LINNEUS, Maine — Brian Stewart, owner of Six Point Organic Farm, received some helping hands with his potato harvest this season.
In what has become a tradition, friends of Stewart came out Sept. 12 to the 330 New Limerick Road farm to help harvest potatoes the old-fashioned way — by hand.
“It was such an inspired gathering,” Stewart’s wife Martha said.
Stewart had planted four rows of red organic potatoes, but lacked a harvester to dig up the crops.
The farmer had planted four rows, each 400-feet long for a tenth of an acre. The crop yielded 1,500 pounds of potatoes.
About 10 of his friends came out to help the farmer dig the potatoes by hand. Among those willing to get their hands dirty was 4-year-old Malan Harbison, the son of Jon and Kaylea Harbison.
“Malan picked for more than three hours and the kid did not stop working unless we took a break,” John Skehan, one of the friends who gathered to help out Stewart, said. “Everybody that was out there that day was amazed how polite he was and how hard he worked. It amazed me that the kid never once complained about the 78-degree heat or the hard work that goes along with potato picking.”
