Farm Fresh Maine #186

David Herring:

We're going to help train the next generation of organic dairy farmers for Maine and New England and we feel like we're a great fit for it. The property is really well suited to dairy even though we've never done dairy and we think that the benefits can be really far reaching and long lasting

Matthew DeGrandpre:

remain in New England Being a farmer means that you're dedicating your life to something and everybody has a specific purpose in life, I think, and to be given an opportunity in which you can do what you think is best for you. I think that being a dairy farmer is an exciting experience for myself and for these young folks that want to do it as well. You know, it gives them an opportunity and it's right. It's in a perfect location. Freeport is so close to everything.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to Love Maine Radio show number 186, Farm Fresh Maine, airing for the first time on Sunday, April 5, 2015. Maine has a rich agricultural heritage. It was considered the breadbasket of the Northeast during Civil War times when it provided much of the wheat for the Union Army. Today we are experiencing a resurgence of interest in farming as a new generation takes to the fields to provide us with local nourishment. On today's show we speak with David Herring and Matthew de Grandpre of Wolfsneck Farm about the transformations they have witnessed and why they are passionate about Maine agriculture. Thank you for joining us. Having been working with Love Maine Radio for several years now, it is a great privilege to spend time with people more than once. And today we're spending time with David Herring who we had on talking about Maine Hudson Trails in one of our very early shows today. He's here because he's representing Wolf's Neck Farm. David Herring has been in management and leadership roles for nonprofit organizations for the last 15 years. He became the executive director of of Wolf's neck Farm in 2012. And since then the Freeport based nonprofit has gone through major transformation that includes an ambitious new long range vision and the impending launch of a major new initiative to support the future of organic dairy in Maine and New England. It's so great to have you back again here.

David Herring:

Thank you. It's great to be back.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

First, I want to talk to you about why it was that you went from Maine Hudson Trails to Wolfs Neck Farm. Anybody who's been listening to the radio show for a while probably has the same question that I do.

David Herring:

Yep. And you're not the only one. It's funny, I think my parents and my family still are kind of like, so wait, you're a farmer now? And it's not quite that simple. You know, Maine is one of those places where, you know, I think people oftentimes choose the place more so than they choose a job in that place, if you will. And that, you know, I was drawn to Maine for a number of reasons. And I got the gig at Maine Huts and it was amazing. And yet it was time for a change. And I knew that I had kind of chosen a career path that was a little bit unique. And so it took me a little bit of time to think through kind of what would be the right next step for me. And I knew I wanted to stay in Maine. I knew that I wanted to lead an organization that was place based as opposed to, you know, policy or advocacy or other important things. But I'm very. I connect to places. And the opportunity at Wolf's Neck really spoke to me right away because even though on the surface it's farming, it's a place that needs to be cared for. It's a place that people love, that people are drawn to and that. That I knew that I could help use the place, help the organization use the place to connect people to nature and to food and to health. And so for a number of reasons, it made sense to me. And what's been amazing, honestly, is that since I took the job, I have continually been. My choice has been affirmed and reaffirmed many, many times just because I think it's been a great fit.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How old are your children now?

David Herring:

4 and 18 months.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So when we interviewed you a few years ago, you just had, you just had the one and pretty small.

David Herring:

Yeah, she was probably one and maybe, maybe coming up on two. I don't remember exactly when we did the show. That was part of it too. I mean, the main Hutts gig kind of had me spread all around and I was at a point where I wasn't sure we were going to move up to care Bassett and stay with the organization. When I' decided that it was time to find another opportunity, we knew that it was kind of. That was the next domino to fall, if you will, and that I needed to get that job so that we could get a bigger house, so that we could have another kid and kind of pursue our dreams and all that kind of fell into place.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, that's the sense as you were talking that I was getting was this sort of this evolution of a family, you know, the need to settle in, the need to put down roots. And it's really great that Wolfskneck was available to do that for you.

David Herring:

Totally. And you know, I think what's been really great is that it's. It's just a great fit for our family and for me as a parent and for my kids and because they love it there and they think it's daddy's farm, even though it's not. I just get the honor and privilege of enjoying it every day.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I used to have a small writing cottage down in that area. So I would, in between writing, I would go out for hikes and would hike out to Wolf's Neck Farm and along recompense shores. And it's so. I want to use the word bucolic. You know, it's so bucolic. It's so Maine.

David Herring:

It is.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And it's something that a lot of southern Maine families have enjoyed for quite a while. Watching the calves being born and watching the animals, other animals come into the world, it feels like a gift.

David Herring:

Well, it is a gift and it's one that, you know, I think that we could enjoy even more than we are now just by caring for the place and by creating opportunities for people to connect with it. You know, the history of Wolf's Neck is interesting. It was a gift from the Smith family back in the 80s and it was gifted to the University of Southern Maine. They had it for about 10 years. And then it came back to a small foundation that the family had set up. And at that time, that was in the mid-90s, they turned it into a non profit operating foundation. And so, you know, it's interesting, it was a gift that was gifted once and then kind of gifted back. And now in some ways I feel like the transformation that we're going through is one where we're kind of re gifting it again.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

The thing that I found interesting was that you had cows and I knew the cows and then the cows went away, because I believe Pineland got the cows, but now cows are back, but in a very different way.

David Herring:

Well, almost back, yeah. So almost back. Yeah, they're coming back. We're bringing the cows back home. So. Yeah. Well, in the space between when Pineland left and now, we have had cows there. We've had anywhere from 50 to 100 head of cattle there each year that we've been raising in partnership with other farms to kind of help them bring up their capacity, continue to support local food. But it was kind of a placeholder, if you will, while we as an organization figured out, well, why are we farming? And for what purpose? And kind of what's our higher calling? And it's taken some time to get there, but I think we've really landed on something special. So we decided about, I think it was about a year and a half ago, we entered into some conversations with the folks at Stonyfield. Stonyfield is the largest organic yogurt brand in the country and the number three yogurt brand in the country. And they started telling us about some of the challenges facing organic dairy in Maine and New England and the country. And we at the time were looking for kind of a higher calling related to farming and kind of what are we going to dedicate this amazing farm property to? And so, long story short, we're going to help train the next generation of organic dairy farmers for Maine and New England. And we feel like we're a great fit for it. The property is really well suited to dairy, even though we've never done dairy. And we think that the benefits can be really far reaching and long lasting for Maine and New England.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We had Cecily Pingree on the show and she was talking about the film that she had produced about Moo Milk, Maine's own organic milk. And when I heard of its untimely demise, I was very sad because I think that this is something that we need. If you're going to drink milk, you need to get it from a safe and healthy source. So when this opportunity came into being, that made me really happy.

David Herring:

Well, good. Me too. You know, and even though the two aren't necessarily connected, I mean, it was maybe just happenstance that Moo was going away right around the time that we launched our program or announced the launch of our program. So they're not necessarily connected, but it's all part of the same industry. And that's agriculture and organic dairy. More specifically, it's vital for Maine's rural economy to have a thriving agricultural economy. And dairy and organic dairy are really kind of the backbone of that. And there used to be so much more dairy being produced in Maine, and there isn't nearly as much now. And that's an issue on a number of fronts. And so we feel that having more organic dairy being produced in Maine will help support rural economies. It's going to support our health, it's going to keep organic dairy on the shelves in the store, which is an issue in Maine and across the country. And hopefully it's going to mean that the market share for organic dairy products grows, while the market share potential for conventional dairy then would shrink just a bit.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Tell me what that looks like. What is it that your organization, what is it that Wolfs Neck Farm is going to do to promote the education of organic dairy farmers in the state?

David Herring:

Yeah, so it's really twofold. So one is, and the official title of the program is the Organic Dairy Farm Research and Farmer Training Program. So the research side is one where we're going to really focus on partnering with people and organizations and entities interested in doing research related to organic dairy and specifically related to forages and pasture based management and ways to help create a more viable and profitable enterprise for small organic dairy farmers. So that's kind of one way that we're going to help support current dairy farmers or current organic dairy or regular conventional dairy farmers. The new farmer training piece is one where. So the average age of dairy farmers in Maine is somewhere around 60. And in the next five or so years, a lot of those folks are going to be interested in retiring and they're going to need to transition out. And so with 60 or roughly 50 or 60 organic dairies right now in Maine, that could mean that maybe as many as half of them could be going away in the next five years. And this is one of the challenges that one of the concerns that Stonyfield had was if we're going to continue to grow as a business and other organic dairy businesses are going to continue to grow, how's that going to be possible if the amount of milk being produced is going down? So we saw an immediate need there to dedicate the property at Wolf's Neck to training these new farmers. So each year, four new trainees are going to come in and live on the farm for a residential training program where they'll stay there for 18 months and they'll work under the direction of a director of the program, but also a team of advisors that is a really impressive group that we've assembled an 18 member advisory board and they're going to learn all about how to be a profitable and viable organic dairy business. And I say business because that's really what farming is. It's a business. And if you're great with animals but you're not good with business, it's not going to necessarily mean that you're going to run a viable business. So we're going to spend a lot of time focused on business planning, on financial management, on pasture management, and lots of the hard skills and technical skills that they're going to need. But I think that the industry isn't necessarily hurting for people who have technical skills and people who love animals or want to be in farming. But it's more that people need to understand how to, how to be a viable and profitable business and how to manage a business.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

There's also a certain amount of hard work that goes into farming that until you actually are doing it, it's probably impossible to understand. So this will probably give people the opportunity to really understand what that means to be going into this field.

David Herring:

Well, definitely, and it's a good point. I mean, I think we're hoping that we can attract trainees who have already maybe kind of crossed that bridge and understood and understand that this is hard work, that this is going to be something that they're going to dedicate their lives to. But I think one of the things that we've been talking about, the team of folks that's been putting together the training, is that we want the training to be harder and more challenging than what they're going to feel face afterwards. And so we've been kind of just putting a lot of thought into what does that mean and how do we make this as real world as possible? And even taking it a step further, how do we make it more challenging than real world so that when they get out, they're prepared for what they're going to be facing, which is a lot of hard work and potentially hardships. But we want to make sure that the people coming out of this program are ready.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We hope you take the time to stop by. Also in April, we'll be featuring the Apothecary by Design speaker series with Dr. Matthew Siegel and Alice Chapluck, both of whom you've heard on Love Maine Radio as guests discussing autism here in Maine. There's also a family element to this particular vocation that doesn't really exist in other occupations. If you're going to be a farmer, then your family is going to be a farming family. That's different.

David Herring:

Well, it is different, and we put a lot of thought into the size of the model that we're going to be operating at Wolfs Neck. So the idea is that we're going to have 60 to 80 head milking herd, and that's roughly that's right in the range for a small family farm. And what we want to do is we want to train these new farmers using that model and have it be replicable so they would then go off with their families if if they have a family and start small family farms, because that's what Maine is well suited to. Maine and New England are well suited to that. The topography and the geography here in Maine is well suited to that. And even though dairy has kind of gone bigger and fewer in terms of bigger dairy farms, fewer of them and more cows, that's not necessarily well suited to New England and to Maine. And Maine is much better suited to small family farms. And that's why we feel that setting up the model the way we are is going to be well suited to that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I always found it interesting that the Wolf's Neck property had so many different aspects to it. I know that the coastal studies for girls, there's a relationship there, there's recompense shores, there's a relationship there. I was there for Taste of the Nation, so I know that events happen there. An event that you did last summer was held at a barn where you can go to have a wedding done. And that's very main too, that you can have different offerings in different areas in order to create a viable location.

David Herring:

Yeah, yeah. You know, I think we, you know, it's interesting. I had no idea how much goes on on a Wolf's Neck farm until I till I took this job. And it's a tremendous amount, especially when you fold in the campground and kind of that visitor aspect of it and the thousands of people that come out there each year to go hiking or camping or kayaking or biking, you name it. But in some ways, we're kind of the model farm in that the most successful farms have a second income at the farm. So maybe one person in the family is the farmer and the other one is supporting the farmer, but is also maybe a nurse or a teacher or a doctor or something else. And so in some ways, Wolfsknack is kind of like that. Even though we're obviously a different entity because we're a non profit organization, but we have the campground and we have these other recreational experiences, we have events, we have just other things that are going on out there that help support our farming and help support our mission and what we're doing out there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

There is a history of saltwater farms in Maine, which I think is very unique. I mean, I assume that you can have a saltwater farm anywhere that there's salt water. But that's different than big dairy, Big dairy in the middle of the United States. I mean, that gives us a very unique way of offering a product.

David Herring:

It does. And you know, I think the Wolf's Neck property is really well suited to dairy. I think people asked, people were kind of like, wow, so you've never done dairy out there? It's always been a beef farm. You've never done dairy? Well, you know, beef comes from cows and so does milk. And so. And the more that we're learning about raising cows on pasture, and this isn't just we wolfsnake, but we as a society, the more that we're learning about raising cows on grass, the more that we're coming to understand that it's better for our health, it's better for the environment, it's better for, better for our farms and better for our soil. And there's no place that it's more important to do that than in a place like Wolfsk. Because we're coastal and because we've got all these amazing natural resources surrounding us, it's imperative that we take care of the Soil that we take care of the farm and that we manage it in a way that's going to help us be good stewards of those natural resources. And specifically the clam flats. I mean, Freeport is a really productive clam flat zone and there are dozens of families or more in Maine that, that make their livelihood from that. So it's just, it's critical that we are farming in a way that's respectful of everything that's going on out there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We haven't really talked about why one would care about having organic milk or organic dairy products. And I'm sure that a lot of people who are listening have some idea as to why organic anything is a good idea. But I know that when I have patients who come to see me and they drink milk in their family, who. It's even more important, I think, to be able to access organic dairy and dairy products. Because this has fat in it. Dairy milk has fat in it and fat is where things are stored. And so if you drink something that has fat that's not healthy, it's got pesticides in it, it's got antibiotics in it, it's got things that might disrupt the hormone system that actually is going to have more of an impact on you than maybe eating non organic produce. But we don't hear about this all the time.

David Herring:

Well, milk is a big business. And you're right, we probably don't hear that much about it. And since we've kind of launched this initiative or decided to launch this initiative, I've certainly learned a lot about the world of organic dairy. And I've had a lot of conversations with people that they've been, they've said, well, what's the difference what makes organic milk organic? And really the primary difference is what they're eating. So a conventional cow that's producing milk, there are no restrictions or regulations around that cow getting access to the outside. There's no regulations around what they're eating. I shouldn't say no regulations, but they can eat a grain based diet. And that's not necessarily what cows were meant to do, but that's what conventional dairy has done when you look at kind of making it as profitable as possible. So the lifespan of conventional dairy cows is more like two to three years. And we found that giving them lots of grain is helping them produce more and more milk, but it's not necessarily good for the cow and it's not necessarily always what's best for, for people either. So organic milk really is milk that's produced from cows that spend the better portion of their time outside. And when they're outside, they're doing what cows are naturally predisposed to do and that's eat grass. So the primary difference is that cows that are producing organic milk are eating primarily a diet of forages. So they're eating, they're eating what's growing in the pastures that they're having access to. And what that does is it produces a product that has more better fats and is a healthier product. Not to mention that the soil that that grass is growing in can't be treated with pesticides or fertilizers that don't meet the organic standards. So, you know, not only is organic milk better for you, it's also better for the environment. Just like organic produce is versus conventionally grown produce.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I would also assume that cows that are eating grass outside, which is what they're meant to do, are going to feel less stressed than cows that are kept inside and fed grain.

David Herring:

Healthier cows produce better milk and healthier milk, and that's, that's definitely the case.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Does it taste different?

David Herring:

I don't necessarily know that it tastes different. You know, what does taste different in a product that is just now coming out or just kind of coming out? In Maine, if you go to like Whole Foods, you might see it. Or Bow street in Freeport, I see is carrying it. Organic Valley has a line called grass milk. So it's 100% grass fed cows producing that milk. And what's interesting about it is if you drink it at different times of the year, it's been said that the taste takes on the taste of the forages that they're eating at that time of the year. So if you're drinking it in the winter, chances are that cow is eating baled hay and baleage and silage versus in the summer. And at different times in the summer or fall, it might be eating different kinds of grasses that bring a different taste to the milk. So I think that when you go to the lengths of eating grass or drinking grass milk, I think you'd notice a difference. But I don't necessarily know that people can tell much of a difference between organic milk and conventional milk.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I don't drink milk, I must admit, so I will never be able to know this for myself. But for people who are listening who drink milk, I would love to hear what their perception of grass milk versus non grass milk, organic versus non organic. Just because I think it's kind of interesting. You know, this is food that comes from somewhere. So all the things you just described go into making this food, and then we put it in our bodies. So that makes a difference.

David Herring:

It does. And it makes, you know, just like, you know, it's interesting the more you think about the food that you're eating, there's. There's so many things to think about, you know, how it's grown or where it came from, or what we have to do to grow it or how far we have to transport it. And dairy has its own whole mystery behind it as well. And just some of the stuff that we're talking about in terms of what it takes to produce it and whether it's conventional or organic. And is it from cows that were grown or raised on a feedlot in Texas, where there are 2,000 other cows there and they occupy 10 acres? Or is it from cows that were raised on pasture at a farm in Albion, maine, where there's 30 cows and 100 acres and they're enjoying time outside and being healthy? And when you start dialing in like that, it kind of makes it easier to go to the grocery store and pay a little bit more because the cost of food has been kind of skewed a little bit over the years when you think about things like subsidies for corn and things like that. So it makes it easy to make that choice, at least for people that can afford it, to go a dollar more and buy an organic product.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

David, how can people find out about the organic dairy program and the work that you're doing at Wolf's Neck Farm?

David Herring:

Well, obviously they can go to our website, so wolfsneckfarm.org and we've got a number of new pages on there now about the organic dairy program. And later this month, we hope to begin accepting applications for the first four trainees for the program. So if you're listening and you're somebody who is into dairy or into organic dairy, and you know that this is a career that you want to pursue, but you need a little bit more to get you to the point where you're ready for farm ownership or farm operation. This could be a good opportunity for you to pursue that career and help revive Maine's organic dairy industry.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We've been speaking with David Herring, who is the executive director of Wolfs Neck Farm in Freeport. Thank you so much for coming in and talking to us again today.

David Herring:

Thanks so much. I enjoyed it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As a physician and small business owner, I rely on Marcie Booth from Booth, Maine to help me with my own business and to help me live my own life fully. Here are a few Thoughts from Marcy when was the last time you took a break from what you were doing, from the work that was piled up on your desk and just looked up? I know that during the course of my days, I often forget to take a moment or two to just breathe, look up at the sky and dream. Terrible that I have to remind myself to breathe. But when I do, I feel energized. Because in those moments, I'm able to let go of the daily grind and think more about what I want to accomplish, how I want my business to grow. Sometimes those are the aha moments. If we all took a few moments out each day to stop what we were doing and dream a little about our business futures, not only would we feel a great sense of calm, but we may come to realize that these dreams can in fact, come true. I'm Marcie Booth. Let's talk about the changes you need. Boothmaine.com

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

we on Love Maine Radio enjoy bringing the pages of Maine Magazine to Life. And today, that's just what we're doing as we speak with Matt de Grandpre, who is the farm operations manager at Wolfsneck Farm. Born and raised in Freeport, Wolfsneck Farm has always been a part of Matt's life. His grandfather Charlie moved the family up to Maine in the late 1960s from a dairy farm in Massachusetts and immediately began transforming and managing the farm. And the reason I say that we're bringing the pages of Maine Magazine to life is that you are actually featured in an article that was written by Sandy Lang and photographed by Peter Frank Edwards. That's in our upcoming issue. So you're a star. Thanks for coming in. We're so lucky to have you.

Matthew DeGrandpre:

You're welcome.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You thank. This is a little different than what you normally do on a day to day basis as a farm operations manager. Tell me what that looks like.

Matthew DeGrandpre:

Well, I was welding about 30 minutes ago, so it's, you know, it kind of gives me a little bit of a variety of what all of the things that I've learned in the last 10 or so years, kind of following around my dad and my grandfather and my uncle. So it allows me to do the things that I love and that's auto mechanics, as well as some carpentry and plumbing and heating and electrical and Stuff like that. So my day to day kind of chore list is just keeping the farm a safe place for people to come and enjoy as well as a beautiful place and maintain it so that we can get the same quality of product out to the customers that they want. And, you know, things change after years. So it's a big property to take care of.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's a beautiful place.

Matthew DeGrandpre:

It is, yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's a pretty great place to work, to be able to look out there. And you have the fields, you have the woods, you have the ocean, you have the animals.

Matthew DeGrandpre:

Absolutely.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So what is that like in the winter?

Matthew DeGrandpre:

Well, the winter is kind of a quiet time on the farm. A lot more activity, you know, with people cross country skiing and snowshoeing in the campground. But it's also pretty quiet in the barn. It allows us to be able to kind of bring power tools in and start making upgrades to the barn just because we don't have as much foot traffic and it's a lot colder. And of course, with all the snow we've had this year, we've just spent a lot of time making these kind of the wintertime upgrades. So our chore list that we've kind of held off between, you know, haying season and the busy season allows us to do those sorts of things in the wintertime.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

The first time that I went to Wolfsneck Farm, I believe I was bringing my oldest, who's now 21, to watch the calves being born. So talking about foot traffic, you have a lot of people that come in and out to see the animals. You have a lot of schools and families.

Matthew DeGrandpre:

Yeah, the education department at the farm has grown quite a bit. I mean, it's always been there. It's at a little bit of a different level now. I think it's a lot more of a focused people in this state that want to know a lot more about where their food's coming from. And I think that's kind of happened more or less in the last couple of years as people realize that what they're getting at a normal grocery store isn't what they want for their kids or for their family. So as that has transitioned, I think a lot more people want to come to the farm and see the animals and see how they're getting taken care of and know that it could be their neighbor as the person that's feeding them in the morning, or it could be a student that they have in class that's down there after school helping out. So, you know, it involves a lot of people in the community, people that need volunteer hours or high school students that, you know, that need those hours can come and work there. So it's more of like of a family, you know, of people. And not that we're all related, but we're all there together doing kind of accomplishments, accomplishing the same task.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What has it been like for you to be a part of a family that works on a farm together? This is your grandfather. Charlie is 88. And today as we're recording this, I know that your uncle once was a manager also, and your father has been involved. And you really. This is something that a lot of people don't have. They don't get to see their fathers, grandfathers, uncles on a day to day basis as part of work. What's that like for you?

Matthew DeGrandpre:

Well, it's an awesome thing. It allows me to kind of work off of them. I see them all the time. And we all live within five miles of each other, so it becomes difficult to be able to, you know, find ways to separate life and business. But it's a lifestyle that we live and we choose to live. And my dad takes care of the campground. So a lot of times in the summer I don't get to see him. I've got a July birthday, so that's during the middle of hay season. So I don't really get to see too many people in that time. So it's more like the winter time is when we get to, you know, get together and enjoy ourselves a little bit more as a family. But my uncle is a carpenter at the farm as kind of a retirement, hanging around, getting things done, helping us make improvements. And my grandfather is still around, lives on the farm, I live on the farm. So it's a unique experience. I think it's unique that there's three generations still alive, still down there, still working hard. But I think what makes it special is that, you know, as I struggled to kind of get through high school and going into vocational school, I didn't necessarily. It wasn't a big concern to me about learning kind of the math and the English. It was more, how do I get to be a plumber, an electrician, a mechanic, a farmer? What is it? What part of this class teaches me about that? You know, so as I was, people were saying, you know, you need to study hard and you need to do these things. I'm thinking, how quickly can I get out there and put my hands on these topics? And that's where my family comes to play, is they all excel in a specific area and so as we all come together as one, well, they call that farmers. I mean those are the people that can do a little bit of everything. So it's important to have everybody involved because I think that helps make you kind of multi purpose person.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You graduated from Freeport High School and as you just mentioned, you had some vocational training, but you also did standards, English and math and all of those things. Did you know when you were going through that you would someday be a manager at the farm?

Matthew DeGrandpre:

No, not at all. I went my junior years when I started at the main vocation station, Region 10 in Brunswick. And I started there knowing that I wanted to go for automotive. My dad's older brother Richard runs a garage in Freeport and I've kind of watched him and his success there. And so I thought, well, if I go to be a mechanic and I kind of maybe follow Richard's footsteps, I could start, you know, run my own garage. I've always wanted to be kind of working for myself. It's enjoyable to kind of be your own boss and to make your own mistakes and to learn and then succeed. And I thought that if becoming a mechanic I could do that in Freeport and that people are always going to be driving cars. So that's why I went into the mechanic part of it. When I went to the vocational school. I then realized that there's a lot more to it than just day to day maintenance. There's a lot of tricks and a lot of different things that you learn on a vehicle that I use every day at the farm. And that program at the main vocation school brought me to Central Maine Community College, which is where I went to college only because my teacher knew that was a good fit for me. I had already paid to go to another school. I had already decided to go to Massachusetts and go to a certificate school. And he said, no, no, no, you've. I know your family, I know who you are, I know what you are going to do even though you don't think you're going to be doing it. I want you to go to Bron, I want you to take the day off and go up to Central Maine and do that program. So I did and I ended up pulling out of the School of Massachusetts to go to CMCC and went there for automotive. And that was kind of when I realized working in a dealership like my fellow classmates probably wasn't going to be a good fit. So that was schooling was mainly trying to figure out who I was and what other people were thinking of doing and What I was going to do differently.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That's a lot to do. That's a lot to handle. I mean, this is. You're 25. A lot of people by the time they're 25, still don't know exactly what they're going to do, still are trying to figure out what that all looks like. Was there some moment that. Some aha moment where you said, oh, wait, I know what I want to do now?

Matthew DeGrandpre:

Probably a lot of it has to go to the fact that when I was a baby, when I was a year old, my uncle, who was a operations manager at the farm, passed away. And when he left, he had. Not only was he taking over my grandfather's legacy at Wolf Neck, he was also running his own farm. He had two girls there. He had all his own excavation equipment. He had, you know, he had built himself a life at, you know, before he was probably 30. That was something that I would want to do and have all the equipment and have all the toys and be able to kind of live that dream of just being able to do kind of what you want on your own schedule. And that's. That was what he was doing. And I. When he passed away, and as I got older and kind of learned more about what he was doing, I thought, well, jeez, that, you know, he went to be a mechanic. He went to school to be a mechanic. Why can't I just, you know, as. As I got older, my grandmother would say, oh, you remind me so much of David. You remind me so much of David. I thought, you know, I never. I never got to know David, but I got to know that I got to learn what he was doing was as a person. And so I feel that since my grandmother's passed away and, you know, my grandfather kind of tells me a little bit more about kind of what David was doing. It's a lot like what I'm trying to do, you know, and starting to do. So I think a lot of it just has to do with the family keeps on going, even when we have a tragedy like that. And so it really boils down to what my family's been doing and how happy they seem to be, you know, and. And that's what I'm looking for.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I heard the word toys. I mean, I think that's what I think of my son and my nephews and just the awe that they have when they look at farm machinery or trucks or vehicles. I mean, there is this sense of joy and that you get to play with a big thing that moves. And for you, that must be great because you actually know how to fix it.

Matthew DeGrandpre:

I enjoy the outdoors a lot and I do. I have ATVs and snowmobiles. And so I like to, when I go on vacation, I like to make sure I've got a big trailer behind me with a bunch of good stuff on it. But a lot of it too is old farm equipment. I've got an antique tractor. My grandfather has an antique tractor. We go to the fairs and do the antique tractor pulls and, you know, engines are a hobby of mine. And so it's kind of fun to be able to wheel and deal and buy things that I can use on the farm that will maybe make me money in the wintertime, plowing snow and stuff like that. So it's a hobby. And it's definitely something that I like to, I've always loved doing and I'd like to keep doing it, you know.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How early do you get up in the morning?

Matthew DeGrandpre:

Very variable. It's funny, I get up at 3 every morning to soak the wood stove because I live in the oldest house in Free Port, no insulation. So I'm up early doing the wood fire and then it's pretty much coffee time. And then I hit the door, I don't know, about 7:30 to get to the farm and that's about 8, about the time everybody kind of starts getting going at the beef operation or the feeding operation that we currently are right now. Once we get to dairy, I'm sure it'll be hours before that, but it's the afternoon that kind of takes over. You know, when you get home at like 7:30, 8 o', clock, and that's, that's kind of when you wind down

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

the day, that's a long day.

Matthew DeGrandpre:

It's a lifestyle, you know, you're, you're doing some of your own things, doing a lot of the farm things, doing, you know, you're, you're getting what you need to get done and what the farm needs to have done and stuff like that. So it's, you know, you, it's, it seems like a long day, but it keeps you busy. I mean, you get up in the morning and you're not punching in. I'm not punching a time clock or anything. I'm getting up when I get up and hitting the road. And when the job's done, that's when you get home.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And also there's a cyclical nature to it. So in the winter you do a certain set of jobs. The spring it looks different.

Matthew DeGrandpre:

Yeah. In the winter you get to sleep in. And then in the summertime it gets, it gets pretty crazy. Especially I run the haying operation for the farm. And so all of the maintenance that goes in before you even start the day, I mean we might not start cutting hay until the dew settles and that's sometimes 11 o'.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Clock.

Matthew DeGrandpre:

And so you're up and you're sharpening and you're greasing and you're changing oil and fueling things up and that takes a lot of time. Plus you're trying to get people, other people orchestrated on what their day to day task is going to be while you're out in the field. So. Yeah, and then the spring and the fall, it's so muddy down at the farm. I mean we're right on the water. We've got heavy clay soils. Every water just sets right on top of it. So, you know, you're just trying to keep people from, you know, going out on the fields early and running things up. So, you know, there. It's definitely a seasonal position, that's for sure.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And the weather, that's, that's something that I wouldn't have thought about is the clay and the rutting the field.

Matthew DeGrandpre:

Yeah. I thank God for smartphones because I have my weather channel app and if I'm up before I can watch the news or if I miss the news in the morning, then at least I can look at my phone and be able to know what the day is going to look like. Because a lot of it is weather dependent. If it's raining out, you're not in the, the fields, you know, or if it's, you know, that December 1st manure spreading deadline comes up and you're out in the fields in the rain, trying to get it done as quick as possible. You know, it's. A lot of it has to do with what the weather looks like and what kind of restrictions you're working against. I mean, we're on the water, so we have a lot of restrictions. You know, we can't, we can't graze too close to the water and we have to be careful about the amount of animals that we have close to the water and drainage. And you know, if animals are to get out, we're right on some pretty major roads and they're heavily traveled in the summertime especially, we've got a huge campground there. So there's over 120 campsites. So start getting a lot of that kind of traffic coming in and out. It's really crucial to keep everything in and safe. And so you know it is. It's very weather dependent, it's very seasonal dependent and you know, the summertimes are busy season, but it's only busy because it's so hectic. I mean the rest of the year you're still just as busy. You're still working the same hours. You're just kind of doing it at a little bit either different pace or, you know, totally different projects or working under a roof which I'm not used to doing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

you've had to be pretty flexible. It sounds like you've had to be flexible because of the rain, the snow, the time of year. It seems like some of what you do is planning and some of what you do is okay, what's right in front of me right now.

Matthew DeGrandpre:

Yeah, I think majority of it's what you get when you wake up and what it's doing outside. You know, when it snows, I've got a plowing small plowing business. So when it snows I'm out plowing snow. But I know that I have somebody else who covers who goes and feeds the animals. And you can plan things, but you better make it, you better write it down because you're not going to remember it because you get down there and there's a water tub that's frozen or a circuit breaker's tripped and you got to figure out why the animals come first and they need to make sure that they're fed and watered. So a lot of it, it's all about just kind of writing it down and prioritizing things. And then of course your 10 extra things you get every day that are things you didn't expect, you know, it

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

kind of reminds me of being a doctor. You can have a plan for the person sitting in front of you, but whatever it is that they show up with, you just gotta deal with when they're there.

Matthew DeGrandpre:

Absolutely.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Do you work with younger people when they come on the farm? Do you work with people who might want to be farmers themselves or not?

Matthew DeGrandpre:

My job in particular, I think there's people, you know, my job as the operations manager, I'm on equipment all the time and it's not a two seater, you know, and. Well, unless it's a truck, you know, and it's not like I'm really bringing people around and showing them what I do. Just because my job is so kind of equipment oriented. I'm always, you know, if I'm cutting hay, people sometimes will come and watch. But a lot of the younger involvement is with my co workers that are either that's their job or they're in the barn more than I am. You know, my job isn't in particular to like go out there and be doing like animal nutrition or being the vet or anything like that. I mean, a lot of my job has to do with, you know, the day to day operations and safety and stuff for the people that are there. So my interaction with younger people is only when we have big volunteer days, you know, and that's when people are coming, you know, businesses or schools are coming and they want to help us accomplish some tasks.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So if somebody were interested in the type of work that you're doing and working on a farm, being an operations manager, since you don't have a chance to talk to people coming onto the farm about this sort of thing, what would you tell that person?

Matthew DeGrandpre:

I mean, we do job shadowing. I've had some people that have come to the farm and worked there that their high school asks them to do a job shadow. And I love doing things like that. There's always time to help young people. I mean, I'm young myself, but somebody obviously did it for me so I'm willing to do it for them. And I think that my story is a bit unique because of how young I am and the position that I'm in now and kind of how quickly it all happened. I think that it's. I'm always open to have people come follow me around the farm, especially because I'm pretty good at getting work out of people.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I like that. So if somebody wants to come find out what you do they have to be prepared to actually do it with you.

Matthew DeGrandpre:

You don't show off without boots on, that's for sure.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's really interesting for me to think about your grandfather coming to Maine from Massachusetts with a specific intent of working on a farm and in fact coming from a dairy farm. And now Wolf Neck is going to become an organic dairy operation again and in fact train other farmers to offer organic dairy. That's a kind of a funny. It's almost like it was meant to happen or something.

Matthew DeGrandpre:

Yeah, you know, it is kind of a. Kind of becoming like a circle of events. I mean, I think when I first mentioned it to my grandfather, he thought, are you feeling alright? What are you doing? You understand this is five in the morning, five at night, milking seven days a week. This is a total lifestyle. This isn't just what you think is a lifestyle. And you know, I was over there with a co worker of mine and he kept saying, you know, well, who are you going to have do this and who are you going to have do that? And, and we're saying, well, you know, grandpa, this is. They have equipment that does that now. You don't just bring a wooden seat in a bucket and start milking. I mean this is like a legit. We're using equipment and machinery and it is definitely going to be a difficult change for us. But Wolfsneck Farm's purpose has been to raise natural meat and beef and, and that has since changed. And to have, and to be doing something that kind of puts Wolf Neck on the map. The state of Maine on the map, New England on the map. Young adults that want to be in this field. I mean this is an opportunity for people to share a similar story that I have and that is someone's giving you the opportunity. I mean I could be in a dealership right now turning wrenches. And there's people that do that and they're happy doing that and that's great. But being a farmer means that you're dedicating your life to something. And you know, there's people that work on Saturdays and there's people that work led the night shift. That's you know, and you think, oh man, I'd hate to have to work Saturday night or have to work through the night. But they're looking at you saying, I'd hate to be working seven days a week and milking twice week a. A day. I mean everybody has a specific purpose in life, I think, and to be given an opportunity in which you can, you know, do what you think is best for you. I think that being a dairy farmer is an exciting experience for myself and for these young folks that want to do it as well. You know, it gives them an opportunity and it's right and it's in a perfect location. Freeport is so close to everything, you know, that's why I'm there. I mean, I traveled. I used to drive a truck for a company and go out west and eight months out of the year and I did that for three years and came back and said, this is. It's got a little bit of everything, you know, so it's a unique place. And I think that, you know, even though my grandfather thinks we're going crazy doing, going dairy, I think what started the farm being such a success is that he had a dairy background and he knew animal nutrition and he knew how to take care of animals and he touched those animals twice a day, every day. Even though he wasn't milking them. That wasn't. That didn't matter. His business was keeping his animals happy and healthy. And I think that's what brought on a good business to begin with. And it's a good business model and that's what we're gonna do, just milking instead, you know, so it's a good opportunity for the farm.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I encourage people who are listening to read the article that was written by Sandy Lang and photographed by Peter Frank Edwards for Maine Magazine. Also, of course, visiting Wolf Neck Farm. That's always a possibility, although if they're going to visit, they have to put their boots on and be prepared to work if they're going to be with you. We've been speaking with Matt de Grand pr, who's the farm operations manager at Wolfskneck Farm, who's carrying on the family legacy. And happy birthday to your 88 year old grandfather, Charlie. I appreciate your taking time out of your very busy schedule and talking to me about what you're doing. It's very different than what I do in my life, but extremely valuable. And it's really wonderful that you and your family are doing this for us. Thank you.

Matthew DeGrandpre:

You're welcome. Thanks for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have been listening to Love Maine radio show number 186, Farm Fresh Maine. Our guests have included David Herring and Matthew De Grampre. Read more about them in the April issue of Maine Magazine. For a preview of each week's show, sign up for our E Newsletter and like our LoveMain Radio Facebook page. Follow me on Twitter and see my running travel, food and wellness photos as bountiful1 on Instagram. We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of lovemain Radio. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. We are privileged that they enable us to bring Love Maine Radio to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. I hope that you have enjoyed our Farm Fresh Maine show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.

Matthew DeGrandpre:

It. Sa.