04/11/2008
enlarge
Photo by Joe Phelanfrom the Kennebec Journal
HEARTFELT SALUTES
CENTRAL MAINE Big crowds expected for latest Narnia adventure film
1ST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT Pingree offers record as Washington reformer
High school group aims to raise awareness of tobacco-related dangers
HALLOWELL Court rules against couple in property dispute
AUGUSTA Charter accord elusive City committee still has many unresolved issues
Today's high school schedule
Excellence in motion
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
This year's version will be the 25th anniversary of the '12-mile yard sale'
WATERVILLE Garden to help healing
Ceremony honors fallen law enforcement 'family members'
Skowhegan doctor practices what he preaches Busy family practitioner stays fit through exercise; involves kids in physical fitness programs to promote health, fight obesity
LAWSUIT TARGETS PHIL ROY Contractor says Somerset County commissioner didn't pay for plumbing
Planners approve Kingfield subdivision
Today's high school schedule
She's obsessive about excellence
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
Staff Writer
Rob Johanson of Goranson Farm has been waiting patiently for the soil to warm so he can plant his peas, beet greens and spinach.
A week or so of sunshine, like Thursdays, and brisk winds are all he needs to dry out his 160-acre organic farm in Dresden.
"We're in pretty good shape," he said. "We're just waiting for things to dry up. The greater percentage of the fields' snow cover is gone. And because of the snow cover and no real subzero temperatures here, there's no frost in the ground."
That's good news for farmers waiting to dig in across the state. The state's farm crop is sizable. Cash receipts for farmers' commodities totaled $304 million in 2006.
Location, location, location
The time for spring planting largely depends on a farm's location, said Seth Bradstreet III, commissioner of the Maine Department of Agriculture. Farmers in Aroostook County, for example, could be delayed a bit in planting, he said. That county had significant amounts of snow cover -- more than 200 inches.
Warmer temperatures will help.
National Weather Service expects a high of 53 degrees in central Maine today. Rain is forecast, too, as well as through the weekend, when temperatures will reach mid 40s. There is a chance for traces of snow Sunday and Monday.
Up until last week, Johanson and his crew had been busy cleaning up after maple-syrup season, washing and disinfecting buckets and hoses. This year's winter storms were good for the maple-syrup business. Freezing nights and thawing days, along with record snowfall, caused the sap to flow more often, Johanson said.
His Dresden farm produced 556 gallons of syrup this year. That beats the 419 gallons its trees produced back in the early 1980s. Johanson's goal each year for retail sales is 400 gallons.
Timing important
But winter has moved into spring. Lauchlin Titus, a crop advisor for AgMatters of Vassalboro, said he knows of a farmer near the coast with fields in Warren and Union who planted sweet corn and peas Monday.
"I said to my wife 'Spring has begun,'" Titus said. "But, to put that into perspective," he said, "that's about a week later than that individual sometimes plants those crops."
In central Maine, Bradstreet said, the slow snow melt has caused very little runoff, which would have saturated the ground. Most of the water is slowly seeping down into the soil.
Soon farmers from Lewiston to Bangor will be plant their potatoes and field corn.
"May is the month usually for those large-scale commodity-type farms," Bradstreet said. "But there's going to be the areas of local productions trying to get in the last week of April. Sweet corn could be planted and some peas, and your salad mixes. They could all be going in as soon as the frost is completely out and the ground is dried out."
Seeds of success
The snow-wet ground hasn't hurt seed sales at Johnny's Selected Seeds in Winslow.
Alisa Keimel, Johnny's marketing manager, said the seed company has seen a bumper sales year so far.
She said gardening has become a hobby of more people, and that has boosted sales. She said people also are growing more of their own vegetables and fruit to offset the higher costs of food and oil prices.
"We're seeing a lot of new customers ... It's fueled by the economy, local weather and the grow-more/buy-local movement," Keimel said.
Not everyone is working the soil.
Wayne strawberry and vegetable farmer Ford Stevenson said he still has a crust of snow on his fields.
He isn't worried. "I've been doing this 30 years and would much rather have a late spring than a super early one," Stevenson said.
"There's always a price to pay, either a frost or late-in-the-spring rain. I don't mind it being a little late. But I don't want it to drag on forever."
Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811, Ext. 408
mcooper@centralmaine.com
Reader comments
Click here to view or add reader comments