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Support Runamuk Acres

A working farm. A 50-year promise. A woman doing the work.

This is a working farm in the Western Mountains of Maine. 53 acres, 40 of them under a 50-year conservation contract—brook trout habitat, an endangered freshwater mussel, a larch grove that shelters Canadian Lynx, the at-risk Nighthawk. That contract reduced the mortgage by $100,000 and protects the land from being developed long after I’m gone.

The land is held. The work continues. The animals are fed and the writing keeps going—and that’s because of the people who show up in the ways laid out below.

If any of that matters to you—if you’ve been looking for a place to put a dollar that does real work in the actual world—this is one.

What your support protects

This is not an abstract mission statement. The dollars and the donated stuff and the volunteer hours go into specific, named things:

  • The conservation easement. 40 acres permanently protected from development. The mussel, the lynx grove, the brook trout, the Nighthawk—they have a place because Runamuk has a place.
  • The flock. A small, well-cared-for flock of sheep producing pasture-raised lamb that goes to local families in pre-sold shares each fall.
  • The garden. A one-acre no-till market garden growing real food for the farmstand and feeding our household through the Maine winter.
  • The writing. The blog, the books, the Substack essays. Thirty years of agricultural writing, and the only reason any of it can keep going is because the farm underneath it does.

Ways to show up

Pick the door that fits where you are. They all do real work.

1. Subscribe to The Maine Homestead Life

The Substack is the engine. A paid subscription is the steadiest, most useful form of support there is—it pays the bills the farm can’t, on a schedule I can plan around, and you get the writing in return.

Subscribe at runamukacres.substack.com.

2. Send a one-time donation

Buy us a bag of sheep feed, a tank of gas for the deliveries, a flat of seedlings. Any amount keeps the wheels turning.

3. Fund something specific

If you’d rather know exactly what your money paid for, these are the things on the books right now:

  • The hay bill. The annual $2,000 hay purchase comes due in July. A bale, a load, any of it helps.
  • Heating fuel. A friend can call Bob’s Cash Fuel at 207-696-3040 and place an order on our behalf.
  • Lumber. Hammond Lumber gift cards or a credit on our account go a long way.
  • Fencing supplies. Tractor Supply gift cards cover cattle panels and the perpetual list of things that need mending.

4. Donate stuff or barter

If you have things you’re not using anymore—stuff headed for the thrift store or the transfer station—consider sending it our way instead. Or trade with the farm for equal-value reimbursement in locally produced food. We can help each other.

The wish list:

  • Kids’ sweaters—we re-make these into lambie-jammies for our newborn lambs
  • Perennial flowers and herbs—dividing your perennials? we’d take some of that
  • High-tunnel or Solviva-style greenhouse for year-round veggie production
  • 4-wheeler for pulling the sheep tractors on the field (save my aching back)
  • Large refrigerator
  • Lumber
  • Cedar fence posts
  • Bicycles
  • Pickup truck—desperate for wheels, especially anything with hauling capacity. Farmer Sam loves the old square-body trucks, but anything from a hatchback to a small pickup would be received with deep gratitude.
  • Cattle panels
  • Wheelbarrow

For more ideas, check the Amazon Wish List.

5. Volunteer

Able-bodied volunteers are always welcome. We never say no to an offer of free help. If you’d like to come spend a day at the farm, get in touch and we’ll find a time that works.

A last word

Most farms like this one don’t make it. The ones that do are usually held up by a small group of people who decided to be part of something, in whatever way they could. That’s how Runamuk has gotten this far. That’s how it keeps going.

Thank you for being here.

—Farmer Sam Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm · New Portland, Maine