Newsletter April 2025
The Crowded Table Collective
April 2025
Welcome back to the Crowded Table Collective Newsletter
We are so glad that April is finally here and we are looking forward to hosting our first event this month! A lot of hard work from our community has gone into making it happen and we are excited to welcome you all to the farm for a Provincial Potluck. We hope you can make it and would love to show you around the farm and welcome you to the Crowded Table!
This month's blog focuses on keeping a spark alive.
Read it here: The Tinder Conk and The Spark
Person, Plant, Place
Each month we highlight an incredible person, plant, and place! Keep reading to learn about this month's selection.
Sue and Holly are our people of the month! Sue and Holly are Tir Na Nog Farm's owners and together hold a deep knowledge of the land, farming, and how to form community. It is an honor to know them and partner with them for Crowded Table events. In our conversation we talk about the history of the land, the challenges they have faced, and the lessons they hope to pass on to young farmers. Read our full conversation to find out what Sue and Holly's favorite memory of almost 30 years on the farm is!
Coltsfoot is our plant of the month! It is just beginning to appear around the property and is a plant with a lot of traditional folklore and medicinal uses. In European folklore it was used to call loved ones back and to look into the future. It has been used as both a medicinal tea, smoking herb and as a poultice to remedy sore throats, coughs, and inflammation . It is not recommended for those with liver disease or high blood pressure. We are excited to welcome this plant back as the world continues to warm up!
The Elmwood trail system in Pownal, Maine is our place of the month! This trail system is beautiful and connects to so many other local trails making it a great place for a long hike or run. Bikes are not allowed but dogs are and are allowed off leash in certain sections. A small parking lot was recently added making accessing these trails easier than ever. Remember to always follow the trail guidelines and do a tick check after returning to the car!
Trail information can be found here:
Know Thy Shelf Book Club
So many seeds were planted this month!
When we didn't have our hands in the dirt we had our noses in a good book! This month we read a powerful memoir, some new science fiction favorites, and many books that encouraged us to think about the way we interact with the world around us. We are currently prepping our summer reading list, but for now, please enjoy these recommendations!
Upcoming Events
Our next event is a 'Provincial Potluck'!
Think you can make a dish with all locally sourced ingredients? This potluck will challenge you to do just that. The attendee whose dish uses the most ingredients sourced from Maine will go home with a prize!
On April 19th from 4:30 - 6:30pm we will gather for a tour of the farm followed by our Maine sourced potluck. We cannot wait to connect with all of you, get to know you and share a delicious meal together!
Project of the Month
Our project of the month is moving seedlings!
With over 1500 seedlings ferociously growing in the germination chamber, our project of the month is to safely transfer them all into garden beds so their roots have room to grow. So far most of our Lettuce and Cucumbers are in the ground and we have been harvesting and eating our Micro-Greens for over a week! The germination chamber is hitting temperature of over 100 degrees each day and so it is important to move the seedlings to cooler homes once they are big enough.
If you want to come bask in the heat before summer arrives and get your hands dirty moving plants feel free to join us! Reach out to Molly if you want to come plant with us
