farm team
Severine Fleming
For 15 years I’ve run Greenhorns, making films, radio, guidebooks and multi-media for and about the young farmers movement. Every other year we publish another edition of the New Farmers Almanac, a literary journal with hundreds of wonderful contributors from across the country (https://greenhorns.org/almanacs/) I have been an organizer and co-founder of National Young Farmers Coalition and serve on the boards of Merwin Conservancy, Schumacher Center for New Economics, Farm Hack, Agrarian Trust and Savanna Institute. I feel very grateful to be making a home and orchard for Greenhorns in this beautiful town of Pembroke, ME near the magical Reversing Falls and to welcome kids, campers and workshop attendees from near and far.
Brought up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, my mother is Swiss and my dad is from Los Angeles– I’ve been lucky to experience a very diverse set of ecosystems and farming styles. I’ve worked on alpine dairies, tropical agroforestry projects, I apprenticed at Camp Joy in Boulder Creek, CA, was a trainee at the Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden in Cape Town, South Africa, and at the Grow Biointensive! gardens in Mendocino, CA. I did my permaculture training with the Bullock brothers on Orcas Island, WA and started a luxury farm for the Standard hotel in Staatsburg NY, and created the biodynamic farm plan for a family citrus ranch in Southern California. I hold a bachelor of science degree in Conservation (with a focus in AgroEcology) from the College of Natural resources at the University of California, Berkeley.
As we enter our 6th season we are focused on improving the habitat diversity at the blueberry lands with floristic hedgerows of native, melliferous plants, bringing back the cranberry bogs to full glory, welcoming other farms and food producers into the Smithereen farmstore and shared facilities with our USDA local foods promotion grant, taking our organically farmed kelp program to the next level with drying, grinding and more value added products, partnering with Sue van Hook in the 2nd phase of MYCOBUOYS (mycelium buoys, an alternative to plastic) project, growing out 400 buoys for partners across the state, and having a baby!
Terran Welcome
Terran Welcome is a young farmer born and raised in rural Maine. He holds strong ties to the highlands of our state and to our local bold coast. Terran brings with him a varied history of work experience; including multiple seasons with organic market gardening, several years spent as a farmhand on a commercial dairy operation, also as a co-coordinator/trip leader for youth wilderness outdoor recreation camps, and most recently as a private landscaper/caretaker. Terran is passionate about self-sustainability, utilitarianism and working to strengthen community with grassroots. A firm believer in the good life with high hopes to affect positive dynamic growth in all possible ways. You may find him in the field or on the farm caring for our team of oxen, out on Cobscook Bay hauling in a salty kelp harvest, or working maintenance at one of the many buildings and lands of the Greenhorns campus.
Alex Plowden
As COO of Smithereen Farm, Alex oversees the daily operations of Minke Kitchen, the home farm, and our hospitality programming. He approaches this work with a passion for strengthening local food systems, building resilience in rural areas, and reducing our reliance on economies of extraction. He holds a BA in Informed Regional Planning and a Masters of Public Policy from UMass Amherst. He previously worked to raise funds to support cooperatives and healthy food outlets in underserved areas at the Local Enterprise Assistance Fund in Boston. When not on the farm, you can find Alex at Lubec Brewing Co., hiking the Bold Coast, or around the campfire on the shores of Cobscook Bay.
Charlotte Watson
Charlotte Watson has made her way Downeast by way of the Mississippi delta. What was initiated by a desire to beat the heat farming the humid south has resulted in a continued interest in what is possible at Smithereen Farm.
Charlotte’s earliest experiences of agriculture were annual spring visits to a family favorite farmstand and UPICK where she and her sisters would harvest strawberries and snapdragons. After spending the last 5 years farming flowers, Charlotte comes to Smithereen Farm with a big heart for beauty and an infectious ethic of care.
Eugene Gallagher
Five year tree work assistant with a firm foundation in customer service. Working to bolster a dormant passion for understanding plants among their diverse interactions and cohabitation.
Sophie Perry
Sophie Perry works as the General Farm Helper at Smithereen and brings to it her background as a vegetable farmer, soil carbon researcher, garden educator, and labor doula. She is passionate about supporting food sovereignty, creating community around local food, and working as a part of agroecosystems. She holds a BA in Environmental Science from Scripps College and has lived in Massachusetts, California, Michigan, and Vermont.
Here is a short list of many of the kind people who have helped Smithereen farm to grow:
Steve Brown did all the tractoring, mowing, stone moving and machine work at the farm
Ginny Maki made all the labels for our products
Raivo Vihman built most of the structures on the farm.
Mike Iancona built the yurts
Dan Paluska built all the composting toilets and mud ovens
Robby Cushman slaughtered most of the animals on the farm
Gil Whitehead cut most of the trees on the farm.
Colin Sullivan Stevens painted most of the signs on the farm
Rosy Keyster designed the mast head and painted murals
Bob Mcallister fixed most of the pipes and wires on the farm.
Jason Leighton plowed all of the snow on the farm and milled the lumber
Tom Baldwin laid out and helped plant the first orchard
Abby Barrows and Adam Campbell taught us about farming oysters
Elijah Brice taught us about farming kelp and hauled all the kelp in his boat.
Evangeline Krajewsk tended the farm lovingly for 2020-2021 seasons
Jon Leavitt has documented us and taught us birds on the farm
Jim Kovaleski taught scything lessons to all the interns
Regina Grabrovac pruned all the apple trees
Vidar Bay built the timberframe and made all the seedling trays
Jenn Eager grazed her sheep on the pastures, taming and improving them.
Margie Chambers cut the trails, inoculated logs and planted all the strawberries and raspberries and harvested seaweed
Tide Mill farm kept their cows on the land, taming and improving the pastures
Lydia Lapporte organized lots of spreadsheets and paperwork for the farm and seaweed commons
Peter Kirn catalogued most of the books in the library
Branan Buehner pushed back the forest edges and made lots of mulch for the farm
Tucka B set up the beehives
Jacob Smoklinski hauled endless seaweed to compost the orchard
Mike Reddy did lots of shingling and fixing on the farm
Asher Kaplan made lots of beautiful bread
Colin McMullin built the drying racks and gave us a kitchen sink
Matt Lippencott and Joe Bossen advised us on equipment
Lucy Zwigard set up the Hipcamp program for the farm
Noah and Elizabeth Smith made lovely movies about the farm
Rachel Darke took great photos
Paul Molyneaux taught us catch and process Mackrel
Brett Cicotelli taught us to dip and smoke alewives
Kate Morgan set up so many of the office systems
Tim Nelson did all the wood stoves and roof shingling
Haley Marketos harvested and pressed the most of the apples
Marcus and Malcom did a lot of shingling and mowing and grant writing
Eric Francis re-clabbered Grey Lodge and Farm Shop
Grant Shultz and Mike Change brought us the Mycological Lab equipment from North Carolina
John Cox fixed all the windows in Odd Fellows Hall
Trevor Hold put a new roof on Grey lodge and Elver
Patrick Mehar cleaned all the chimneys
Alex and Flor Wolfe painted walls and halls all winter long
Louis Hudson cleaned and organized the Odd Fellows Hall
Tareq and Sam and Reid did a lot of painting, building and mowing and farming
Andy fixed the heating in the Odd Fellows Hall
Jonathan Hall advised us on repairs to the Odd Fellows Hall
Eric Holms tested all the water
Odessa Piper made recipes for our products
John Morris taught us all the regulations
Markley Boyer taught us mapping
Rachel Bell made a lot of blueberry jam
Rachel Alexandrou made a lot of blueberry jam
Jarrod Fowler advised us on pollinator habitat and native plant selections
Sarah Wenzel fisher made the clothesline and got us on slack
Dave Olsen built the greenhouse and smokehouse
Ryan Redmond and Brian Priest fixed all the cars many times
John Melby sold us most of the furniture, cheap!
Dan Colby fixed up the farmhouse before we got here
Renata von Tscharner sewed all the cushions and all the tablecloths and all the holes