Farmers’ Market:
A rose by any other name
A trip to The Other Maine or points farther south illuminates an intriguing phenomenon … people in that part of the world make up fancy names with little substance. You could turn onto a road labeled “Fox Hill Farms,” for example, and discover that truth in advertising does not extend beyond the sign.
The only things growing on the “farms” are condominiums or townhouses in a housing development. There is no place among cookie-cutter designer houses and manicured lawns for anything a fox would call home, and If there ever was a fox, s/he is headed for those hills as fast as foxy little feet will move!
Naming takes a different tack for plain-spoken farmers here in Aroostook County. Farm names reflect pride of place or familial enterprises, perhaps, but also a certain reticence to attach too many whistles and bells to a down-to-earth vocation. Nowhere is this tendency more in view than at Whole Earth Farm, the brainchild of neighbors Kim Becker and Jim Brown of Easton. Theirs is a partnership designed around much more than the shared property line between their respective homes; they share the work, the soil, and a personal bond founded on a long-term friendship.
They also share a rather serendipitous sense of humor, agreeing that “Dragon’s Lingerie” is a lot more fun than the dull and dry homonym on the seed package. What better way to describe polka-dotted beans that change color when you cook them?
Both Jim and Kim are “just good folk.” Jim takes the time each week to check in with each and every vender at The Market just to be friendly and supportive; he is not above helping out with stubborn canopies or missing tools when he can. Kim’s natural reserve breaks down when she smiles widely and waves animatedly to a series of 2- to 5-year-olds who bid her “Hi!” again and again as they pass the table; she is clearly a “hot ticket” with the toddler set.
As farmers, the farm name says it all. Whole Earth Farm is committed to organic practices that leave the soil better off than before they broke ground. Equally important to both is ensuring the vegetables they bring to market are as wholesome as possible.
Neither is particularly showy or long-winded, preferring to allow the produce they bring to the Presque Isle Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings to “speak” for itself … multiple varieties of beans, peas, raspberries, greens, broccoli, potatoes of multiple varieties and colors shout out, “Buy me and try me!” Few customers resist.
The Presque Isle Farmers’ Market contact person is Gail Maynard, who operates Orchard Hill Farm in Woodland with her husband, Stan. Their phone number is 498-8541 and their email is orchhill@gmail.com.
