Erickson Farm Community Meeting Results

On September 23rd and 25th, Aldermere Farm hosted two community meetings to inform participants about the finality of the Erickson Farm (now known as the Erickson Fields) campaign and to receive input from attendees about what they would like to see happen on the property. Many great ideas were discussed and taken into consideration for future activities at Erickson Fields. Below is a short list of the community ideas divided into four main categories that came out of the discussions: Community, Education, Research, and Recreational. All activities must have an agricultural component.

Community- Community garden plots, Composting projects, Building greenhouses, Mix of people/ages to care for gardens, Food donations to local food pantries, Meals-on-wheels, Multigenerational projects, Heritage veg or fruit trees, Start a work group of teachers, ag people, and others to get started, Rockport collaborative effort with farms and food producers-Ag trail, Lease the land to other farmers

Education- Traditional and non-traditional partnerships- schools in the five towns (especially those closest to the property), Voc School, Tanglewood, YMCA, and other, Edible schoolyard, Projects with high school classes or after school groups (Botany class with Ext. Service cooperation, Earth groups/clubs at high school), Landscape “best practices” education, Adult progs around gardens –Adult Ed., Short one-day workshops for people here on vaca, Culinary students help plan for a long term project, Ag education (canning and freezing), Student groups used at both EF and CMLT, Students “green group”, Class to gain ag./farm experience, “Living Machine”- greenhouses that treats water and processes wastes (Scotland),

Research- Research/test plots, Woodlot managment, Help with regulations with Dept of Ag., Have a variety of animals on the property, Four season green house, Incorporate alt. energy in practices, Eco and long term science projects – bird species w/ high school,

Recreation- Summer programs with YMCA, Youthlinks , other, Recreation- trails (running, ski, hike) with landscape as an ed project, Cross country ski, Lay out a labyrinth (check out ones in Washington and Lincolnville), Ag tourism, Fairy gardens, Woods trail

Please feel free to contact us with your ideas. Call 236-2739 and ask for Sarah or email at spost@mcht.org.