At farm and garden tours this summer, learn about organic vegetable gardening, urban gardening, raising livestock, natural dyeing of wool, and much more. For additional farms to visit this summer, please check the event calendar on MOFGA’s website, where you’ll find Gather & Grow homestead tours and more.
Dates Farm or Garden
July 10 BCOPE Alternative High School, Belfast
July 13 Belfast Blueberry Cooperative, Belfast
July 15 Raymond A. Geiger Elementary School, Lewiston
July 26 Versicolor, South China
July 27 Apple Creek Farm, Bowdoinham
July 27 Frinklepod Farm, Arundel
July 30 Alfond Youth & Community Center, Waterville
August 2-3 Trotochaud/McDowell Gardens and Everyday Pottery Studio, Belmont
August 2 Urban Garden Tour, Bangor and Brewer
August 7 Great Salt Bay Community School, Damariscotta
Various Dates
- Beau Chemin Preservation Farm, Waldoboro
- Crystal Lake Farm & Nursery, Washington
- Dandelion Spring Farm, Bowdoinham
- The Good Life Center, Harborside
- Maine School Garden Network, Statewide
- Smithereen Farm, Pembroke
- Sweet Dreams Lavender Farm, St. Albans
Statewide
Join Maine School Garden Network for a series of summer school garden tours! Held in the late afternoon at various schools across the state, these tours offer a firsthand look at the incredible work being done to cultivate nature-based education spaces for students. Led by dedicated school garden coordinators and staff, each tour shows off the individuality of school gardens and is followed by a potluck picnic. All community members interested in seeing the progress of Maine schools in promoting nature-based learning are welcome to attend.
Dates: Waldo County — Thursday, July 10 at 4 p.m., BCOPE Alternative High School, Belfast; Androscoggin County — Tuesday, July 15 at 4 p.m., Raymond A. Geiger Elementary School, Lewiston; Kennebec County — Wednesday, July 30 at 4 p.m., Alfond Youth & Community Center, Waterville; Lincoln County — Thursday, August 7 at 4 p.m., Great Salt Bay Community School, Damariscotta.
For up-to-date information, including tour dates in Cumberland County and a
district-wide tour in Bangor, visit the Maine School Garden Network website and join
their mailing list at msgn.org.
Contact: To RSVP for tours, please email [email protected].
Hancock County
The Good Life Center at Forest Farm is the historic final homestead of Helen and Scott Nearing, who were prominent proponents of simple and sustainable living, leaders of the back-to-the-land movement, and powerful social activists. Enjoy tours of the organic gardens, hand-built structures, and homestead grounds, and demonstrations of the simple and sustainable living skills of the Nearings. Visitors are welcome from Memorial Day through Indigenous Peoples Day.
The Good Life Center’s Summer Speaker Series will be held on Sundays, July 6 through Sept. 14, at 4 p.m., and is themed “living simply and sanely in a troubled world,” after the tagline of the Nearings’ iconic book, “Living the Good Life.” Donations are welcome.
Dates: July 6 — Zoe Weil, The Soutionary Way: Transform Your Life, Your Community, and the World for the Better; July 13 — Larry Dansinger, What Should the Economy Be For?; July 20 — Margy Burns Knight, “Who Needs a Statue?”; July 27 — Kyle Warnock, Cultivating Community: The Power of Gathering Spaces & the Impact of Belonging; Aug. 3 — Greg Joly, Scott Nearing’s “What is Justice?”; Aug. 10 — Bonnie Newsom; Aug. 17 — Peter Dugas, Climate Policy Workshop; Aug. 24 — Mark McBrine, “Seeds of Change” Documentary and Discussion; Aug. 31 — Margot Kelley, Gardening at the End of the World; Sept. 7 — Sarah Ebel: “Nos Falta Nada”: What Does it Mean to Live the Good Life Under Changing Environmental and Economic Conditions in Southern Chile’s Coastal Zone?.
Location: 372 Harborside Road, Harborside, ME 04642. A half-hour drive from Blue Hill. From Blue Hill village, take Rt. 176, Rt. 15, and Rt. 175 through South Brooksville; turn left onto Cape Rosier and follow the signs for the Good Life Center.
Contact: Warren Berkowitz at 207-374-5386; goodlife.org
Kennebec County
Versicolor operates a dye garden and studio. Visitors can participate in natural dyeing of wool; tour the vegetable garden and greenhouse, including Asian vegetables; and check out a planting project to increase native trees, shrubs, and perennials.
Dates: Saturday, July 26 at 10 a.m. through 3 p.m.
Location: 28 Willette Drive, South China, ME 04358.
Contact: Jude and James Hsiang at 207-480-0332; [email protected]
Knox County
Crystal Lake Farm & Nursery in Washington is a mother-and-son operation owned by Sharon Turner and Eli Berry. Their 75-acre property comprises a tree, shrub, and perennial nursery, managed woodlot, rotational grazing pasture for Dexter cattle, large vegetable and flower gardens, four hoop houses, and a small orchard area. In season, they offer native and favorite potted and field-dug trees, shrubs, and perennials chosen especially for birds, bees, butterflies, and other beneficials. Other offerings include herb and vegetable seedlings in spring as well as tools for the garden, farm, and woodland.
Dates: Open by appointment.
Location: 246 Youngs Hill Road, Washington, ME 04574.
Contact: 207-845-2140; crystallake.me
Lincoln County
The 180-acre Beau Chemin Preservation conserves endangered livestock breeds. Learn how these breeds can help small farm sustainability. From their three breeds of sheep and one goat breed, they offer breeding stock, wool, and felted garments. They conserve the nearly extinct Poitou donkey. There are only about 3,000 left, most in France and a couple hundred in the United States. Learn about the rare Icelandic cashmere dairy goat and why they are establishing a genetic reservoir of this goat in the United States, with a Q&A on how the project works. Take a look at antique spinning wheels, some of which are being offered for sale. Dye plant seeds and rootstock used in dyeing wool are available as well as pelargonium plants. Walk through their 180-year-old barn and learn about the practicality of its original design. Visitors are welcome to pick available berries (no charge) and the farmer will explain the climate change impact on what had been a pick-your-own berry crop.
Dates: It’s a working farm, so please contact before visiting.
Location: 1749 Finntown Road, Waldoboro, ME 04572. Finntown Road goes south off Rt. 1 in Warren. The intersection is 4 miles east of Moody’s Diner in Waldoboro, and 1.7 miles west of the Warren intersection of Rt. 90/Rt 1. Beau Chemin Preservation Farm is 3.2 miles south of Rt. 1.
Contact: Jo Ann Myers at 207-691-8164 or [email protected]; Wayne Myers at 207-596-1161 or [email protected]; beaucheminpreservationfarm.com
Penobscot County
Join the Urban Garden Tour to visit as many as 12-14 individual or community gardens in the cities of Bangor and Brewer, and talk with local garden hosts about how to “grow your own” in the city, no matter what size garden space you might have. Gardens feature vegetables, fruits, herbs, flowers, and/or trees and shrubs. Educational workshops are also offered, such as how to save seeds. Plus, tour Food AND Medicine’s greenhouse in Brewer.
Date: Saturday, August 2, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Rain date: Sunday, August 3, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
Contact: Visit foodandmedicine.org or contact Larry Dansinger, at 207-262-3706 or [email protected], for a schedule and list of gardens and times to visit during the day.
Sagadahoc County
Apple Creek Farm hopes you’ll join them on Open Farm Day for a 60-minute farmer-led tour, held at various times throughout the day (TBD). The tours will include stops to see their chickens (laying hens and meat chickens), cows, goats, sheep, and livestock guardian dogs, Ida and Monty.
Visitors can also take a self-guided tour through the farm’s shady, wooded trails. Please dress for walking on uneven ground and plan to carry children, as the paths are not well-suited to strollers. If you are coming from or have visited other farms, clean your boots prior to arrival.
Activities for children include a barnyard tour, coloring, and an egg hunt. Their pop-up farm store will be open; in addition to their selection of eggs, beef, chicken, and specialty products, their entire inventory of sheepskins will be 15% off.
As part of Bowdoinham’s Open Farm & Studio Day, they’ll be hosting a Makers Market, too! There will be art, food, and unique products from an array of Maine makers available for purchase, as well as wheel-throwing demonstrations and hands-on opportunities with clay.
Date: Open Farm Day, Sunday, July 27 at 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Rain or shine.
Location: 538 Millay Road, Bowdoinham, ME 04008.
Contact: applecreekfarm.me
After several decades of growing specialty vegetables for farmers’ markets and restaurants, in 2023, Dandelion Spring Farm built The Hive, a timber frame event space to gather community on farm land. They believe stronger communities and a healthier environment can come from eating food together.
Dates: Join them from 5-7 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month, May through September, for community dinners and taco nights at the farm. October 12 is their annual harvest dinner. Visit the workshop and events listing at dandelionspringfarm.com for details.
Location: 961 Ridge Road, Bowdoinham, ME 04008.
Contact: For questions about their events or hosting your own private event, contact [email protected].
Somerset County
Join a lavender farm tour at Sweet Dreams Lavender Farm. Activities include: lavender tasting, lavender picking, and more. Let’s talk lavender!
Date: July, Thursday through Saturday, 11 am. to 4 p.m.
Location: 408 Dexter Road, St. Albans, ME 04971.
Contact: Marie Kirven at 207-938-3951; mainelavenderfarm.com
Waldo County
Walk up a woodland path (about 550 feet) to eat your fill of just-ripening blueberries on Belfast Blueberry Cooperative’s lush Cattail and Sky Field. Onsite eating is always free, and this day you may also bring home a quart of your finger-picked berries. Stay to help us make basketry hoops from our weed-trees or pack leaf-fodder for livestock, in exchange for your pick-your-own winter supply of berries to rake at a later date. This eastern end of Levenseller Mountain overlooks Tilden Pond and Mount Waldo.
Date: Sunday, July 13, noon to 4 p.m.
Location: From Rt. 3/Rt. 131/Lincolnville Road intersection in Belmont, go south on Lincolnville Road about 4.5 miles. Soon after the big marked curve to the left and just before the “Greenacre Rd.” and 45 MPH signs, look on right for stone pull-off and parking (the road name changes to “Greenacre” at the Belmont/Lincolnville town line). Park; follow the green rope to the top of the field.
Contact: RSVP by calling 207-338-3301 (voicemail only, no text) — say your phone number and planned arrival time, then come on up!
The Trotochaud/McDowell Gardens and Everyday Pottery Studio in Belmont will hold its annual pottery sale and garden tour on August 2 and 3. With a goal of creating a sustainable, organic garden, Mary Trotochaud and Rick McDowell have established numerous fruit, vegetable, and flower beds that include cranberries, blueberries, rhubarb, raspberries, figs, breadseed poppy, and hazelberts, as well as cherry, peach, apple, pear, and plum trees. A romantic but sturdy grape arbor supports three varieties of grapes. See also a fire pit, a pizza oven, a well-designed chicken coop, a beehive, and a reflecting pool with a small fountain. (Trotochaud is a long-time donor to the MOFGA-El Salvador Sistering Committee’s Empty Bowl Supper.)
Dates: Saturday, August 2 and Sunday August 3, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Open other days by chance or appointment.
Location: 103 Northport Road, Belmont, ME 04952. From the intersection of the Rt. 1 bypass and Rt. 52 in Belfast, take Rt. 52 for 5 miles to Ryan Road. Turn right on Ryan Road (which becomes Northport Road) and go about 2 miles. Signs for Everyday Pottery are on Rt. 52 and at the house.
Contact: 207-342-2251; [email protected]; marytrotochaud.com
Washington County
Smithereen Farm is a super diverse, MOFGA-certified organic farm looking out on Cobscook Bay in beautiful Downeast Maine. They’re building an abundant, dynamic and multi-faceted agroforestry operation, producing healthy food for Washington County and beyond. They grow big gardens, gather wild medicinal herbs and seaweeds, and harvest low-bush blueberries and cranberries — and then process all these unique tastes into value-added products in their commercial kitchen.
They welcome visitors to the farm and the larger campus in Pembroke, to visit the Farm Store, to attend a public event, or by appointment. They offer self-serve you-pick wild Maine blueberries in July/August and cranberries in August/September.
The Smithereen Farm Store is open from May 1 through October 1. Find their value-added products, hot takeaway food, fresh organic produce from the farm, and a wide selection of frozen, fresh, and shelf-stable items from local producers. Stop by for picnic supplies or to stock up on delicious souvenirs from your time Downeast. They carry produce, meat, fish, eggs, dairy, breads, oysters, honey, chocolate, coffee, books, gift items, and more. The Farm Store is their de-facto agritourist orientation center: Here you’ll find visitors’ guides to help you eat Downeast, trail/cultural suggestions, and even an electric car-charging station! Visit smithereenfarm.com/camp or search “Smithereen Farm” on Hipcamp to learn about camping opportunities.
They host events and workshops in partnership with Greenhorns (their nonprofit sister organization). They host popular Spa Days, opportunities to luxuriate in a seaweed soaking tub with access to a shared woodfired sauna. Learn more at smithereenfarm.com/events. In Pembroke, you’ll also find Reversing Hall, a former Odd Fellows Hall that now houses the Greenhorns Agrarian Library, open to the public by appointment or chance.
Dates: The Farm Store is open May 1 through October 1, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day.
Location: Smithereen Farm Store is located at 12 Little Falls Road, Pembroke. Reversing Hall Agrarian Library is located at 4 Leighton Point Road, Pembroke. You-pick blueberries are at 306 Youngs Cove Road, Pembroke. You-pick cranberries are at 4 Cranberry Drive, Dennysville.
Contact: [email protected]; @smithereenfarm (Instagram); smithereenfarm.com
York County
Frinklepod Farm is a small, diversified organic farm, growing vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers on 4 acres of land and in three greenhouses. Visit their farm store, pick your own flowers, enjoy soft-serve ice cream, and attend one of the pop-up markets or workshops held throughout the season.
Date: Open late April through October, including on Open Farm Day (July 27). Please see their website for hours of operation.
Location: 244 Log Cabin Road, Arundel, ME 04046.
Contact: 207-289-5805; frinklepodfarm.com
A few things to note: Please leave pets at home when you visit these farms. Due to the risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI H5N1) in Maine in recent years, we encourage farmers and guests who have poultry and other livestock to practice good sanitation. Farms and gardens participating in this listing are not vetted by MOFGA, and a listing does not imply an endorsement.
This article was originally published in the summer 2025 issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.
