Horsepowered Farming

Penobscot, Maine - The Birdsall Family will be offering a tour of their farm in Penobscot on Saturday,
September 14 from 2:00-4:00 p.m.  Three generations of the Birdsall family operate Horsepower Farm, located on 90 Horsepower Farm Road off of Rt. 15.

Horsepower Farm is diversified, raising a wide variety of organic vegetables, dry beans, storage crops, sheep, chickens, and summer pigs.  Their Suffolk Punch draft horses are the main source of power for field and woods work.

As farmers, their goals are “to teach more sustainable methods, to reduce the footprint that we leave on the Earth, and to help ensure a healthy future for our children, grandchildren and those around us.”

Blue Hill Heritage Trust (BHHT) holds an agricultural easement on the property, protecting the land forever.  Paul Birdsall was a founding board member of BHHT and the Farmland Forever program; he placed the 383-acre farm into conservation easement with the Trust in 1997.

Horsepower products are available at their farm store, at the Blue Hill Farmer’s Market, and at the Blue Hill Co-op.

This farm tour is part of a series that is sponsored by Blue Hill Heritage Trust and the Blue Hill Co-op.  It is free, family-friendly, and open to the public.  For more info or to register, contact Eileen at 374-5118 or eileen@bluehillheritagetrust.org.  More programs are listed on the BHHT website: bluehillheritagetrust.org.

The Trust currently owns or holds conservation easements on 6,293 acres of land throughout the Blue Hill Peninsula, including 2,024 acres of farmland.  The Co-op is a community market and café offering a wide range of fresh local and organic produce, dairy, meat, baked goods, health and beauty products and bulk items.  Find more online at bluehill.coop or call them at 374-2165.