Orneville blueberry farm featured in ‘Growing Maine’ video

University of Maine Cooperative Extension has released the sixth installment of “Growing Maine,” a series of short documentaries highlighting Maine food producers and farm families. The latest video in the series tells the story of Worcester’s Blueberries, a lowbush blueberry farm in southeast Piscataquis County.

With more than 30 summer employees and the off-season crew of two, plus Blue the dog, Lee and Everett Worcester own and manage a blueberry farm in Orneville Township.

The Worcesters share the story of how the farm got started, how they balanced careers in education and real estate with being farmers, and how blueberry farming turned from a hobby into a business.

UMaine Extension provides the company guidance on growing blueberries and assistance generating value-added products including blueberry jam and salsa.

The “Growing Maine” video series helps consumers get to know their food sources better, as farmers and producers share their behind-the-scenes perspectives on how decisions are made. For those aspiring to farm, the videos are a way to hear directly from farmers and producers about what is most important to them.

UMaine Extension helps support and grow the food-based economy statewide, and is the only entity that touches every aspect of the Maine Food System, where policy, research, education, production, processing, commerce, nutrition, and food security and safety are integral and interrelated.

The “Growing Maine” series is online. Viewers also have the opportunity to suggest future story ideas for new videos that will be released throughout the year. For more information, contact Leslie Forstadt at 581.3487, leslie.forstadt@maine.edu.