The Cabin Marquee. Submitted photo

Tomato harvest. Submitted photo

FARMINGTON — The Community Garden at The Cabin is excited to announce it is now accepting applications for its second year. This program provides individuals and families free gardening space and free seeds and seedlings as well as growing advice from certified Master Gardener Volunteers (MGV) with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension (UMCE) and other experienced gardeners. There are approximately ten plots available, and the application deadline is May 31, 2023.

The mission of the Community Garden at the Cabin is to cultivate agricultural empowerment and promote long-term local food security through access to land and research-based gardening skills. It is an approved UMCE Maine Harvest for Hunger Project that hosts free vegetable garden plots within the organic fields at Cascade Brook Farm in Farmington, Maine. These spaces are offered to local individuals and families who don’t have access to gardening resources at their homes.

This program also provides opportunities to UMCE Master Gardener Volunteers, Mt. Blue Area Garden Club members, and other interested community members to volunteer their time. Volunteers help assign and prepare garden spaces, assist in crop planning and care, source and plant seeds and seedlings, and share their gardening knowledge to help individuals and families.

Beneficiary participants apply each year for their own plot. Once assigned, participants manage their own garden, from planning and planting to growing and caring for the plants, all the way through to harvesting and preserving. Volunteers will be on site multiple times each week to help guide work and advise participants on best practices and troubleshoot issues that may arise. Gardening tools and supplies are also made available and there is an agricultural well and large holding tank for irrigation to ensure crops survive dry spells.

Common workdays and individual/family garden work sessions are scheduled around the best days and times participants identify as most convenient. This project is sponsored by The Cabin and MGV Erica Haywood, as well as other local partner organizations who help provide supplies and who receive donations of extra or “gleaned” produce from the garden, including The Care and Share Food Closet and the St. Joseph Nutrition Center.

The Community Garden at The Cabin invites volunteers and beneficiary participants to come together and spend time learning and working together while enjoying a biodiverse landscape filled with native plants and wildlife. This location was certified organic by MOFGA from 2017–2022 and it is generously offered by The Cabin as a shared space to the community at large. This program is an approved project listed by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Master Gardener Volunteer hours donated will count toward annual recertification.

The garden is located on the Industry Road (route 43), conveniently situated just over a mile from the Farmington downtown area and a loop little over two miles from the boat launch at Clearwater Lake. For more information and to apply, contact UMCE MGV Erica Haywood at 207-778-1181 or info@cascadebrook.com