Learn how easy it is to turn the food scraps you already paid for — like peels, cores and shells — into compost for growing healthy soil and food. Separating scraps for composting can make your garbage less stinky, so you won’t have to take it out as often. Sign up now for an Addison County Solid Waste Management District interactive online workshops at tinyurl.com/uz8sbo7. Topics will include how to set up and manage a pile, benefits and uses of compost, troubleshooting tips, deterring wildlife, other options for managing food scraps, and Q&A. All experience levels are welcome! Learn the composting basics on our website addisoncountyrecycles.org/food-scraps/composting/101 or call us at (802) 388-2333.
Light up Vermont with a “Star of Hope.” In support of this fast moving initiative and to encourage hope in our community, Middlebury Regional EMS officials have been making stars with lights on them. These are being provided at no charge, but MREMS has been accepting donations in order to continue making these stars. Since Middlebury Regional EMS is a small, private, nonprofit ambulance service that isn’t affiliated with Porter Hospital, the town or Middlebury College, any profit made from the stars will go to much-needed medical supplies to continue to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The stars are about 4-feet high and the lights are included. MREMS’s cost to make the stars is around $12 each. Anything people can give would be greatly appreciated. The stars have been placed outside near the visitors’ parking area at Middlebury Regional EMS headquarters off South Street in Middlebury. There is a drop box just inside the foyer for donations of cash or checks made out to “MREMS”; or you can make a payment with PayPal to [email protected]. Thus far, MREMS has made more than 250 of the stars and provided them throughout the community.
New Haven kids are celebrating spring. Students (and their adults) are invited to make a poster with the theme “Welcome Spring!” Free poster board is available for pick up on the porch of the New Haven Congregational Church, located on the town green, starting on Monday, April 20 — spring break. Use whatever you have at home to make a colorful poster, put it in your window, take a picture, and post the photo on the New Haven Community Facebook Page. Have a great story or photo about how you are enjoying spring break at home? Post it with a picture on the same page. Have questions or need more art supplies? Contact Pastor Abigail Diehl-Noble by email at [email protected] or by phone at 802-282-6944.
A successful hunter in Vermont’s April 25-26 youth turkey weekend and the May 1-31 spring turkey season must, by law, report their turkey within 48 hours to the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. In the past, this could be done at a local reporting station. This year, because of COVID-19 precautions, hunters are required to report their turkey electronically through the department’s website vtfishandwildlife.com. The information needed to report turkeys online is the same as what has been traditionally collected at check stations including license, tag and contact information, harvest details, and biological measurements. 
There are a few things hunters can do in advance to make submitting a report easier such as having their Conservation ID Number handy (located on their license), knowing what town and Wildlife Management Unit the bird was killed in, and completing all the necessary measurements such as beard and spur lengths, and weight. Although not required, the department also requests that hunters use the online reporting tool to upload a digital photo showing the bird’s beard and properly tagged leg. Hunters who provide a valid email address will receive a confirmation email when they successfully submit a turkey harvest report using this new online reporting tool. The department encourages anyone who experiences problems reporting through the online tool to contact the Addison County state police dispatcher at 388-4919 to be connected with a state game warden for harvest reporting assistance. 
EastView at Middlebury is coordinating a mask distribution system to assist those making masks get them out to people in our region age 60-plus and with compromised immune systems. A big thanks to all who are donating masks! EastView is mailing lots of masks on the community’s behalf every day to those who are most vulnerable. Contact “Masks en Masse” to request a mask or to donate masks to the cause. Call 989-7707; email [email protected] or get more info at eastviewmiddlebury.com/masks