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Farmers and scientists look to make peaches next cash crop in Maine

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Farmers and scientists look to make peaches next cash crop in Maine


As our local weather modifications, farmers are including the fruit to orchards. In the meantime, UMaine scientists seek for the most effective selection for the area.

LIMERICK, Maine — It’s springtime on the Libby farm In Limerick.

Aaron Libby and his staff have been arduous at work, trimming bushes and timber throughout his 40-acre fruit orchard.

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On a heat April afternoon, Libby stood on the highest level of his farm and appeared down at rows of blueberries, raspberries, plums, and apples.

Nonetheless a sea of grey within the spring, it turns into a technicolor tapestry in the summertime months. 

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NEWS CENTER Maine Meteorologist Todd Gutner walked the farm with Libby through the spring and summer season of 2021. The third-generation fruit farmer defined how he is seen the consequences of local weather change on the farm, with milder winters, earlier springs, and unpredictable thaws and chilly snaps.

“An earlier season’s nice, it will get issues going, particularly for us. We need to be open the earliest we could be open,” he informed Gutner. “Nonetheless, whenever you get the blossoms open, these blossoms are very, very tender.”

Throughout our current go to, Libby confirmed detailed charts created by a number of universities that decide, precisely, how a lot chilly his blueberries can deal with at every level of their development. It’s near an actual science.

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The farm noticed a mean winter this 12 months, with simply sufficient snowpack to insulate the timber, Libby stated. He is proper on tempo for a robust July opening.

However, whereas he has charts and a long time of information on blueberries and apples, downhill from the standard Maine crops, local weather change is permitting Libby to take a chance on one other fruit: peaches.

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“Twenty years in the past, 30 years in the past, to have 5 acres of peaches within the floor could be very dangerous, that’s for positive,” he stated. “It’s nonetheless dangerous now, however these are a few of the benefits you’re getting with an extended rising season and fewer chilly temps.”

Libby stated Maine peach farms are nonetheless on the northern fringe of viability. Fortunately, they’re not on this enterprise alone.

Dr. Renae Moran is an issue solver for Maine farmers. 

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“Farmers share their experiences with me they usually ask me to assist them clear up their large issues, and little issues, like what varieties to plant,” Moran briefly smiled.

The UMaine tree fruit specialist works with 80 farms, and has not solely noticed the rise in peach recognition, she’s busy rising 20 types of her personal, in a seek for the one the produces the most effective fruit in Maine’s local weather. 

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A worthwhile fruit at that.

“Though they don’t yield very properly, the value makes it worthwhile, and the best way peaches can attract prospects makes it price having them,” she stated.

Prospects have confirmed they’re going to come get them. Libby’s farm, Libby & Son U-Picks, is 100% pick-your-own, a lot completely different from the wholesale operation Libby’s ancestors used to work.

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If Moran’s work produces hearty timber that then grow to be much less dangerous for farmers like Libby, the peach may ultimately cease being unique in our neck of the woods.

It may grow to be simply as recognizable as some other fruit throughout a summer season orchard stroll in Maine.

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Maine

NLH’s mobile mammography unit to offer walk-in screenings, no appointment needed

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NLH’s mobile mammography unit to offer walk-in screenings, no appointment needed


MILO, Maine (WABI) – There is good news for Maine woman over the age of 40, who need a mammogram.

Maine’s only mobile mammography unit will make it easier for you to get a screening in 2025.

Starting the second week of January, they’ll be offering walk-in screenings to all women – without an appointment.

Screenings will be offered on Friday, January 10 at Northern Light Primary Care, Milo, 135 Park Street, and on Tuesday, January 21, at Northern Light Primary Care, Corinth, 492 Main Street..

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Walk-in screenings will be available between 8:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

This will be for routine screening only. In order to be eligible, officials say at least a year and one day must have passed since your last screening.

Northern Light Health says it’s first-in-Maine mobile mammogram service has screened nearly 250 women since opening in April of 2024.

Mammograms are recommended for most women beginning at age 40 because early detection allows treatment to begin sooner when cancer is easier to treat.

For more information call 207-564-4353, or visit northernlighthealth.org/mobilemammo to view the complete mobile mammography schedule.

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Rockland’s minimum wage is up for 2025

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Rockland’s minimum wage is up for 2025


Rockland’s minimum wage for some workers will increase from $15 per hour to $15.50 on Wednesday.

This increase, which applies to people employed by a company with more than 25 workers, will come at the same time as the state minimum wage increase. The state’s minimum wage will increase from $14.15 per hour to $14.65 on Wednesday.

Portland, the only other Maine city to have a minimum wage higher than the statewide one, will also be increasing its minimum wage on Wednesday, from $15 per hour to $15.50 per hour.

Rockland voters approved a law in November 2020 that increased the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2024, with future changes based on cost-of-living increases.

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The minimum wage for workers employed by smaller companies will be the state minimum wage. For service employees, the direct minimum wage before tips will be $7.75 per hour in Rockland. If the employee’s tips do not add up to at least $15.50 per hour, the employer must make up the difference.



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Stephen King's rock radio station in Maine won't go silent after all

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Stephen King's rock radio station in Maine won't go silent after all


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Two businessmen purchased WKIT-FM from the best-selling writer after he announced that the station and two others would go silent after New Year’s Eve.

Stephen King attends the premiere of “The Life of Chuck” during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, at Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File

BANGOR, Maine (AP) — Horror author Stephen King’s rock ‘n’ roll radio station is going to continue rocking around the clock and into the new year.

Two businessmen purchased WKIT-FM from the best-selling writer after he announced that the station and two others would go silent after New Year’s Eve. The buyers are the Maine-based duo Greg Hawes and Jeff Solari, who formed Rock Lobster Radio Group to run the station.

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“WKIT is the most legendary station in the region. It has tremendous history. We couldn’t let it die,” they said in a statement.

King is a lifelong rocker and performed with the Rock Bottom Remainders, a band that featured literary icons performing for charity. He announced earlier this month that at age 77 he thought it was time to say good-bye to the radio stations.

“I’m sorry as hell to be closing down WKIT and its sister stations,” King posted earlier this month on social media. “I held off the suits for as long as I could.”

King’s foray into radio began in 1983 with the purchase of a radio station that was rebranded WZON in a nod to his book, “The Dead Zone.” That station closed before being acquired again by King in 1990.





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