Bravery is the audacity to be unhindered by failures, and to walk with freedom, strength, and hope, in the face of things unknown.”
~Morgan Harper Nichols
Welcome to the Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm! Here you will find the recantings of one lady-farmer and tree-hugging activist from Western Maine. I write about agriculture and the local food movement. You’ll find anecdotes from my life as a farmer and conservationist, essays on nature-connectedness, and articles meant to inspire you to lead a more authentic life. Striving to infuse my writing with an underlying message─the truths I want to scream from the rooftops─it is my hope to inspire readers to be the change they want to see in the world.
Sam I Am
Farm-Journey
I could not have imagined when I was 16 that my life’s journey would take me to the place I am today. Yet, somehow, I have been farming in one form or another for 27 of my 43 years. Nature was a healing and inspiring force, always beckoning, and I was (and still am) powerless to resist Her. That affinity for nature combined with a mother’s desire to feed her family quality, nutritious foods, led me to scratch cooking, gardening, homesteading, community activism and farming.
Education
Along my journey into an agrarian lifestyle, I studied with the University of Maine’s Cooperative Extension as a Master Gardener. Serving 6 years as the president of the Somerset Beekeepers’ group, I taught beekeeping classes locally and gave many presentations throughout the region I serve. For my hometowns’ Madison Farmers’ Market, I gave 6 years to the community as market manager.
Career
For years I operated as a landless farmer, working full or part-time and growing my income from agriculture on the side. After apprenticing at Medicine Hill, an organic farm in Starks, Maine, I went on to spend 5 years at Johnny’s Selected Seeds. In 2018, I was finally able to buy my own farm as a beginning farmer through the USDA’s Farm Service Agency. Since then I’ve worked doggedly to establish the Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm in New Portland, Maine.
Conservation Efforts
Together with my 17 year-old son, I am raising chickens, sheep, and vegetables. We have a farmstand, and also a farmstayB&B offering exclusive farm-to-table breakfasts. The real work I am doing here, however, is in conservation.
Utilizing methods of conservation agriculture, it is my mission to promote the health and well-being of beneficial insects and soil microbial life on this farm. I believe that by focusing my conservation efforts on these keystone organisms, it will have a ripple effect on the habitat as a whole.
Through the Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm, I strive to expose people to farm-life, real food, and to connect them with nature. That connection fosters understanding, compassion and tolerance for wildlife, which inspires people to make earth-friendly choices.
It is my hope that this substack does the same.
Fundraising
When you subscribe to the Runamuk blog, you’re supporting a single-mom and solo-farmer. You’re supporting local agriculture and helping to increase access to locally produced food in the western region of Maine. Most importantly, you are directly supporting conservation efforts at Runamuk Acres. My writing is an extension of my work as farmer and steward of this ecological reserve in Maine, and it is my intention to use those wordsmithing skills to aid in fundraising to benefit my conservation efforts.
Funds generated by my writing goes to things like:
Materials to build: trail signage, campsites, birdhouses, bat houses, and a native bee “hotels”.
Fencing to improve our rotational grazing regimen.
Feed and care of our organic lawnmowers (our super-friendly sheep!)
Community outreach programs like: Big Night (citizen science project for amphibian monitoring).
A Literary CSA
What I’m proposing is a sort of “literary CSA”. Where members subscribe to support efforts at the Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm. In exchange those members receive a share of the “harvest” in the form of intriguing online content and in the community we will grow together.
The CSA model has gained in popularity over the last 10-20 years, but if you’re not a frequenter of your local farmers’ market, you might not be familiar with the term.
“Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, is a relationship between community members and the farm. Members commit to a whole season, allowing the farmer to offset early season costs such as seeds, amendments, etc. In exchange members receive an abundance and variety of nutritious vegetables over the course of the growing season, along with certain member-perks.”
Runamuk maintained a 40-household CSA for years, ensuring we always had a core group of dedicated customers and a guaranteed outlet for the farm’s products. It wasn’t until this past season with it’s incessant rains that devastated crops, that I decided to end the CSA. Members might know the risks when they sign up, but that doesn’t make me feel any better when I can’t deliver. It was time to let go of the CSA in favor of something else.
What to Expect
Substack is still very new to me, so I expect this to evolve and grow in ways that I cannot yet know. I will definitely be working on the following, while leaving the door open to other ideas and opportunities that may present themselves…
FOR FREE SUBSCRIBERS
Updates from the Farm: A weekly debriefing on some of the highlights of the past week at the Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm. These will forever remain free to the public as part of my commitment to the local community this farm serves.
Love-Notes: I’ll often share a Note to Substack for readers. This might be 1 or 2 big wins from the day, a photo or thought I want to share. Also found at Instagram. Free to all.
Bonus Content: Articles and essays focused on a range of topics. Frequency will depend upon what’s going on at the farm, but it is my intention to publish bonus content at least every 2 weeks, rotating the following topics.
Agriculture: Drawing on first-hand experience in the field, I write about agriculture and the local food movement. You might get gardening tips, anecdotes on animal husbandry, recipes for seasonal eating, and more.
Nature: Passionate about wildlife conservation and nature-connectedness, I write about everything from environmental stewardship to pollinator-friendly garden strategies.
Authenticity: Sharing my personal journey into a life of authenticity, with strategies for cultivating your own.
Community: It is my intention to cultivate a community of like-minded members: farmers, gardeners, homesteaders, fellow-environmentalists, and those who want to be any of those things. All actively engaged in growing and learning from each other.
Sincere Love & Gratitude: With every payment or donation, you will have my sincerest love and gratitude for helping me achieve my goals in conservation. You will forever be tied to my farm-journey and to the Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm. That’s a special bond.
PAID SUBSCRIBER APPRECIATION
Reluctant to limit content at this point, I’ve been wracking my brain trying to come up with something I could offer exclusively to paid subscribers. This is a work in progress, but here’s what I can offer right now:
An special holiday gift from the farm sent directly to the home of each paid subscriber.
Access to exclusive content and archives.
Your name on our Appreciation Board at the farm.
When I reach 50 paid subscribers, I will share my 3 secret bread recipes with those members!
30-minute “Shop-Talk” with yours truly via phone or video-call. Pick my brain about any topic, or just enjoy a chat with your friendly neighborhood farmer.
10% discount on all services provided by the farm! This includes: farmstays, campsite rentals, farmstand purchases, insect-hotels, and future products yet to come.
FOUNDING MEMBERS
Along with the knowledge that you are supporting this farm and its mission in the most meaningful way possible, founding members receive all of the benefits listed above. To show our love for your commitment to Runamuk, we offer the additional benefits:
Sponsor a Sheep!
At the Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm, our sheep are an integral part of our conservation efforts, allowing us to remediate our 10-acre pasture to create a wildlife sanctuary that benefits the entire ecosystem. When you become a founding member, those funds allow us to feed one of our sheep through the long Maine winter. In exchange, you get to symbolically adopt one of our sheep! We’ll send an adoption package to you in the mail, and you’ll receive twice-yearly updates on your sheep via email.
1-Hour Shop-Talk
With a wide range of skills, I can offer insight into aspects of farming, gardening, beekeeping, animal husbandry, scratch cooking and budget-stretching. My business plan was reportedly “one of the best they’d ever seen”, when I submitted it to the USDA for consideration in buying my farm and I’m happy to help beginning farmers follow their own farm-journeys.
20% Discount
Founding members receive the fabled 20% discount on all farm-products!
Christmas Present
I intend to send all of my paid subscribers a little present during the holidays, just to say thank you for being with me and to spread the love. These will be something we’ve produced here on the farm. The gift I send to founding members will be something more─some small piece of Runamuk just for you.
Proceeds generated go directly to the care and cultivation of the Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm. When you support my writing, you’re supporting local food access and wildlife conservation simultaneously.
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