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CROP MOBS: Groups of people are descending on local farms for a dose of hard work

BY MECHELE COOPER Staff Writer

BY MECHELE COOPER

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Staff Writer

Question: What should you expect when your farm gets mobbed?

Answer: willing hands to help with planting, mulching, weeding, greenhouse construction, harvesting and pulling rocks from fields.

"Crop mobs" are a growing trend, with the first one formed in North Carolina two years ago. They are simply groups of people, often strangers, who descend on a farm for a morning or afternoon of hard work.

Potential crop mobsters range from college students and Community-Supported Agriculture families to local-food enthusiasts, gardeners, farmers'-market-goers, aspiring agrarians and those just curious about where their food comes from. Crop mobs have their own blogs, and outreach through social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Harmony Lattin, of Winthrop, launched Central Maine Crop Mob on July 3, sending word out on the group's Facebook page, http://bit.ly/dAfRi3.

"We're brand new," Lattin said. "I saw an article about crop mobs and put it out to folks," Lattin said. "We were over at Craig Hickman's farm in Winthrop. Just two families showed up (on July 5). It was in the 90s. We didn't have a very good turnout, but I'm optimistic."

Ned Porter, deputy commissioner of the Maine Department of Agriculture, said he has heard of the crop mobs.

"As I understand, it serves two purposes," Porter said. "One, it would provide farmers with some needed labor. And two, it would enlighten city dwellers to what goes on on the farm, how food is produced. I think both of those are good things. It's just nothing I've heard about here in Maine. There are farms where you have you-pick operations as part of the CSA."

The closest organized group to Maine that's been up and running is the Green Mountain Crop Mob in Vermont.

Rachel Schattman of Bella Farm in Intervale, Burlington, Vt., and Emily Curtis-Murphy of Fair Food Farm in Calais, Vt., started the group after reading an article on crop mobs in the New York Times.

The Green Mountain Crop Mob organizes mobs for Vermont and farms in towns near the Vermont border.

Curtis-Murphy said she had just moved to East Calais from northern Vermont and was interested in finding ways to connect with people interested in agriculture.

"Then I started to think of ways for a direct-marketing farmer to expand their market, so that was sort of the self-interest piece for me," Curtis-Murphy said. "People don't know about farming. Making that connection and understanding how producing food happens really gives people a sense of ownership. This food is really something they had a part in. And they see how important it is for the farmer to connect with the community."

The historical tradition of work parties on farms also attracted her to crop mobs. She said the best way to get to know someone is to work along side them in fields.

"I think farm work is a tremendous amount of fun," she said. "Things like weeding races in the beds next to each other to see who picks the fastest. I really wanted to introduce nonfarmers to that aspect of having fun doing such hard labor."

Crop mobs are popping up all over the country, and the national Web site cropmob.org has plenty of tips on how to start your own.

Schattman said anyone can organize a work blitz. Her grassroots effort started with a free website, greenmountaincropmob.weebly.com.

"We're pretty active in food and farm-related work here," Schattman said. "There was some press coverage early on in our local newspaper and through social media, and just talking to people."

Schattman said her job is to manage the "mob list" -- contact information for farms that want help and volunteers. They in turn receive monthly announcements of the next work blitz, she said.

"Right now, we have 125 names and contact information on our list," she said. "We know where the volunteers are located and the different farms that are interested in receiving help. We e-mail and post the dates and always put up an announcement on our website. We send out a reminder e-mail before the event."

"It just takes one person willing to put in a few hours a week and one afternoon or morning a month with the mob to make it work," she added.

Some believe this grassroots effort already exists in Maine. Russell Libby, executive director of Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, said communities helping out small farmers is nothing new in Maine.

A few weeks ago, Libby said, 25 people show up to build a new greenhouse for Austin and Mary Ellen Chadd, young farmers in Cape Elizabeth.

"This has always been happening in Maine, and never stopped, as far as I know," Libby said. "Last year, multiple friends had barn raisings where dozens showed up to help Rufus and Alice Percy in Whitefield, Simon Frost in Whitefield and Andrew Marshall in Montville. And this year, Dick Hall, a dairy farmer in Mount Vernon. Maybe the only difference here is the use of the Internet to get people connected."

Last year, Jan Goranson and her husband, Rob Johanson, of Goranson Farm in Dresden relied on volunteers to supplement their regular crew after being hit with late blight, an airborne, spore-based disease that thrives in cool, moist weather.

They were short of staff and in need of potato pickers. Because of the late blight, their potatoes were so small -- the blight killed many of the plants before they grew larger -- they couldn't use their mechanical harvesters.

The farm still had parsnips, carrots, rutabagas and beets in the field, but couldn't harvest those crops, which sustain colder temperatures, until they got the potatoes out of the field.

Marada Cook, who runs the organic cooperative Crown O'Maine and buys wholesale organic food from Goranson Farm and distributes it to health-food stores and schools, then put out a call for help.

Cook sent out a mass e-mail to cooperative members and customers asking for volunteers.

She grew up on a potato farm and remembers "crunch time" in cold wet weather when her family would depend on friends and family to help at harvest time. She's all for any kind of outreach opportunity.

"I think it could be a huge help for small farmers here," Cook said. "Everytime I mention it to a farmer, they say, 'What a great idea. Send them my way.'"

"Every farm has crunch times, weeding is one of those times and harvest time the other," she added. "If the community was ready to mobilize a farm force and get out there and help get those crops in that would be fantastic."

Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811, ext. 408

mcooper@centralmaine.com