The latest seed catalogs have arrived and we are all starting to dream of Spring planting. With food insecurity and the need for donated food increasing, consider adding an extra row for the hungry while planning for this year:

‘Plant a Row’ program produces tons of veggies for relief agencies 

YORK COUNTY — It was a wet and unusually difficult growing season, but York County’s farmers and gardeners managed a record contribution of 37,765 pounds of fresh nutritious vegetables — and more than four gallons of apple cider — to the “Plant a Row for the Hungry” (PAR) program to benefit hunger relief agencies throughout the region. York County leads the Maine effort of a program that began in Alaska and now operates nationwide. The program is administered by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, with the efforts of Master Gardener Volunteers. The extension and the volunteers ended their season last week with the delivery of more than 1,000 pounds of winter squash to the York County Shelter Programs in Alfred by volunteers working with the Ben Grant Farm of Saco. 

The Spiller Farm, of Wells, operated by Bill and Anna Spiller, has been a major contributor to the PAR program since its local inception nine years ago. Again this year, the Spillers worked with two teams of master gardener volunteers to contribute nearly one-third of the York County PAR total. 

Frosty nights ended the master gardeners’ apple harvest at Smith’s Farm in Acton and the MacDougall Orchards in Springvale, but not before nearly 10,000 pounds of apples were picked and delivered to the York County Shelter Programs and the Sanford Food Pantry. 

At Zach’s Farm Stand in York, volunteers from local food pantries and master gardeners collected the unsold produce at the end of each day of operation to distribute nearly 2,500 pounds of “picked in the morning” vegetables to various area agencies. John Zacharias also generously supported the efforts of the Coastal Clovers 4-H Club by donating land space and support for the 4-Hers to grow almost 4,000 pounds of vegetables to share with local pantries. 

John and Chris Bozak, who operate Berry Best Farm, continued a Labor Day tradition they began two years ago and opened their blueberry patches to volunteers, allowing them to pick one quart for themselves and one for the pantries. Open picking resulted in a contribution of nearly 115 pounds of the precious fruit to hunger relief agencies.

Other contributing commercial farms include Harris Farm, of Dayton, Riverside Farm, of North Berwick, the Rick Grant Farm, of Saco, and the Tibbetts Family Farm, of Waterboro. A number of individual gardeners also participated in the program by sharing their excess produce with their local food pantries.

Joan Sylvester, of York County Shelter Programs, notes the importance of so much fresh local produce being donated at a time when government commodities are increasingly scarce and the number of needy people facing food shortages is on the rise. Sylvester says that produce from “Plant a Row for the Hungry” makes up to more than 80 percent of what the shelter is able to give out to those who need it in food baskets.  [1] For full article >

[2] For more information on the PAR program for York County >