Published August 4, 2021

Students at the Ecology Learning Center Build WCB Share Sheds

The sheds offer free homegrown produce for anyone in the community

Whether surplus apples from an apple tree in the yard or an abundance of green beans from the garden, mother nature sometimes provides too much of a good thing. Now there’s a new movement helping people share extra homegrown produce in communities across the U.S. called Share Sheds (#shareshed). 

Co-founding Waldo County Bounty (WCB) leadership team member Vińa Lindley loved the idea so much she made it a part of the WCB 2021 Give and Take Program. The community - from students to lumber companies - rallied behind her. Viking Lumber donated lumber and other materials. Instructors and high school students at the Ecology Learning Center, a publicly funded charter school launched in Unity in 2020, built two Share Sheds.

“It was a great way to teach our students fundamental woodworking skills, such as how to take accurate measurements and drill well-placed screws,” says Doug Lakin, woodworking and education tech. “It also reinforced the importance of giving back to the community.” 

For design inspiration, Lakin reviewed the Share Shed built by the Piscataquis Regional Food Center, which has operated next to the courthouse in Dover-Foxcroft since 2019. He also made sure the sheds provided shade and could accommodate coolers for the homegrown produce.

The WCB Share Sheds were finished by mid-June 2021—just in time for the students’ summer break, just weeks before many crops would be ready in home gardens. Another group of students, led by instructor Joe Kovaz, had hand painted eight Give and Take Table signs, too. WCB volunteers picked up the sheds and transported them to the towns of Northport and Searsmont. All summer long, anyone can donate homegrown produce to the Share Sheds, and anyone can take what they need from what’s available. 

Use #shareshedwaldo to spread the word on social media (#shareshedpiscataquis if you’re in Dover-Foxcroft).

See this map to find out where all of the 2021 Give and Take Tables are located across Waldo County this summer. And make sure to be on the lookout for the big Give and Take signs along roadsides. 

We are giving a huge heartfelt thank you to Viking Lumber for donating the materials and the students and instructors at the Ecology Learning Center for doing great work. And thank you to all the home gardeners who donate surplus produce to the tables and sheds this summer and fall.