At Hands Four Farm we grow healthy, fresh, organic vegetables year-round for our family and community.
Our History
We started as a small winter-only operation and have expanded thanks to support from many farmer friends. After years of working for other farms, Lauren saw a need for more winter greens in Waldo County and was looking for winter work. She began growing lettuce, spinach, and bok choy as Old McDonald’s Greens in the fall of 2019 in tunnels at South Paw Farm (thanks Meg and Ryan!). That winter, she began selling produce at the Dig Deep Farm booth at United Farmers Market in Belfast (thanks Dalziel!). In 2020, she began leasing a high tunnel in Unity (thanks Scot!).
In 2022, we moved to our new home in Albion where we have been able to farm more land and realize Julia’s dream of adding in some livestock and a small orchard of young fruit trees. Now that our farm was more of a joint project with a permanent landbase, we decided to change our name to Hands Four Farm. We owe a huge debt of thanks to Johanna and Adam of Songbird Farm who gifted us Harold the High Tunnel and helped us take it down, move it, and put it up again! Because of their generosity and Prentice and Polly sharing seedling starting space at Villageside Farm, we’ve been able to expand our production of both winter greens and summer tomatoes.
We’re excited to keep growing and trying new things while we continue our off farm jobs. We’ll keep experimenting and learning as we get to know what crops grow best here and how to meet the needs of our customers!
Where does the name come from?
We’re a hand scale farm and like to use our four hands for farming, but originally our farm name comes from contra dancing, which is how Lauren and Julia met. “Take hands four with your neighbors…!” are the first words you hear to start off the dance.
Just as we move through the contra dance line and interact with all the other dancers, our farm is a dance between us, the land, the weather, and our friends, family, neighbors, and customers. We love growing and sharing delicious, fresh, local food with our community!
Organizations We Support
We are incredibly privileged to have long term access to fertile farmland, and we also carry the legacy of it being stolen by white colonial settlers from the Wabanaki Nations. We will continue to wrestle with the history of oppression in agriculture and work to try to make our food system and communities more equitable. We invite you to join us in supporting the incredibly valuable work of these organizations:
Bomazeen Land Trust | Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust | Soul Fire Farm | Waldo County Bounty | MOFGA Policy and PFAS Action
