Olde Oak Farm sits atop Bunker Hill in Maxfield, Maine, which overlooks the Penobscot River Valley. The farm is 93 acres and is a combination of open fields and a mixture of hard and soft woods, including a sizable sugar maple grove.
The land was purchased by Lester Sawyer in 1810. The family worked to clear the original fields with a team of oxen, transforming the homestead to a working, farm. The Sawyer family planted potatoes, cultivated an apple orchard, hay fields and milked about 10 cows as well. The family grew with six children–all working together as a team to run the farm. Several years later, Lester died while still fairly young in an accident while delivering apples to a neighboring town. After his death, the matriarch of the family, Harriet, held the family and the farm together.
The Sawyer family farm continued to be a productive, diversified farm for several generations. The farm underwent some tough times throughout the years as many family farms have. In 1977, the farm was bought by a close family friend, Clifford Winters who planted 20 acres of christmas trees on the land in order to grow a successful wreath making business. Not long afterwards, Mr. Winters became ill and the farm eventually went into disuse after he passed away.
In 2008, Clifford Winters Jr. sold the property to Olde Oak Farm. Many relatives of the Sawyer family still remain in neighboring towns and are an important part of our farm today. We are very thankful for the advice, personal history and intimate knowledge of the land they continue to share with us. When we purchased the farm, many of the fields were overgrown with trees and shrubs. The christmas trees now stand at about 40 feet tall and have never been pruned. Luckily, our goats LOVE to eat spruce trees, which contain high levels of vitamin C–great for goat health.
