“Litchfield Fair,” Litchfield Fairgrounds, Litchfield

Sept. 6, Thursday, 6:30pm, “Foraging Edible and Medicinal Plants,” join Ryan Busby, instructor with the Maine Primitive Skills School, to learn more about local edible and medicinal plants. Learn to identify, sustainably harvest, and use wild foraged foods to feed yourself and others and improve your health. Wild Foods and medicines have nourished and protected humans for hundreds of thousands of years. We have replaced much of our wild lands with constructed or cultivated spaces. Nonetheless there is still an abundance for us to re-discover and enjoy today! Join me in a discussion about some of the many benefits that re-connecting with wild plants can have for you, your family and your community. From the nutrient content of wild foods, to the array of herbal medicines available, to the joy of foraging, and the regenerative effects of tending wild plots for increased bounty and mutually beneficial relationship, you will be inspired to explore your backyard or nearby public lands for hidden treasures. A short presentation on the benefits of wild foods and a few stories about foraging will give way to a group discussion on wild foods and medicines. Whether you are new to wild foods or a seasoned forager we can all learn something from each other, free, Lithgow Public Library, 45 Winthrop Street, Augusta. FMI: 207-626-2415, lithgow.lib.me.us.
Sept. 6-8, Thursday-Saturday, 8pm, “Anne of Green Gables,” Green Gables is the home of lovable Matthew Cuthbert and his stern sister, Marilla. They agree to adopt a boy to help with the farm work. Imagine their consternation when Anne Shirley, a girl in her teens, is sent by the orphanage by mistake! Anne touches Matthew’s heart with her vivid imagination and her charitable viewpoint, but it takes time to reach the tender heart beneath Marilla’s hard exterior. Then there is young Josie Pye, a lad name Moody MacPherson, and Gilbert, Anne’s kindred spirit. This lovely classic is full of warmth and wit. Don’t miss it, $21-$23, Lakewood Theater, 76 Theater Road, Madison. FMI: 207-474-7176, lakewoodtheater.org.
Sept. 7-9, Friday-Sunday, all day events, “Litchfield Fair,” events include steer pulling, demonstrations, pig racing, midway, horse pulling, live entertainment, MacDonald’s Barn, fireworks, exhibition hall, antique car parade and more, $8/adults, $4/over 65 and 12-17, free/under 12, Litchfield Fairgrounds, 44 Plains Road, Litchfield. FMI: 207-268-4981, www.litchfieldfair.com.
Sept. 7-9, Friday-Sunday, 7pm/Fri. and Sat, 2pm/Sun, “Agnes of God,” this powerful and moving 2-act play explores the conflict between love, faith, and duty as a court-appointed psychiatrist and a mother superior clash over the fate of a young nun accused of killing her newborn daughter – a young nun who has no memory of being pregnant, or of giving birth to the child, presented by the Sandy River Players, $12, $10/students and seniors, University of Main, Farmington Emery Community Arts Center, Academy Street, Farmington. FMI: 207-779-7884, sandyriverplayers.org.
Sept. 8, Saturday, 7pm, “Novel Jazz Septet Concert,” featuring music of the iconic Duke Ellington and his equally iconic musical collaborator, Billy Strayhorn. Novel Jazz is a Maine-based group, now in their 14th season of concerts around Maine and New England. Their mission is to share the music and stories of these two giants of jazz who wrote some 3000 compositions over their musical careers, two percent of which represents the well-known standards and 98% of which most have never heard. They’ll perform standard tunes from the Ellington/Strayhorn repertoire plus newly arranged compositions that they have unearthed in the Ellington Archives of the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington D.C., some of which have not been heard in decades. The band has rearranged these pieces for the septet, dusted them off and given them a 21st century sound all of their own, $13, Vienna Union Hall, 5 Vienna Mountain Road, Vienna. FMI: 207-293-2674, www.facebook.com/Vienna-Union-Hall-360533927398187.
Sept. 11, Tuesday, 9am-3pm, “Bug Maine-ia,” Maine’s largest natural science education event, a wonderful, one-of-a-kind opportunity for visitors of all ages to explore the many ways that bugs affect our lives, whether as pets, pests, or food,” comments Maine State Museum Chief Educator Joanna Torow. Featuring fourteen exhibits providing hands-on displays, fascinating discoveries, and fun for visitors of all ages. Bug Maine-ia’s exhibitors come from throughout the state and include Maine Entomological Society; Milkweed Puppet Theater; Enthosense, Inc.; Hudson Museum; Sean McCormick, Master Maine Fishing Guide; Maine Department of Environmental Protection; Maine Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture in the Classroom; Maine Forest Service; Maine State Museum; retired science teacher Jon Wallace, Maine School Garden Network, and Maine State Library, free, Maine State Museum, 230 State Street, Augusta. FMI: 207-287-2301, mainestatemuseum.org.
Sept. 12, Wednesday, 6:30pm, “Talk by Maine author Monica Woods,” Monica Wood is a novelist, memoirist, and playwright. Her most recent novel, The One-in-a-Million Boy, has been published in 20 foreign editions and won a 2017 Nautilus Award (Gold) and the New England Society in the City of New York Book Award. She is also the author of When We Were the Kennedys, a New England bestseller, Oprah magazine summer-reading pick, and winner of the May Sarton Memoir Award and the 2016 Maine Literary Award. Her novel Any Bitter Thing was an ABA bestseller and Book Sense Top Ten pick. Her other fiction includes Ernie’s Ark, My Only Story, and Secret Language, her first novel, free, Cumston Public Library, 796 Main Street, Monmouth. FMI: 207-933-4788, www.monicawood.com.