FRANKLIN COUNTY — Several area farms will be participating in the 35th Open Farm Day on Sunday, July 28.

Black Acres Farm, 123 Black Road in Wilton will be open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“The sap house and sugar house will be open for a maple syrup tour,” James Black said Monday, July 15. “The evaporator won’t be running, obviously. We will talk about that.”

There will be baby calves and the cow/calf operation to tour at the barn, he said.

“We are thinking of doing a burger basket for lunch,” Black stated. “We are going to try to do a pre-order for our grass-fed beef burgers, hand cut fries and things like that. That is the plan.”

Price for the lunch is being determined, Black said. There will be a Google doc on the farm’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/blackacres.farm to pre-order, he noted.

“We are building a new facility, we are about half done so we will talk about that a little bit,” Black stated. “Have tours of that as well, how things are going to be set up, We typically do hay rides to show our pastures, rotational grazing and stuff.”

For more information call Black at 207-491-5443.

JB Farm, 140 Stinchfield Hill Road in Chesterville will be open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“We will have wagon rides, will have a blacksmith there doing demonstrations and he will be selling a few trinkets,” Tyler Jenness said Monday. “The barn will be open to cow/cattle tours. The sap house will be open along with the farm store.”

“Starting at noon, we will be serving a famous pulled pork lunch,” he noted. Cost for the lunch is $15, he added.

For more information call Jenness at 207-399-7652.

Maine Local Living School, 71 Lake Drive in Temple will be open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Founder Chris Knapp was not available to share further details with The Franklin Journal.

“Maine Local Living School is a working homestead and education center founded in 2008,” according to information provided for the Open Farm Day participants’ list. “Our programs emphasize building regenerative relationships with the earth and each other, learning practical skills for wise living, and cultivating capacities for observation, stillness and gratitude. Visitors carve, weave, wild-gather, cultivate, compost, harvest, sew, plant, thresh, winnow and construct a life that honors the limits and abundances of our places. Local living is a process of coming to know the earth as home. For us, coming home has meant coming alive.”

For more information, call 207-778-0318.

Shady Lane Farm, 108 Brahmer Road in New Vineyard will be open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“All barns will be open,” Cassie Hanscom said Monday. “The kids will  be working their animals: sheep, lambs, working steers. The sap house will be open with products for sale. There will be tours of the small butcher operation.”

The farm hasn’t participated in Open Farm Day in years, Hanscom noted. It is just an opportunity for people to come, see the farm, she added.

For more information call Hanscom at 207-491-8613.

Thistle Moon Farmstead [formerly Wilton Blueberry Farm], 83 McLaughlin Road in Wilton will be open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The farm has “been producing high-bush blueberries since 1946 [over 75 years],” according to information on the state’s listing of farms participating in Open Farm Day this year. Mat Bickford and his partner, Stephanie Henley operate the farm now.

Recently Bickford said by then the berries should be ready for picking. The farm is planning to add cut flowers, herbs, vegetables and pumpkins, although progress has been slow, he noted. Henley’s line of botanicals soaps and natural skin and body care products will be available to purchase, he noted.

For more information call 207-645-4678.

A complete list of farms participating in Open Farm Day this year may be found by visiting the GetReal events page, https://www.realmaine.com/agritourism/maine-open-farm-day-2024-listings/.

Copy the Story Link