The Wrack

A Wisconsin company that formed while Laudholm Farms was in its heyday found a repeat customer in Maine.

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 8/17/2014.

Around the time I was twelve, I went through what my parents called “the Indiana Jones stage.” I wore an officially licensed brown fedora, carried a homemade clothesline “bullwhip,” and definitely expected to be an archaeologist when I grew up. I even talked my way into a field expedition to the Caribbean island of Grenada, though I was two years short of their minimum age requirement. Rules didn’t matter – in search of lost tribes, buried treasure, even whip-cracking adventure, I dreamt only of piercing the jungle’s dark heart. Cue the trumpets!

Over 85 people filled the Mather Auditorium a couple of weeks ago for "You, Your Food, & the Survival of the Planet" with panelists Mort Mather, John Piotti, and Representative Chellie Pingree. The panelists answered a variety of moderated questions, and then the audience had the opportunity to ask some of their own. Following are some highlights from the notes I took during this most exciting evening!

The following was originally published in the Biddeford-Saco Journal Tribune Thursday edition, 8/22/13:

Wendell Berry said “do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.” Situated at the mouths of three rivers, the Wells Reserve at Laudholm is downstream from most of York County. This summer, I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s upstream, particularly farms.

At first glance, Maine doesn’t seem ideal for farming. Our colonial history is a litany of famines and failed harvests. We get some of the least sun of the Lower 48; our soils are the rock-filled remains of mile-high glaciers. Winters, though shorter than they used to be, still bookend a shockingly brief growing season. Why would anyone think of farming here?

Once English colonists settled this land, it was home to only four families: Boade, Symonds, Clark, and Lord. Here is an abbreviated list of key historical events leading up to the dedication of the Wells Reserve…

1641    Henry Boade family moves to the site.

1653    King’s Highway is established past Boade’s house to the mouth of the Little River.

1655    Boade sells the property to the Symonds brothers. William Symonds becomes sole owner by the end of 1657.

1677    King Philip’s War. Symonds family flees to nearby garrison. Indians burn the farmhouse to the ground.

Rick Chase from Chase Farm in Wells brought Bud and Bill to plow the Punkinfiddle corn and pumpkin patch, which is doubling in size this year.