SWANVILLE — If you’ve driven from Belfast to Swan Lake Grocery via Route 141 in the last eight years, you’ve driven past the Waldo County Community Garden, which is located on the stretch of road. In Swanville, the garden currently consists of 7.5 acres, from which Waldo County Commissioner William Shorey expects to net roughly 75,000 pounds of produce.

The Waldo County Garden Project is a cooperative effort between the County Commissioner’s Office,  Waldo County Sheriff’s Office and the Maine Coastal Regional Reentry Center.

It began eight years ago, when Shorey was elected as County Commissioner.

“I had the idea, and so I asked for a meeting with [then-Sheriff] Scott Story,” Shorey said. 

During the meeting he discussed his idea for a community garden, noting that there were many young people in the Reentry Center with too much time on their hands that could assist with the project.

“I wanted a garden project to teach people to grow vegetables themselves and give something back to society - to let them be a giver instead of a taker,” Shorey said.

He told Story he would volunteer to run the farm himself, working side-by-side with residents. When both were in agreement Shorey started looking for a piece of land to bring the project to reality.

The garden began as just five acres leased by the county, which resulted in the harvest of 7,000 pounds of produce.  The project has since grown to encompass 65 acres and is now county-owned.  

“We’ve got plenty of room to expand and do what we want to do,” Shorey said of the spaciousness, which also allows the rotation of some of the crops. This allows them to, “give the land a rest so we don’t wear it out completely by planting the same crop year after year,” he explained.

By 2017 the project aims to have 10 acres planted, with a haul of 100,000 pounds of produce. The vegetables are then distributed throughout Waldo County, with recipients that include various food pantries, churches, schools and other non-profits assisting those in need.

Despite the mammoth harvests, there is never a shortage of people to help with the garden.

“The work that’s done out here, the garden, is a big piece of what we do at the Reentry Center,” Major Raymond Porter, of the Maine Coastal Regional Reentry Center said.

Residents of the Reentry Center contributed more than 2,000 hours of community service at the garden in 2015 alone. Porter estimates that by utilizing residents to tend the garden, the community saves more than $16,000 in labor costs, when calculated using a pay rate of $8 hourly.

The residents go out several times each week, typically in crews of six at a time.

“It’s incredible what the [residents] do out here — the amount of produce that is spread throughout the community for the people who are in need in Waldo County. All of that is the tangible aspect of what we do out here,” Porter said.

Additionally, working in a community-focused garden can help reduce recidivism by fostering a sense of community in the residents who volunteer.

“The residents are able to come out here and understand the concept of growing food and seeing how the seeds are planted and watching the produce grow,” Shorey said.

Then comes harvest time, and the residents are able to see how their efforts “translate onto the tables of those in need in Waldo County,” he said.

An increased sense of community among residents is another major benefit of the community garden. “That’s a big piece of running a successful reentry program is the transition, and the connection and networking out in the community, and for the residents to come out here and do something that really contributes to the common good of the community,” Shorey said.

The success of the program is evident from the roughly 20 different locations that receive vegetables from the garden, including The Game Loft, WIC, and the Waldo County YMCA, which is “a big consumer and distribution point’” for the garden’s sizable haul, according to Shorey

The pride felt by participating reentry center residents is one shared by those responsible for the program.

“I’m extremely proud that we can do this in Waldo County,” Shorey said.

Erica Thoms can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com