Spear’s 
Vegetable Farm
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Name:          Spear’s Vegetable Farm


Farm Office:   207-832-4488


Waldoboro Farm Stand Location:   

                    1520 Atlantic Highway

                     Waldoboro, Maine 04572


Waldoboro Farm Stand Phone:  207-832-0483


Nobleboro Farm Stand Location:

                     37 Center Street

                     Nobleboro, Maine 04555


Nobleboro Farms Stand Phone: 207-563-7191


Website:     www.spearsfarmstand.com


Email:        spears@spearsfarmstand.com


Products and Services:

-Waldoboro Farm Stand

-Nobleboro Farm Stand

-Community Supported Agriculture

-Senior Farm Share Program

-fresh vegetables

-farm fresh specialty foods

-cut flowers

-naturally-raised beef

-freshly made baked goods

-Brunswick Farmers’ Market - 8 a.m. -2 p.m.

  Tues. and Fri. mid-June through Nov.

-Crystal Springs Farmers’ Market - 8 a.m. - 1 p.m.

  Sat. - June through November

-Midcoast Winter Farmers’ Market

   Topsham Fairgrounds - Exhibition Hall

   Fridays - 1-6 p.m. Nov. through April 26, 2013


What Makes Spears Vegetable Farm Unique?


The Spear family epitomizes the true meaning of a “family farm.”  Several members of the Spear clan combine their efforts to run an impressive retail and wholesale farm business that is highly diversified.  The Spear Vegetable Farm is a five-generation family farm operation that has earned a reputation for their fresh vegetables throughout mid-coast Maine. 


Each of the Spear family members contribute various skills to the success of the farm.  Bob Spear certainly possesses a real insight on farming methods and new agricultural developments.  He majored in Agricultural Sciences at the University of Maine at Orono and served as Commissioner of Agriculture for the state of Maine from 1999 through 2004.


Both Bob and his wife, Janet, focus on the marketing aspects of the farm operation.  Janet also orders products, schedules staff, and manages the day-to-day details of the two farm stands and

the three farmers’ markets.


Ron Spear helps to drive a tractor during planting season and helped to design the Waldoboro Farm Stand.  Dick Spear has devoted a great deal of time to planting a large acreage of both sweet corn and silage corn.  He starts the vegetable seedlings in February and is involved with the transplanting.

The scheduling of the planting of the various types of corn for which Spear’s Vegetable Farm is renown takes place because of Dick.


Robert and Janet’s sons, Terry and Jeff, also have

proven instrumental to the farm.  Terry takes charge of the planting of the small vegetables, squash, and pumpkins. He also manages the heifer replacements. Jeff is the go-to person for maintenance of all the farm equipment.  He prepares the land for crops and is in charge of the Integrated Pest Management program.


In 2010, the Spear’s dairy herd was sold. The Spear’s Farm now cares for fifty head of naturally-raised beef that are corn and grass fed.  They grow the silage and corn for their bovines and also sell it to other farms. They also raise 140-150 replacement heifers for another farm.


The larger farm stand operated by the Spears is

located on Atlantic Highway in Waldoboro, while the smaller stand is situated at 67 Center Street in Nobleboro.  The Spear’s Vegetable Farm participates in the Farmers’ Market at the Brunswick Mall in downtown Brunswick on Tuesdays and Fridays from mid-June to November.  You can find them at the Crystal Springs Farmers’ Market in Brunswick on Saturdays from June through November.  They also participate in the Midcoast Winter Farmers’ Market at the Exhibition Hall

at the Topsham Fairgrounds every Friday through April 26, 2013, from 1-6 p.m.


A Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program is thriving at the Spear’s Vegetable Farm with over 150 members.  Participants who purchase a $200 CSA share before April 15, receive an additional $25 per share of credit to purchase items of their choice at the two farm stands or at their farmers’ markets in Brunswick.  Some of the items available include fresh vegetables, cheeses, frozen meat, cooked food, etc.


The choice of products at the Waldoboro Farm

Stand is quite impressive.  There was such a selection of items when Unique Maine Farms visited that two webpages were needed just to show part of the inventory that the store carries.  In addition to the fresh vegetables, there is glass-bottled milk, a large selection of cheeses, jams, preserves, salad dressings, pickled products,

condiments, and local honey and maple syrup.

Fresh eggs, smoked salmon, homemade baked beans, and several specialty foods are also offered. Homemade baked goods available at the Waldoboro Farm Stand include peanut butter fudge, fruit pies, muffins, cookies, sweet breads, coffee breads, biscuits, whoopie pies, squares, bars, and brownies.


Seniors of sixty years and older (55 for Native Americans) who meet certain income guidelines

can sign up to benefit from the Senior Farm Share Program that the Spear’s Vegetable Farm conducts.  This program enables the seniors to qualify for $50 of free fresh, locally-grown fruits and vegetables. Over 300 seniors participated last year.


When Bob Spear discussed the development of the Spear’s Vegetable Farm over the years, he explained how diversification was the key.  The Spears previously ran a dairy farm, but the income from that operation was not sufficient to support his brother, sons, and his family.  The farm made a decision to expand the vegetable production.  Not only did they increase the type of vegetables grown, but they also extended the growing season. They now grow spinach, lettuce, and carrots into the winter.


The Spears raise vegetables on 250 acres; sweet corn on 100 acres; fifty acres of green beans; and approximately twenty acres of squash. Tomatoes fill their hoop houses. Their wholesale accounts includes Hannaford, Shaw’s and Whole Foods.  On the day that Unique Maine Farms visited, employees in the state-licensed processing building were peeling and preparing the butternut squash for the school lunch programs throughout the state of Maine.


One extremely unique offering of the Spear’s Vegetable Farm are the tours with an agricultural focus that Janet Spear has led for the past ten years. In the fall of 2009, she led a group to visit Iowa farm country and that spring the destination was Italy.  This April 2013, Janet will lead tour members to Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.  In the fall, the Alberta, Canada, tour will include visits to Calgary, Banff, Edmonton, Jasper, and Legal. Newsletters and testimonials from tour participants can be found on the Spear’s Farm website: www.spearsfarmstand.com


When Wallace and Maude Spear moved to Nobleboro in 1933, during the Depression,  they

were hoping to be able to “live off the land.”  Eighty years later their descendants are creating their livelihood from the very same land.  So much has changed with the introduction of all the mechanized equipment, the wholesale farm accounts, the expansion of acreage, the fifteen hoop houses, the two retail farm stands, the CSA and Senior Food Share programs, etc.  Yet, the underlying idea of an enterprise where various family members contribute towards the operation of the farm still remains.  As the Spears look back at old family photos and reflect on all that has taken place in the past eighty years, there must be a sense of pride and gratification in knowing that, despite all the challenges that farmers face today, their family farm still remains vibrant and productive.













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Maine farmers are pictured at the John Deere Factory Tour in 2009, that was led by Janet Spear.

One of the fifteen hoop houses at Spear’s Vegetable Farm.

Spear’s Farm Stand - Nobleboro

Spear’s Farm Stand - Waldoboro

Janet and Robert Spear

Preparing squash for the school lunch programs in Maine.