About US
We are Polly Shyka and Prentice Grassi. We have been working in agriculture for more than 30 years and have been farming this lovely land since 2001. We love to eat delicious food, to be outside, to grow things, and to build things; and we don't mind getting dirty! We are friendly and professional. We have three sons and we enjoy the challenges and rewards of working from home with them. We have a beautiful network of family support that makes the busy months possible.
We both strive to be honest and clear communicators and make it an everyday goal to see things through others' viewpoints. We respect and welcome diversity of all kinds. Our interests besides agriculture include exploring nature, art, music, food, woodworking, everyday activism and peacemaking.
Our Vision
Ultimately, we aspire to build a farm business that is a true asset to our community and local economy. We aim to build a sound farm business that supports our family financially and demonstrates our ethic of service to the land, community and greater good. We seek reciprocity with the soils and waters, animals and plants. We employ 20 or so people each growing season and mentor aspiring farmers through workshops and MOFGA’s Journeyperson Program. We consider our mentorships to be an important way we contribute to the future of agriculture and the health of the Earth community. We hope to not only serve the residents of Waldo County with a wide array of wholesome farm products, but also to create a place where neighbors can interact and people can connect with the source of their food. We imagine Villageside Farm as a community resource.
“OUR” LAND
Villageside Farm is located on unceded land that was formally part of the Wabanaki Territory. By stating this, we hope to change our blindness and ignorance to acknowledgement and appreciation. We see our place in a long line of land stewards, humans who have tended these fields and woods and have been sustained by them. We reckon with the facts of history and seek ways to reconcile our current work and ownership with the harms done by white settlers and the colonial mindset that still runs strong today.
This land now is the home to us and Villageside Farm, a diversified farm business neighboring to the east the small town center of Freedom, Maine. Villageside Farm is comprised of a contiguous 40-acre field of good farmland soils and an 80-acre woodlot.
OUR PRODUCTS
Over 100 varieties of organically grown produce for local and regional markets.
Vegetable, herb and flower seedlings sold from the farm during our Open Hours from late April to late June.
Vegetable, herb and flower seedlings sold from Uncle Dean's Good Groceries, The Portland Food Coop and from the Belfast Coop, May-July