FEATURE
The Gift of
GROWING THIS COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER IS SOWING SEEDS OF INSPIRATION BY JODI HERSEY
LYDIA MUSSULMAN OF BANGOR JUST LOVES TO GET HER HANDS DIRTY. “Anything goes as far as I’m concerned,” said Mussulman, a master gardener for the past 30 years. She could fill volumes of books with all she’s learned from planting and working the dirt in her own yard. But Mussulman does more than that. She also voluntarily prunes and spruces up gardens within the surrounding areas, including a plot at the Rogers Farm community garden in Old Town, as well as the small flower garden at the Bangor Region YMCA. From a young age, Mussulman was drawn to the outdoors. “I’ve always been more interested in flowers than vegetables. Both my mother and grandmother were wonderful gardeners back in Illinois. My mother would grow flowers for the church,” Mussulman said. “I loved to go to my grandmother’s home and be in her garden. At that time, Grandpa had vegetables growing on one side and Grandma had the flowers on the other. She didn’t like me traipsing through her garden, but Grandpa let me have free rein of the vegetable garden so I was the asparagus and pea picker.”
Master Gardener Lydia Mussulman with Bangor YMCA CEO Diane Dickerson. PHOTO COURTESY OF SHAWN HILL 42 / BANGOR METRO April 2022
