Grant Awarded to Continue Gorham Grown Initiative

CCSWCD Awarded Quimby Family Foundation Grant to Continue Gorham Grown Community Agriculture Program The Cumberland County Soil & Water Conservation District was awarded $14,000 from the Quimby Family Foundation to continue and expand the Gorham Grown Community Agriculture Program in Gorham, Maine in 2020. The award has been made as part of the Foundation’s “Nourishment” focus area, which seeks to build human wholeness by “Empowering people to consistently choose regional and plant-based foods that restore human and environmental health.”

The Gorham Grown Community Agriculture Program was established to foster connections between public health, community agriculture, and commercial agriculture to ensure Gorham nurtures its agricultural traditions and identity. In 2019, CCSWCD worked with the Town of Gorham and many other community partners and volunteers to install two food forests, provide adult and youth education programs, and coordinate an edible Main Street demonstration with local businesses.

The goals for 2020 are to further intertwine agriculture into Gorham’s community and identity by:

• Coordinating community partners and volunteers to maintain two food forests in Gorham Village (at Phinney Park) and Little Falls Village (at Little Falls Activity Center). The food forests demonstrate low maintenance techniques to cultivate fruit trees, culinary herbs, and other edible plants and are open to the public to harvest.

• Coordinating with local partners and businesses to expand the “Edible Main Street” demonstration. The number of planters will be doubled to 48, a brochure will be produced to allow a self-guided walking tour, and produce from these installations is free and available to the public.

• Providing two adult education workshops about edible landscaping design, species and cultivar selection, rainwater harvesting, soil and water conservation practices, and more.

• Providing youth agriculture activities and lessons via a program at the Gorham Recreation summer camp, while maintaining garden plots with sustainable methods.

• Creating a case study to share the success of these programs with other communities. This project received excellent feedback in its first year and gained support from both community members and local businesses.

CCSWCD looks forward to growing the program during the 2020 season.

FMI:

Damon Yakovleff, Environmental Planner
Cumberland County Soil & Water Conservation District
dyakovleff@cumberlandswcd.org | (207) 892-4700