A new project from the Cumberland County Soil & Water Conservation District (CCSWCD) will soon be implemented in Gorham. With the help of a $20,000 award from the Quimby Family Foundation, Gail Platts of the Gorham Recreation Department, members of the Gorham Conservation Commission, Josh Haiss, owner of Landscape Revolution, and all the volunteers they can muster, the Gorham Grown Community Agriculture Program, or “Gorham Grown” as it is already being referred to, will be creating two Food Forests along with several movable themed planters in Gorham Village this summer. The program will also include youth summer camp activities with hands-on experience with the new plantings.
“The CCSWCD is a county wide organization created back in the dust bowl days (1930s) to assist and educate the community about soil and water conservation to prevent such disasters in the future,” said Damon Yakovleff, an Environmental Planner at CCSWCD.
“In 2016 we turned our focus more toward agriculture as a way to unite many facets of the community in not only education of planting and growing but in the healthy farm-to-table eating trend,” explained Jenna Martyn-Fisher, an Educator and Technical Specialist at CCSWCD.
Both Yakovleff and Martyn-Fisher, who are spearheading this endeavor, completed a previous grant project to support community agriculture in Portland, assisting local organizations in creating Food Forests. They then started looking around for the next place to use their knowledge and experience and quickly focused in on Gorham, not just because of their office’s proximity, but due to the town’s demographics and how rapidly it is changing from a farm community to a suburb.
The pair is passionate about teaching new ways to plant, grow and harvest healthy food and to utilize the town’s open spaces to grow edible plants that are free for the community to enjoy in order to maintain the town’s roots in farming.
Graphics courtesy of Joshua Haiss of Landscape Revolution and the Gorham Conservation CommissionRenderings of the Food Forest installations planned at Phinney Park in Gorham Village (top) and Little Falls Activity Center on Acorn Street (bottom).
The Gorham Grown project, a great tool for educating not only our youth but everyone who has become distanced from the source of their food, will be implemented in three phases.
The first is movable planters that will have themes like salsa, salad, or organic teas. Two local Boy Scouts are creating their Eagle Scout projects around helping to design and implement these planters to create an “Edible Main Street” demonstration. Each planter will be adopted by local gardening-focused groups or adjacent businesses. As the planters will be mobile, they can be moved for special town events or to other hosting locations. There will be no costs to host a planter.
Phase two includes the construction of the two Food Forests which are low-maintenance, sustainable, plant-based food production ecosystems incorporating fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs, vines and perennial vegetables. Some large cherry trees have already been donated. The plan is to create one forest at the Little Falls Activity Center on June 2 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. and another at Phinney Park on June 8 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Volunteers are needed at both events and will be supplied with everything they need including drinks and lunch.
The third phase is still being finalized but will likely involve an event this fall. Stay tuned for further updates on when and where CCSWCD will organize a season end clean up and education opportunity. To ensure the success of this inspiring project or to educate yourself further, please contact any of the folks below and do one of the following: a) sign up your Scout troop, your book club, or yourself to volunteer for one of the upcoming events, maintain a planting or to be on the committee; b) donate supplies like wood, compost, soil, seedlings, or tools and food for volunteers; or c) coordinate a fundraiser to help cover the costs and allow for more extensive plantings.
For more information, contact Damon Yakovleff at 892-4700 or dyakovleff@cumberlandswcd.org; Jenna Martyn-Fisher at 892-4700 or jmartynfisher@cumberlandswcd.org; or call the Gorham Recreation Department at 222-1630.