Where the Wild Things Wander
I am a feral wild woman, not content to remain sequestered forever in the kitchen
Giddy as a schoolgirl, I wrapped the chain around the base of the t-post and gave a thumbs-up to my neighbor on the tractor. BillieJo pulled the lever to lift the bucket and up came the fence-post—slick as shit. I giggled with joy at the ease of it. With a long line of t-posts to pull for relocation, trying to extract each post by hand and muscle alone would have taken hours. Instead, the task took about 30 minutes and left me wishing I’d prepped more posts to be heaved while I had the assistance.
Welcome to the latest Updates From the Farm! If you are new here, I invite you to check out my About page to learn what this is, who I am and why I am doing this. Or just dive right in! At “Runamuk Acres” you’ll find the recantings of one lady-farmer and tree-hugging activist from the western mountains of Maine. #foodieswanted
In This Post:
Community Conservation Walk
Controversy Over Growing Gardeners
Seedling Sale & Art Show
The MSGN Conference
Modifying the Garden Fence
Sheep/Lamb Update
Subscriber News
Where the Wild Things Wander
The past week has been a mix of ups and downs, with the long awaited delivery of compost for the school garden, frustrations at school, and the Maine School Garden Network’s annual conference on Saturday.
Community Conservation Walk
Local public libraries are a valuable asset in any community, but especially in rural areas like Western Maine. We’re blessed in the village of New Portland with a robust network of volunteers supporting our free public library, creating exciting and engaging programs for people of all ages and walks of life to enjoy.
To that end, Runamuk has been invited to participate in a “Summer Reading Program” which will pair hands-on activities and events with a selection of books over the course of the summer. Their theme this year is the Maine environment and learning more about the world around us. Special programs include an up-close bee encounter, the event at Runamuk, and a woods walk at another nearby property with a Maine Forester. Between July 2nd — August 22nd, the New Portland Community Library will host a weekly theme accompanied by story time, craft time and a related book list.
Runamuk Acres invites visitors to the farm for a “Conservation Walk” and a chance to visit the sheep and tour the gardens. We’ll make the 1-mile loop through our protected conservation forest, talk about our work promoting soil microbial life and beneficial insects in an effort to foster a robust habitat for wildlife. It is my hope that folks will leave with a greater appreciation for the smallest members of our community.
The exact day and time has yet to be determined, but I do know the event will take place sometime in August and before the kids go back to school. Stay tuned for more on that coming soon.
Controversy Over Growing Gardeners
If it weren’t for the kids, it would be agony to be stuck in the kitchen at school, removed from the farm and the long list of projects awaiting my attention. As it is, I’ve been fairly torn, yearning for more physical work and the wind in my hair, even as the littles gobble up my quirky food offerings and rejoice for Growing Gardeners—calling “Farmer Sam! Farmer Sam!” everywhere I go.
A visit from my favorite food-service supervisor on Friday highlighted the controversy surrounding my unique position within the school. This calls into question the direction I’ve taken this last year. Though the financial stability has been a blessing, I am keenly aware that the kitchen—any kitchen—is the last place I want to be.
Maybe I’ve been working for myself and by myself for so long that I can no longer work under another person.
Maybe my idea of “respect” and theirs are two totally different concepts and we’re just not going to agree.
During this particular visit, my role as School Garden Coach was called into question. “Maybe this isn’t going to work out…”
The problem is that there’s a teeny bit of overlap of Growing Gardeners onto my lunch-lady duties. The district doesn’t want to provide me with a helper so that I can leave early to go to another job.
Fair enough.
Yet, with summer vacation just around the corner, securing an income to sustain the farm in the interim is currently a source of poignant anxiety. I need these garden-gigs more than I want them. Even with the income from school I am barely making ends meet and still juggling bills and expenses as a solo lady-farmer.
So, to leave the kitchen and get to the garden on Friday afternoons, I’ve been using paper lunch-trays.
But my supervisors there don’t like that either and a lack of communication (or respect for those in the kitchen?—probably a combination of both) between departments has exacerbated the situation.
Despite the fact that our Superintendent signed off on it, promising my food service supervisors would “do what they could to make it work”, I’ve received quite a bit of flack for the garden-coaching job.
Suffice it to say that, while I can certainly make the best of it—and I am—I look forward to the day when I can return to farming full-time. If they want to keep this cook in their kitchen, they would be wise not to make me choose between the two.
Seedling Sale & Art Show
After the altercation with my food-service supervisor I kinda wanted to break down and cry, but meeting the kids in the garden served as a balm to my aching heart.
With Kindergarden, 1st and 2nd grades, as well as a handful of 3rd and 4th graders serving as my “apprentices”, we’ve divided the kids into 3 groups and perform 3 different activities in 20-minute sessions. They get a taste-testing and snack (this week they ate the seeds of plants as we were learning about plant-parts), a physical game along the same theme for an opportunity to move their bodies, and then they get a session with Farmer Sam to do the actual work of gardening.
This week I had 3 tasks: divide our sprawling bee-balm and put it into pots for the upcoming seedling-sale, start even more seedlings for the same sale—and plant the first seeds and plants in our 8 raised beds to get the garden underway for the season.
I armed the kids with pint-sized spades, setting them to work on the bee-balm and they had a blast learning how to dig and separate the plants. My apprentices doled out seeds to the younger students, one of them proclaiming: “Wow! Teaching is a lot harder than I thought it would be!”
If you’re local to Kingfield, our school seedling sale and art show is to be held Wednesday, May 21st from 4-6pm. Come support your school garden program and get some seedlings grown with love by many little hands!
The MSGN Conference
On Saturday, I joined the other members of our Growing Gardeners “Green Team” and made the trek to Messalonskee High School in Oakland, Maine (some 45 minutes south from the farm) to attend the Maine School Garden Network’s annual conference.
We gathered with school-garden enthusiasts from across the state to share, reflect and learn from one another in the name of teaching kids about food, nature and nutrition.
I’ve only ever attended one other MSGN conference—back then I was there as president of the Somerset Beekeepers giving a talk on pollinator education in the classroom or school-garden. It was a totally different experience this time and I quite enjoyed myself—but then, I love a good conference anyway, lol.
The day began with a keynote address by Melody Larson, Farm Education Coordinator at Wolfe’s Neck Center, who talked about Maine’s Governor Mills’ recent proclamation of 2025 as the Maine Year of Youth in Agriculture and why it’s so important to engage youth in agriculture.
From there we went into classrooms for a break-out session that allowed participants to connect with community members within our respective counties.
Ours was a group of 8 or 9 comprised of educators, volunteers and community organizers with the unique distinction of all being connected through the Greater Franklin Food Council. It’s a testament to the GFFC’s commitment to ag in the classroom that our county is the only local food organization in the state with such a directive, I think. And I am proud to be associated even in a small way.
After lunch there were a variety of workshops to participate in and I chanced a meeting with the author, Jaqueline Briggs Martin, who’s written a series of food-related picture books.
Modifying the Garden Fence
One of my big projects this season is the modifications to our electric fences—namely the fence surrounding the garden.
We’re only using about a quarter of the space currently fenced, so I want to shrink it and create a fence-line that will make it easier to move the flock on and off the field. Like this:
With the big community work-party scheduled for this-coming Saturday, I desperately wanted the t-posts pulled from their original location so I can have my volunteers put them in their new position. Dreading the job and the amount of time and effort it would take to pull so many posts by hand—it suddenly occurred to me that a tractor would make short work of the task.
Thankfully, we have some fantastic neighbors and BillieJo was only too happy to come over with their tractor to lend me a hand.
It was so easy that I couldn’t help feeling pleased with myself as we twitched the posts from the Earth. Work smarter, not harder—right?
Sheep/Lamb-Update
Now that the grass is green and getting tall, the sheep have been crying at me to move them out of their winter pens and onto fresh fodder. They stick their heads through the fencing, stretching to reach the grass on the other side. It’s comical to see the 1-foot swath at the base of the fence where they’ve cropped the grass.
Which means this week’s big project has been bringing the electric fences online.
Since this post is coming to you so late, I can share that on Tuesday evening, after working 7 hours at school, I spent time on the field checking the grounding rods and cables and connecting lines to the fences so that I could put electricity to them. Yesterday, I was able to set up the first net-fences to begin the process of transitioning the flock onto the field.
Check out this video to see how happy the girls are to get onto the grass!
Subscriber News
Firstly—in case you missed it—I’ve published the next segment in my mini-series on work-ethic and including the whole family in your homesteading efforts.
No, You Don't Have a House Elf
Imagine coming home sore and exhausted after a long day at work to find the dishes done and your kitchen counters tidy and freshly scrubbed. The floors have been swept, the dog has been walked and you don’t even have to cook dinner.
VIDEO-UPDATES
Secondly—I’ve decided to start doing more video-updates to share farm-life and my adventures (and misadventures) at Runamuk Acres with you! The goal is to share at least 1 small video every day, but I’d like to do more farm-talk videos and I think going paid on these is the push I need to do the thing I find scary and hard to do.
Folks—this is serious stuff. My situation at school is tenuous at best. The amount of work the district expects a solo cook to do in the limited time they give is unreasonable. There’s a lot of inter-personal drama and a lack of communication between the different departments to go with it. Frankly I’m fed up with the whole scene after just this one year. I tip my hat to anyone who has suffered through employment in the public school system for any length of time—you must have the patience of a saint!
Mostly, though, it comes down to the farm and my mission of conservation. I’m needed here—at Runamuk Acres. Which means I need to grow this Farm-Stack in a powerful way.
To do that, I need your support.
I’ve largely avoided paywalling my work because I believe these skills need to be available to everyone—especially in our current social and economic crisis. But that doesn’t change the fact that writing and sharing such valuable information is a lot of time and energy. Nor the fact that I desperately need the income.
If you like my farm-stories and how-to articles, and IF you are financially able, please consider upgrading your subscription today.
OR—you can send a one-time donation to @runamukacres via Venmo or PayPal.
Where the Wild Things Wander
We’ve come at last to my favorite time of year.
When the grass is growing and the trees begin to unfurl bright new leaves…
Every morning that I drive up into Kingfield—as I make my way to the school kitchen—I thrill to see that blush of green spreading across the landscape.
Cresting the high hill overlooking the Carrabassett river valley with the mountains splayed out across the horizon…
Each day that spring green color creeps a little higher.
First overtaking the low hills…
And then, engulfing the higher hills at the foot of Mount Abraham.
Still some patches of snow remain on the rugged ridges of Spaulding Mountain, but soon all will be awash in green.
My heart rejoices and I keen to immerse myself in Maine’s wildness!
For—I am a feral wild woman, not content to remain sequestered forever in the kitchen. No—I belong where the wild things wander. I belong at Runamuk Acres.
No matter how you subscribe, I thank you for reading.
Let’s keep growing, together.🌱
Sending love and good juju to you and yours.
Your friendly neighborhood farmer,
Sam
Thank you for following along with the story of this lady-farmer! It is truly a privilege to live this life serving my family and community, and protecting wildlife through agricultural conservation. If you found this valuable, please consider Restacking so more people can see it!
I love everything that you write about! We women farmers are few and far between. Yes we are feral! We do not farm in traditional ways that harm the land, i.e. acres of corn, and soybeans in neat mechanically set rows that they tell us preserves the land. It's us that respect the land and preserve its structure. We feed our local community and give farm experiences that others can only dream of. I had my first camper of the season last night, partly because of the wind storms and tornadoes that have pummeled west Michigan. With power out in may places I offer a safe haven. I don't usually include electric, but these people where in a spot and needed electric for their CPAP machines. I see them and their young son wandering the garden and prairie and it makes my heart sing. Thank you for doing what you do and writing about it! You are important to this world.