North Quabbin Garden Club meeting

ATHOL—On Saturday, May 20, from 8 a.m.-1 p.m., at Millers River Environmental Center in Athol, the garden club will be holding its annual plant sale. The club offers plants from local gardens that flourish in this area. Proceeds from the sale support the club’s community projects as well as presentations and workshops for its members and anyone who wishes to attend the meetings.

Mount Wachusett Community College holds pinning ceremony for veterinary technology graduates

GARDNER–Mount Wachusett Community College welcomed 14 students to the veterinary technology profession in a traditional pinning ceremony.

The group of students were welcomed by Dean Veronica Guay, Program Director Tara Novak, CVT, LATG, President James Vander Hooven, and Gardner Mayor Michael Nicholson.

“I offer my deepest congratulations and appreciation to our graduates, you have successfully made it through a very difficult program,” Vander Hooven told students. “You have chosen a caring profession, one which will require you to not only care for animals, but to empathize with their humans as well. You are going to make an enormous difference and impact in our community and the world, and we wish you luck.”

The students were pinned by a family member, friend or faculty, and then recited the Veterinary Technician Oath as the newest member’s veterinary field. Among the students who were pinned is Lindsey Raymond of Athol.

Speaker Lynda Mapes, author of “Witness Tree”

ATHOL—The Athol Public Library welcomes Lynda Mapes, journalist for the Seattle Times and author of several books including “Witness Tree: Seasons of Change with a Century-Old Oak.” The tree that inspired the book is the world’s first tweeting tree and resides at Harvard Forest in Petersham. This event will take place at the library, 568 Main St., on May 16 at 6 p.m.

The actual tree is a red oak tree living on the property of Harvard Forest in Petersham. The tree is the oldest tweeting tree in the world. The brainchild of Tim Rademacher and his team at the Harvard Forest, sensors transmit data that tracks everything from growth rate to temperature to sap rise, and posts tweets that allow a look into the day-to-day life of a tree, while a camera catches any wildlife visitors to the tree.

Mapes will talk about the tree, her year spent at Harvard Forest learning the tree’s story, and writing “Witness Tree,” accompanied by photos of and from the tree.

Free and open to the public, this event is made possible by a Museum on Main Street grant via the Smithsonian Institute.Registration is required. Call 978-249-9515 to reserve a spot.

Crossroads is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and state humanities councils nationwide. Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress.

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