DAMARISCOTTA, Maine — On a broad hillside above the Damariscotta River, former hayfields are now growing bumper crops of vegetables. Peppers, kale, cabbages, carrots, and many other veggies fill the fields and keep filling and refilling boxes as the summer moves towards fall.
“So every two weeks we harvest 600 lettuce and 600 row feet of beets,” said Sara Cawthorn, who created Twin Villages Foodbank Farm eight years ago with her partner, Megan Taft.
“We plant from May 1 to August 20; every week there’s plenty of plants going in,” she explained. That succession planting assures a continuing flow of fresh produce through the season.
Those vegetables don’t go to market. Instead, they go directly to consumers at eight food pantries in Lincoln County. For Free.
The mission of the farm, from the beginning, has been not-for-profit, with everything they grow given to people who struggle to afford food.
Cawthorn manages the farm, and Megan Taft works for Good Shepherd Foodbank and also handles development and outreach for the farm .
“Fast forward eight years,” said Taft. “The idea we had in our heads was to have this farm supported by the community, and for the community. This is exactly what we imagined it would be.”
The two met while working at a nearby summer camp leadership program more than 20 years ago. They moved away to attend graduate schools, then worked at several farms out of state before returning to the Damariscotta area to start Twin Villages Foodbank Farm. They approached Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust, which owns the land where they hoped to plant. Coastal Rivers, the women say, quickly agreed to host the farm, and that involvement helped them approach other potential funders. The farm and its work are entirely supported by grants and donations.
“I would say half comes from grants and foundations, and a lot are Maine family foundations, and the other half is we are supported by donations, by community,” said Cawthorn.
Some of the work is also done by volunteers, covering everything from prepping the soil and planting to weeding and, finally, harvesting.
“Food is love,” said volunteer Stephanie Nelson. “And you give this beautiful produce to people and I think it lifts them up. “
The growth of donations and community support has also allowed the farm to hire three full-time employees, who work alongside the volunteers and Cawthorn.
“What a perfect job. I get to grow all this food and give it away,” said Kelsey Kirkpatick as she picked peppers.
The result of all that labor has been a bountiful harvest, Cawthorn said, despite the constantly wet weather that reduced what they were able to plant.
The two farm founders said the model they have created—raising food and giving it away—could be replicated in other places to serve other food pantries. However, they cautioned that the Lincoln County area has a history of supporting causes people believe in, and that support has been essential to making the farm succeed.
“We have donors who actually span across the country at this point, which is always surprising to me,” said Taft.
She also said the need for food assistance is significant, as many residents are aware.
“Hunger in Maine is so deep,” said Taft, “and especially in the rural communities there’s a lot of hunger people never see. So the question always is, do we know the full extent of the need? “
Those sort of questions help to keep people working, knowing their labors will help put good food on every table.
Volunteer Marty Grant said the work is worth it.
“Just yesterday I was thinking, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we didn’t need this farm?" Grant said. "How can we make that happen? But until it does, this is a useful thing to do.”
The farm’s founders, the paid and volunteer workers, the good pantries, and their clients surely agree.