Open Farm Day
Open Farm Day is a statewide annual event that this year occurs on July 21st; it is also a fabulous idea. Nowadays, the whole world eats, but only a few of us have the honor of generating foodstuffs for the rest of the population.
Even in rural Aroostook County we are at least two generations away from a time when “everyone” worked on a farm. Young people once hired on to pick potatoes, bump and stack hay bales, or stagger alongside a trailer full of rocks for much needed cash. Or if we lived on a farm, we did chores just because Dad said so. No longer, and it shows.
We farmers get busy on our tractors or in our hoop houses or mucking about in the dirt out back of the barn. We lose sight of the Six Degrees of Separation between what we do and what the general population may think we do. But then we start fielding questions … “Why did that cow decide to give milk?” “Is there a difference between hay and straw, or are they the same thing as grass?” “Is that a chicken or a rooster?”
We answer pressing questions as best we can on any Saturday morning between May and October at the Presque Isle Farmers’ Market (FYI: we never laugh, except at a shared joke). We are happy to do so. However, Open Farm Day is a boots-on-the-ground opportunity for even more farmers to interact with folks who remain curious about where those delicious locally grown products come from and how they came to be.
Participating Maine farmers are inviting you to their homes, farms, and barns to get a clear picture of what we do and how we do it, share a story or two, and reacquaint you with the food on your plate. What fun! Plan to make a family memory this coming Sunday.
There are many farms all over the state listed on the Open Farm Day website (www.getrealmaine.com). The list includes some members of the Presque Isle Farmers’ Market so you can follow up on those questions about your Saturday Market purchases on the location from whence they came.
This column is written by members of the Presque Isle Farmers’ Market. For more information, visit their website at https://sites.google.com/site/presqueislefarmersmarket/home.
