Mission Statement
The Yarmouth Community Garden’s mission is to create an organic garden for Yarmouth citizens that offers plots for renters; produces fresh vegetables and flowers for distribution to area residents and seniors in need; and provides a gardening experience that benefits all of Yarmouth through education, mentoring, and volunteer participation. We strive to provide the services of a safe, beautiful and well-equipped garden facility for our plot renters; to grow, harvest and distribute high-quality organic produce to the recipients of our food donations; to serve as a community-building and educational resource for all residents of Yarmouth.
The Lay of the Land
The three-acre garden is on East Main Street, about a mile beyond Estabrook’s and just before the Transfer Station, on the left.
Divided into North and South Gardens, it contains three primary areas: the Rental Plots, the Community Plot, and the Children's Garden.
The Community Plot is in the South Garden, and it's planted and harvested entirely by volunteers. In 2008, YCG distributed 2,896 pounds of fresh organic vegetables to over 200 local residents. This was a record amount of produce donated, and YCG was the second-largest garden contributor to the Cumberland County Plant-a-Row for the Hungry program. Learn more about participating in the Community Plot.
We offer 130 Rental Plots in the North Garden with many amenities with which to grow vegetables and flowers: excellent soil, a sunny location, a deer fence, and a convenient water supply — plus a unique opportunity to meet and learn from fellow gardeners. Learn more about renting a plot.
The Children's Garden provides kids a place to plant, grow, and harvest their own gardens in mini-plots, with guidance through a 4- or 8-week Garden Explorers program. Children learn the basics of organic gardening through games, experiments, art projects, stories, and, of course, working in the dirt. Learn more about gardening or children.
The South Garden also include an herb area and a corn patch, and behind the North Garden, we have beehives, set up by beekeeper Tom Delaney, to enhance fruit setting for a bountiful vegetable crop.
General Information
YCG has grown to become one of the largest and most diverse Community Gardens in the state of Maine.
YCG hosts several annual community events, including a Garden Social Pot Luck, a Pick-Your-Own Bouquet Day, and the highly regarded Annual Harvest Dinner.
The Annual Harvest Dinner is held at the beautiful Yarmouth High School cafeteria, where YCG volunteers serve over 300 diners pasta with homemade tomato and pesto sauce, fresh garden salad, and dessert. The dinner is open to the public, and all are invited to come!
YCG activities and efforts receive lots of publicity and recognition. The garden has been a feature story in the Portland Sunday Telegram, written up in local papers, and shown in local news stories.
The many volunteers involved with YCG help make the garden, its programs, and donation acquisition successful and help YCG to be a community resource.
As a non-profit, community-oriented organization, donations and volunteer contributions are essential to the existence, improvement, and continuation of YCG. YCG receives many generous donations in the form of service, skills, materials, and money. YCG greatly appreciates these donations which support the success of many individual projects and contribute to the garden's success.
The Town of Yarmouth continues to be an integral support for YCG in providing land at the newly dedicated Frank Knight Forest (formerly Parks Property) and Yarmouth Community Services, both of which allow YCG to exist and function.
A dedicated volunteer Steering Committee leads the YCG project with the assistance of three coordinators who oversee the Community Plot, the Rental Plot and Children’s Garden programs.
The YCG Steering Committee is pleased to continue offering improved facilities and programs to the community, and we look forward to welcoming new participants as well as our returning plot renters and volunteers.
Annual Report Highlights — 2009
The 2009 season was extremely successful in spite of a very we spring and the late tomato blight.
YCG continued to be the largest garden contributor to the Cumberland County Plant-a-Row for the Hungry program, distributing almost 2,600 pounds of fresh organic vegetables to more than 200 local residents. This was a few hundred pounds less than last year’s amount, because of the tomato blight. Recipients included Meals on Wheels, First Parish Congregational Church Food Pantry, St. Bartholomew Episcopal Church Food Pantry, Bartlett Circle, and Yarmouth Falls Apartments, as well as individual families.
Raised rows in the Community Plot greatly contributed to its productivity and ease of maintenance.
YCG's plot renters had a successful season as well, with 90 renters growing their own vegetables and flowers in 145 rental plots.
The Children’s Garden continued to be a big draw. Roots and Shoots classes in the Garden Explorers program filled quickly with 30 children participating. Ten families rented mini-plots, and many more participated in weekend planting and harvesting activities.
The Children's Garden featured a pizza garden, living tunnels, teepees, and an A-Z garden. Activities included a vegetable parade, hide and seek among the cornstalks, making “stone soup” from our own vegetables, and a “garden after dark party,” where children munched s’mores and explored the garden with flashlights. Parents expressed wonder and delight at their 4-to-10 year olds’ newfound appreciation for vegetables.
Tom Delaney continued maintaining beehives for pollinating and education. The hives were healthy and, due to the busy bees, increased the setting of fruit for the bountiful vegetable and flower crop.
New in 2009 was a rewarding partnership with the Morrison Development Center, an organization that provides comprehensive services to individuals with developmental disabilities. Some of their clients, with an experienced supervisor, participated in the Community Plot through the season, and their contribution was greatly appreciated.
The garden hosted several community events, including a Garden Social Pot Luck and a stone wall workshop. YCG participated in the "Backyard Locavore Tour" to benefit the proposed new home of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension at the Tidewater Farm Regional Learning Center in Falmouth. This well attended event, sponsored by Cumberland County Master Gardeners and Master Food Preservers, featured garden tours as well as a food preservation display and demonstration. The season ended with our highly regarded 8th Annual Harvest Dinner at the YHS cafeteria, where YCG volunteers served over 300 diners, and the raffle and auction were hugely successful.
As a non-profit, community-oriented organization, donations and volunteer contributions are essential to the existence, improvement, and continuation of YCG. YCG received many generous donations in the form of service, skills, materials, and money. These donations supported the success of specific projects and to the year's overall success. We appreciate these generous financial donors, sponsors to our Harvest Dinner and our many volunteers.
YCG also greatly appreciates the continued support of the Town of Yarmouth. The town provides land at the Frank Knight Forest and extends administrative support through Yarmouth Community Services. This support is imperative to the YCG in existence and functioning.
A dedicated volunteer Steering Committee leads the YCG project with the help of three coordinators who oversee the Community Plot, the Rental Plots, and the Children’s Garden programs.
The 2009 Yarmouth Community Garden Steering Committee:
Erinn Cayehal, chair and members - Joy Ahrens, Crombie Garrett, Cathy Gavin, Colleen Kenyon, Bill Hoffman, Charlie Horstmann, Julie Pew, Michelle Ritchie-Haddow, Amy Sinclair, and Norm Steele.
2009 Community Plot Coordinator: Anna Hewitt
2009 Rental Plot Coordinator: Marjorie Stone
2009 Children's Garden Coordinator: Christine Slader
The Steering Committee continues to look for ways to offer improved facilities and programs to the community in the coming year, and looks forward to welcoming new participants as well as our returning plot renters and volunteers.
History
In 2003
- The seed of an idea for the Yarmouth Community Garden germinated in mid-winter when a few Yarmouth citizens shared their dreams of a beautiful, abundant vegetable and flower garden that could produce crops for individuals and their families to share with anyone in need.
- In early May, with guidance from Town Manager, Nat Tupper, and support from the Conservation Commission, the group made a proposal to the Town Council. The Council voted unanimously and generously to approve the use of three acres of fertile land on East Main Street, complete with an old dug well.
- In June, we broke ground, tilled the soil, and with the help of 15 dedicated volunteers, planted a third of an acre with donated seeds and seedlings, including a variety of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. That summer, the garden thrived in the rich soil. We watered it by hand hauling water buckets from the well and using donated and rented pumps. Throughout the summer, we shared an abundance of vegetables, herbs, and flowers that burst from the garden with local churches, charities, and anyone in need. We were able to share the bounty wih 175 people!
In 2004
- YCG opened its gates to plot renters, and 50 Yarmouth residents joined the fun.
- We put an irrigation sytem in place, with the help of generous donations from the community as well as grants from Maine Initiatives and the Maine Community Foundation.
- We expanded the Community Garden plot in size and produced food for about 255 recipients, increasing the sharing by 75 people more the 2003 season!
- We hired Marjorie Stone and Patia Maule as our Garden Coordinators, and they provided wonderful guidance and leadership.
- The steering committee published several newsletters and this web site, and hosted our Second Annual Harvest Dinner fundraiser.
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Good Links
Amy Sinclair's Blog
Food Resources
for Individuals
and Families
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