FARMINGTON – Rustic Roots Farm began in 2013 on a rented two-acre plot as a small-scale operation and has grown incrementally over the years as demand for local produce has increased. Co-owner, Erica Emery, described her experience of getting started, and starting small.
“I was living in Boston and I farmed for two years in Boston…and we wanted to move back to Maine and try to take a stab at farming on my own, and we had this piece of land, so a couple of things just fell into place,” Emery said. “We farmed the first couple of seasons with a hose from my parents’ house…we farmed for seven years without any power down here, we got a well last year; we definitely put in all the infrastructure ourselves.”
Rustic Roots Farm provides 20-week farm shares for 80 families, currently, and sells produce at the Farmington Farmers Market on Saturdays, and Emery said the pandemic created a noticeable boom for the industry.
“We definitely saw an uptick in shares last year, and we thought this year it would be lower or even out, but we have even more shares this year than last year,” Emery said. “I think people are definitely into local food; definitely into supporting small businesses and farms.”
As a woman and business owner in the agricultural industry, Emery has had varying experiences with curious passersby on the busy stretch where the farm is located. Some people stop in to ask about the business and others seek advice for successful crops at home. While most take her word as an authority on the topic of growing vegetables, not everyone treats her the same.
“Sometimes we get people that drive in, and they’re like, ‘who can I talk to about tomatoes?’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s me.’ We had someone that came and he was asking about how to grow sweet potatoes because we were growing sweet potatoes, and I gave him this whole long spiel about how we do it and best practices…I gave him this detailed answer, and he’s like, ‘That’s really interesting, so who runs this place?’ and I was like, ‘I do.’” Emery said. “It was really interesting to me that I had given him all these details and he still didn’t envision me as the person in charge.”
Despite the not-so-pleasant interactions, Emery said she definitely feels the love and support from members of the community. Part of the way she gives back that love includes her efforts to combat food waste and farm sustainably. Rustic Roots has a take-it or leave-it shelf where families can put the vegetables they won’t use so other families can use them; they have a “seconds” shelf with items free for the taking; and they have a compost pile where families are free to drop off their food scraps. Emery and her partner also have a focus on healthy soils and use a no-till method for planting crops.
“We put a lot of energy into making sure that we are using good compost,” Emery said. “Healthy soils create healthy food, which creates healthy people.”
Though farming and growing vegetables doesn’t always yield the way a farmer plans, it does provide Emery with other interesting opportunities. Rustic Roots received a grant this year to study ginger and the research plots within the tunnels were full and flourishing. The research aims to see how well ginger yields under different spacing configurations and is a two-year study.
“It’s cool to kind of get paid to test out your ideas,” Emery said.
