Companies donate $22K to Roberts Farm Preserve

NORWAY — The vision of elevating part of Roberts Farm Preserve into a year-round educational facility came a step closer to reality this past week when a 1,100-foot well was installed at the site.

The installation, valued at $22,000, was provided as a donation to the Roberts Farm by Hodgdon Well Drilling company in Poland and the Maine Groundwater Association (MGWA).

Scott Hodgdon drilled the well and other MGWA members donated well casings, pipes and the well pump.

The drilling was only meant to take two days, but Hodgdon was unable to find suitable amounts of water and drilled the well for eight days.

On Saturday, MGWA held its spring demonstration on the farm and installed the well pump.

SAD 17 Health Coordinator Pat Carson has been intimately involved in the Roberts Farm project and says that he is impressed by the generosity of Hodgdon and MGWA.

"A $22,000 donation when you don't even live in Oxford Hills [school district] is amazing," said Carson. 

Ted Rolfe, MGWA's president, says that members of the association were excited to get involved with the project.

"What's nice about this for us is the effort that we put into actually goes toward something that involves the community," says Rolfe. "The other thing we really like about this is that it not only involves that community, but that school system."

Carson says now that the well has been drilled, the plan to put a portable classroom at the site will move forward within the next few weeks, setting the site on a course to be a year-round educational center.

According to Carson, last year the site was used for 25 days of educational programs. With the well and the classroom, Carson estimates that the site will be used for 150 days out of the school year.

Not only does the well bring potable water to the classroom, but it will also help irrigate the gardens that are being planted at the site this year.

This is the second year of SAD 17's farm program, and Carson says that the program will take a "huge step forward" by planting a full-scale garden at Roberts Farm.

The well also brings the vision for the entire Roberts Farm Preserve project one step closer to reality, says Lee Dassler, the coordinator for the Western Foothills Land Trust.

Dassler says that the well is a "physical anchor" for the site, and she is impressed with both the generosity of Hodgdon and MGWA, as well as the initiative of SAD 17.

"It's amazing," says Dassler. "It's exciting to see how a school can become excited about agriculture."

Carson says that over the summer, around 40 students will work a two-acre field, 22 raised beds and two greenhouses at the Roberts Farm site.

Both Carson and Rolfe commended Hodgdon for taking the lead in the project.

"He's put in the most effort in the whole project, for sure," Rolfe says.

Carson says that he initially approached Hodgdon for a smaller donation to the farm's well, and the driller took the plan a step beyond, getting the MGWA involved and donating his time, equipment and energy.