Portland Rotary met at the offices of Cultivating Community for a catered chicken and cheese empanadas lunch by 
Adrian Espinoza. 
We sat around a large table (at right) and listened to Yannick Bizimana, Community Agriculture Assistant, talk about his work with Portland Community Gardens. There are (11) gardens in Portland, including one on Peaks Island, and there are (500) participating gardeners.
If you are interested in getting a space, you need to go to their website at: https://www.cultivatingcommunity.org/programs/urban-ag-community-gardens/city-of-portland-community-gardens/.
Yannick instructed us in our duties and told us that at the Boyd Street Garden, they have peach and apple trees. The harvest was so good, they went door-to-door giving the excellent fruit away. Our club was to be mulching those trees during our visit on this day. The Community Gardens program gives support and teaches gardeners the organic gardening methods. In response to a question, we found out that the Hurricane Valley location in Falmouth has bees, chickens and will soon have goats. They hope to set up gardens for next year.
Helping to clear debris from the garden took a lot of hard work....Katie Brown and Jennifer Frederick (at left).....
while Erik Greven, Bruce Moore, and Isiah L'Heureux, Baxter Academy Interact student, pitched in to clear and haul the debris away and prepped the plantings for the winter (at right).....
and President Amy Chipman helped clear and prepare protection for the plants during the winter weather (at left).
Paul Tully reminded us to sign-up for the Veterans’ Appreciation lunch on Nov. 8th: you will need to register both to attend and/or if you are a volunteer. It will be held at Seasons Event Center, 155 Riverside Drive, Exit 48, Portland. Major General Douglas Farnham, Ret. USAF, will be our keynote speaker, along with Bill Nemitz, Charlie Summers and hopefully Governor Janet Mills, if her schedule permits. There will also be a professional singer, video screens and a new sound system. For more information, contact Paul (ptully@maine.rr.com) or Charlie Frair (cfrair47@yahoo.com). To register, click HERE or go to: https://portlandrotary.org/event/veterans--appreciation-lunch-nov--8--2019/