Agriculture -- Maine

Abstract NA2207 Albert Jackson, interviewed by Jeffrey “Smokey” McKeen, December 2, 1991, Morrill, Maine. Jackson talks about the federal government purchase of Frye Mountain land during the Great Depression; story of his grandfather’s (illegal) still; grandfather’s business as an auctioneer; making and selling bootleg alcohol during Prohibition; community knowledge of the bootlegging; and his grandfather’s experience letting 500 hogs loose on the mountain. Text: 19 pp. index/transcript. Recording:...

Abstract 3075 Benjamin Wilcox, interviewed by Anu Dudley, September 21, 2003, at the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. Wilcox talks about his ownership with Tom Roberts of Part and Parcel Farm; being a baby boomer; changes in economics over the last thirty years; higher education via the G.I. Bill; getting his degree in architecture; moving to Maine from California; the Deerings’ “Living the Good Life” and Elliott Porter’s “Summer Islands;” building boats in Wiscasset; settling in Dixmont as a...

Abstract NA0843 Bertha Campbell, interviewed by Celeste Beaulieu, Jolene Walker, and Alison Bishop for AY 125, October 11, 1974. Campbell talks about life at the turn of the 20th century in Corinth, Maine: house layouts; home furnishings; bedrooms; kitchen; bath taking; laundry procedures; window dressings; entertaining; Skinner Settlement; Social Hall; the store. Also included: two diagrams: 1 of the property layout and one of the house. Text: 18 pp. catalog with diagrams; 30 pp. transcript....

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0846 Bertha Price, interviewed by Jolene Walker, Alison Bishop, Edward D. “Sandy” Ives, and Celeste Beaulieu for AY 125, October and December 1974, Argyle, Maine. Price talks about growing up on a farm at the turn of the 20th century; social customs; clothing; various aspects of farm life; outside of house; layout of rooms; furnishings; activities done in some rooms. Text: 19 pp. index; 29 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0780 - T 0782 / PM 0741 3 hours.

Abstract 0846 Bertha Price, interviewed by Jolene Walker, Alison Bishop, Edward D. “Sandy” Ives, and Celeste Beaulieu for AY 125, October and December 1974, Argyle, Maine. Price talks about growing up on a farm at the turn of the 20th century; social customs; clothing; various aspects of farm life; outside of house; layout of rooms; furnishings; activities done in some rooms. Text: 19 pp. index; 29 pp. transcript. Recording: mfc_na0846_t0780_01, mfc_na0846_t0780_02, mfc_na0846_t0781_01,...

Abstract 2686 Bill Whitman, interviewed by Elizabeth Hedler, September 21, 2001, at the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. Whitman talks about his family history and their Maine farm; involvement in MOFGA; organic farming as outgrowth of traditional farm life; the beginnings of the Maine Festival and the Common Ground Fair; volunteering for the Common Ground Fair; first fair in 1977; security for the early years of the fair; Windsor fairgrounds; advantages of owning the fairground; coordinating the...

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Letters of an agricultural editor, writer, and journalist and of a noted Maine naturalist. Included also are 2 letters signed by George A. Boardman.

Abstract 2677 Bonnie Rukin Miller, interviewed by Anu Dudley, September 22, 2001, at the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. Miller discusses moving to Maine; her organic farm; running a farm school; creating a farm community; development of her farm; Sandhill Farms Day Camp; farm apprentices and farm managers; crops grown; pick-your-own organic strawberries; selling vegetables, flour made from their organically grown grain, and other products at farmer's markets and the Common Ground Fair; her...

Abstract 2682 C. R. Lawn, interviewed by Anu Dudley, September 22, 2001, at the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. Lawn discusses the history of Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association; moving to Maine in the early 1970s as part of the back-to-the-land movement; selling produce in the late 1970s; participating in co-ops; beginning FEDCO seed co-op; growth of FEDCO; bringing FEDCO to the Common Ground Fair; agricultural vendors’ dispute with MOFGA in the early 90s; becoming MOFGA treasurer;...

Abstract 3062 Cathy Reynolds, interviewed by Anu Dudley, September 21, 2002, at the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. Reynolds talks about growing up in the Gorham and Orono, Maine areas, and New Jersey after being born in Morocco, Africa (her father was stationed there in Navy); moving to Bowdoinham once she got married; getting involved in farming and raising animals, esp. sheep; people's misconceptions about animals, esp. farm animals; how she became involved in MOFGA by attending one of the...

Abstract 2685 Chaitanya York, interviewed by Anu Dudley, September 21, 2001, at the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. York talks about growing up in the Androscoggin River Valley on her grandparent's farm; her grandfather teaching her sustainable and organic farming practices back in the early 1950s; his college years in New York City and Portland; organizing chapters in Knox and Lincoln counties in the early days of MOFGA, circa 1970, later moving up to other positions that decade; his role in...

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NA2824 Clayton Littlefield, interviewed by Fred Nehring for HTY 210 for Pauleena MacDougall, May 9, 2002, Montville, Maine. Littlefield talks about the federal government’s purchase of farmlands in the Frye Mountain area during the mid-1930s: the layout and residents of the community of Frye Mountain in the 1930s; farming; poor roads; CCC built roads; federal purchase of farm land; cemeteries; schooling on Frye Mountain; Freedom Academy. Text: 27 pp. transcript. Recording: C 2003.

Abstract NA2206 Clayton Littlefield, interviewed by Jeffrey “Smokey” McKeen, November 14, 1991, Montville, Maine. Littlefield talks about his childhood on Frye Mountain; problem of roads unsuitable for automobiles in most seasons; mountain land as good for farming; local families; federal government purchase of land; burning of the farm buildings; partial relocation of cemetery; failure of government to pay town for lost tax income; employment of local men by CCC, turning mountain into a park; and...

Scope and Contents The records mainly contain textual information created by the University of Maine College of Agriculture, but there are also some maps. The record series College Of Agriculture Faculty and Executive Committees Records contain meeting minutes, correspondence regarding faculty meeting meetings, items related to the Course Committee that looked at changes to agriculture courses, and details of degree, scholarship, and faculty recommendations. Also, includes lists of College of...

Scope and Contents The records mainly contain textual information created and curated by the University of Maine College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, but there is also a photograph of the Home Management House. The record series Administrative Records include material related to the overall administration of the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture including: budget information and financial reports, Advisory Committee and Executive Committee meeting material, evaluation and accreditation...

Scope and Contents The records mainly contain textual information created by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, but there are also photographic, visual, and audio visual material. Some of the report record series also contain photographs of Cooperative Extension Service operations, events, and staff. The reports submitted during the First World War and Second World War years detail the effects the wars had on agriculture in Maine. County Agent Reports were submitted by the...

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2635 Cynthia Thayer, interviewed by Pauleena MacDougall, September 22, 2000, at the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. Thayer discusses moving to Maine to become a farmer; her organic farm; composting; relationship with local community; involvement with MOFGA; farm apprentices; certification; involvement with the Wednesday Spinners at the Common Ground Fair; and changes in her farming lifestyle over time. Text: 21 pp. transcript. Recording: C 1918 1 hour. mfc_na2635_c1918_01.

Abstract 2636 Deb Soule, interviewed by Anu Dudley, September 23, 2000 at the Common Ground Fair in Thorndike, Maine. Topics covered include how she started gardening in her youth; how she educated herself in the use of herbs; meeting Helen and Scott Nearing; how Adele Dawson influenced her life; her meeting with Juliette de Bairacli Levy; working with Doug Elliot in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina; working with Ed Smith and Sarah Katz of Herb Pharm in Oregon; beginning to make tinctures,...

Abstract NA2205 Denby Larrabee and Geneva Larrabee, interviewed by Jeffrey “Smokey” McKeen, October 28, 1991, in Knox, Maine. The Larrabees discuss the Frye Mountain community in the 1930s – 1950s; land purchases on the mountain by the government during the Great Depression; resistance of the local farmers to selling; problems with mountain roads; burning of farm buildings; dairy farming; unsuitability of roads for automobiles; lumbering in the 1950s; disagreement with how the land is currently used;...

Abstract NA1078 Don Parker, interviewed by Joan Brooks, November 14, 1976, Danforth, Maine. Parker talks about working in Connecticut during World War II and then moving back to Maine in 1945; working as a teamster for Grover Morrison at his logging operation; the men’s camp; after dinner activities; picking potatoes for a living; and what Maine winters were like while he was in the camp. See NF XVIII: “Suthin’.” Text: 8 pp. catalog, notes, and newspaper article. Recording: (T 1101) Time: .75...

Abstract 2629 Donna Kausen, interviewed by Pamela Dean, September 22, 2000, at the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. Kausen discusses moving to Maine; lobster fishing; raising sheep with Jenny Cirone on islands off the Maine coast; fleece for hand spinners; organic gardening; relationship with community in Addison, Maine; early involvement in MOFGA and the Common Ground Fair, changes in MOFGA and the Common Ground Fair; problems and rewards of her lifestyle. Text: 17 pp. transcript. Recording: C...

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0844 Frank Harriman, interviewed by Ford Reiche for AY 125, Greenbush, Maine. Sandy Ives is also present at the interview. Harriman talks about being a farmer and woodsman. Text: 3 pp. catalog. Recording: T 0778 1 hour.

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0845 Frank Hunnewell, interviewed by Ford Reiche for AY 125, November 17, 1974,Greenbush, Maine. Hunnewell talks about his farm and especially the buildings and machinery. Also included: two pamphlets about the Skinner Settlement; an invitation to a benefit supper for the Skinner Settlement Association. Recording: 2 pp. catalog. Recording: T 0779 1/2 hour.

Abstract 1039 George Knox, interviewed by Joan Brooks, May 7, 1976, Holden, Maine. Knox talks about moving to Eddington, Maine, in 1902; raising their own meat; Frank Davis, a local market hunter; the route the old Airline r oad took; peddling in Bangor; trapping; poaching; Cal Graves; moose meat; going to dances; card games; what weddings were like; Halloween pranks; dowsing; weather lore; working in the woods; camp songs; men who made up songs in the area; working as a river driver; working for...

Abstract 3069 Glenn Dewitt, interviewed by James Moreira, September 22, 2002, at the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. Dewitt speaks about his involvement with MOFGA; moving from West Pennsylvania to Dresden, Maine; his career in the Navy; his uncle’s pig farm in Pennsylvania; working at the Bath shipyard; raising rare breed and meat chickens naturally; naturally versus unnaturally raised livestock; free-ranging versus caging practices; his involvement with the Common Ground Fair; working as an...

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NA0840 Grace Clark, interviewed by Ilka List, Jolene Walker, Alison Bishop, Celeste Beaulieu, and Galen Beaulieu for AY 125, October and December 1974, East Corinth, Maine. Clark talks about farm life at the turn of the century. Also included: pamphlet about the Skinner Settlement. Text: 77 pp. brief catalog and partial transcript. Recording: T 0764 - T 0771 7 hours.

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Oral history of the multi-generational Johnson-Mink Farm, later known as Mink Dairy Farm, then Deer Foot Farm, Appleton, Maine. Chris Roberts interviews his grandparents Keith and Grace Mink, his mother Sue Ellen Mink-Roberts, and great-aunt Natalie Irene (Mink) Gushee about the family farm and its operation through the first three generations of ownership. The property was acquired in 1897 and became a truck farm producing produce, eggs, and dairy.

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Research materials of Paul R. Hepler, an associate professor of horticulture at the University of Maine at Orono centered on his study of sugar beet growing in Maine.

Abstract 3063 Jean English, interviewed by Anu Dudley, September 21, 2002, Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. English talks about moving to Lincolnville, Maine in 1985; looking for and buying tillable land; farm budgets based on the Nearings model; having children; growing nursery crops for FEDCO; the specifics of growing bayberries; moving from farming to writing as a primary source of income; volunteering with MOFGA; becoming editor of the MOFGA newspaper; how the MOFGA newspaper has changed over...

Abstract 2630 Jean Hay Bright, interviewed by James Moreira, September 24, 2000 at the Common Ground Fair. Hay talks about her farm in Dixmont where they grow organic pick-your-own raspberries; her previous farm in Blue Hill; what inspired her to move to Maine in 1971; farm years in Maine during the 1970s without electricity or plumbing; her emergence into the organic farming market in the 1980s; her friendship with Scott and Helen Nearing; preparing her Dixmont farm to grow organic produce;...