Mission
Spear Spring Farm is working hard to support the local food movement. We want to help people eat healthier and tastier food that is grown in harmony with the land that provides for us. We believe that being a farmer is a noble calling - we feed people. But the agricultural population across the country is aging, our food systems are systematically failing in shockingly predictable ways and the repercussions are felt across all areas of of the country - from the cost of wheat, to the recalls on contaminated produce and meat. People will only have the option of eating affordable, responsibly grown, healthy food if local diversified farmers can make a living wage, save for retirement, and help send their kids to college. We are striving to be a model for an economically AND environmentally sustainable farm.
Join us in our mission! Sign up for our weekly CSA program. Visit our farm stand, buy what you like and feel good knowing that your dollars spent locally will also go to support LOCAL jobs, other local businesses and will help strengthen not only a food system you can trust, but our local economy across all facets of commerce. We also support other local farms and food producers - they’re part of the movement too! Tell your friends to join in... When responsible and sustainable farmers thrive, everybody eats well!
History
Robert Spear, the youngest son of John and Katrin Spear, was born in Londonderry, Ireland in 1714. His family came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony after the Siege of Derry and settled in Woburn. Robert lived with his parents in Woburn until 1736, when he joined a company of Scotch Presbyterians that had decided to form a settlement along the St. George River in what was to eventually become the town of Warren, Maine (Incorporated Nov. 7th, 1776).
Robert and Margaret (McLean) Spear acquired the land that is now Spear Spring Farm in 1736, as part of the grant of 42 parcels (his was 21), from the English Crown to encourage European settlement in an area with great promise for commerce and trade. All of the land grant parcels abutted the St. George River, since it was the principal means of reliable transportation and potential commerce. At the time Robert gained his land grant, his wife's father, John McLean was one of the first settlers along the river in Warren in 1735. Robert's eldest son, Captain John Spear who served in the Revolutionary War, and his family settled the original plot given to his father by building the brick house in 1763 using bricks made from the clay along the riverbank and it was owned continuously by members of the Spear family until we acquired it 2016.
More recently, Dr. Ivan Spear, an orthopedic surgeon in Worcester, Massachusetts, acquired the farm in 1983 from a family member, in order to keep it in the Spear family. Ivan had spent time on the farm with family as a boy and wanted it to remain a working farm. He remained in Worcester and leased the farm to Jeff and Laurie Bellmore, who, with their family, ran a successful farm and a beloved pick-your-own strawberry operation for many years. Ivan died in 2014 at the age of 92 and we acquired the farm in November 2106 from Ivan’s son, Brian Spear.
Through the many long years (and generations of the Spear family that lived here), the farm was always a center for industry and community. A blacksmith shop operated on the farm for some time. Many different types of livestock were raised here. Various members of the Spear family were involved in local shipbuilding operations and ran trade routes along the Atlantic coast. Much time, care, and investment was made by this important family to the surrounding communities in the form of building and supporting schools, churches, and town/state government.
Now, after a long period of neglect, we hope to make Spear Spring Farm a center of community once again through our stewardship of this beautiful land - including the restoration of the historic farmhouse, our opening of a full service farm stand, our on farm educational offerings and our farm to table events where we invite those in the community to join us around a longer table...
WELCOME TO SPEAR SPRING FARM!
Today
Today our farm comprises 170 acres in a narrow rectangle running from the St. George River on our eastern boundary, across Rt. 1 (which at that point runs essentially North/South) and to the railroad tracks on our western boundary. Most of our farm is wooded, with about 42 acres of open fields. A spent gravel pit occupies 15-20 acres. We currently work about 5-10 acres and have two high tunnels and one year round propagation house.
Jamien and Jeremy Reynolds moved into the 1763 brick farmhouse in 2017 and took over the restoration of the farm and fields and began to grow food at a small scale. We added two high tunnels for season extension and converted an 8’x20’ storage container to a walk-in cooler in 2018, and in Spring 2019 we rebuilt our 20’x20’ farm store to better serve our customers. In 2021, we added a new wash/pack facility and more cold storage to enable us to better serve the growing number of consumers passionate about eating good food grown right here in Maine. In 2022 we held our first farm to table events and we're very excited to expand our offerings and opportunities to be on the farm in 2023!
About Us
The Reynolds Family
Our family is working hard to bring you good healthy food grown right here in Maine on a beautiful historic farm that's been growing food since 1736. Jamien is a true farm girl, having grown up raising oxen, milking goats, and snapping beans with her mom and grandma. Over the years she's done many different things, but everything brings her back to caring for the land. With her Native American heritage, stewardship of the land is a very natural choice for her and she gets great satisfaction out of growing good healthy food to feed her family and her community. With a background in small business management and Ag consulting, Jamien has seen first hand many of the challenges that confront small family farmers in the Northeast and continues to work hard to break down stereotypes, fight for policy change, and develop badly needed infrastructure to support local farms.
While Jamien manages the farm business and most big picture aspects of the farm, she also loves sunny days when she can help out with work in the fields. Golden hour on the farm in the late evening is perfect for long walks with Finn and Mayla by her side through the fields and for reflection on what is going right and what could be done better. Her goal is to farm in harmony with the land and "the best thing for the soil is the farmer's feet." These moments walking through the fields and seeing all we have accomplished in just a few short seasons are a great way to keep the ups and downs of farming the land and working with Mother Nature all in perspective.
Jamien is so grateful that her passion and her crazy food journey has the love and support of her whole family and is made possible by the hard work of her team. Her husband, Jeremy is a mechanical contractor who supports the farm in so many ways... from his knowledge of all things electrical to his carpentry and building trades skills, Jeremy has worked on the restoration of the farmhouse, the build out of irrigation infrastructure, the set up of the propagation house and high tunnels, and still manages to help out in the kitchen at the end of his often 12 or 14 hour work day.
Jeremy's daughter, Rori, is in charge of our heritage flock of laying hens who regularly get fed by hand and are enlightened by readings from works by prominent authors like Dr. Seuss, J.K. Rowling and Judy Bloom. She has determined that purple potatoes make the best french fries (which they do!) and that basil is OK (even though it's green) as long as she only has to eat it in our homemade pizza sauce. She regularly eats so many carrots during our carrot harvest that she gets "carroted out" and especially loves the purple ones with the yellow stars in the middle.
Finn follows her everywhere, making sure she doesn't get into trouble. He regularly helps out with weeding in the greenhouse by eating all the sprouting greens that take root under the seeding table. His favorite foods include our baby salad greens and mustard plants, although he won't turn his nose up at spinach or dandelions. Meanwhile Mayla May loves taking her turn greeting guests in the farm stand. Both Finn and little Mayla May make for pretty photogenic mascots and tour guides for the farm.
That's our farm family. We hope you'll stop in and get to know us, ask questions about how we grow your food and take a farm tour or come try some of the food we love produced by other farms in Maine. Everything we sell is from farms and food producers that we love... Everything is tried and tested by our family and EVERYTHING is from Maine! We believe in supporting the local economy and small family farms and are grateful for our many farm partners that share their wonderful products with us!
Want to learn about our farm partners?
Check them out HERE.
Danny & Grace Evans
Danny and Grace live in Cohasset, MA, and have a house on the Saint George River in Tenants Harbor, Maine. Danny's journey to the local, healthy food movement began in earnest in 2006 when he read Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, and came to full fruition when he and Grace acquired the Spear Spring Farm property in fall 2016.
Danny and Grace are fully committed to local farmers making a living growing food for their community, and to being part of that movement. Lacking experience in actually growing things, they support Jamien and Jeremy in strategy, planning, and manual labor when they can.
