TURNER, Maine — Bruce and Lindy Gallup’s love affair with farming began as a way to keep their 2-year-old son busy when Bruce was studying dentistry.
“We were living in someone’s attic and needed to get [our son] out of the house, so we visited farms to keep him active and busy,” Lindy said.
“He’d look at animals and sit on the tractors,” Bruce said. “So this kind of filtered us toward farming.”
Then Lindy, who has a degree in zoology, became interested in spinning wool.
When they looked at a place to put down roots, they looked in Maine. Bruce’s family had vacationed in Maine and New Hampshire, so it held a strong connection.
“We came to Maine and bought a farm during the dairy buyout and converted to sheep and llamas,” Bruce said.
They started with two sheep. Now they have a herd of about 50 or 60 at their Swiftwater Farm in Turner, where they strive to live sustainably — not off the grid, but almost.
Lindy sells the sheep’s wool. The llamas, while not a direct source of income, earn their keep as watchdogs for the sheep, protecting them from coyotes and other predators.
They also have free-range hens, which lay chemical-free eggs with rich orange yolks, as compared to the more familiar pale yellow.
Pastures are used for grazing one year and farmed the next. Compost is used to enrich the soil for an abundance of produce.
The Gallups also grow hay and use every bit of land.
“We call it intensive grazing. We rotate. It’s healthier organically, and we don’t have to pay for chemicals. It’s just Mother Nature as it should be.”
They also make use of the sun and the wind. They first began to insulate their farm home and from there began setting up windmills. Eventually they installed solar panels.
“The whole farm is sustainable,” Bruce said. “We even overproduce a bit [of energy]. Our hybrid car saves gas. We are not survivalists. For us, it’s the right thing to do.”
They add that it has been a good way to raise their children. It’s “teaching them responsibility and to have an affinity toward others. It was great when they were little, as teens not so much. But now, as young adults they appreciate it more.”
Lindy’s time is spent canning vegetables, selling wool and some of the meat, and taking care of the animals. A busy dentist, Bruce said that “when I’m not doing the dentist thing, I’m working with the animals. It’s a labor of love. We just love the animals, the environment. It’s nice to come home to.”
Siiiiiiigh !
Anything is sustainable and enjoyable until the money runs out…
:-D
indeed, and the money they are using is NOT sustainable at all
on average, fiat currencies have lasted 27 years throughout thousands of years of human history
we are about to enter year 42 (i.e. since NIxon took us off the gold standard in 1971)
if these folks want to “keep on keepin’ on”, they batter start voting for folks who understand economics and support competing currencies with our monopolized, flailing federal reserve notes
While there are farms in Maine that support themselves, most are subsidized by someone in the household with another job. I’m reminded of the farmer who won a big lottery prize. When asked what he was going to do with himself and his new wealth, the farmer said. “I’ll just keeping on farming until it’s all gone.”
Very difficult to accomplish without an outside source of income.
“We are not survivalists. For us, it’s the right thing to do.” You also have the income from being a dentist. Makes “living off the land” a little easier.
Oh my NO you wouldn’t want to be associated or grouped with those crazy out of control people whom do the same thing but get labeled as preppers, go glad you pointed that out.
no worries mate, folks like these will be begging the survivalists for food when the unsustainable currency they DEPEND on fails.
Yes, they will go to people who are hoarding gold when they are hungry. Gold is especially tasty served on Ron Paul leaflets sprinkled with Republican pearls of wisdom.
I think it’s wonderful. It would be great if more people did what they could – be it a handful of chickens in the back yard, or a larger-scale operation like this – instead of being derogatory about people’s attempts to live more sustainably.
A lot of people do live off the land. It’s just often not pretty to look at, thus we tend to be poo-pood on and no one would ever think of running an article on “one of us.” Our clothes are dirty and have holes in them, and our boots are held together with duct tape….and we’re missing teeth because they are too expensive to fix or replace (fix the tractor and keep it running for another season or fix 1 tooth). Add to that, a lot of us represent those “dairy buyouts” mentioned in this article and are just a wee bit bitter because of that fact. Or maybe that’s just me.Dear doctor, quit your job and then run the farm and let us know how you feel about the real meaning of “labor of love.”
:-D
Barbara, well said…..
I also applaud them. I hope they really don’t believe that the egg yolk color is the result of “chemical free” eggs. The genetics of the bird has a lot more to do with it.
I think I will throw up if I hear about another flatlander living sustainable on a Maine farm. I am sorry, but, if you add up the price of the hybrid car, the real estate taxes, the cost of keeping 50 0r 60 animals, the cost of groceries, the cost of living, clothes, all the expenses, this farm is not going to be sustainable. I have chickens, free range, but, and love the eggs, but with the cost of grain, gawd only knows the actual cost of the eggs, they are good, the chickens are mostly pets for my daughter, but, those chickens could never be sustainable. The term used, on a subsidized farm operation in Maine,
used to be that they would call themselves “Gentlemen Farmers.”, which is what this articles is about, Gentlemen Farming, that, is honest and is a good life, I know, I do it.
I have seen about three of these operations, usually after about 4 or 5 years one or the other, books back to New York, and the wonder farm goes up for sale.
Gawd Damn it! Who is writing these sustainable farming articles for these flatlanders, I ask one question, Who to hell, do you think you writing for, the Flatlander Gazzette?? Mainers know better.
Who cares if they have a second income to keep them afloat? These folks figured out what they wanted and did it. They followed their bliss. If you posters all did the same you’ d be a lot less critical and grumpy (Barbara C excepted)
they’re perfectly entitled to do as they please, just don’t peddle it as ‘sustainable’ because it is most certainly NOT the case…