Name: Maple Meadow Farms
Address: Matt Gregg
Maple Meadow Farms
830 Mapleton Road
Mapleton, Maine 04757
Phone: 207-764-3276
Website For Maple Meadow Farms: maplemeadowfarms.com
Email: farmfestival@roadrunner.com
Facebook Page for Maple Meadow Farms:
Facebook Page for Matthew Gregg Auctions:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Matthew-Gregg-Auctions/243021002404077
Products and Services:
-host of Maple Meadow Farm Festival
-timber
-lumber
-firewood
-hay
-auctioneering services
-grain
-shovels
-custom milling
-hay delivery
-horse-drawn wagon rides
-farm tours
-Belgian horses for sale
What Makes Maple Meadow Farm Unique?
Many farms in Maine have learned to diversify their offerings in order to stay afloat. The Gregg family has been farming in Mapleton in Aroostook County for five generations. They have retained many of the traditional farm practices that took place many years ago in our country. They have continued to rely on teams of horses to do many farm tasks such as plowing, logging, and haying. The Greggs have also expanded into undertaking several very innovative agricultural pursuits.
Growing potatoes on a large scale on farms in the Mapleton area and throughout Aroostook County was traditionally the prominent crop. In the early years on the farm, the Greggs did grow potatoes, but their focus has changed to growing and selling hay. Matthew explained that their farm has been producing hay for the equine market in Florida for the past two years. The demand for quality hay is high and they grow and harvest between 15,000 to 20,000 bales of hay per year. They also grow grain. When Unique Maine Farms visited in August, they were selling oats, mulch hay, straw, and Belgian horses. Matthew was busy transforming the base of a mobile home into a fifty-three feet trailer to haul four hundred bales of hay from the field.
The Greggs also introduced a comprehensive forestry operation at Maple Meadow Farms that includes the sale of timber, lumber, and firewood. They harvest approximately fifty cords of firewood each year that is used for heating their homes, workshop, and the apartments that they rent. They built their new barn recently from the wood that they harvested from their two hundred acres of forested land. Matthew Gregg also runs a well-respected auctioneering service.
When Unique Maine Farms visited the Aroostook area, it seemed as though every farmer included the mention of the Gregg family and their heritage farming practices into the conversation. They would ask if we were familiar with the Maple Meadow Farm Festival. The comment that it was the “Common Ground Fair of Aroostook County” was shared on several occasions. Repeatedly it was suggested that it was an event that simply shouldn’t be missed.
Obviously the respect that the Gregg family has garnered from the residents of Aroostook County has not gone unnoticed. Brenda and Alan Jepson of Crown of Maine Productions, Inc. created a beautiful fifty-three minute DVD that documents the pastimes and work of the Gregg family over a year’s time. It can be ordered through their Crown of Maine website. In the film they chronicle the activities happening at the farm during all the seasons and they include footage of the Maple Meadow Farm Festival.
The “Farm Fest” takes place at the Gregg family farm on the last Saturday and Sunday in June. Farmers from all locations bring their animals for the visitors to enjoy. There are draft horse demonstrations and displays of antique tractors and equipment. Bob Crichton (who is included in the Pine Hill Mules profile in the Unique Maine Farms’ project), has traveled all the way from Berwick, Maine, a six-hour ride, to bring his mules to the Maple Meadow Farm Fest. Natalia Bragg, whose Knott-II- Bragg farm profile is also included in this project, brings her traveling apothecary and conducts a talk on “Healing with Native Herbs and Trees.”
A feeling of camaraderie sets the tone of the two-day gathering on the Gregg’s four-hundred acre farm. A native drumming constitutes the opening ceremony. Old-time crafts are on display at the Farm Fest for everyone to enjoy. There are various artisans who participate in the Farm Fest and demonstrate some of the traditional crafts such as washing and dyeing wool and yarn, spindle making, spinning, weaving, woodcraft, and chair making. An earth loom is set up on the property. Steam bending and blacksmithing are demonstrated. The chainsaw carvings of Pasco Grove Art Work and the whittle people carvings of Nancy Paradis have added unique artistic elements to the Festival.
Digging potatoes with a one row horse-drawn potato digger, picking potatoes, hay baling, horse dentistry, horse shoeing, and wood milling having been some of the agricultural undertakings shared at previous Farm Festivals. Draft horses play a prominent role at the gathering with various demonstrations. The horse-drawn wagon rides are a real treat for the children, as is the children’s play area.
At the Farm Fest, there are vendors selling antiques. Homemade food is available for sale and a good selection of live music adds to the enjoyment. At last year’s Farm Fest the music was provided by Travis Cyr, Carol Ayoob, The Grinn Brothers, Jim Wright and Leland Clark, Paul Clayton & Friends, Yvette, Hoss &Lurleen, Happy Accident, and the Bearded Rhytmn Sisters.
The Gregg family has believed in the all-inclusive idea of a Farm Fest and admission has always been free. Various businesses in the County have obviously seen the merit of the weekend, since many have stepped forward to help out with the costs. In 2013, the sponsors included Northern Maine Community College, Crop Production Services, the Lions Club, Cary Medical Center, Haines Manufacturing, Aroostook Medical Center, Dead River Company, Allen’s Environmental Services, Gregg Auctioneering, and Gordon’s Property Maintenance and Rentals.
The Maine Dairy Promotion Board and the Maine Dairy and Nutrition Council partnered with Maple Meadow Farm in 2013 to offer the Farm Fest 5K Milk Run. The easy-to-moderate 3.2 mile road race took place in beautiful Mapleton farm country. The $20 registration fee included t-shirts and finishing medals.
Terry and Miriam Gregg are the third generation of farmers at Maple Meadow Farm. They still play an active role in the farm and the Farm Fest. They live in one of the farmhouses on the farm. Matthew Gregg and his wife, Andrea, and their three children, Clay, Violet, and Olive, live in a house on the other side of the field at the farm. Their three children comprise the fifth generation of Greggs.
As tractors and mechanization have come to the forefront in farming, it is quite inspiring to learn about a Maine family who still places a high regard on the use of horses and heritage farming practices. In many parts of our country today, individuals wanting to learn about the use of horse-drawn farm equipment need to visit a farm museum. Interested Maine individuals don’t need to access a museum to view working farm horses and horse-drawn farm equipment. They can observe this firsthand taking place at Maple Meadow Farms. A trip to this farm during the Maple Meadow Farm Fest during the last weekend in June is an optimum time to visit since so many traditional farming practices are being showcased.
