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Tom and Theresa Gaffney of Highland Blueberry Farm in Stockton Springs. Dozens of women have worked on the farm as part of their drug rehabilitation program. Rebecca Goldfine photo. By Rebecca Goldfine When Rebekah Pressley boarded a bus in New Jersey to travel to central Maine, she had never heard of the small community she

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Examples of Amish Family Enterprise

Horses power woodworking tools and a grain mill at the Copps’ family farm in Thorndike. Holli Cederholm photo. Living Grains Bakery and Locust Grove Woodworks By Holli Cederholm Kenneth and Katie Copp moved their Old Order Amish Mennonite family, and their family business, to Thorndike, Maine, just over a year after Amish families started settling

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Family Centered Farming

Toki Oshima drawing Family-Centered Farming By Polly Shyka When little pigtailed Flora started running laps around the slide projector while her parents were speaking, no one at the 2009 Farmer to Farmer session seemed even slightly miffed. Not only was the 3-1/2-year-old an important part of their conference presentation, she is an important part of

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Volunteer Profile

Wilma Johnson (left) and Wilma Stewart. Photo by Heather Spalding. The Two Wilmas By Holli Cederholm Each year thousands of T-shirts featuring a graphic of the Fair poster are sold at the Common Ground Country Fair. The shirts usually arrive during the week before the Fair opens to the public – in need of folding.

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Mike & Margie Shannon

By Jean English Mike and Margie Shannon are happier living off-the-grid in Knox and raising most of their vegetables than they’ve been any other place they’ve lived. Jean English photos. Margie Shannon’s father would approve of the life that his daughter and son-in-law, Mike Shannon, have built on the north side of Frye Mountain, at

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Volunteer Profile

Dennis Merrill is too modest for his own good. Although he has volunteered for six years in the Common Ground Country Store and has helped with countless other projects, Dennis insists, “I haven’t really done that much.” “Dennis is the kind of guy who never makes a big deal about his help,” says Roy Miller,

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Wood Prairie Farm

Jim with the Gerritsens’ orchard in the background. The Not-So-Common Potato Text and photos by Jane Lamb One of the most sophisticated operations in Aroostook County takes place in the most unpretentious of settings – the utilitarian potato-packing plant cum residence and its surrounding outbuildings, farming equipment and fields at Wood Prairie Farm in Bridgewater.

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Volunteer Profile

Rick Kipp By Marada Cook Do you ever wonder who’s behind getting the Common Ground Fair set up, and who’s in charge of cleaning up the Fair once the fun is over? Rick Kipp, 54, does all these things and more, has been a MOFGA volunteer for the past 20 years, and is now the

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A Year

By Rhonda Houston I woke up Monday morning with a hangover of questionable origin. It was the typical feeling of a semi-trailer truck running you down, but something was different this time. The truck wasn’t carrying pints of Guinness, but 50,000 organic folks and all the falafel you could eat. Yes, I was the rookie

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Meadowsweet Farm

Paula and Sumner of Meadowsweet Farm in Swanville. Lamb photo. By Jane Lamb Raising animals on fresh green grass is vital to Paula and Sumner Roberts at their Meadowsweet Farm in Swanville. Their philosophy is to “treat all animals with respect and allow them the fullest expression of their natures consistent with good husbandry… [This]

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