... Despite a Nor’easter this week, I’m looking out my office window in Portland and seeing yellow, orange, and red transitions moving across several large trees on the hill. Thinking about trees excites me, as I just rushed through a round of late plantings around my backyard. When I was a kid I always liked finding horse chestnuts on the street, they were just so interesting. And these days, I do love roasting chestnuts. Cliché? Maybe, but it does look like new hybrid chestnut trees might help restore this once great species that was wiped out by blight almost a century ago. BTW, Susan Sharon went into the woods a few years back to find one of the tallest American Chestnut trees in Maine. On the tree theme, you should check out this album from a little while ago by bassist Janek Gwizdala, “American Elm." We need more tree named albums and series…

What else….oh yeah, there’s an election on Tuesday! You should read our guide to what you need to know about voting and issues this year at mainepublic.org/yourvote.

We’ve got great explainers on Question 1 and Question 3 you can listen to or read about in this week’s Ten selections. Plus, more coverage out of our “Making School Work” series, a preview for the COP26 climate summit that starts next week, and mushroom hunting.

Confession, I’ve been getting wild Maine mushrooms lately. A colleague of my wife goes into the Maine woods (location secret) and has brought us back several tasty batches. You’ve got to know what you’re doing before attempting this or find a trusted source, but the rewards are tasty.

Final programing note, you can tune into Maine Public on Tuesday night for election results between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., and until 11 p.m. on Maine Public Television. And you can always check social media and our website mainepublic.org.

 

Catch you next week,

Mark