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. 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.

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.

Molly Adams

Molly Adams is the Southern Maine Liason for Smithereen Farm. As a professional conversationalist who can lift 50 pounds, Molly loves to provide logistics, labor, and promotional efforts for Smithereen Farm in the commercial center of the state. She lives in Portland with her family.

Kristen Brown, a white woman wearing a pink shirt, is standing in front of a large tree, with sunny green leaves in the background. She has short light-colored hair and she is smiling.

Kristen Brown

Kristen is happy to be the Value-Added Products Director at Smithereen Farm. She oversees the Minke Kitchen, and the making and selling of our jams—if you are a fan, tell her! She grew up in Massachusetts and moved to Maine in 2017. She lives with her husband, kids, and two dogs in beautiful Pembroke. Kristen has worked as a Respiratory Therapist for over 22 years. She loves to cook, garden, be outdoors, and on the ocean.

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