School bells are starting to ring out over the county. Although our new school won't be ready by September, the Parents/Teachers Committee is forging ahead with installing its playground. The equipment from Dr. Play, Inc. in New Hampshire has arrived, and now all the group needs is VOLUNTEERS! They plan a workday Saturday, September 7, starting at 8 a.m. Jobs, from one hour of time up to the full day, will range from assembling the playground equipment to providing food for the workers and child care for parents working on the project. If anyone can lend tools, that would also be a big help. Money donations to defray any unexpected expenses would be gratefully received. If interested in participating in any of these ways, please call Ann Poole at 633-2228 or Lisa Clarke at 882-6428.

It has been suggested by neighbors that the new school should be called something new. It is no longer anywhere near the Sheepscot Eddy which gave the original school its name. Frank Richards on the River Road has suggested that it honor Ann Watson, long-time teacher and principal during the ‘60s and ‘70s. Others have suggested "Cod Cove School." Troy Hersom, chairman of the Edgecomb School Board invites anyone with a suggestion or opinion on this issue to come to the School Board meetings, first Tuesday of the month. The next is October 1, at the Old Eddy School, 4:15 p.m.

Friends of Fort Edgecomb are encamping the weekend of Sept. 14-15 at Pemaquid's Fort William Henry. If you plan to come, please let Fred and Beth Maitland at 829-5753 know so they can plan their communal meal. Watch out for the good ship "Increase," Tom Blackford's replica privateer, a 100-ton 22-foot lapstrake cutter, which will be prowling those waters.

The Edgecomb Historical Society's annual meeting will be Saturday, September 28, at 1:00 p.m. in the Town Hall. After a brief business meeting, we will tour the Schmid Preserve with Bob Brown, the Preserve's historian. For details, call Sophie Quinn at 882-9326.

Barn Owner Alert! Call the Maine Preservation organization, 775-3652 (www.mainepreservation.com) or Les Fossel, 586-5680, to see how you can showcase your barn for a Drive-By Tour on Sunday, Sept. 29! This opportunity will be a feature of the weekend's Maine Preservation's first statewide conference on barns at the Round Top Center for the Arts. Featured speaker will be Thomas Visser, University of Vermont, author of "Field Guide to New England Barns and Field Buildings." "The conference will show how to maintain and restore timber and common frame barns and will discover new [legal] tools such as tax incentives, easements and grant funding," says Conference Chair Hannah Ostrye of Yarmouth.

Meanwhile, I can be found in our garden, chomping on our first tomatoes! At 234 River Road, 633-2978, bonesukl@midcoast.com. This column appears in The Boothbay Register, The Lincoln County News, The Wiscasset Newspaper, and at www.Edgecomb.org.