about us
The farm is arranged along the crest of the hill overlooking Cobscook Bay, with plantings ‘ on contour’ in the agro-forestry style with vegetable gardens in between. Some of the best soil is lower down on the land. We graze the pastures along the road and the lower meadow that leads to Cobscook Bay.
FAQ:
Our 4 wonderful hoop houses are made from arches sold by G.W. in Montville Maine (207- 505-1271) with timberframe end walls and ox barn made by Raivo Vihman (www.haystackjoinery.com)
Feel free to walk around the farm during U pick strawberry season. We are happy to welcome you, to pre-arrange a full farm tour for groups of any size for $20, our landline: 207 726 4442, [email protected]
Our orchard includes:
Apples, cherries, plums, persimmon, quince, pears, apricots, chestnuts, various nuts- sourced from Fedco, Burnt Ridge, Nourse
We grow other smaller fruits:
About 1/5th acre of Strawberries, wild blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants, honey-berries, service berries, chokecherries, aronia
We also grow:
Asparagus, rhubarb, horseradish, valerian, hops
We wild harvest:
St. John’s wort, red clover, red raspberry tips,
We farm:
Big gardens of veggies and herbs.
Our goal for 2023 is to start selling native flowers and potted plants
HISTORY
This farmstead was established in about 1820 during the newly settled ‘golden era’ of this coastal fishing and farming community. Cobscook Bay, named for the “boiling waters” created by our 20-foot tides, is an extremely productive marine ecosystem. In 1850 there were 27 canneries and near-daily steamships straight to Boston (via North Haven) these days you can take the ‘west bus’ and get to us from Boston in about 8 hours, by car it is more like 6 hours.
WILD IS BEAUTIFUL
We are out here because of the abundant wild growing seaweed, herbs, flowers, mushrooms, algae, fish … which we harvest, dry and process. We are delighted to eat from a highly charged ecological food commons shared with many wild creatures, whales, moose, coyotes, foxes, grouse, bob cats, owls … and yes, many porcupines. We fertilize the gardens with seaweed and organic cow manure from nearby Tide Mill Farm, we harvest sweet fern, balsam fir boughs, hawthorn berries, spruce tips, hypericum, yarrow, goldenrod, rose petals, chokecherries, high bush cranberries, feral apples — and make lots of ferments, jams, jellies, salves and tinctures. Our featured product is organic wild blueberry jam, not too sweet! Its available for sale in our webshop, along with membership in the Smithereen’s Songline Farm Club which sends out seasonal boxes of delight.
CERTIFICATION
The farm is certified-organic by MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association) and protected by conservation easements put in place by Maine Coast Heritage Trust, the farmhouse was kindly fixed up by Maine Farmland Trust. We are beneficiaries of these amazing organizations that have conspired to make Maine the highest per capita young farmer state in the nation!
We’re glad to make the farm a place of sharing and learning by hosting Greenhorns summer camp programming throughout the summer and running an AgriTourism program with tent platforms and luxe tipis for visitor accommodation (you can book on Hipcamp). We have a nice hot outdoor shower, glorious outdoor kitchen facilities, compost toilet and plenty of infrastructure for campfires, fish gutting and smoking, seaweed processing etc.
