Farm tour event opens with visit to Pittsfield

PITTSFIELD – Tom Roberts’ normally isolated and quiet farm was invaded Friday as more than 40 people on a Farmer-To-Farmer tour tromped through his compost pile, visited his vegetable gardens and walked through his greenhouses.

As one of the state’s most knowledgeable organic farmers, Roberts shared his knowledge and innovative ideas with others in his industry.

The tour was the kickoff event in a three-day conference that visited the Peacemeal Farm in Dixmont later Friday and will focus on workshops and networking today and Sunday in Bar Harbor. It is sponsored by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.

“These workshops will give farmers a chance to connect with each other and share lots of good ideas and information gleaned from the presenters,” said Diane Schivera of MOFGA. “These are not just lectures,” she added. “One-half of the time for each presentation will be set aside for discussions.”

The focus of the conference is sustainable agriculture and that is exactly what Roberts espouses at his Snakeroot Organic Farm, established in 1996.

Acres of vegetables, herbs, and fruits that Roberts sells at four farmers markets around central Maine attest to his skill. He also raises 2,800 tomato plants and saves the seeds from many of his 20 varieties. The process is so intensive that a five-gallon pail of discarded tomatoes yields only one ounce of useable seeds.

“Because of the new organic standards, organic farmers must use organic seeds. I am an organic farmer and this may open up a whole new business for me,” he said.

Roberts explained his irrigation system to the attendees, which consists of an aboveground pipeline from his well, outfitted with faucets at various distances to which individual hoses are attached to irrigate specific garden plots.

His compost system includes a contract with the town of Pittsfield to take all their organic waste. “In a sense, I have hundreds of people in Pittsfield working for me, raking their leaves,” he said.

Roberts and his partner, Lois Labbee, are still harvesting both field crops and greenhouse vegetables. By the end of January, Labbee said, she would begin planting carrots, beets and lettuce mixes in the greenhouse for early spring crops.

As the tour wound around garlic beds being planted this week, Roberts showed how he uses lawn clippings and leaves to mulch the beds and the walking space between them. “I use it both for weed suppression and moisture retention.”

As the group walked, individual conversations broke out among the farmers: “Did you sell all your taters?” “How was your harvest?” “Did you run dry this season?”

Roberts illustrated some innovative recycling, as well. Tables for seedlings are constructed of pallet boards with tree branch supports and legs. A structure built in a hemlock grove of tree trunks and a plastic roof makes a perfect summer location for sorting vegetables for market. “It’s at least 15 degrees cooler under here in the summer,” he said.

From Pittsfield, the tour headed to Peacemeal Farm in Dixmont, which is among the first farms certified as organic by MOFGA more than 20 years ago. Peacemeal Farm works about 7 acres of mixed vegetables, cover crops and grains.

On Saturday and Sunday, participants can choose from a wide variety of workshops being held in Bar Harbor at Atlantic Oakes-By-The Sea that deal with issues such as food quality, seedlings, greenhouses, onions, poultry, cover crops, farm labor and grazing.

Sunday’s keynote address will be delivered by Hardy Vogtman, deputy minister for the environment in Germany. Vogtman’s address is titled “Organic Agriculture, A Cornerstone for Regional Development and Nature Conservation.”