Garlic helps Monticello native reconnect to rural roots

“My mom grows garlic …” so reads the logo as part of Good Dirt Garlic’s label as drawn by the grower’s 8-year-old daughter Matilda. Matilda’s mom is Aimee Good and she and her dad Tom, a potato grower, are into their second season of growing organic garlic on a one-acre plot in Monticello.
    Aimee, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. with her husband Josh and Matilda, is in an enviable position of having a job that allows her to spend summers on the home farm tending her garlic. How did this all come about? Back pedal 20 years or so ago when Aimee was working in Boston as an artist and found herself drawn to creating large-scale sculptures of farm animals.
She started coming back to her roots for inspiration in creating her art. It was during those visits as an adult that the idea of community became important and the lore of local. Her move to New York City brought a new creative outlet when she was hired at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. It was there that she really began thinking of how to pursue the balance of an artistic life and farming life.
Aimee began researching various crops to grow here, thus beginning the plotting of how to divide her life between Manhattan and Maine. She also realized the importance of having her daughter be able to experience life on a farm, developing a work ethic and understanding where and how food is produced.
Three years ago an article in Good Magazine caught her attention. It was focused on the Locally Known farm in Bowdoinham that produces salad greens. She talked to her dad about it and he was open to the idea of growing greens so she contacted former farm manager Ben Dobson and found out the farm had a “Farm with Us” program. He came up to Monticello for a field visit and instead of discussing salad greens, talked about the need for garlic production. Aimee and Tom suddenly found themselves planting garlic that fall. With the assistance of MOFGA and NRCS’s transitioning to organic program, they are now certified organic and sell their garlic wholesale through Crown of Maine and New York restaurants. In the future they would like to expand into growing for seed.
When I asked Aimee to try and sum up the garlic-growing experience thus far she replied that more than anything she feels lucky to have the opportunity to bring this organic project to Monticello and farm with her dad. It has enabled her to relate to her dad not only as her father but as a collaborator as well. That collaboration includes his years of farming expertise and instinctual knowledge that has helped guide them both through what was a pretty big learning curve the first year. Local resources — other farmers like Jim Gerritsen and Steve Johnson at Cooperative Extension, also provided valuable crop advice.
For Aimee, the return to the farm each summer is a cycling back of connecting to the landscape and the people here. “And when she returns to the city?” I asked. She just smiled and said that she carries the view from the top of the hill on Fletcher Road within her at all times. You can learn more about the Monticello project at www.gooddirtgarlic.com.
Editor’s note: Angie Wotton loves her work as district manager for the Southern Aroostook Soil and Water Conservation District. She also raises pastured pork and vegetables with her husband on their small West Berry Farm in Hammond. She can be reached 532-9407 or via e-mail at angela.wotton@me.nacdnet.net.