Blog and News

On campus at Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport, Maine, our commitment to building a more ecologically and economically resilient food system in the Northeast includes training farmers, supporting regenerative practices and creating markets for products grown in this way.  Our Organic Dairy is a core part of this work, home to roughly 40 milking cows.…

On a chilly January evening, Wolfe’s Neck Center welcomed the team from Spannocchia for a special collaboration dinner. Rooted in shared values and seasonal ingredients, the evening brought together Wolfe’s Neck Center’s Chef Malcolm Kelly and Spannocchia’s Chef Laura Capalbo for a thoughtfully curated dining experience celebrating regenerative agriculture across borders. Spannocchia is an organic…

From January 30th to 31st in Manchester, NH, the New England Grazing Network organized the biannual Northeast Grazing and Livestock Conference. Over two days, more than 300 in-person and virtual attendees came together to share practical experience, research findings and data-driven insights designed to improve grazing for farmers, livestock and the lands we steward. In…

At Wolfe’s Neck Center, composting is more than a waste-management solution. It’s a critical link between our dairy operation, gardens, educational programs and our stewardship of the land and surrounding marine ecosystems. Thanks to our Farm Operations team, composting on campus has evolved into a carefully managed, educationally rich and environmentally responsible system. Composting as…

While the average consumer is aware of the prices they pay for food and goods at farmers markets and grocery stores, they are often unfamiliar with the true cost of production for the farmers and producers who make them possible. What happens behind the scenes that leads to the prices we see on stickers? The…

Does tilling serve a purpose in regenerative agriculture? Is no-till a better option for farming? What is tilling, anyway? We brought these questions to our team on campus to dig into the matter. What is “Tilling”? Tillage is the mechanical overturning of soil to prepare a plot for planting, control weeds and improve aeration or…

Why Cover Crops Matter: Protecting Soil and Sea at Wolfe’s Neck Center As a demonstration campus, we spend our time here at Wolfe’s Neck Center tending to vegetables, fruits, grains, forages and livestock. But some of the most important crops we grow aren’t harvested at all. They are cover crops, and although they never end…

This November, the team behind our Visitor Education & Experience program area at Wolfe’s Neck Center hosted a first-of-its-kind Summer Farm Camp Operators Gathering in partnership with the Farm-Based Education Network (FBEN). This conference, attended by 36 leaders in the space from 7 Northeast states, was focused on sharing solutions to the practical challenges of…

Moving through the kitchen, Chef Malcolm Kelly steadily works to puree the 150 pounds of squash before him. A less daunting task, considering he started with 400 pounds harvested right here on the Wolfe’s Neck Center campus following the completion of a biochar field study led by the research team to evaluate the impact of…

“The best part of my job?” Chef Malcom Kelly thinks for a moment. “Working with products in the kitchen that I have helped to grow on the farm.” For Malcolm, who spent many years working in high-end (and high-stress) restaurants, the direct connection between farming and food at Wolfe’s Neck Center “has made cooking fun…