Zoom Meeting of October 29, 2020
This well-attended Zoom meeting began with announcements that Michele Meyer picked up our supply of 3000 masks for distribution around our towns. Richard Donhauser, Skip Cousens, Mike Lassel, Carolann Gagne and others have busily delivered these to town offices, elderly housing, police and fire departments, schools and other community areas. President Deb and Richard delivered them to the town of Eliot via the Select Board meeting and our club received the praise and thanks of the Select Board and town manager, as well as asked to hear more about the projects we do and have done. The deliveries were still ongoing as of the Zoom meeting, but it looked like all the masks will have been distributed in short order. Assistant District Governor Malcolm also gave President Deb a bunch more, so we will be busy spreading good cheer with these.
Presentation
Bill Widi was the guest speaker and he talked to us about agribusiness and the creative ways he has made a go of it in Eliot. Bill described himself as a first generation farmer. He grew up on a horse farm, went on to study business management, was a property manager for a while, and at the age of 23 had to deal with the news that he had cancer. Experiences like that makes one rethink the direction they are going and it was then that he realized what meant most to him was growing things. Since farming is not the type of work where you can make a living around here, he was also a limo driver for 4 years while farming his grandmother's land, known as Sandy Hill Farm nowadays. This little endeavor has grown to 7 greenhouses and 2 more to come. He has learned all he can and also realizes that success in farming needs the added push of agritourism. For this to succeed, you need a population close to the farm from which to draw your tourists, and Eliot is well-positioned for that, being so close to seacoast NH, Massachusetts and a region that is being swallowed up by development where Eliot is a little oasis of rural life. Just to be sure he could efficiently do what he wanted to do, Bill got an ordinance passed defining what agritourism would look like in town. His first idea was to have a sunflower maze, but that didn't work. Then he decided to combine his love of farming with his love of history and created "Folklore Fall", an experience on his farm highlighting folklore from around the world. This included Mexico (masks and Dia de los Muertos), northern Europe (fairy houses), Greece (floating items in his creek), and Polynesia (tikis). Turns out this attraction became an overnight delight and sells out most nights. This certainly made up for the horrendous drought that ravaged his crop yield this year. He has kept the farm stand open and during the worst of COVID times his farm was a source of fresh produce that people could drive up and purchase. What he enjoys most is that this has become a place where kids can see each other (socially distanced, of course) and he can hear laughter. It's a bear to manage but people have really enjoyed it. It runs through November 8th. After that, Bill will be busily tearing down this attraction and building winter wonderland of lights as the next big thing. Reservations are required, so if you'd like to go before it ends, you need to call Sandy Hill Farm.
Next Speakers
DON'T MISS THIS COMING THURSDAY'S ZOOM MEETING TO HEAR FROM NICOLE ST. PIERRE ABOUT THE GRAND OPENING OF THE STATION HOUSE INN, THE NEW VENUE IN THE CENTER OF SOUTH BERWICK.
On November 12th, we have Conor Guptill talking about raising buffalo in Berwick (at the Hackmatack Playhouse farm?).
November 19th, we hope to hear from Najee Brown and his Sol Project to raise cultural awareness.
DON'T FORGET FOOD PANTRY THIS THURSDAY. PLEASE CHECK WITH BRENDA GAGNE OR JEREMY FOGG IF YOU PLAN TO VOLUNTEER.