Spring Preparations: Updates from Downeast Restorative Harvest

Contributed by Regina Grabrovac, Food Programs Manager, Washington County

While the cover crops on the Downeast Restorative Harvest (DERH) garden site lie dormant, much has been happening that we can share! 

Crop planning and calculations including all our succession planning was completed back in February, including a hopeful estimate of growing 4,000 pounds of produce this season, if the weather and our soil cooperate. Excitement is building as all the necessary supplies begin to trickle in for the 2024 season.

Our irrigation supplies and all of our seeds for nineteen different crops have arrived at Healthy Acadia’s Machias office. Dan Cunningham at Folklore Farm in Cherryfield is growing the eleven different transplant starts needed this year since we do not yet have seed starting space.

Do you want to know exactly how many seeds we have purchased? Share your guesses with us and stay tuned for our next update in April!

We are in the process of finalizing the barn construction process. Just this past week, most of the groundwork has been completed. Meanwhile, we have secured interim storage space less than a mile down the road from the garden that we will use until our on-site pole barn is built.

There is an amazing 853 model BCS walk behind tractor and implement tiller waiting for our pick up at Bob’s Small Engine Service in Bucksport; its transport and arrangements have been made via a wonderful connection from a past FoodCorps Service Member - thank you, to the ever awesome Taylor Weiss!

Our double layer fence system (think deer predation) has been well researched and is sitting in an online cart waiting for a final review. Various hand tools have been researched (thank you, Felicia Newman of Three Dog Farm in Lubec for sharing her brilliance with farm systems) and are ready to be ordered within the next two weeks. 

The ground here in Downeast Coastal Maine is still very wet and cold and while farmers with high tunnels and seed starting options are already hard at work, our garden will not be an early one especially this first year. Our first in ground planting will be onion plants (via the University of Maine Cooperative Extension) and sugar snap peas during the second or third week of April. And if we are delayed by an extra week, it will be fine. We are on track! Now, it's up to the weather.

In our April update, we will also share a bit about the March 12 DERH Advisory Council meeting. Stay tuned!