Orono woman memorialized in school booklet

ORONO – Middle schools throughout Maine recently received a booklet titled “Maine: A Place to Grow,” a collection of articles about Maine agriculture released last month in memory of the author, Anne S. Johnson of Orono.

Johnson, who died in December, was a co-founder of the Orono Farmers Market, the Maine School Garden Network and was a constant advocate for small farms and alternative food production.

The booklet contains five articles originally published in the Bangor Daily News in 2003. The “Newspapers in Education” series contains historical, geographic, statistical and scientific information about the state’s agricultural products – from vegetables, fruits and berries to livestock. Two articles focus on buying locally and on creating school gardens. The booklet also contains five lesson plans prepared by instructor Mary D. Bird of the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development.

A reception to celebrate the release of the booklet was held May 25 at the Page Farm and Home Museum at UMaine.

Anne Johnson was a former dietitian and manager of dining hall programs at the University of Maine who encouraged the use of local Maine produce and vegetarian offerings in the cafeterias. She was passionate about good nutrition for young people and sustainable farming.

A member of the Education Committee for the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, Johnson organized the Maine School Garden Network to give children hands-on experience in food production. When the Newspapers in Education program published the series in 2003, 40 educators were listed with the Maine School Garden Network. By the time “Maine: A Place to Grow” was published in 2005, that number had grown to 400.

“Anne was instrumental in mobilizing a very exciting garden movement in Maine schools and communities,” Bird said. “She saw the need for kids to learn more about where their food comes from and also about how to make healthy choices about their food. She also saw that there is a lot that can be learned in a garden that can be useful in schools.”

As of this year, the number of Maine schools with student-managed gardens had increased substantially, and gardens are being planted at five elementary or middle schools in Bangor, and in Bath, Belfast, Brunswick, Corinth, Freeport, Islesboro, Machias, Old Town, Orono, Portland, Waldo, Waldoboro and Wiscasset.

School gardens are planted both indoors and out, and even in a greenhouse in a retrofitted school bus on Mount Desert Island, according to Bird. In Belfast, a student-managed garden yields about 4,000 pounds of produce annually and is sold to the local school cafeterias and also serves the local food bank.

The booklet is “a product of friendship,” said Kathryn Olmstead, journalism professor and booklet project coordinator. “Anne was extremely dynamic and dogged about things. You knew when she knocked on your door you would be involved in something.”

Mary Jo Sanger of Orono and a project coordinator with Olmstead, said the compilation of Johnson’s articles provides teachers and students in the schools a permanent reference that can be updated as agricultural techniques advance.

“At least teachers have a starting point,” Sanger said, “and hopefully knowledge about the past and inspiration for the future. And it’s not just about agriculture, as such, but looking after the environment and the part students can play in it – and not having to just depend upon what comes out of stores in plastic packages.”

“Maine: A Place to Grow” will be available on the Bangor Daily News “Newspapers in Education” Web site and on CD through the Page Farm and Home Museum at the University of Maine, as well as in the booklets distributed to schools with Maine agricultural study projects.

Mary Bird will oversee the Maine School Garden Network, which now includes seasonal newsletters and semiannual conferences.

The network has become “an opportunity for child health and nutrition advocates, teachers, gardeners and agriculture specialists and community leaders to collaborate,” Bird said. “It’s very exciting to attend the MSGN conferences and see this wonderfully diverse array of people all working together to make gardens healthy places for children to grow and learn. The energy when these people get together is truly amazing, and it’s all due to Anne’s energy, imagination and commitment.”