FARMINGTON — A handful of buttercup squash seeds passed on to a fellow parishioner was the start of the Everett Vining Memorial Squash Patch, a plot that is about 60 by 100 feet on the grounds of Trinity United Methodist Church.

It continues Vining’s work of organizing, growing and preparing squash to serve with meals at the church’s booth this week at Farmington Fair.

“He was generous in everything he did but he organized getting the squash ready, providing generous servings because he believed squash was good for people,” said Maurice “Bud” Martin. Before Vining became ill and passed away, he gave Martin the handful of squash seeds.

The church site, approximately 5 acres of former farm land next to an active dairy farm on the Farmington Falls Road, provided a perfect setting for Martin and church members to start a garden patch behind the church last summer with the seeds.

The first year was a poor one, only about 30 pounds of squash were harvested but some seeds were regenerated, he said.

This year is different. The squashes are small but about 500 pounds of them were picked and stored after a “visitation from bovines” from the neighboring farm, he said. While peeling squash Thursday, Martin said the booth offers a menu that includes turkey, meatloaf, beef stew, sloppy joes and macaroni and cheese, and Alan Tracy’s famous biscuits.

Some people come up and buy just a bowl of squash, Martin said.

More than 30 church members participate in preparing, serving and tending the booth, a tradition started many years ago, Martin said.

The activity brings people together.

“Everett liked to get people together and do things,” he said. “Do something together for the benefit of more than one person.”

Funds raised from the fair booth benefit projects within the community, especially a local heating relief fund.

“No one cares where it goes as long as it goes out to help someone in the community,” he said.

Church members have gathered Sunday afternoons this summer to help weed the plot and plans are being started to enlarge the garden to include other ingredients used in the fair meals like cabbage for coleslaw and cucumbers and onions for pickles. Eventually they’d like to grow as many items used as possible, cutting down on ingredients from a can. What they can’t grow, they’ll buy locally, said Martin, who teaches nutrition and exercise classes at the University of Maine Farmington.

Some of his health education students have joined him in weeding and peeling squash. The nutrition class also evaluated the meals served at the fair booth, creating a detailed listing of calories, protein, carbohydrates and fats for each meal. Their work describes the church’s offerings as a “healthy dinner at a ‘fair’ price.”

Many students don’t feel a part of the community until they are drawn into some activity that helps them feel they are contributing to and becoming a part of the community, he said.

A plaque is being created for the memorial garden, but a large bell from the former church, now part of the University of Maine Farmington, will also be added to the garden plot, he said.

Vining, a longtime, active member of the church, always tried to get the Methodist bell from the old church, now used for the Psychology Department, but was unsuccessful. Since his death, Martin and Wally Backus have worked to secure a lease of the bell from the university. The bell will be placed near the memorial garden, he said.

[email protected]

While peeling squash for Trinity United Methodist Church’s booth at Farmington Fair on Thursday, Maurice “Bud” Martin talks about the start of the Everett Vining Memorial Squash Patch planted behind the church on the Farmington Falls Road.