mornings still start off cool which is nice for a morning run. I keep my eyes open for wildlife and so far have only seen a couple of deer.

Just a reminder that the Town Office is closed today, Thursday July 2^nd, in observance of Independence Day. The Transfer Station will be closed on Saturday, July 4^th, so please plan accordingly.

If you have any great strawberry recipes for my frozen berries, please feel free to share them with me. If you have any news to add, please send it to me at newrynews24@gmail.com. Have a great week and enjoy the weather as it won’t last forever.

The garden is coming along nicely and it is time to weed. I actually planted lettuce for the first time. Hopefully the deer stay away. I did see a couple of turkeys walk through but they didn’t stop for a snack, thankfully.

We have had a great start to summer vacation and the haying season. I did take some …

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Haying has commenced in full force and Eliot has been an amazing help and has even learned to mow and bale this year. Pretty impressive for a ten-year-old. We hit it hard on Sunday and almost beat the rain. We had a minor breakdown with a chain on our wrapper but it was fixed fairly quickly and the last four bales finished up. It will be nice to have first crop complete so we can work on other projects.

The garden has been planted and I am just seeing lines of little green sprouts popping out of the ground. I hope I get my passion back for putting up vegetables by the time that needs to be done as well as figuring out the new electric pressure cooker. We are down to the last couple of jars of pickled beets so I definitely need to put up more of those.

I have yet to make my annual visit to Young’s or Mountain Greenery for that matter. Typically, I can’t wait to get a hanging planter but right now I really don’t need one more thing to manage so maybe I’ll skip this year and just enjoy my perennials.

The pool is up and pretty clear but definitely not warm enough for me. I attempted it on one of those humid days but only got my legs in before deciding it was too cold for me. Eliot was in quickly stating it wasn’t cold at all. Oh, to be young again. I used to be in Bear River and didn’t think it was cold at all as a child.

Another rhubarb crunch was made and some chocolate chip cookies. It won’t be long and the rhubarb will be gone so I’m making use of it while I can. I don’t tend to bake as much in the summer as I don’t want to heat the house up and we do not have air conditioning.

Just a reminder that the Town Office is closed today, Thursday, June 18, in observance of Juneteenth. The Comprehensive Plan Committee is hosting a Community Engagement Session at the Bear River Grange Hall on Tuesday, June 23, starting at 6 p.m. This is a chance for community to provide feedback to help update the Comprehensive Plan.

Have a great week and remember to take in the little things like the smell of freshly mowed grass or a hay field or for me the beautiful fields and hay bales which I am always stopping to take a picture of.

Send me your news to newrynews24@gmail.com and I’ll add it to my column next week.

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The water level in the pool is up and the filter is running again. Now we just need it to warm up as that water sure is cold.

The apple blossoms have been blown to the ground and the lilacs are in full bloom and smell amazing. We have white in the back yard and purple in the front. I love taking pictures of bees and butterflies on the flowers and take several pictures waiting for the right angle. My hostas are very full and look great except for one of my variegated green ones which something decided to snack on, possibly my chickens.

Speaking of plants, the library plant sale is taking place on Saturday, June 6^th from 9-11am. Don’t miss it as it is a great place to get new additions while supporting the library. Most of my hostas were obtained at this sale and are amazing. I’ve missed the last few years due to other commitments but maybe I’ll make it this year.

Baking consisted of another new rhubarb recipe. This time it was a Rhubarb Crunch which was a big hit. Molasses cookies are on the list next as a request from Eliot.

Baseball continues and they had a home game Tuesday night against Poland and the kids did great. Eliot had a couple of great outs, one on first and one on third and hit a triple with his new bat. These kids are so supportive of each other and encouraging. It really is great to see how they have grown and learned to work together in the last month and we still have a couple more weeks to go.

Make sure to add the Community Engagement session to your calendar for June 23^rd at 6 p.m. at the Grange Hall. This session is being held by the Comprehensive Plan Committee to obtain input while they prepare the updated Comprehensive Plan. The next Comprehensive Plan meeting takes place on Monday, June 15^th at 5 p.m. at the Town Office.

Come visit the polls to vote in the Primary Election on Tuesday, June 9^th from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. If you have any interest in being a ballot/election clerk, please inquire at the Town Office.

If you missed the Town Meeting that took place, you can still pick up the Town Report at the Town Office or view it on the town’s website.

That’s all for this week. Enjoy the weather and take time to enjoy the small things in life. Send me your news to newrynews24@gmail.com.

The apple blossoms have smelled amazing and are so beautiful. Let’s ho…

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The weekend was a busy one with moving some of our cattle to their summer field. When we first arrived to drop the cattle off in the luscious green field, there was a moose hanging out in the field pacing back and forth trying to figure out how to get out. After many back and forths, it finally decided it would have to jump the fence which it did without any damage to the fence. We’re hoping it stays away but it was kinda neat to see. Our home herd is five lighter for the summer.

Top priority currently is fence repair so the remaining cattle can go out on pasture. There is always so much to do this time of year and the deer sure were hard on the fence over the winter. At least there has been a breeze which has kept the bugs away. The ticks are out so remember to check when you come inside.

We’re hoping we can shut the outdoor wood boiler down soon but the nights still seem to cool down quite a bit. I’m thinking in the next week we’ll begin opening the pool up. I snuck a peek under the cover and it actually looks quite clear besides some debris on the bottom but it is encouraging.

Baking commenced on Friday and consisted of strawberry rhubarb pie and an old fashioned rhubarb cake which I had never made before and was quite good. I’ve attempted freezing rhubarb in the past but didn’t feel like it held up well so I may try again but use the FoodSaver and see if it makes a difference. If you have any good rhubarb recipes I should try, please feel free to share.

Just a reminder that the Town Office is closed on Monday, May 25^th in observance of Memorial Day. There are only 6 chairs remaining from the Grange Hall. If you are interested, get them before they are gone.

Send me your news to newrynews24@gmail.com and I’ll happily add it to my column next week.

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Just a reminder that the bears are out and looking for food so be sure to bring your bird feeders in at night and secure all trash. The one in this picture was caught by a Newry firefighter and had just exited a fellow firefighter’s truck bed as they were able to snag a treat from the back.

The mornings are still cool but for a change of pace I decided to go for a walk instead of hitting the elliptical. It was nice and refreshing and I saw seven deer. It was neat to see those white tails flagging as they ran across the field and splashed down across the river. I’ll definitely be doing this again soon.

Tuesday night was Eliot’s first scrimmage and it was a great game. We left the house in t-shirts and having applied sunscreen but we really needed an umbrella and sweatshirts. It went from 81° to 61° in 3 hours. We got soaked and were cold but the kids did great. It started off with a bang and I have a feeling it’s going to be a great season. While drying off and warming up I made a list of things I need to pack in the car for future games: chair, umbrella, bug spray, and warm clothes.

Just a reminder that the Newry Town Office is closed today, Thursday, May 7, as staff is attending a conference in Bangor. Code Enforcement will be available. The Annual Town Meeting is Tuesday, May 12, at 6 p.m. at the Bear River Grange Hall. The town warrant and material can be viewed at newrymaine.org or picked up at the Town Office prior to.

That’s all for this week. If you have something to contribute, please send it to me at newrynews24@gmail.com. I can even include a picture, if you send one.

I did get to rake out my flower garde…

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With the propane tanks filled, we have done some grilling but I did resort back to a beef stew on the cold Sunday when I was under the weather. Pancakes with locally made syrup along with some sausage gravy were on the menu this past weekend. I also whipped up a couple of loaves of pumpkin bread in an attempt to use up my stock in the freezer. I think pumpkin tastes good year round and I definitely don’t save it just for the fall.

We took a trip to Colebrook, NH, to check out a Marketplace find. It was a lovely ride and thankfully it was before the rain as it was on some dirt back roads which were quite bumpy but not muddy. Eliot would love to live there as they are ATV friendly and he could do lots of riding. There were some beautiful views and lots of tree farms which was nice to see. I was hoping to see a moose but they were nowhere to be seen. It reminded me of childhood when we would bake up some pizzas on a Friday night, watch a movie and take a trip to Grafton and hope to see a moose on what we called a “moose cruise.”

I sure am thankful to my mom for running my kid to baseball practice and getting him where he needs to go. The game schedule came out and she’s willing to help me with that as well. I couldn’t do it without her.

Monday the office was closed in observance of Patriots’ Day and although I was feeling better, I still was not feeling great and it went from sunny with blue sky to snowing and no visible mountains so I stayed inside and did some spring cleaning. It really was more sorting, throwing, and organizing than anything but it made me feel good. It sure is amazing how much stuff we accumulate from old papers to gadgets we don’t need but don’t want to throw away as they are still useful. That closet is still waiting but I did do one shelf which is at least a start.

Just a reminder that the Select Board meets the first and third Tuesdays at 5pm. Agendas can be seen on the town’s website: newrymaine.org. Town meeting is on Tuesday, May 12, at 6 p.m. Just a reminder the office will be closing on Wednesday, May 6, at 4 p.m. and will be closed all day Thursday, May 7, for staff to attend training in Bangor. The code enforcement officer will be available.

That’s all for this week. Send me your news to newrynews24@gmail.com and I’ll happily add it to my column next week.

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