Beech Hill Organic Farm’s 75 acres enjoy a central location on Mt. Desert Island, replete with sweeping vistas of the Acadia National Park mountains and what has now, with hard work and husbandry, become excellent farmland. Owned for generations by the Carter family and later operated by Donald Carter as a chicken farm until the implosion of New England chicken farming in the early 1950s due to the high cost of feed, the Carter farm lay in disuse until purchased by two former College of the Atlantic students, Erin and Barbarina Heyerdahl. Having lived summers as a neighbor to the farm since 1947, I have witnessed the many changes and the hard work that have gone into the farm to create what is today a model of not only organic farming but also an ongoing learning center.
After a few years of ownership, the Heyerdahls decided to give Beech Hill Farm to the College of the Atlantic (COA), an environmental liberal arts college in Bar Harbor, for use as an organic farm and an adjunct to the curriculum of the college. In turn, the farm would supply fresh produce to the college cafeteria grown by COA students studying low impact agriculture. To complete the circle, the farm would receive COA cafeteria waste to be used as compost. In yet another form of synergism, Beech Hill Farm has become a test center for COA in its study programs leading to renewable carbon-free energy. In the last few years, as irrigation has been added, a windmill was purchased as well to assist in supplying electricity to the irrigation pumps. Last year, COA professors, Anna Demeo and Dave Feldman were able to obtain a grant for solar panels, which will again offset carbon energy requirements.
The farm also reaches out to the local community. “One of our goals,” says joint farm Manager Alisha Strater, an Oberlin College graduate, “is to not only grow beautiful, healthy produce for sale to the public both through retail at Beech Hill Farm Stand, and wholesale to various stores and restaurants on the island, but to also remain aware of the ‘food insecure’ families in the area who lack access to proper nutrition. In addition to Community Supported Agriculture, in 2006 we started a new program at Beech Hill Farm called ‘Share the Harvest’ which was developed under another entity called ‘Healthy Acadia’ which in turn got its start from a program called ‘Healthy Maine’. We are now able, through donations, to give out vouchers to income-restricted families who receive what used to be food stamps.”
Another course, the study of which has rated a good deal of attention in New England journals and is now offered at COA, is “Heirloom Apples.” Existing apple orchards at the farm date back to the 1700s.
I asked Jerzy Skupny, the blonde, ever-smiling joint manager at Beech Hill Farm how he happened to come to his present position. “Well,” he replied, “I lived in Napa Valley, California and I wanted to study agriculture, plant science to be exact. So, I looked on the Internet and found COA. I’d never been to the East Coast, but the school looked interesting and I thought I’d give it a try. I came here and fell in love with it. The farm, the coast of Maine, it’s just beautiful. I’ve been here at the farm for six seasons, which included my four-year degree at COA and this year became joint manager with Alisha. We both share a lot of the responsibilities along with a staff of current and graduate students. Of course, everyone here at the farm shares in planting, tilling and harvesting, and oh yeah, picking the rocks out of the gardens.”
It’s quite obvious that the co-managers of Beech Hill farm and College of the Atlantic do not intend to rest on their successes of local education workshops, community food programs, and renewable energy. Their plans are to explore and be a guide to the changes in our food culture over the coming years, to implement new methods that must be found to feed our ever-increasing population.
Because of their outstanding success with Beech Hill Farm, College of the Atlantic has been given a second farm. David Rockefeller, in memory of his wife Peggy, an ardent farmer in her own right, has donated a beef-cattle farm they owned on the Crooked Road in Bar Harbor. Although still in the very early discussions, this new addition may possibly become a venue for the study of meat protein farming. q
