This year’s blueberry crop is predicted to be bountiful, having escaped the ravages of the Asian spotted drosophilia.
The strawberries — despite a super soggy June — were big and plentiful.
The sweet corn tastes better here than just about anywhere else.
Pick-your-own apple orchards have been flooded with visitors, and the commercial operations are now picking, storing and shipping dozens of varieties.
Despite the erratic weather of 2013, this year has been good for Maine growers.
While Maine’s official state fruit is the blueberry, the state dessert is blueberry pie made with Maine wild blueberries and Maine is the world’s leading producer of wild blueberries, these small sweet fruits are not even among the state’s top five agriculture crops.
Potatoes lead the charge as the top crop, followed by dairy products, aquaculture, chicken eggs and decorative flowers and other vegetation grown in greenhouses and nurseries.
Maine is the nation’s leading producer of brown eggs and ranks 8th in the production of potatoes. And, Somerset County produces more maple syrup than any other county in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, supporting Maine’s rank as the second largest producer of maple syrup. Vermont is first.
According to the Dept. of Ag, the rich lake and ocean bottom soils in southern and central Maine — largely free of rocks — are “excellent” for farming. The soil in northern Maine is glacial till, but treated with lime it becomes productive farmland.
There are currently 8,100 farms operating in Maine, producing crops and tending livestock on 1.35 million acres, according to the Dept. of Ag.
That’s far fewer farms working far fewer acres than years ago, but the agriculture industry remains hard at work here producing food for the world.
On a smaller scale, thousands of Maine families and civic organizations also “farm” to produce fresh food for themselves and their communities.
In Jay, students at Spruce Mountain Middle School recently harvested 80 pounds of vegetables from the community garden they planted at the school, and donated the goods to the Tri-Town Ministerial Association Food Cupboard.
This is the second year students planted and harvested food for the pantry, a project started by freshman Trevor Doiron. More than a dozen students and staff helped him this year.
Doiron said he intends to work the garden until he graduates, and plans to attend college to study business. Makes sense. Farming is as much about tilling soil and sowing seeds as it is about maximizing crops, creating a distribution network and re-investing in the farm.
A number of Maine schools are now harvesting community gardens, and much of the produce will be cooked and served in school cafeterias. At some schools, students donate to food pantries or sell their tomatoes, zucchinis, peppers, cucumbers and corn at stands to help finance school projects.
Whatever the ultimate destination of the produce, students are learning how to plant, grow and harvest their own food.
These real-life lessons were first introduced locally by the staff and students at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School several years ago, and lately it seems the art students have joined in the effort at that school. The proof is in the colorful and clever scarecrows dotting the garden plot on the school’s front lawn.
In 2007, Maine schools really started focusing on teaching agriculture through Maine Education in the Classroom, or MAITC, a joint project of the U.S. Dept of Ag and the Maine Department of Agriculture. Since then, the state launched the Maine Agricultural specialty license plate, which — at $10 per license plate — has helped fund ag projects.
Last year, 77,000 students participated in $60,000 worth of MAITC projects, including school gardens and greenhouses.
For instance, the Lewiston-Auburn YMCA received $1,000 for indoor garden projects at its facility, and to introduce gardening at after school programs at Montello and Geiger elementary schools. Mt. Blue High School received $2,000 to help construct a greenhouse there, the first in that district. Lessons on growing food are taught through the school’s health classes.
MAITC awarded Edward Little High School nearly $5,000 to link students with a local farm, in cooperation with programs at the Auburn Land Lab, Lots to Gardens and St. Mary’s Nutrition Center. And, Leavitt Area High School received $5,000 for students to create their own agriculture and natural resources projects through various in-class and community-based lessons.
Not every student who participates in these school gardens is going to establish a commercial farm, but it would be safe to predict that many of them are learning skills they will use to plant a future home garden to help feed their families.
That’s basic sustenance.
Talk about a valuable life lesson.
jmeyer@sunjournal.com
The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and the editorial board.
MAITC is currently taking applications for lesson materials to be distributed during Ag Week 2014, from March 24 to 28. For information on project grants, go to: http://www.agclassroom.org/me/index.htm
Send questions/comments to the editors.
