NEW SWEDEN — A farmstand new to the region opened for business Sept. 23 in New Sweden. Open one Wednesday a week for six weeks, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and located at 204 New Sweden Road in the parking lot at Northstar Variety, the Food For All farmstand will feature local farmers’ produce at a low cost.
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Contributed photo Taylor Pelletier, left, Food for All project coordinator and recent UMFK graduate, and Meghan Quinn, Good Shepherd Food for All project manager and Green Mountain College Sustainable Food Systems graduate student, stand in front of the mobile farmstand that will be set up in the parking lot of Northstar Variety for six weeks this fall. The grand opening on Wednesday, September 23 was a success, with cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, onions, and several types of squash available for purchase from local farmers Chuck and Lisa MacLeod, and Sven Bondeson. Some perishable food was sent to Catholic Charities in Caribou after the farmstand closed for the day, to be distributed to local food pantries and those in need. One of the primary goals of the project is to get more healthy foods onto the plates of food insecure and/or low income individuals and families. Local Healthy Maine Partnership Power of Prevention helped to facilitate this program through funding received from the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and their Partnerships to Improve Community Health (PICH) grant. |
This project will feature locally grown vegetables only; farmstand operators will accept payment in cash and EBT.
The Food For All farmstand is part of a pilot project geared towards creating an alternative food access model and promoting community involvement in healthy food choices and access for rural Mainers who are low income. However, there are no restrictions on produce purchasing; anyone is welcome to visit the farmstand and enjoy locally grown foods during operating hours.
Meghan Quinn, project manager from Good Shepherd and a graduate student in Sustainable Food Systems at Green Mountain College in Vermont, said that the new farmstand in Aroostook County is the result of success last year achieved in establishing a farmstand in Bingham. Project leaders look for areas in which a significantly-sized population is located a certain distance from a major grocery store, nearby to local farmers, and also in an area with no existing farmstands.
New Sweden fit the bill; after identifying the town as a good project candidate, Quinn reached out to Aroostook County Healthy Maine Partnerships, Power of Prevention and Healthy Aroostook, to find local connections and resources to operate the farmstand and stock its shelves.
The Mainers Feeding Mainers program of the Good Shepherd Food Bank purchases food for the farmstand from area farmers. Farmstand operators will glean any unsold produce at the end of each business day and send it to Catholic Charities in Caribou where it will be distributed by the local food bank to area food pantries and members.
The Food For All farmstand’s opening is a collaborative effort between the Good Shepherd Food Bank and Maine Federation of Farmers’ Markets, and Power of Prevention, a program of Cary Medical Center. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Partnerships to Improve Community Health (PICH) grant is funding POP’s involvement in this community project.
PICH is working in rural Maine communities to increase access to environments with healthy food or beverage options by supporting local farmers, and promoting healthy eating and active living to help improve health, reduce health disparities, and control health care spending.
For more information about the farmstand, contact Taylor Pelletier at Taylor.Pelletier@maine.edu. For more information about PICH, visit www.cdc.gov/commmunity health, or contact Shannon Kornachuk, POP PICH coordinator, at skornachuk@carymed.org.
