In 1868, my great grandfather, Frank J. Gray, purchased our farmland that’s situated on Peaked Mountain in Dedham. At the time, he must have had a vision its mountain air, wild berries, good soil, pond access, woodlands and pastures—not to mention fabulous views—would provide a great environment to raise and support a family in. And, he, of all people, would have known about family needs. He was the eighth child of the fourteen children Joseph and Elvira (Soper) Gray brought into this world. Then he, himself, fathered nineteen offspring—six by his first wife Martha (Clement) and thirteen by his second wife Julia (Condon).
As the fourth generation to hold title to my great grandfather’s vision, my husband Dan and I are living proof it has been realized and passed down from generation to generation. My children and my grandchildren make a total of six generations, to date, who have lived and worked on the farm at one time or another. (That’s pretty cool! Don’t you think?) Now it’s our responsibility, as stewards of this farm, to do the best we can to preserve and maintain its integrity for future generations. And we don’t take this responsibility lightly.
By pure fate, we acquired title to the property at the same time a pilot program, Maine’s Farms for the Future, emerged. It provides technical and implementation support to farmers who are dedicated to their farm’s future viability. In exchange for the program’s Phase I technical assistance and Phase II implementation grant funding awards, farm owners enter into a farmland protection agreements with the State of Maine. The land can not be developed for non agricultural purposes for a certain amount of time under the agreement. We were accepted into Phase I of the program in November of 2002 and it’s literally been uphill for Peaked Mountain Farm ever since.
Farms for the Future program coordinator, Mort Mathers, of Coastal Enterprises Incorporated (CEI) appointed a team of experts to our farm consisting of David E. Yarborough, Ph.D., Blueberry Specialist, Professor of Horticulture, Wild Blueberry Cranberry Office, The University of Maine; John Harker, Business Development, Division of Market and Production Development, Maine Department of Agriculture, Food & Rural Resources; and Richard Cosseboom Steven Richard, Business Counselors, Eastern Maine Development Corporation. With their guidance, we developed a farm plan to increase Peaked Mountain Farm’s production possibilities as a Maine Wild Blueberry grower. Because they were available to share their combined years of expertise and wisdom with us, we learned the fundamentals needed to manage our blueberry crop and market its 2003 harvest. A huge milestone, indeed, marking the first time since 1958 Peaked Mountain Farm controlled the production of its blueberry land.
Now that our farm is totally owned and operated by it’s family members once again, the sky is the limit. We’ve accomplished and learned a lot in this first year of operation, but we’ve only just begun. We’ve been “growing wild” since 1868 and we plan to be “growing wild” for generations to come!
We hope you, our customers and supporters, will continue to be part of our history as we venture into the future. We appreciate each and everyone of you who purchased Peaked Mountain Farm’s Farm Fresh Wild Blueberries this past summer. We especially want to thank Sanford E. Kelley, Jr., of the Sunrise County Wild Blueberry Association and the Muddy Rudder restaurant in Brewer for contributing to our 2003 harvest successes.
Frank J. Gray is pictured here (in the foreground) with second wife Julia (in the middle) and twelve of his nineteen children. Ellery Gray is the second youngest in this group photo (front left). He was a second generation owner of the farm.
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