‘Focus on conservation’ an early lesson for Lilley

    The Southern Aroostook Soil and Water Conservation District held their annual awards ceremony and dinner at the Horn of Plenty recently to recognize Danny Corey as 2011 Outstanding Conservationist and Don Collins as 2011 Conservation Partner. As part of the evening, the District invited Jason Lilley to be the featured speaker and talk about his work as a Peace Corps volunteer in a farming community in Paraguay.
    I had met Jason after his two-year Peace Corps stint in March when he returned home to New Limerick for a time while waiting to see what journey life next led him on. He had attended some of the District’s Winter Ag School classes with his grandfather, Ronnie Smith, and came into the office one day to meet me where we found out we both have similar goals around agricultural education, school gardens, producing good food and caring for the land.
Contributed photo
TALL AMERICANO — Jason Lilley, left, of New Limerick shared his experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay and other insights during a recent Southern Aroostook Soil and Water Conservation District event. Here he checks out a bee hive with a Paraguayan farmer.
    Jason grew up in New Limerick and became interested in the Peace Corps after attending the Chewonki Foundation’s Maine Coast Semester as a junior in high school and attending a presentation by Peace Corps Volunteers who had served in Chile and Nicaragua. He was inspired by their talk and decided that he wanted a similar experience one day.
    That presentation gave him a personal goal for the future but the inspiration goes back much farther. Jason credits the time he spent with his grandfather Ronnie in his woodlots, working on equipment and driving the back woods as a great influence on his life choices. He recognizes that his “focus on conservation of our natural resources stems directly from having had the opportunity to be out in nature at a young age and have his grandfather explain why and how things work as they do.”
    It was this influence that found Jason in Paraguay after graduating from college, working on such projects as school gardens, introducing cover crops and new vegetable plantings, and beginning a women’s committee that decides and works on projects to better their community, such as raising funds for and building a communal outdoor oven. This latter project was a response to the effects of traditional cooking indoors with no ventilation, resulting in permanent soot buildup and a smoky haze within each home.
    During his presentation at the awards dinner, Jason reflected that he took away much more from his Peace Corps experience than he feels he gave. He especially enjoyed working with the youth in Paraguay and hopes that the “Tall Americano’s” ideas will be remembered and carried on by them.
    Back in Maine, Jason has been working at Wealden Farm in Freeport, working on the farm and helping with owners Martha Putnam and John Schwenk’s Farm Fresh distribution company. Jason hopes to continue with combining agriculture and youth education as he believes agriculture to be the most important profession in this global society.
    His parting words of advice that he gave at last week’s awards dinner came from the heart: “Plant a garden with your children. They will always remember it.” Jason is now proactively harvesting the seeds sown in his youth with the love of nature instilled by his grandfather and the support and encouragement of the rest of his family.
    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.