Farmer Denis Thoet has packed his root cellar with beets, potatoes and carrots and filled a storage room in his house with garlic, onions and squash.

His freezer is stuffed with the leftovers from the food he grows for 69 households that each bought a share of this year’s harvest.

By his calculations, he and his partner, Michele Roy, and three other workers managed to reap more than six tons of food from two acres of clay soil on his Long Meadow Farm in West Gardiner. This year’s effort yielded a record 12,279 pounds of produce — a nearly 50 percent increase over last year — even though he expanded his growing space by only 250 square feet.

“There is food all over the place,” Thoet noted in a column he writes for the Kennebec Journal.

Thoet and other farmers across the state are basking in the afterglow of one of the best harvests in memory.

A mild winter, an early spring and a summer marked by a seemingly endless string of sunny days resulted in bumper crops.

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Even tomatoes, notoriously hard to grow in Maine’s cool climate and thin soils, were plentiful. Growers are describing the season in uncharacteristically breathless tones, filled with superlatives.

“The sun made great crops. I have been doing this for 30 years and this is the best growing year I have had for 30 years,” said Dick Fowler, who raises 20 different crops on about 20 acres at Pleasant Hill Gardens in Scarborough.

The plentiful season was a needed boost for commercial and backyard farmers. They were reeling from a disastrous 2009, when frequent rains washed out entire fields of produce, followed by a substantial infestation of late blight, a plant disease that destroys tomatoes.

An official tally of the harvest won’t be available until March from the New England Office of the National Agricultural Statistical Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But anecdotal reports the office collected all summer from farmers were filled with positive news, despite some parched conditions in August and a reappearance of late blight.

“Life is good,” Sandy Truslow reported.

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As executive director of USDA’s Farm Service Agency offices in York, Cumberland, Androscoggin and Sagadahoc counties, Truslow said she rarely files such rosy reports.

With the exception of some apple growers whose trees were damaged by a May 11 frost that also hurt some strawberry farmers, the year was exceptional, Truslow said.

“Overall, it was one of the best years we have had in a long time,” said Truslow.

The bounty resulted in record donations to the University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s Maine Harvest for Hunger, previously known as the Plant-A-Row program. This year, commercial and amateur gardeners donated 200,006 pounds of fresh vegetables and fruit to food pantries, shelters and other charitable groups across the state, more than double the 87,319 pounds donated last year.

While some of the increase was due to increased participation, the great growing conditions were a major factor, said Barbara Murphy, an extension educator who oversees the program.

“Everyone’s squash and cucumbers came in at the same time,” said Murphy.

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York County growers donated more to the program than any of the state’s other 15 counties, with more than 60 volunteers helping out. The county’s master gardeners send out gleaning teams to pick up what has been overlooked in orchards and fields after the commercial harvests.

“It’s all first quality,” said Zelda Kenney of South Berwick, a master gardener.

Farmer John Zacharias donated whatever didn’t get sold at his Zach’s Farm Stand in York at the end of each day. Wells farmer Bill Spiller donates thousands of pounds of produce to the program every year.

A bumper crop can make a big difference for small growers like Luke Donahue, an organic farmer in Alfred.

“It was a complete 180 from the year before,” said Donahue, who works two acres mostly by himself and sells the crops to restaurants and about 45 people who bought shares of his harvest.

Donahue said the good season will allow him to continue next year, which wasn’t certain at one point. The added income will allow him to pay off his bills from this year and buy more seed, compost and greenhouse supplies for the coming year.

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“This has made a huge difference. I feel grateful,” said Donahue.

Liz Mott started farming this year after finding herself a widow with three school-aged children. She moved in with her parents at Sunnyfield Farm in Wells, took a course in developing a business plan and started growing vegetables and flowers.

“I thought I could do something with this land,” Mott said.

She ended up selling her produce at farmers markets and to a local restaurant. It went so well, she is expanding the garden by 1,000 square feet.

“I pretty much sold out,” said Mott.

Thoet said the great season should ensure more repeat customers for a share of his harvest. It helps if the customers feel they got their money’s worth, said Thoet.

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“We feel good because our members feel good,” he said.

Staff Writer Beth Quimby can be contacted at 791-6363 or at:

bquimby@pressherald.com

 


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