April is a promise

According to Stobbart's Nurseries sign:

April is a promise that May is bound to keep

stobbarts nurseries

Boston Marathon: May the wind be at your back

Good luck to all of Franklin's entries in today's Boston Marathon.

If you want to follow the results, this listing from the BAA.org site can help you by showing the individual bib numbers for the entries.

The weather forecast seems to be close to ideal for running. May the wind be at your back and the roads kind to your effort today!

Avoid lines, use the RMV webpage

RMV Prepares for Busy April Vacation Week

April school vacation days next week are among the RMV’s busiest of the year.  In preparation, MassDOT today again encouraged customers to do their business online if possible and unveiled new tools to help customers who must visit a branch better understand wait-times to plan their branch business.

As the article indicates, it would be good to visit the website  http://www.massrmv.com/  to see if you can conduct your business online and avoid lines in the RMV office

First Annual Elks Care Elks Share 5k Fun Run and Walk

The Franklin Elks are pleased to announce the First Annual Elks Care Elks Share 5k Fun Run and Walk. The event will begin and end at the Franklin Elks, 1077 Pond Street, Franklin, Ma. on Saturday, May 11, 2013. Registration begins at 9:00 AM and the race begins at 10:00 AM. Pre-registration is $25 and day of race registration is $30.

Our website www.franklinelks5k.com provides a link to register for the race and all the details of the event.

The race is USATF sanctioned, and timing will be provided by New England Timing. There will be awards for the top three finishers in each category, and t-shirts for participants who register by April 27th. Music, raffles, and refreshments will be available.

All proceeds from the race will be donated to the Franklin Food Pantry and the Wounded Warrior Project..

The Franklin Food Pantry currently serves more than 580 households throughout the local communities, distributing more than 150,000 pounds of food and provisions annually. The need for services is rapidly increasing - in the last year the number of clients has increased by 40%, and the number of pounds of provisions by 30%. 

The Wounded Warrior Project is the hand extended to encourage warriors as they adjust to their new normal and achieve new triumphs. Offering a variety of programs and services, the Wounded Warrior Project is equipped to serve warriors with every type of injury - from the physical to the invisible wounds of war.

Please join us in supporting these two deserving organizations

Could there be an Incredible Edible Franklin?

Pam Warhurst explains how they started:

We tried to answer this simple question: Can you find a unifying language that cuts across age and income and culture that will help people themselves find a new way of living, see spaces around them differently, think about the resources they use differently, interact differently? Can we find that language? And then, can we replicate those actions? And the answer would appear to be yes, and the language would appear to be food.

Food, ah yes. We all need to eat to live. This TED Talk describes how the community of Todmorden is working to change what they eat and how they eat. The Incredible Edible Todmorden is a story worth replicating.





We have the basics of this underway already in Franklin with the Community Garden. We just need to get more folks involved.

For more information on Todmorden, visit their webpage here
http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/

"poor man’s fertilizer"

The Milford Daily News has an article on area farmers getting ready for the growing season. The Fairmount Fruit Farm in Franklin is among the farms mentioned:

"We’re kind of in uncharted territory," said C.J. Koshivas, who operates the 30-acre farm along with his mother Diane and father Chuck. 

Because of the weird winter last year, Koshivas said his apple buds bloomed a lot earlier. Then, unexpectedly, a freeze hit. The family lost about 80 percent of the farm’s biggest cash crop, he said. 

Koshivas said, "The temperature didn’t fool the trees at all this year, so the buds were kept small and compact." 

His strawberries have also fared well so far. And he expects to host folks at the 887 Lincoln St. farm for pick-your-own strawberries sometime next month.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x935164240/Area-farmers-prepare-for-new-season#ixzz2QREIK0rA

For more about the Fairmount Fruit Farm at 887 Lincoln St, you can visit their webpage
http://fairmountfruit.com/

In the News: transportation funding, snow and ice costs

Senate adopts $500M tax plan, with more money for transportation

Legislation raising gas, tobacco and business taxes in Massachusetts by $500 million and eventually dedicating up to $800 million a year in new revenues for transportation cleared the Senate 30 to 5 during a rare Saturday session.

Snow and ice costs top $16 million

The ice might finally be gone as winter lets up its grip on the region, but local municipalities are still left with one remnant of the snow – the cost of cleaning it up.

....

In Franklin, DPW Director Robert "Bruce" Cantoreggi said he expects to "be within 5 percent" of his department’s original $970,000 appropriation. Cantoreggi said town officials have opted to approve a budget that should be close to what the final snow and ice numbers are.

"Working through the Town Council, they’ve been proactive in having a realistic snow and ice budget," he said. Cantoreggi said that his department has also made some moves to cut down on costs like reducing salt use on side roads or making decisions to send out fewer trucks and focusing more on main roads.