Press Release – May 20, 2005

Northeast Creek Farm Eyed for Fresh Vegetable Production

Healthy Acadia was recently awarded a $2000 grant from the Maine Community Foundation’s Hancock County Fund to explore the feasibility of establishing a small farm at the Northeast Creek Farm property in Salisbury Cove.

The property, formerly known as the Pooler Farm or the Kief Farm, was purchased late last year by the MDI Housing Authority and Maine Coast Heritage Trust (MCHT.) Healthy Acadia is working in partnership with both organizations to determine the feasibility of setting aside a portion of the property’s historic fields to be used as a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm. Other portions of the property will be used for affordable community housing, and approximately 100 acres has been conserved as a natural preserve.

Funding from the Maine Community Foundation will be used to assess the soils and agricultural viability of the site, and to develop a system that will enable a farmer to use the fields for small-scale food production.

According to Heather Albert-Knopp, Healthy Acadia’s Community Coordinator, there is a large demand for locally-produced foods on MDI, but high land costs and limited availability of suitable local farmland are significant barriers preventing more local food production. “The Northeast Creek Farm project is one small piece of what we hope will be a proactive effort to make more local land available for food production, and to ensure that some of the historic local farmland is accessible to farmers,” says Ms. Albert-Knopp.

Plans will also be developed to ensure that food produced at the Northeast Creek Farm site is used to meet local food needs, especially for lower-income and elderly residents. As with other CSA farms, shares of the harvest would also be available for purchase to community members.

“We are very pleased to be partnering with the Housing Authority and Maine Coast Heritage Trust on this effort,” said Doug Michael, Healthy Acadia’s Partnership Director. “Accessibility of local food and farmland, availability of affordable community housing, and natural resource protection are all vital ingredients of healthy communities.”

More information about the Northeast Creek Farm project is available from Healthy Acadia, 288-5331. Healthy Acadia is a Healthy Maine Partnership, funded by Maine’s tobacco settlement money and hosted by Mount Desert Island Hospital and School Union 98.