Franklin Matters

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Community Gardens update

Hello to all of our Community Garden Supporters!

We been busy getting the garden ready, and not so busy writing to you all.

Forgive us!

Here's what's been going on: www.franklincommunitygardens.org

(you can subscribe to this and as it is updated you will get an email link right away)

There is still time to sign up for the lottery, links available on the website!

Volunteer Opportunities:

Build Team:

We need some help fixing/building/re-building/remediating/relocating some of the raised beds-on-legs gardens from last year. The snow got 'em bad. We need to make them safe.
Heavy work, but quick. Will be some lifting, sawing, drilling, shoveling. Dirt moving. Lumber getting. Rough and tough stuff. You on? contact Chris at hakai2@gmail.com
Still trying to coordinate when and how, will depend on your availability. Locations: Senior Ctr, Food Pantry, Eaton Place.

Giving Garden:

We are also looking to form a dedicated group of volunteers for this season for the Franklin Food Pantry's 4 garden beds, which we are calling the "Giving Garden"
Duties----planning, planting, watering and harvesting, delivering produce to the pantry.
Would like enough folks so that each person has a 1-2 hrs a week, tops, so about 10 people would do it, 15 would make it cruise
please email Amy Acevedo directly at amyacevedo1@verizon.net and we will get it together and roll it out!

May Showers bring June Flowers, Right?

New England version, anyway.

Best Regards,

Amy Acevedo

& crew:

The Friends of Franklin Community Gardens, Inc.

The Franklin Community Garden Committee

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www.franklincommunitygardens.org

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http://www.facebook.com/pages/Franklin-Community-Gardens/152040424825578

"they didn't know how much time is spent ensuring drinking water is safe"

Perrotta provided a general overview of the town's water system, explaining where the water comes from, why usage restrictions are needed during the summer and how harmful bacteria is eliminated from the water supply.

"A lot of people complain about paying high water and sewer rates and they don't know that there is a huge infrastructure to maintain," said David Labonte, the secretary for the Odd Fellows, a fraternal organization that supports charities and holds informational meetings such as last night's once or twice a year.

The department is primarily funded by water and sewer fees and oversees 13 wells, six water storage tanks, about 9,600 service connections, more than 2,000 fire hydrants and 157 miles of water main, Perrotta said.

"You have eight or nine balls in the air and if you drop one of them the water comes out pink," he said.

Franklin's water comes from groundwater as opposed to surface sources such as reservoirs. The town pumped 928.5 million gallons in 2010, he said.

In the News - veterans, book sale

Disabled veterans advisers to give free help in Franklin

by GateHouse Media, Inc.

Franklin: Library book sale Sat 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Friends of Franklin Library book sale this weekend

by GateHouse Media, Inc.

Franklin, MA

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Grand Opening of the Franklin Art Center

Hi Steve,

I wasn't sure if you wanted to post this is or if we could add a guest post or how you would like to handle it.

My wife and I have just started the Franklin Art Center. It is located in downtown Franklin at 5 Main St (behind Berry Ins.). We will be having the school's Grand Opening Saturday May 21st from 10 to 2 pm. This free event is for anyone to come in meet the teachers, ask questions about the classes, try a lesson, and learn about the art parties. The center will have morning, afternoon, evening and art weekend classes for ages 4 adults in a wide variety of media. Our weekly sessions provide our 4-5 year olds with hands-on activities, stories, and unique lessons for artistic explorations. We are working with the local school and our curriculum for our classes are based on the Massachusetts Visual Arts Frameworks.

Our beginner, advanced, private or group lessons for 16 to adults will focus on the individual needs of the student. Just a few topics we cover are:

- drawings to investigate compositional possibilities.
- blocked-out charcoal/pencil/oil sketches to arrange tonal values.
- oil sketches to experiment with various color schemes and harmonies.
- fundamentals of painting
- preparing canvas and paint for the anticipated tasks.
- applying paint to canvas, either incorporating the results in direct painting.

You are also invited to our gallery opening May 20th from 7 - 9 pm showing paintings from our featured local artist Victor Pisini. Victor is a local icon in Franklin and paints in both oils and watercolor. The gallery will rotate work from local artists and feature them on our web site and in our classes and on our facebook page.

Please visit http://franklinartcenter.com for more information or call my wife Linda in the center at 508.887.2797. Or friend us at facebook.com/franklinartcenter

I'm sending this from work but the center's email address is franklinartcenter@gmail.com. Let me know if you have any questions. Look forward to seeing you.

Thanks again
Ian

Library book sale - DPW Touch a Truck

The Library Book Sale will be combined with the DPW's "Touch a Truck Day" this Saturday. Come on down to the DPW Garage on Hayward St. Buy a book, help the Library.

Check out the equipment and see for yourself how old it is!

The story below and pictures were taken and posted last May.

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The combination of the Library Book Sale and the DPW Open House drew quite a crowd on Saturday.

The Friends of the Library paid for the overtime of the DPW workers. The food and drink provided at the DPW Open House was donated by Weston & Sampson.

The bucket truck authorized for purchase as part of the capital plan in 2009 was on display looking brand new. It is over ten years old. The new look comes from the paint job that was part of the purchase price. DPW Director, Robert (Brutus) Cantoreggi is walking towards us in the photo.

The DPW garage had four mechanics. One just retired this year and due to the budget cuts, the position won't be filled leaving three mechanics to take care of more than 300 pieces of equipment. Which of these two units looks like it is three years old? and which looks like it is sixteen years old? (Answer at the end of this post.)

Most of the equipment that I saw on display had a sign telling the year and use for the unit. The purpose for some was easy to recognize, some were not. This batwing mower is over 10 years old and still doing duty cutting the grass on our athletic fields.

The weather cooperated for this nice family event. If your son or daughter was one of the horn tooters, they probably walked away with a smile. Your smile came from the fact that they at least stopped blowing the horn!

Iqbal Ismail is show below taking pictures of his daughter Zeba and son Faraz in the front seat of the truck.

Note: In answer to the question above: the unit on the left in the picture is 3 yrs old; the unit on the right is 16.
My thanks to Brutus Cantoreggi and Dave Allard for providing the information to share here.

Franklin, MA