Maine organic homesteaders adapt to challenges

Jaime Garzon, Ph.D., an assistant Extension professor and dairy forage educator, University of Maine at Orono, recently led a pasture walk on an organic farm on Flat Road in West Bethel, Maine. This was his first on a homestead.

Christine Trefehen and Eric List, the couple who bought a 6.5-acre parcel in 1998 that they named Morning Glory Farm, say their mission has been “to create a self-sufficient farmstead that works in conjunction with nature.” Only a few apple trees then grew on it, but it featured the south-facing aspect they wanted, open to the extensive elds of the historic Smith Farm in western Maine.

After working full-time on their farm for five years, in January Trefehen started working 20 hours a week as a program coordinator at Healthy Oxford Hills. List is a general contractor who owns and operates Winterhaven Custom Builders in Bethel. He also works hard on their farm. He spent two years building their timber-frame house from scratch, and they moved into it in 2000. List also built their barn, a grant-funded 76-foot-long high tunnel and some smaller buildings. They raised their two children here: Sophie, now a potter who lives at home to help with farming, and Eliot, who lives in D.C.

Garzon and List discussed the factors that must be considered when setting up “directional alleys” for field rotations for the farms sheep, cows and poultry, ensuring that the livestock will have adequate forage and the grasses enough time to recover from intense use. Garzon assured List and Trefehen that the mix of grasses in their pastures has a desirable level of diversity.

Only certified organic vegetables are grown in Morning Glory’s big fenced-in garden.

Because of her new part-time job, Trefehen reduced her 10-week community supported agriculture (CSA) clients from 25 to 12. CSA clients are offered a large variety of crops over three seasons: early, mid- and late summer/ autumn.

“We make our own compost and strive not only to be sustainable but also to be regenerative in our farming practices,” she posted on their CSA page. “We only purchase organic seed from small seed companies. Many of our varieties are heirloom.”

The Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association (MOFGA) provides certification services plus trainings and a well-attended annual country fair.

A family of skunks recently slipped through or under the garden fence, tore through some plastic sheeting and uprooted plants to find worms and grubs, opening the way for weed growth. To halt such damage, Trefehen tied ammonia-soaked rags onto the fence.

Raising pastured broilers and selling fresh eggs is a significant part of Morning Glory’s sales. Sixty large Cornish-Rock cross meat chickens would be processed in another week, Trefehen noted. This popular hybrid was specifically developed for efficient feeding and is ready to process in six to eight weeks.

Until recently, these meat birds were kept apart from the free-range egg-laying hens in a moveable, floorless coop. So that the birds will have fresh forage, their “chicken tractor” is regularly moved, dragged to another spot in the pasture using their easy-to-maneuver 24 hp tractor.

Recently, however, a stealthy red fox took a heavy toll on their 100 free-range hens, killing about 40. Horrified by this loss, the couple spent roughly $500 to buy 160 feet of moveable electric poultry netting with which to enclose all their birds. Although now far closer together than before, the meat birds are kept separate from the egg-producing hens. So far, fox raids have stopped, and they replaced 30 egg-laying hens.

Maine’s severe drought last summer forced Trefehen to make a tough decision. Years ago, her mentor, Lisa McCrory of Earthwise Farm in Bethel, VT, recommended she keep a family dairy cow. Trefehen kept three Jersey cows that she dearly loved. By the middle of August 2025, their hayfields were scorched brown and the cows couldn’t graze on pasture any longer. She fed them round hay bales, purchased at high market prices. After feeding her cows costly bales for two-thirds of a year, this May Trefehen reluctantly sold both Poppy and Shamrock. Lily, the remaining Jersey, gave birth in February to a calf named Violet.

Trefehen also enjoys having two fiber sheep: one white and one black. Twice a year they’re sheared by Jeff Burchstead of Buckwheat Blossom Farm. Trefehen prepares, spins and knits some of her own yarn.

Three 12-year-old dairy goats, now too old to provide milk, live in a permanently fenced space.

Honeybees took up residence in two of the 16 vacant hives in recent weeks, List said. All his bees died last winter. A chain-link fence protects the hives from black bears.

List has planted a variety of fruit trees. The peaches were about halfway to picking when the pasture walk took place. Three trees he had planted were dead, however. “Despite my hard-cloth tree guards, voles girdled them over the winter,” he lamented.

Last summer’s drought and high temperatures also resulted in the couple making an unplanned capital expenditure. They had their existing 600-foot-deep artesian well hydrofracked, increasing its gallon-per-minute output.

This is the 12th summer the farm has welcomed participants from World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF). Started in Europe, the program was brought to the U.S. 25 years ago.

“WWOOFers work five hours a day, five days a week,” Trefehen said. “There’s a detailed two-way application process, and no money is exchanged. We’ve provided meals and a cabin or tent plus hands-on organic farming experiences to about 200 WWOOFers.”

Garzon had UMaine Extension Bulletins to give out, including Bulletin #2214 on raising pastured broilers that includes alternatives to the Cornish hybrid and Bulletin #2491, “A Fact Sheet on Old Hayfield Renovation.”

by Edith Tucker