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FARMINGTON – University of Maine at Farmington students, undeterred by miserable, wet weather, turned out to improve a community garden Wednesday morning by planting fruit trees for a future orchard.
The Stone Soup Garden, located off of the Farmington Falls Road, was established as a community garden in 2008. The Community Health Program at UMF works with Life Enrichment Advancing People Inc., or LEAP, to develop an educational and interactive resource for the greater Farmington community.
In 2008, LEAP donated 40 acres of farmland on Oliver Hill for community use for this educational effort for the garden. UMF students in the health program plant crops, learning about food security and sustainable agriculture in the process. The produce then benefits the participants of programs in LEAP, which is a private, non-profit organization devoted to supporting people with cognitive and intellectual disabilities.
UMF Community Health instructor Denise Boothby’s Nutrition and Ecology Class was digging holes, laying down surveying lines and planting fruit trees Wednesday morning, forming the basis of a new orchard. Boothby noted that her students had researched planting methods, as part of their course work, as well as composting techniques, methods of agriculture and learning how to be good stewards of farmland.
The saplings, purchased through a grant, are dwarf fruit trees, allowing for wheelchair-bound patients to still take part in the harvesting. Boothby, assisted by husband Rob Boothby of Boothby’s Orchard in Livermore, intends to later erect fencing and wire guides to create an “espalier” grove, more akin to a vineyard than an orchard.
Boothby, who also sits on the Stone Soup Garden board of directors, said that the entire community garden concept was based on constant improvement.
“The idea is everyone leaves something behind,” she said.
What a shame, UMF students participating in an activity for the public good, and no one cares to comment. Perhaps they should have taken their shirts off. Congratulations for the community effort, keep up the good work.