Daytripping in Maine

Farms & Gardens to Visit This Summer

Everything you ever wanted to know about herbs, you can learn this summer--whether at Avena Botanicals, Stony Brook Herb Farm, Snakeroot Organic Farm or some of the other farms and gardens that are open for visits. Interested in landscape design? The Brooksville Garden Tour and Georges River Land Trust Garden Tour both feature gardens that are not only productive but are spectacular aesthetically. Want to know how to grow your vegetables better, maybe with compost that contains no animal manures, or with manure tea used to help fight diseases? Visit either Khadigar or WoodPrairie Farm.

The gardens listed below vary: Most are organic, some are not; some are commercial, while some are homesteads. Most have scheduled a specific time for visits. Just follow the directions--the DeLorme Maine Atlas and Gazetteer is helpful--and find out how others cultivate their food, flowers, trees, landscapes, lives. Please leave your dog at home.

We welcome suggestions for the 2001 Daytripping listing. Please send your name or the name of a gardener or farmer whom you think should be listed to: Jean English, Editor, The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, Lincolnville ME 04849; jenglish@midcoast.com. Thanks!

SMALL FARM FIELD DAY JULY 16 Ever feel like you're the only person you know who actually wants to farm? That there's no one else who's facing the same situations as you? That you can't find out how to do the jobs that need to be done? Well, we can't solve all your problems, but Small Farm Field Day, July 16 from 9:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. at MOFGA's Common Ground Center in Unity, will give it a good try. We'll have workshops on Hoop House Tomatoes; Organic Orcharding; Marketing; the Family Cow; Cheese making; Poultry, and more. A detailed schedule will be posted on the MOFGA web site in mid-June, at www.mofga.org, or you can call the office to get a program mailed to you. There will be an admission charge at the gate, which will also include lunch. We hope you'll join us for the second Small Farm Field Day in Unity. Call 568-4142 for more information.

Androscoggin County

Nezinscot Farm

• owned by Gregg and Gloria Varney, is an organic, diversified farm. The farm store features natural foods, organic meats all grown on the farm, vegetables, milk and Nezinscot’s own cheeses. There are always all kinds of baby animals to see and feed. The cafe serves lunch and brunch daily.
• Dates: Open weekdays 6 to 6, Sat. 8 to 5, Sunday, 9 to 5.
• Directions: From Route 4, go north on 117 for 1 mile. It’s the first farm on the right and left.
• Address: RR 2 Box 1311, Turner ME 04282; Tel. 225-3231.

Aroostook County

WoodPrairie Farm

• in Birdgewater is a 110-acre, MOFGA-certified organic farm with 45 acres in rotated cropland. Jim and Megan Gerritsen and their family raise certified tablestock and seed potatoes, carrots, vegetables, milling grain (wheat, oats, rye, spelt and corn) and hay. The Gerritsens market their crops through a mail order catalog and wholesale to mail order seed companies and natural food stores.
• Date: July 23, in conjunction with Open Farm Day. A walking tour will begin at 2:30 p.m.
• Directions: From Bridgewater, at the big white school and church, take the West Road for 3 miles to a "T" and turn left. The farm is 1/3 mile in on the right. The mailbox says Gerritsen, but the farm is 600 yards further in.
• Address: WoodPrairie Farm, 49 Kinney Rd., Bridgewater ME 04735; Tel. 425-7741.

Franklin County

Khadighar

• in Industry, Maine, is a unique example of veganic farming--maintaining soil fertility sustainably without animal manures. The focus held by Molly Thorkildsen and Will Bonsall is on self-sufficiency, with a wide range of vegetables, fruits, grains and legumes being grown. Special features include extensive terraces, solar-powered irrigation, intensive (not raised) beds, and the use of ramial chips (chipped branches of deciduous trees).
• Dates: Sunday, July 23, 2:00 p.m., rain or shine--General Farm Tour--Visitors’ interests usually draw this tour out to 2 1/2 to 3 hours, so plan accordingly. S
• unday, Aug. 6, 2:00 p.m., rain or shine--Scatterseed Project--Tour of seed propagation plots and screenhouse, including discussion of pollination control strategies. Hundreds of varieties of many crops are grown. The discussion includes exploring plant genetic diversity in order to identify varieties that are suited to specific local conditions and uses.
• Directions: From Farmington, follow Route 43 east to Allens Mills (about 4 miles). Continue on Route 43 for another 1 1/2 miles, past Junction 148. Continue on Route 43 another 1000 feet to the first road on the right. Follow signs.
• Address: Khadighar, Box 1167, Farmington (Industry), ME 04938; Tel. 778-3387.

Whitehill Farm

• is owned by Amy and Michael LeBlanc, who grow mixed vegetables, herbs and flowers in 50 raised beds. Season extending features include a solar-heated plastic house, cold frames and temporary structures. Information and demonstrations are available on composting, root cellaring, intensive planting, food dehydration, heirloom vegetables, worm composting and genetic diversity.
• Dates: May 27-29--seedling sale
• July 23, 10 to 4, in conjunction with Open Farm Day
• Directions: From the intersection of US 2 and 133 in Farmington, go south on 133 for 1 1/2 miles. Turn left on McCrillis Corner Road. Whitehill Farm is up the hill 1/2 mile on the right.
• Address: 357 McCrillis Corner Rd., E. Wilton 04234; Tel. 778-2685

Hancock County

"A Day in the Gardens of Brooksville"

• is a special event this year to benefit the Brooksville Free Public Library. Ten Brooksville gardens, many never before seen by the public, will be opened for visitors. Gardens include those of Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman, noted authors and TV gardening personalities; Heather McCargo, the former head propagator from the New England Wild Flower Society’s Garden in the Woods; the late Helen and Scott Nearing’s homestead; that of professional landscape architect Allen Abrahamson and his wife, Pam; and others.
• Some of the gardens are ocean-side, with rock terracing leading to the shore; others overlook Castine and Smith Cove. One includes exotic, tropical species, and another crowns a blueberry barren. One was built for the owners’ young granddaughter. Some of the gardens are professionally designed and maintained, while others are created and maintained entirely by their owners.
• Date: Saturday, July 22, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Directions: The Brooksville Free Public Library is located on Route 176 on the Blue Hill Peninsula. Tickets can be purchased on the day of the tour, at the Brooksville Town House or at any of the gardens, for $20. For more information or to order advance tickets ($15), call 207-326-8022.

The Good Life Center, Forest Farm, in Harborside

• is the last homestead of Scott and Helen Nearing. It is now maintained by resident stewards Chris Eaton and Neha Shukla. The farmstead features the Nearings’ hand-built stone home and thriving organic gardens. It is located on Penobscot Bay with a view of the Camden Hills and is open year-round, with afternoon tours given by the resident stewards.
• Dates: June through Sept.--six days, 1 to 5 p.m., closed on Wednesdays
• October through May--five days, 1 to 5 p.m., closed Tuesdays and Wednesday

• June 12 – Harry Bryan, Wooden Boat Builder, Homesteader--Living With Alternative Energy
• June 19 – Paul Sullivan, Pianist, Composer--Songs of Nature with a Maine Theme
• June 26 – Gary Lawless, Poet, Publisher, Teacher--Poetry and the Bioregional Voice
• July 3 – Greg Joly, Letterpress Printer, Carpenter, Poet, Editor--Helen and Scott Nearing and Their Vermont Sojourn
• July 10 – John Saltmarsh, Scott Nearing Biographer, and Rebecca Kneale Gould, Professor of Religion and Environmental Studies, Middlebury College--Revisiting the Nearings’ Classic Text: A Participatory Discussion on Living the Good Life (Please re-read book before coming)
• July 17 – Christopher Childs, Author, The Spirit’s Terrain: Creativity, Activism, and Transformation, Former Greenpeace National Speaker--Working Toward the World Garden: How Practical Visionaries Create
• July 24 – Tony Bok, Sheep Farmer, EMT--Service Beyond Our Borders: Notes from a Medical Mission to Honduras
• July 31 – Nelda Pearson, Educator, Community Activist, Founder of Beans and Rice--The Spirit of Highlander: Popular Education and Social Change
• August 7 – Eliot Coleman, Organic Market Gardener, Author--Beyond Organic: What Makes Real Food
• August 14 – Deb Soule, Founder, Avena Botanicals, Author, The Roots of Healing--Native Medicinal Plants: Which Ones Are Becoming Endangered and Why
• August 21 – Costas Christ, Founder, Tamu Safaris and Board of Directors, The International Ecotourism Society--Ecotourism in Africa and Beyond: Bringing Benefits to Local Communities and Protecting the Earth’s Last Great Wilderness Areas
• August 28 – Randy Rolfe, Author, TV and Radio Lecturer on Family Life--20th Century Parents of 21st Century Children
• September 4 – Lu Bauer, CPA, Money Counselor--Sustainable Money Behaviors
• September 11 – 5th Anniversary of Helen Nearing’s Death and the Founding of The Good Life Center - Harborside Premier of the Completed Film Helen Nearing: Conscious Living/Conscious Dying, followed by a Community Discussion on the Nearing Legacy
• September 18 – Peter Forbes, Writer, Photographer and Conservationist--Stories from the Land: People, Soil, and Society
• September 25 – Alicia Bay Laurel, Artist, Author, Vocalist/Songwriter, Founder/Director, Art Through Action--The Evolution of Personal and Global Green Consciousness

• Saturday, June 24, 9 am - 4 p.m.--Bill Coperthwaite, Director, The Yurt Foundation
• Directions: Take I-95 north to Exit 30, Augusta. Take Route 3 to Belfast, then Route 1 north through Bucksport to Orland. *Take Route 15 south towards Blue Hill. Turn right onto Route 199, go to the end. Turn left onto Route 175 south to Brooksville. Turn right onto 176 going west. Follow signs for Holbrook Island Sanctuary, which is on the way to Forest Farm: stay on 176 west towards South Brooksville, and take a right onto Cape Rosier Road. Go past Holbrook Island Sanctuary on the right, Undercliff on the left. At the grange, turn right, follow the road to the end, then turn left to Orrs Cove. Go 2 miles to Forest Farm on Cape Rosier, Harborside.
• From the north, take I-95 to Bangor, then Route 15 south through Bucksport to Orland. Continue from * above.
• Address: 372 Harborside Rd., Harborside ME 04642; Tel. 326-8211.

Kennebec County

Stony Brook Herb Farm

• in Kents Hill is 75 acres of fields, woods and wetlands, which Linda Mathieu Nelson and Greg Nelson consider their sacred space. It is located on the Sandy River Road in Fayette, Maine. This year Stony Brook will have almost an acre of beautiful gardens and herbs all in organic cultivation. The Nelsons have recently renovated their 100-year-old barn to make two classroom spaces, a lab, and an herbal drying facility.
• A full schedule of classes is offered, featuring several well-known herbalists from around the state. The Nelsons’ deep desire is to teach others to strengthen their connection with the earth and to empower themselves with the ancient wisdoms of healing, nurturing, self-sufficiency and survival skills. They stress hands-on teaching.
• In the future, the Nelsons plan to sell dried medicinal herbs, primarily on a wholesale basis; they do not have a formal retail shop. However, they welcome visits by appointment to see and discuss their business. Herbs will be available for sale after all classes.
• Contact Stony Brook Herb Farm at info@stonybrookherbfarm.com or www.stonybrookherbfarm.com for information about their STONY BROOK HERB FARM CLASS SCHEDULE 2000
• Stony Brook is actually in the town of Fayette, one mile up the Sandy River Road from Route 41 between Kents Hill and Mount Vernon. Look for the "chimney" where Route 41 crosses the stream between Echo Lake and Taylor Pond.
• To get here from Augusta, head west on 202, 11, 17, & 100 to Manchester, turn right on 17 and go 10 miles to Kents Hill. Turn right on 41 towards Mount Vernon, go 3.5 miles to the "chimney," take Sandy River Road to the left and go one mile to Stony Brook Herb Farm on the left.
• Address: Stony Brook Herb Farm, RR#2 Box 5150, Kents Hill, ME 04349, 207-293-4185, info@stonybrookherbfarm.com, www.stonybrookherbfarm.com. Contact Stony Brook for a complete description of classes and biographies of instructors.

Knox County

Avena’s Gardens

• is a medicinal herb garden that actively produces organic herbs for the Avena Botanical Apothecary. It is open to the public and is used as a teaching center, as well.
• Dates: Wed., Aug. 9, 4-5 p.m.--Guided Walk
• Wed. & Thurs, 2-5 p.m., June through October--open to public
• Directions: From the south: Travel north on Route 1 to Warren, Maine. Turn left onto Route 90. Continue on Route 90 for approximately 6 miles. Soon after passing Swift Storage, turn right onto Mill Street. If you pass a large pond on the right on Route 90, you’ve gone too far. After turning onto Mill St., travel almost a mile up a long hill. When the road begins to flatten, look for a large green mailbox, #219, and the blue "Avena’s Gardens" sign on your right. Parking is about halfway down the driveway on the left, across from the garden’s Welcome Station. You may enter the farmhouse from the back (the side facing away from the gardens).
• From the north, travel south on Route 1 through Camden to Rockport, Maine. Turn right onto Route 90. Pass through the intersection of Routes 17 and 90. Continue on Route 90 for less than a mile, passing a large pond (Tillman Pond) on your left. At the end of the pond, turn left onto Mill St. and follow the above directions from Mill Street.
• From the west, take Route 17 to West Rockport. Turn right onto Route 90. Continue on Route 90 for less than a mile, passing a large pond (Tillman Pond) on your left. At the end of the pond, turn left onto Mill St. and follow the above directions from Mill Street.
• Address: Avena Botanicals, 219 Mill St., West Rockport ME 04862; 594-2403.

The Georges River Land Trust 9th Annual Tour, Gardens in the Watershed

• is a major fundraiser for this group, whose mission is to conserve and protect the long watershed of the Georges River. It includes the following gardens:
• At the Appleton Ridge Road gardens of Brad and Abbie Read, shrubs and perennials are planted in 18 concentric circles in a field overlooking the Georges River valley. Annuals have their own plot, with color combinations changing each year. Fruit trees are espaliered along a fence, behind which vegetables are grown in raised beds. The different areas demonstrate the skills the Reads bring to their design company, ARTgardens, and visitors to the site will find potted perennials on sale the day of the tour.
• In South Hope, Elliot Mitchell is in charge of the rock and wood structures that define the garden areas he and his wife, Jane, have created. A combination of perennials, annuals and wildflowers grows among rock walls and along paths, which lead through trellises and into secret nooks. Many of the perennials are the old-fashioned favorites--phlox, daylilies, poppies, hollyhocks and an array of brilliant foxglove, which owe their size to regular helpings of manure tea. Elliot’s most recent addition to the garden is a giant trellis, planted with clematis and roses, which leads visitors into the area planted with vegetables and fruit trees.
• The Appleton property of Cheryl Denz and Manette Pottle is their home and the site for their landscaping business. The circa 1760 house was surrounded by Japanese knotweed, the barn engulfed in brambles, and the orchard choked by volunteer pine and cherry seedlings when they bought the place in 1996. Now it is cleared, and the front garden holds both experimental new plants and old-fashioned favorites. It also houses garden sculpture created out of found objects--old farm equipment, flea market furniture, cast-off children’s toys. Behind the house is a vegetable garden in the form of the traditional potager.

Appleton Creamery

• is a small-scale goat farm and dairy where Brad and Caitlin Hunter grow flowers and organic vegetables, including many heirloom varieties. Brad, a home brewer, has included in the garden two essential ingredients for beer and wine--hops and grapes. A collection of bird houses surrounds the traditional cottage garden, where the Hunters grow edible flowers and herbs to use in the farm’s goat cheeses, and a path through the garden leads to the barn, where visitors can see the goats.
• Thomas Hepp and Cheri Johnson began LiQWood Gardens in Liberty in 1986 with 10 acres that were once part of a large Maine farm. They have since added 32 more acres and are in the process of restoring a neglected apple orchard. Hepp has built a Japanese inspired summer house and water garden on the property and has carved out 3 miles of trails that wind through the woods and open fields.
• Claire Powell’s Farmhouse Herbs and Dried Flowers in Appleton includes a wooded hillside and field, a perennial stream, ancient boundary trees and a fine, old, flowering crabapple. The gardens, with herbs, flowers, shrubs, roses and climbing vines, are on the southeast slope, overlooking the Georges River valley. Claire’s interest in herbs has led her to grow many that can be dried, shaped into wreaths and swags or arranged in baskets to sell at craft fairs.
• Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 on the day of the tour. They are available at The Personal Bookshop, Thomaston; The Fertile Mind, Belfast; Planet, Camden; Cricket on the Common, Union; The Reading Corner, Rockland; or from the Georges River Land Trust office. They will also be sold on the day of the tour at each garden site for $15. Children under 12 will be admitted free. Maps and brochures about the gardens and forms for ordering lunches to be delivered to one of the gardens are available without charge at the above ticket locations.
• Date: Sunday, July 16, 10 to 5, rain or shine.
• Address: Eliza Bailey, Georges River Land Trust, 328 Main St., Suite 206, Rockland ME 04841. Tel. 594-5166.

Oxford County