Last year the Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District (CCSWCD) spearheaded the Gorham Grown effort with a Quimby Family Foundation grant, volunteers from Gorham, and Boy Scout Daniel Bachner working on his Eagle project. Two food forests were created and the 24 planter boxes Bachner made were filled with a wide variety of edible plants donated by local farmers and adopted by local businesses to create an “Edible Main Street.”

The planters were such a success that there were more requests by businesses to adopt them than were available. Two local Girl Scouts from Troop 2300, who happen to be cousins, stepped up to fill the gap. Working toward their Silver Award, Brinn and Meghan Irish built 24 additional planters. They are planting and distributing them to 11 new locations around town which will double the amount of real food produced and available for all to enjoy.

The CCSWCD is accepting donations on its website for this Girl Scout project to help defray the cost of materials. The CCSWCD would also like to thank the Gorham Village Alliance for playing a key role in making the Edible Main St. program a success. The food forests, which are also open to all residents to harvest at will, are maturing slowly as is to be expected.

“Remember to harvest responsibly so as not to kill the plants by taking too much,” Jenna Martyn-Fisher from CCSWCD warned. “There are some items, like asparagus, that should not be harvested at all this year because the plants are not strong enough yet.”

The Phinney Food Forest across the street from Robie Gym does not have anything ready to harvest currently but is an interesting spot to check out if you’re in the neighborhood and want to learn about the edible plants available there in season.

The CCSWCD had planned group maintenance days for volunteers to learn how to create and maintain the food forests and planters but they were canceled due to the pandemic. The CCSWCD quickly pivoted and held informative webinars to keep folks engaged. These were well attended and can still be accessed at cumberlandswcd.org.

The organization is still in need of more volunteers, both individuals and groups, to do the hands-on work. For those interested in helping, contact the CCSWCD directly as they are prepared to set up socially distanced trainings for small groups upon request.

A lot of things have changed this year. How we behave in public including the handling of food has taken on new meanings and concerns. There is no science pointing to food as a source of contamination of the virus but the CDC guidelines should be observed at any of these Gorham Grown locations.

As Martyn-Fisher advised, “While we are glad to be continuing this program for another year, we have had to make several changes. We encourage people to visit and observe the food forests and Edible Main Street planters but please only touch if you are planning to harvest. We also advise everyone to thoroughly wash any produce harvested from these areas.”