Mid Maine TimeBank

Debbie Leschinski, one of MMTB’s members, is a very talented musician who plays awesome Celtic flute music. Her endeavors don't end there – she is also fabulous on guitar. She is currently taking a break from timebanking and going on tour around Maine and the northeast with her music. Check out her website to follow her career and hear samples of her beautiful music. http://machinesentience.com/celticflutenotes/  Debbie plays under the name flutenotes.

She will be playing in a neighborhood close to you in the next few months so go listen to some great music and be sure to let her know you're in MMTB so she will know we support her.

*May 26 – The Center for Maine Craft Fair Memorial Day Celebration in West Gardiner

*July 17th 5-7 PM – Fairfield Summer Concert Series in Memorial Park

*July 29th – The Festival of Nations in Portland

*August 9th – The Topsham Fair

* Sept. 16th – The Farmington Fair's Miss Farmington Pageant

*Nov. 23rd – The Artistree Art Show in Belgrade

 Another one of our musically talented members, Ryan Toothaker, is the vocal coach for a children’s theater group that will be performing Fiddler on the Roof on Friday May 18th at the Between Friends Art Center on Center Street in Brewer. Please message Ryan if you want more info. (Ryan is our coordinator for the Bangor area and our webmaster – needless to say, a very talented techie.)

One of our members offers these hints to get your garden off to an early start:

This is the perfect time to do cold weather plantings. Plants that like cool weather will bolt in the heat of July if you don't plant them soon enough. A perfect cold weather plants is peas (shell, snap, and snow), which need the cold ground to germinate. On these warm days lettuce and greens also can be planted. They need warmth to germinate but prefer 50-degree days. Swiss chard and beet greens also fall into this category. I start my carrots now because they are slow to germinate and planting now gives them an edge over the weeds that come when the ground warms up. Broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower can be started and transplanted out in 2 weeks. I use cold frames for transplanting these so I will be putting them in very soon. Some say you can put their seed directly in the ground now but I usually grow them inside and transplant. Milk jugs with bottoms cut off and placed over the transplants (no cap on) provide mini-greenhouse conditions for them and keep the first bugs off them.

Hope this helps you decide what you can and can't do. Can you take a temperature of your surface soil? Anything over 40 degrees at around 6pm means you can put any of the above in. Happy planting!

Below is a photo from the most recent MMTB orientation for new members. These folks are from our “new neighborhood” in the Damariscotta region.

Here is a wonderful example of MMTB working at its best.

Bob in Waterville has been running the "Pony Express" between Waterville and Augusta for months, delivering TimeBank documents between coordinators and donation checks back up to his wife, Michelle, our current treasurer. This month, coordinator Stacey's microwave broke down in Augusta, and coordinator Sheila had one on her porch, but can't drive. Bob in Waterville had to deliver jewelry to Augusta for his wife, who shares her inventory in a growing small business together with Robin, Stacey's downstairs neighbor. So Bob picked up the microwave in Waterville from Sheila and brought it to Stacey. Money saved all around! Stacey loves her "new" microwave!

Debbie learns stained glass from Diane....

Pete learns guitar from Debbie....

And that's how we roll in the TimeBank!

Story 1

As a result of MMTB’s new affiliation with the timebank in Portland, one of our members (Barbara R.) spent her Saturdays in Portland attending a class titled "An Introduction to Permaculture Design". She was especially pleased to be able to pay for the class with credits she had earned helping others here in the Central Maine area. Normally the class would have cost her $67. She paid for the class with four hours and came away with a wealth of information. She has had a chance to digest the wonderful knowledge she gained and wanted to some of the basics with others.

Permaculture is based on three ethics and 12 principles which support those ethics. Creating a space where one lives these ethics and principles makes the environment more fulfilling and less work. The three ethics are Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share. When we take care of the earth, we are really taking care of ourselves because the earth provides all that we need to survive. Fair share is realizing we don't need to hoard or use more than we really need, leaving more for the future.

The 12 principles support and help us to apply the ethics in our lives, thereby improving our quality of life. Below is a list the principles with examples for a few of them. No doubt you will find that you are already aware of some of these.

1) Observe and Interact – See everything about the environment you use daily. Be aware of how you interact with it. How might you improve it?

2) Catch and Store Energy – Be it sun, rain, water, hot air – find ways to keep it and reuse it to help something else in your environment.

3) Obtain a Yield – This principle is mainly for gardening but in all things one can find tangible outcomes from one’s efforts.

4) Apply Self-Regulation and Accept Feedback – Recognize when you may be taking too much of something and find ways to leave it for succeeding generations, including your own.

5) Use and Value Renewable Resources and Services – Plants help cool a building, and in cold weather they cut down on wind and reduce heat loss.

6) Produce No Waste – Feed worms if nothing else. Example: Ducks in a rice paddy eat slugs, and their “poop” is fertilizer.

7) Design from Patterns to Details – When water flows through your yard how can you slow it down and use it to water plants? Create a design from natural patterns you see around you.

Integrate Rather than Segregate – Planting corn, beans and squash together is beneficial. Beans can climb corn, squash likes some shade and protects corn from predators.

9) Use Small and Slow Solutions – Less impact means easier adjustments. Sometimes waiting for a plant to grow is better than instant gratification.

10) Use and Value Diversity – This is taken from the habitat of the forest. There are many tiers in a forest with plants and creatures living symbiotically. Plan your garden likewise.

11) Use Edges and Value the Marginal – Notice how much more life there is at the edge of a field, lawn, woods. More edges mean more habitat.

12) Creatively Use and Respond to Change – Every design element should have three functions, and any element that is essential should have a back-up system.

Story 2

Debbie L., another MMTB member, recently enjoyed learning how to create her very first stained glass work of art. As a novice, she is justifiably proud of what she created. Her teacher Diane is a very good teacher and she particularly loved having the chance to see Diane’s beautiful creations. Debbie is now giving guitar lessons to another MMTB member and has just recently received a Polish/Lithuanian recipe from a member of Hours Exchange Portland, which she has joined.

Story 3

Pete S. is very pleased with the guitar lessons that he has been receiving from Debbie L. It has been his dream to learn how to play, and now he is well on his way to playing some of his favorite songs!

MMTB member Debbie L and her husband recently teamed up to replace a portion of a kitchen ceiling for another MMTB member (see photo). She plans to spend the hours she earned on a lesson in stained glass art. Also, she is giving Spanish lessons to another member and her two children, and then hopes to take some lessons in Chinese with the hours she earns. Debbie says after doing a few exchanges that she is finding joy in meeting her neighbors and satisfaction in helping and being helped by them!

If you haven’t joined MMTB yet, here is yet another reason to do so – MMTB members are now able to access/join Hour Exchange Portland.

Hour Exchange Portland (“HEP”;), like MMTB, is a community-led service exchange (time bank) that is based in Portland, Maine. It is a very large and active exchange, in terms of both the number of members (and therefore the number of offers and requests for services) and the broad range of services. According to HEP’s website, in its several years of existence HEP’s members have exchanged over 150,000 hours of service. Services currently offered include everything from bike repairs/tune-ups to pet care; from weatherization to massage therapy; from lessons in photography or music to offers of lodging and accommodations; from legal services to health care services. In fact, according to its website, HEP members have provided over 25,000 hours of free health care since its inception, and in 2010, its members were able to weatherize nearly 100 homes!

Although HEP normally has geographic restrictions, those have been waived for MMTB members. (MMTB has joined HEP, and HEP has joined MMTB.) So join MMTB now!

I have been a member of MMTB for just over a year now. I have given services as well as received them. I recently had a family court matter where I was able to have representation by a lawyer who is a member of MMTB - I am so grateful for that. The outcome of that case was in my favor and I could not have done it without the help of an attorney. An amazing friendship has also developed with myself and another member. We love each other's cats and usually have coffee together every day...we call each other "neighborettes"...this member has taught me through her actions about patience, being a responsible pet owner, and compassion, and she is a walking wealth of knowledge...thanks Stacey! I am interested in learning more about timebanking and helping to do some fundraising events to get MMTB more exposure in the central Maine community. I believe in the concept of time dollars and everyone having value!

I recently had an opportunity to use my work at the TimeBank to create a multi-media project for grad school, including a blog, photos and video. The entire project may be found at:

http://midmainetimebank.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-to-build-social-capital.html

It was great to learn new skills at Gonzaga University and and help my TimeBank at the same time!

-Stacey

If you just want to skip to the video, here it is: