FREEPORT – A farm it was and a farm it shall ever be, as 50 acres at Winter Hill Farm in Freeport are now permanently protected by an agricultural easement.
The Freeport Conservation Trust’s purchase of an easement on 50 acres off Wardtown Road on May 23 culminated several years of effort that involved multiple participants.
The vision of the farm’s previous owners, Jim Stampone and Kate LeRoyer, led to protection in perpetuity of the farm’s good soils and open space. Sarah Wiederkehr and Steve Burger, who manage but don’t own the farm, now run a growing business there, producing milk, yogurt and cheese, meat and vegetables.
“When Jim and Kate retired, they really didn’t want to see this property get cut up in small lots. This protects the land’s value for agricultural production. Obviously there is a lot of development in this neighborhood and we’ve cut into a lot of housing lots,” said Burger, 34. “If it’s ever sold, it would only be sold at agricultural value.”
The easement comes as welcome news to Burger and Wiederkehr, his wife, who have managed the farm for the past two years. Both have prior experience managing farms in the past and have built their agrarian skills through both education and experience.
“We’ve both done food and farm education for nonprofits,” said Burger. “Sarah has experience in international agriculture development and I’ve worked on various farms and built my skills that way without a formal educational background in it.”
The pair met in California 10 years ago. They were looking for a way to come back to Maine to be closer to Wiederkehr’s family.
“We saw Winter Hill as an opportunity to come back. As young farmers we didn’t think it was feasible or the smartest thing to buy a farm outright. So we were looking for alternatives to an outright purchase, and there are a lot of them in this state for a long-term tenure.”
They are part of a larger agricultural movement in Maine, as between 7,000 and 9,000 new farms have been added in the last 15 years, according to the Maine Organic Farming and Gardening Association.
“When I think about Maine, I think of an older ingrained sense of community and a local economy. In other places, that’s an old idea that disappeared and now it’s a cool new thing,” said Burger. “That idea never disappeared here. Also very few states have a support network that is as strong as MOFGA.”
With the help of a few apprentices and an occasional volunteer staff, the crew at Winter Hill produces dairy products, vegetables, eggs and meat. The farm features an endangered breed of cow, the Randall, that was once ubiquitous throughout New England and prized for their versatility as work animals and quality of milk and meat. After the 20th century brought dramatic changes in dairy operations, and landrace breeds – those adapted to the local climates and conditions – were replaced by more uniform breeds that produced higher volumes of milk, according to Burger, the Randall had nearly disappeared. In 1985, it was discovered that the last 15 were living on the farm of Everett Randall, in Sunderland, Vt.
“The cows were literally on their way to slaughter when a few people got involved to save them,” said Burger. “All the cows now are descended from that last herd from Vermont. These cows are listed as critically endangered.”
Winter Hill is the only farm milking the cows commercially, said Burger. The milk the cows produce is sold raw, meaning it’s not homogenized and thicker than milk sold at the grocery store. The Randall produces milk that is low in butterfat with a layer of cream that rises to the top that can be skimmed for coffee.
“Raw milk is unprocessed milk that has gone through a filtration system when it comes out of the cow before it goes into our bulk tank,” said Burger. “It tastes a lot fresher, cleaner, and the taste changes with the season depending on what the cows are eating, as opposed to a uniform, always-the-same product. It definitely reflects the land, the feed and the animals themselves.”
The farm also participates in a community supported agriculture program, where subscribers pay the farmer in advance, and then receive a weekly share of fresh products from the farm during the specified season. Products are available from early to mid-June through October each year and provide enough vegetables to feed a typical omnivorous family of two to four, according to information provided by Winter Hill Farm. The farm also sells eggs, a variety of cheeses, and produce at farmers markets in Yarmouth and Lewiston. Their products are available locally at Bow Street Market in Freeport.
“We have lots of people who just love to come to the farm and buy directly,” said Burger. “The kids get to see the cows, feed the pig, and people can put a face to where their food is coming from.”
Founded in 1977, Freeport Conservation Trust, with a stated mission to preserve, connect, and share the natural beauty of Freeport, has worked to protect 45 properties, totaling nearly 1,500 acres, including farmland, shorefront, and woodlands, according to information obtained from the organization. The public can access 944 acres of those properties along 20 miles of public trails. Most recently the Freeport Conservation Trust has opened the Kelsey Brook Trail at Mitchell Ledge Farm in 2009 and the Cousins River Trail in 2008.
Steve Burger, who manages Winter Hill Farm with his wife Sarah Wiederkehr, inside the garage at the Freeport property off Wardtown Road. The farm recently received an agricultural easement that will permanently protect the farmland and ensure it will be used only for agricultural purposes.
Co-manager of Winter Hill Farm Sarah Wiederkehr works in one of the produce rows at the farm on a recent morning. Wiederkehr has a background in international agriculture and has been at the farm for the past two years with her husband, Steve Burger.
Two Randall cows relax on a recent morning in the pasture at Winter Hill farm in Freeport. The Randall cow was once a common sight throughout New England, highly prized for their valuable work skills and milk, but has since become nearly extinct. With only 400 in existence, Winter Hill Farm is the only farm in America selling the milk from Randall cattle commercially.
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