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No harvesting or volunteer workday on Sept. 25, 2026.
Tomato Tasting on October 10, 2026. Get the details here!
Everybody Harvests Community Garden
Everybody Harvests Community Garden
A Community-Building Partnership Project
A Community-Building Partnership Project
Involving
Involving
The Partners: Green Ellsworth, Frenchman Bay Conservancy, Health Acadia, and teachers, staff and students with the Ellsworth School District
The Partners: Green Ellsworth, Frenchman Bay Conservancy, Health Acadia, and teachers, staff and students with the Ellsworth School District
An “everybody-harvests” organic micro-farm was established at Frenchman Bay Conservancy’s Whitney Community Forest in 2024 by Green Ellsworth in partnership with Frenchman Bay Conservancy, Healthy Acadia, and teacherss, staff and students at the Ellsworth Elementary Middle School. Since then the members of the Ellsworth Garden Club, Master Gardener Volunteers and volunteers from other local non-profits and unafffliated local citizens have supported this effort with services housrs, cash, and in-kind contributes.
The farm’s one acre of prime soil will be planted with a wide variety of fruits and vegetables available for harvest by any individuals or families seeking free access to fresh, seasonal, locally grown produce and flowers from April through December.
Community members are welcome to participate through planting, tending, and harvesting, supporting both individual access and broader food distribution efforts. Produce grown at the farm is shared with more than 30 food security organizations throughout Hancock County, helping strengthen the local food system.
Families are encouraged to visit and participate together, offering children hands-on opportunities to learn where food comes from and how it is grown.
If you would like to learn more or get involved contact Green Ellsworth.
Local students visit Everybody Harvests Community Garden in 2025. Photo by Martha Baldwin.
Community Garden Plant List and Schedule
Community Garden Plant List and Schedule
Beginning September 2, the Everybody Harvests Community Garden will be open for personal harvesting on Wednesdays and Fridays from 4 to 6 PM, with additional harvesting available by appointment. Individuals and families are welcome to harvest for personal use; please bring your own containers. Check out the plant list below.
In October and November, harvesting will shift to Saturday from 10 AM to 12 PM. The Green Ellsworth website will update with any changes.
Read our latest garden Press Release from September 18, 2026.
What’s Ready to Harvest
What’s Ready to Harvest
Update from Sept. 13: beans (green, purple, and wax), eggplant, garlic, herbs (such as basil, sage, and rosemary), leaf lettuce, kale, New Zealand spinach, peppers, radishes, tomatoes, and cucumbers.
Join us October 10 for a Tomato Tasting and Public Harvest event! Read about it here.
Click to enlarge poster.
What's Growing in the Garden
What's Growing in the Garden
HERBS
Basil (multiple varieties)
Cilantro
Lemon balm
Lemon grass
Parsley
Rosemary
Sage
Sweet marjoram
POLLINATOR PLANTS
Includes dahlias and verbena bonariensis
Variety of herbs in the Everybody Eats Community Garden
FRUITS & VEGGIES
Arugula
Beans (string beans, bush)
Beans (fava beans)
Beets
Broccoli
Brussel sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Collards
Cucumbers
Garlic (harvested August)
Husk cherries
Kale
Kohlrabi
Leeks
Lettuce
New Zealand spinach
Onions
Peas (shelling)
Potatoes
Radish
Spinach
Swiss chard
Summer squash
Sweet potatoes
Tomatoes
Zucchini
Volunteer Work Schedule
Volunteer Work Schedule
September: The Volunteer Garden Team is present on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 11 AM to 4 PM and some weekend times which vary week to week.
October - November: Starting October 3 volunteer work and learn times will be on Wednesdays and Fridays from 1-3PM and Saturdays 10AM-12PM.
Interested in volunteering? Contact us in advance, and Community Liaison Mary Blackstone will confirm your participation, provide details about the scheduled work, and keep you updated on any weather related changes. This is a teaching garden, so no gardening experience is necessary!
Explore photos below of the Everybody Harvests Community Garden, from tilling the soil to the first harvest.
Explore photos below of the Everybody Harvests Community Garden, from tilling the soil to the first harvest.
The Everybody Harvests Community Garden supports Green Ellsworth’s broader work to strengthen the local food system. Learn more about efforts to establish a Food Hub and create a community food system plan below.
Harvest Highlight: Tasting at the Ellsworth Elementary–Middle School
Harvest Highlight: Tasting at the Ellsworth Elementary–Middle School
In late November 2025, our garden kale took center stage during the Ellsworth Elementary–Middle School’s monthly featured vegetable tasting. Students sampled “crispy kale” made from kale grown in our garden, and Mary Blackstone was invited to join the event to talk with students about where the kale came from, how it was grown, and the role the garden plays in connecting food, land, and community. Check out the photos below!
Food Hub and Food Systems
Food Hub and Food Systems
Working with its partner organizations, Green Ellsworth is initiating a Downeast Food Systems Plan and a Food Hub which will be charged with implementing the Plan. The goal is to make our local food system more sustainable with better access to food produced in our region and a more viable income for food producers such as farmers, fishermen, and value-added food and beverage producers. We are encouraging input and engagement from across the food systems network in Hancock and Washington Counties. Please help by responding to our surveys.
Provide input to inform a Downeast Food Systems Plan and Food Hub
Provide input to inform a Downeast Food Systems Plan and Food Hub
The Food and Farming Action Team has a shared community vision to support the food needs of the Ellsworth area in an equitable and sustainable way; to enhance local and regional environmental conditions and the natural resource base upon which agriculture and the economy depend; to integrate natural biological cycles/controls whenever possible and encourage the best practices which result in a food system that is resilient; to sustain the economic viability of a diversity of farm operations in such a way that quality of life for everyone is improved; and to be supportive of new, health-promoting, food systems-related opportunities. *This is in alignment with the goals articulated in 2010 by the following organizations: the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, American Nurses Association, American Planning Association, and American Public Health Association.
To achieve this, we bring together farmers, gardeners, educators, parents, non-profit advocates, business owners, local, state, and federal agency representatives, municipal officials, residents, visitors, and more to the Ellsworth area under the umbrella of community, working toward shared municipal and regional goals.
*photo from a blueberry farm on Route 1A, courtesy of Julie Daigle
*Header photo NICHOLAS NAVARRE
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