Does the writing of E.B. White or Henry David Thoreau provide you with a sense that you have just meandered your way through a meadow at a saltwater farm or sauntered slowly amidst balsam fir and spruce in the North Woods? If so, this class is for you. In the first few weeks we will learn about the genre by examining the writings of well-known nature writers, discuss how to establish place, and acquire observational skills when in the natural world, all while writing our own short nature essays. Next, we will discover ways to use sensory details and description, to research facts to support our stories, and to unveil fresh and exciting metaphors to include in our work. Each week there will be time for each student to share their work for an uplifting and lively critique.

This course explores how to effectively set personal and professional goals and how to create strategies to achieve those goals. We explore the difference between idea and execution and participants learn tools to stay on track through smart objectives and accountability.

This class will feature easy-to-understand information on finding, collecting, identifying, and preparing the safer and more common edible and medicinal mushroom species of New England and Eastern Canada. Whether you are a cook, forager, herbalist, or restaurateur you will enjoy this class. The book "Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms of New England and Eastern Canada" will be available for purchase in class for $21.

Learn the basics of using your iPhone. We will cover the parts of the iPhone, navigating your device, browsing the web, managing your storage, installing apps and using the Apple Store, and more! We will only be covering iPhones, we will NOT be covering Android phones. Class is free but you must register.

In this class we will explore the technologies and economics involved with transitioning our homes and small businesses away from fossil fuels to electricity. We will look into air source heat pumps, heat pump water heat, electric vehicles and solar electric energy systems. We will cover some of the design considerations and the economic effects of this transition.

Independent writers now have a whole new way of producing and marketing their books. Recent innovations in the rapidly changing technology in printing have created a boom in self-publishing. Good books that don't meet traditional publisher's criteria can now be affordably printed and marketed by self publishing authors. This workshop will outline some of the publishing options both traditional and nontraditional, including what is offered locally. Students will find out how to get the technical assistance they need, and about the many types of organizations that work with Maine authors.

This five-session poetry class will consider the writings of Nobel Prize winner Czseslaw Milosz and Academy of American Poets' Lavan Award winner Naomi Shihab Nye. In class, we will focus on what we experience when we read the poems, what we find and where it takes us. from the standpoints of content and form, we will look at how the poems make meaning and create feeling. Readings by and about the poets will broaden our understanding of their concerns and themes and of the many faces of poetry. Each session will end with springboards for writing.

In this course, we will explore the state of the Middle East and trace its history from the end of the First World War to the present. Many people do not realize that the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East originated during World War I with The Balfour Declaration, which is regarded as one of the most controversial and contested documents in the modern history of the Arab world and has puzzled historians for decades. With this declaration, Britain publicly pledged to establish "a national home for the Jewish people", but for the Palestinians, it resulted in what they call the Nakba – the Catastrophe.