Monday, May 14, 2007
John Patriquin/Staff Photographer
Stacy Brenner cleans out a chicken house on Broadturn Farm in Scarborough. Brenner and her husband, John Bliss, are reviving the farm, formerly known as the Keith Meserve Farm, with help from a land trust and state and local officials.
John Patriquin/Staff Photographer
Broadturn Farm was purchased by the Scarborough Land Conservation Trust in 2004 and is now leased to Stacy Brenner and John Bliss, who will plant crops, raise animals and run a summer farm camp for children.
John Patriquin/Staff Photographer
"It's inspirational to think about what farmers have done, how their work has shaped society." - John Bliss, helping to revive Broaturn Farm.
SCARBOROUGH - Stacy Brenner dug both hands into a tray full of peat and compost, the black gold of farmers.
Her husband, John Bliss, moved past her toward the front of the greenhouse, which is filling up these days with the beginnings of marigolds, snapdragons, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage and chard.
Rain drummed on the plastic roof. After a long dry stretch, it was a welcome sound.
Their 10-month-old daughter, Flora, peered across the soil trays, shovels and sawhorses, the stuff of a farm that had been given new life.
"It's really exciting to see the place transforming back into production," Brenner said. "We showed up and it was like a blank piece of canvas."
This is the first spring season for Broadturn Farm, formerly the Keith Meserve Farm. It's a sprawling patchwork of fields, barns and forest on Broadturn Road in Scarborough near the Buxton line.
Brenner and Bliss -- along with an apprentice, relatives and some volunteers -- are reviving the property as an organic produce and livestock farm.
In southern Maine, Broadturn Farm is one of the top examples of a new model for small-scale farming: a collaboration between various private and public agencies, town residents, and the farmers willing to do the work.
The Scarborough Land Conservation Trust, with donations and grants from many sources, purchased the 435-acre property in 2004. It had been farmed by the Meserve family for most of the past 150 years. Leaders of the land trust saw an opportunity, and they advertised for farmers to lease the house and the land. Bliss and Brenner were chosen. They had been resident farmers for five seasons, first at Sunrise Acres in Cumberland, then at Turkey Hill Farm in Cape Elizabeth.
"These kind of partnerships are more and more common, and it makes for more powerful partnerships," said John Piotti, a state representative from Unity. He is executive director of Maine Farmland Trust, a nonprofit organization formed in 1999 to protect and preserve farmland.
He said markets are strong for entrepreneurs such as Bliss and Brenner -- there even has been an increase in the number of young farmers in Maine -- but the problem is that more and more farmland is sold for development.
"There is no doubt in my mind that farming has a bright future, if we can maintain the land base," Piotti said, noting tremendous pressure on families that inherit agricultural land. The amount of farming land in Maine has hung steady around 1.2 million acres in the past five years, compared to about 4 million in 1950.
Broadturn Farm practices community-supported agriculture and has sold 75 full shares to customers in exchange for a portion of the bounty. Some food will be sold to the public at a farm stand, and visitors will be able pick their own flowers and strawberries.
Brenner also will coordinate summer farm camp: weeklong sessions, beginning in June, that introduce children to farming and ecology. The children will grow flowers and vegetables and raise ducklings and chicks, while helping the farmers care for other animals.
"The work now is focused on getting the business started, starting the gardens, building the livestock program and organizing farm camp," Bliss said.
The land trust is helping Bliss and Brenner plan and pay for infrastructure needs, such as a new access road. The family is responsible for rent and all of their operation costs, plus a range of other investments in the property. They believe their business model will be successful. Brenner also works part time as a nurse, to get some extra money and provide health insurance for herself, her husband and their daughters, Emma and Flora.
"This year will be the hardest, and I think it will get better," Brenner said. "I see it becoming a vibrant farm with lots of diversity, an openness and community involvement, a great place for kids in the summer to learn about where their food comes from."
On a Friday morning in mid-May, plenty of work needed to be done, despite the rain. Seeds needed planting, the animals had to be tended, and the barns had to be cleared of old hay, which had clumped into dusty piles.
The family usually wakes up at 6 a.m., and the chores take them well beyond the dinner hour. The rewards, and the sense that they are filling important roles in the community, are worth the effort, Bliss and Brenner said.
From the open barn door, Bliss could see a fog bank slung low over the green-and-brown fields, beyond the family's one dairy cow.
"I love history," Bliss said. "It's inspirational to think about what farmers have done, how their work has shaped society."
Staff Writer Trevor Maxwell can be contacted at 791-6451 or at:
Reader comments
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On the other side of town, a 128-acre farm called the Benjamin Farm, the last one in its immediate area, has just gone up for sale. The Scarborough Land Conservation Trust is working hard to preserve it, but it will take the whole town pulling together to make it happen. Scarborough is capable of growing crops other than McMansions.
We must secure that farmland, not so much for ourselves as for future generations. report abuse
With the growing demand for local organic food, I believe that Maine agriculture will return. The problem, as others have stated, is preserving the land from being developed.report abuse
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