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 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! 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
About Us
The Farmers
Bruce Bickford grew up in the New Hampshire seacoast area and developed a passion for growing vegetables at a young age. Every year, his family would tend a large garden and he loved browsing the Burpee's seed catalog and helping his mother decide what they would grow each spring. He managed Hutchins Farm in Concord, Massachusetts for 12 years before moving to Walpole, NH and starting his own farm, Abenaki Springs Farm, which he ran for over 20 years while raising his four older children. He is passionate about Organic food production, soil health and the natural world.
Kirsten Anderson grew up in southern New Hampshire and found her passion for organic agriculture while WWOOFing in California after college. She ran her own small CSA in New Hampshire before meeting Bruce at a farmers market they both vended at, and together they farmed at Abenaki Springs Farm for six years. Together they have two children, Emmett and Lillian, who can be found running around barefoot and grazing the crops in the fields. It has been a dream of theirs to farm together in Maine and they are excited to be part of the midcoast Maine community and continuing the vision here at Spear Spring Farm!
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 in strategy, planning, and manual labor when they can.
