CAMDEN/ROCKPORT — Warming soil is beckoning. Carrots, squash, lettuce, what’s your wish? 

Penobscot Bay Community Gardens is offering plot space for gardeners to rent at two sites in Camden and Rockport: 63 Washington Street in Camden and Erickson Fields, a preserve of Maine Coast Heritage Trust located at 164 West Street in Rockport.
 
If your vision includes a garden bed in a charming village where you can walk or bike, then 63 Washington Street in Camden might be your answer, according to Penobscot Bay Community Gardens, in a news release. Ample sun shines in the backyard. Sixty-square-foot plots are available for $25 each. Raising your flowers and vegetables here will reinforce a feeling of community and connectedness.
 
63 Washington, which had operated as a home for the elderly before it closed its doors in 2018, now houses women in recovery. Ira Mandel, founder of the Mid-Coast Recovery Coalition, which raised funds to reopen the home, sees the potential for many in the community to benefit from its garden.

“Women coming to terms with their drug addiction, getting their lives together and learning how to lead healthy lives for themselves and their children,” said Mandel, in the release. “People who will flourish with the love and support of the community including the gardeners.”
 
Alternately, Erickson Fields Preserve offers a more traditional farming experience. A dairy farm for generations, Erickson Fields has 120-square-foot plots available for $60 each. Financial assistance is available on a sliding scale.

Nearby, a spirited Teen Ag Crew tends their gardens. Erickson Fields, which sits on an idyllic breezy knoll, is close to the intersection of US 1 and Rt. 90. The gardens are surrounded by a deer fence and offer water, manure, a shed for tools and guidance.
 
“Join others with dirty fingernails and turn gardening dreams into a delicious reality,” said the release.

Applicants for 63 Washington Street may contact Beedy Parker at 207-236-8732 or email beedyparker@gwi.net.

Applicants for Erickson Fields Preserve plots may contact Joelle Albury at jalbury@mcht.org.

Both gardens can be found on Facebook at Penobscot Bay Community Gardens.