FREEPORT – A place for people to pick up fresh, organic vegetables is a great fit for a holistic health center, says one of the principals at Be Well My Friend.

LuAnn Jones, a manager for Be Well My Friend at 174 South Freeport Road, said that fresh produce from Packard/Littlefield Farm in Lisbon will be dropped off there beginning on June 26.

Be Well My Friend, which opened on Oct. 21 of last year, is owned by Kevin Kenerson and Michael Dufresne, both doctors of osteopathic medicine. Be Well My Friend offers family practice services and therapies such as osteopathy, acupuncture and massage therapy.

“We are building a Freeport office for a variety of alternative modalities,” Jones said. “It’s a logical connection to holistic medicine.”

Jones said that the season will last for 18 weeks. Be Well My Friend will have the vegetables available on Thursdays from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. through mid-October.

“We’re working with Cultivating Community, which promotes community supported agriculture,” she said. “They work a lot with lower- and middle-income individuals, and a lot of refugees to get them connected with farmers, to help them make a living.”

Hawa Ibrahim, a Somalian, farms one of the CSA plots in Lisbon, and will supply the vegetables to Be Well My Friend. Jones said that each basket of produce will be enough to feed two adults and two children per week.

Jones said that Nancy Chandler, a former organic farmer, made the arrangement with Ibrahim, who was a lifelong farmer in her home country.

“We’re just acting as the middleman to help promote this CSA,” she said. “There will be a variety of vegetables and herbs.”

Jones said that the goal is to support entrepreneurial local farmers, and to provide healthy food at an affordable price.

“It’s a really big community effort by a wide group of people who are coming together to make this happen, specifically for this woman,” she said.

Ibrahim is a leader in the Lewiston Somali community and guides her daughter, Khadija Hussein, and other family members in growing and marketing the vegetables, Jones said. She has worked with Cultivating Community, a local organization committed to growing a sustainable community and has taken part in a business planning program that helped her learn to sell vegetables at three farmers markets, create a successful CSA program and participate in wholesale marketing to Bates College, Jones said.

“Hawa was the first farmer in NASAP (New American Sustainable Agriculture Project),” Jones said. “Her son, Siyat, explained that Hawa encouraged many other refugees to also farm. He discussed how she used to give away much of her produce to other refugees to show them that they also could farm. In the early days of the farm, before water was available, Hawa used to bring water from home to water her plants. She has been a mentor to many farmers over the years.”

Ibrahim’s success as an immigrant farmer has inspired a documentary film, and she was featured as part of an article in the Dec. 11, 2006, New Yorker magazine.

Packard/Littlefield includes 30 farms on its 400-acre property on Littlefield Road in Lisbon.

A CLOSER LOOK

People who want to buy into the Be Well My Friend CSA program, at a cost of $22 per week, can do so now by calling 389-1474 or emailing ljones@bewellmyfriend.com. A $100 deposit will hold a share, and then families can opt to make monthly payments or pay $396 for a full share. The season will last for 18 weeks. Vegetables will be available on Thursdays from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

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Hawa Ibrahim of Lewiston and her family farm a plot of land at Packard/Littlefield Farm in Lisbon, and will be the suppliers for the Community Supported Agriculture program this year at Be Well My Friend in Freeport.