When Kathie and I received the flyer for the Island Institute’s Sustainable Island Living Conference in the late summer of 2009, we were excited to see the conference’s focus on agriculture. For months, Kathie and I, butts in the air, hands in the dirt, shouted back and forth from flower bed to flower bed, our ideas for increasing food production on Monhegan Island, where we lived and worked. I am a local-food nut in general, so although my time on Monhegan Island pales in comparison to that of many long-term residents, I am always eager to talk about growing food with people wherever I am. For Kathie, this passion is more localized. She has worked the soil of Monhegan for over 20 years, coaxing bare ground to produce rich palates of color that bloom in the carefully designed flower gardens that she manages for the many island cottagers. A painter by training, she has the eye of an artist and brings that perspective to her work with the soil. Though flowers are clearly a passion of hers, her interest in sustainability, human ecology and the nourishing qualities of home grown food have prompted her to look beyond flowers to food production.
By the time we arrived at the conference the gears had been turning in Kathie’s head for some time. Millions of hours spent among cascading clematis and overgrown phlox had provided her with plenty of time to dream of what could be. I liked to think of myself as a sounding board for these ideas as they emerged, piece by piece, during our time working together. A Monhegan Island Farm project-it could, and maybe would, happen.
Roger Doiron talked about the proliferation of household gardens around the world. Dr. John Carroll talked about the unique need for islands to decrease their dependence on the mainland and on fossil fuels by growing their own food. Farmers from North Haven and Islesboro talked about the successful farms they worked on. As they talked, the ideas rolling around in Kathie’s head began to gel. We walked away from that conference not with any new, ground-breaking ideas, but with the affirmation needed to transform possibility into reality. As winter passed, Kathie and I spoke on the phone here and there, she on the island and I inshore. The plans were coming together. Mostly, I just listened and got excited while Kathie worked. She applied for a grant from the Island Institute’s Four Season Agriculture program. She put an ad in the Maine Organic Farmer’s and Grower’s association’s (MOFGA) directory for a farm apprentice. She borrowed money from a church fund to use for start-up costs. She asked permission to use land on six properties where she knew the garden was unused. She sent out soil samples to the University of Maine cooperative extension. She replaced the brittle old plastic on her greenhouse with new, and crammed dozens of seedling trays inside as the frigid spring winds blew across the island.
I arrived on the island in April to begin opening cottage gardens for the summer. Here and there, I took time away from paid work in the flower gardens to turn soil, plant carrots and put down hay on new vegetable beds. Anna, the farm intern, arrived in May and took over much of the work. She and Kathie logged long hours as I shifted from gardening to waitressing at one of the island hotels.
The first farmer’s market was really just a lettuce sale held in early June. Every head was sold. The next week there were a few more items, and by mid-summer the market table (four card tables lined up in a row with a patio umbrella for shade) was packed to the gills with cucumbers, lettuce, peppers, swiss chard, herbs, salad turnips, mustard greens, tomatoes, green beans, you name it.
I asked to not work the hotel breakfast shift on market days so I could help out. I brought friends, Kathie and Anna brought friends, and we all worked together to get the table ready by 10:30 when the mob of eager buyers was already poised, ready to pounce on the glistening harvest. “I’ve been waiting for this for twenty years!” one woman exclaimed as her eyes took in the week’s offerings.
There were challenges too. The pheasants ate the first two plantings of kale. The cucumber harvest greatly exceeded demand and we had to search for creative ways to keep the surplus from going to waste. Some market days I couldn’t duck out of work at the hotel and there was a shortage of help getting the market ready. But every time we faced an obstacle, we took notes on how to improve for next year.
Meanwhile, earnings were put in the bank for safe keeping, and next year’s seed money began to accumulate.
The long-term goal is to see this project grow into a money-making venture that will provide employment for island residents. We often think of the sea as a primary source of income for islanders. This project hopes to show that the land can also be a valuable source of sustenance for island communities.
Now, with November here, the wheels of preparation for next year’s growing season are already turning. With a little bit more capital than last year, a new “intern/farmer” already signed on, and more land being offered by eager landowners, the project is cruising right along. As I put away my gardening gloves for the year, I relish in the feeling that I was part of something important this summer. As the winter winds start to blow, I stretch my weary muscles and spread balm on my soil-torn hands, knowing that I’ll have a few months to rest up. I had better take advantage of this chance to relax, because 2011 will surely be a very busy year for the Monhegan Island Farm Project.
Lillian Harris is a gardener, naturalist and artist who divides her time between Portland and Monhegan Island. She is the chair of the Monhegan Associates Ecology Committee and a regular volunteer on the Monhegan Island Farm Project.