Blog and News

Explore the work we are doing, told through the stories of the people who make up the Wolfe's Neck community.

Blog and News

“Why Did You Move to Maine?”
Ben Gotschall, Wolfe's Neck Center's dairy and livestock manager, made the trek from Nebraska to Maine in November 2020. Soon after, he was joined by his wife, Tammy, and their daughter, Charlotte. In May 2021, his herd of cattle made the 1,800-mile journey to Freeport, as well. In a piece written for Field Notes, our annual print and online newsletter, Ben shared his thoughts on what the relocation meant for him, his family, and his cows. 
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(Re)Vision the Future of Solar
In 2017, ReVision Energy installed two large solar projects on Wolfe’s Neck Center’s campus: one at the dairy facility and the other at the Pote Barn, making us 50% solar powered. With a new operations center currently under construction and more infrastructure projects on the horizon, our end goal is to be entirely solar-powered.
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Meet Our Fruit & Vegetable Apprentices
Wolfe’s Neck Center’s Fruit & Vegetable Farmer Training Program is a unique apprenticeship program that covers all aspects of organic fruit & vegetable crop production with a focus on regenerative agriculture techniques.
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A Deeper Dig: Soil Health
Climate change threatens the health of our planet and jeopardizes our ability to grow food. At Wolfe’s Neck Center, we are committed to creating solutions to these problems to build a healthier planet for our future generations. A Deeper Dig aims to highlight terminology, practices, and ideas, both in our backyard and globally, through monthly…
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Meet Our New Dairy Team Members
This spring, we welcomed two new faces to the Wolfe's Neck dairy team. Kate Sabino is part of the dairy apprentice program, while Ursula Murray-Bozeman joins us as an intern. Learn more about them...
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A Deeper Dig: Regenerative Agriculture
You have likely heard the term regenerative agriculture and while it may seem new like a new buzzword, regenerative farming practices have been around for thousands of years. In many ways, it is a return to the way farming used to be, and is focused on restoring soils that have been degraded by the industrial agricultural system. Its methods promote healthier ecosystems by rebuilding soil organic matter.
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Eat Local: A Spotlight on Our Restaurant Partners
During these chilly, gray days of winter, we love to daydream about the sunny days of summer, when fresh produce is harvested from the gardens and served at our Farm-to-Table dinners. These events have been a highlight of the season at Wolfe’s Neck Center since 2014, showcasing local food and the talents of our wonderful chef partners. We are hoping to offer some smaller-scale Farm-to-Table events in 2021 and are looking forward to when we can celebrate food and farming with our community in this unique and memorable way once again.
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A Harvest for Hunger
Wolfe's Neck Center is a long time partner in FCS's food pantry program, donating fresh produce from our fields each year. When the pandemic arrived, FCS quickly adapted and shifted its operations outside with clients receiving pre-packed bags of food. Through the partnership with Wolfe’s Neck Center, local families were still able to ‘shop’ for farm fresh produce.  We checked in with Christine Lyons, Events and Communications Director, to learn more about what this challenging season has been like for FCS
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Education of the past: The history of the Wolfe Neck Club
As Wolfe’s Neck Center provides learning experiences for local children with creative new approaches this fall, a little white building surrounded by our farm fields stands to remind us of a very different kind of education in the past.
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Farm Experiences Up for Bid
Join us for our first-ever online art auction to support Wolfe’s Neck Center. Browse the dynamic array of works created by over 40 talented local artists. In addition to artwork, bid on a range of farm experiences, dinners, studio tours, workshops and more! Some auction items are for exclusive farm experiences not available to the public. Read on to see what you could bid on while supporting Wolfe's Neck Center.
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Ben Gotschall, Wolfe’s Neck Center’s dairy and livestock manager, made the trek from Nebraska to Maine in November 2020. Soon after, he was joined by his wife, Tammy, and their daughter, Charlotte. In May 2021, his herd of cattle made the 1,800-mile journey to Freeport, as well. In a piece written for Field Notes, our annual print and online newsletter, Ben shared his thoughts on what the relocation meant for him, his family, and his cows. 

On May 5, 2021, I loaded my entire herd of cattle on a semi-trailer in Nebraska and watched it drive away.

As the truck tires kicked up dust from the gravel road and the roar of the diesel motor grew faint in the distance, my stomach churned, and my hands began to sweat. The hollow feeling of anxiety as I watched my life’s work disappear on the horizon lasted almost two days until, 36 hours later, I unloaded them into the seaside pasture below the Pote House at Wolfe’s Neck Center, 1,800 miles away from where they started.

It seems I have never been without my cow herd. I got my first Jersey at the age of 10, and for the past 31 years have been building, re-building, and re-defining it. My cows have seen me through all of my life’s transitions. They have moved with me wherever I have gone, from our shared roots along the banks of Holt Creek in the Nebraska Sandhills to the Missouri Ozarks and now to the coast of Maine.

The arrival of my small herd of Jerseys at Wolfe’s Neck Center has brought closer the idea that this place is my new home. While I have been living and working here since November, the first two months were spent without my wife, Tammy, and our daughter, Charlotte, who both came back with me after Christmas. Even then, the cows remained behind, in the care of a neighbor in Nebraska. Friends, former customers, and co-workers all asked me, “Why did you move to Maine?” I usually replied, half-jokingly, “I ask myself the same thing every day.” But it isn’t a half-joke. It is a statement. 

Written in black marker on a flip-chart paper stuck to the wall in the Wolfe’s Neck Center break room is the question, “Why are we here?” And then, below it, is a related question, “Why are you here?” I encourage my team members to think about themselves in the context of the bigger picture. I ask them to contemplate how their own goals and values interact with the goals and values of Wolfe’s Neck Center as an organization as well as within the broader context of our regional and national agricultural landscape. 

For me, the main reason I am here is to teach young people how to learn to be successful in the field of grass-based dairy production. Life-long learning is important to me and I am enjoying helping others make the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship program at Wolfe’s Neck Center the best it can be. I believe that by working with nature, utilizing research, and enabling innovation, members of the dairy team here can become leaders in the exciting future of regenerative food production.

Why did I move to Maine? The best answer I can give is that I don’t know yet. I don’t know if my ideas or methods will work here. I don’t know if my cattle will thrive, if my breeding plan will be able to re-shape the Wolfe’s Neck dairy herd into a high-functioning, well-adapted group of grazers. I don’t know if I will be able to transform my relationship with farming and food or enable others to do the same. But when I see cows with their calves beside them on pasture against the backdrop of the coastline or when I watch the apprentices taking forage inventories and setting up the next paddock cross-fenced, I see something taking shape here, and it gives me hope. This place, its people, and its potential give me the confidence to say: “It was worth it.”

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• A more resilient food system

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