Twenty-four Aroostook County farms are featured in a new book by Mary Quinn Doyle, “Unique Maine Farms,” that can be read at every Maine public and college library thanks to a collaboration between the author and the Maine State Library.
“Through the generosity of several foundations, organizations, businesses and individuals, funding was raised for the donation of the books to every town, city and college library in Maine,” said Doyle. “The Maine State Library stepped forward to assist with the distribution of the 302 books to the libraries through their van delivery program and mailings.
“Because this is completely voluntary and too costly to mail them to all the libraries in the state, I contacted them quite some time ago because I knew they have a van delivery program,” she said. “They agreed not only to put the book in the van and deliver them to those libraries, but they also offered to mail the books that are not on the van delivery service. That was amazing for them to do.”
The effort was meant to coincide with Read Across America Day, which was March 2. Since 1997, the National Education Association has chosen March 2, the birthday of Dr. Seuss, as a day to celebrate reading in the United States.
Doyle, who resides in West Newfield, said the book was printed in September 2014 on Maine paper. She said the idea for the book came while working at a social service agency.
“There were several farms that were very generous to the agency as far as donations of food. One was the Spiller Farm in Wells, where the owners, Bill and Anna Spiller, have donated over 20,000 pounds of produce from their fields to various food pantries every year for many, many years,” said Doyle. “I was so impressed by that, and encouraged to visit other farms, and it evolved into documenting all different types of farms throughout the state.”
There are 178 farms featured in “Unique Maine Farms.”
“Of that, 24 farms are located in The County,” said Doyle. “I visited them over a two-year span [2012-13]. I just absolutely fell in love with Aroostook County. I think it’s so special, and I’m looking forward to getting back and actually adding some more farms to the project.
“The book is finished, but I have a website, and I’m continuously adding farms to that website,” she said. “There’s several that I’d like to get back to. The first year that we went to Aroostook I went with my family and we visited farms that I had arranged beforehand, and I returned another summer and took a course through Maine Ag in the Classroom, and through that course, visited additional farms. My family came and joined me later and we continued that visit going to even more farms.”
One of The County farms featured in the book is Aroostook Hops, which is located on the Shorey Road in Westfield.
“We’re heading toward our seventh growing season,” said Jason Johnston, who co-owns the operation with his wife, Krista Delahunty. “We became incorporated in 2009.
“We have a four-acre hopyard that sells hops to craft brewers around Maine and New Hampshire, and we’ve sold to breweries in other states, as well,” he said. “We primarily are targeting small craft brewers. We also sell some rhizomes for propagation of hops in the spring for hobby growers and others starting out because hops are propagated by cuttings, not by seed. We’ve done that the last 3-4 years, as well.”
Johnston said it’s exciting to be featured in Doyle’s book.
“Mary and her family came and visited for an hour or so,” he said. “She took some photos, and had done a lot of homework ahead of time. She’s clearly good at doing her legwork.
“We bought a copy of the book as soon as it came out,” said Johnston. “We thought it was really cool to be included in the book especially at the time because we were pretty fledgling. This is very much a side business for us; we don’t think of ourselves as farmers, but it was cool to be considered a farmer in the book. Having our name out there can’t be a bad thing. The book will help get the word out about the resurgence of hops throughout Maine and the Northeast.”
For more information on Aroostook Hops, log onto www.aroostookhops.com or like them on Facebook.
Doyle said she encourages Mainers to check out a copy of the book.
“By doing so I think people will get an appreciation for the incredible diversity of farms that we have in Maine. I feel it was a real privilege to have this opportunity for two-and-a-half years, and I was pretty much astounded by the different types of farms we have in the state,” she said.
“I tried to target the book in a different way. There are several farms throughout the state that are addressing issues of social concern whether it’s farming with disabled people, or refugee and immigrant farms,” said Doyle. “I think the book — I would hope — gives people an appreciation for all different types of people that are approaching agricultural endeavors.”
According to Doyle, other farms or agricultural-related endeavors taking place in Aroostook County that are featured in the book include Pelletier Island Farm; Wood Prairie Farm in Bridgewater; Bouchard Family Farm in Fort Kent; Future Farmers of America in Caribou; Wholesome Valley Farms in Smyrna; Micmac Farms, Aroostook Farm and the SAD 1 Educational Farm, all in Presque Isle; Friends of Aroostook in Houlton; Richards Christmas Tree Farm, Maple Meadow Farm and Chase’s Organic Dairy Farm, all in Mapleton; Zook Family Farm in Fort Fairfield; Knott-II-Bragg Farm in Wade; Misty Meadows Organic Farm in Grand Isle; Flat Mountain Cattle and Horse Ranch in St. Agatha; and Sunrise Farm and Orchard Hill Farm, both in Woodland.
Also included are profiles of Maliseet basketmaker Fred Tomah of Houlton; Micmac basketmaker Richard Silliboy and the Southern Aroostook Agricultural Museum in Littleton; and Eldon Hanning, a Micmac brown ash harvester in Limestone.
For more information, log onto www.uniquemainefarms.com.
