Hello!
At Fogwood Gardens, we attempt to recreate the idea of what farmable land looks like. When we purchased our four acre property in Arrowsic, ME in 2019, all we had was a vision and a wood lot on a hill with lots of ledge. But, it was ours. Slowly, with a lot of digging, we built our beds, amended the soil, set up greenhouses and helped the sun find the gardens.
We believe in small scale, high efficiency practices, and reducing waste. We choose to only grow crops that do well on our land. Mushrooms under the hemlocks, tomatoes in the greenhouse, and flowers everywhere else.
Our long road to Fogwood Gardens has involved a lot of twists and turns, sacrifice, and risk. Our motivation to live off the land is inspired daily by our desire to be present for our son, connected to the community through agriculture, and making those younger versions of ourselves proud of how we spend our days.
Meet Our Team
Maria
I am a dreamer, risk taker, and artist. I am also the voice behind a great deal of our writing and networking.
Creating is my life force. Raising all the flowers from seed to harvest, and preserving their beauty with natural drying techniques is an act of honor to myself and the natural world. I am completely self taught throughout my work, which makes it deeply infused with passion and constantly evolving. In addition to Fogwood, I also am the creative behind Silybum Arts, which features my ceramic sculptures.
In my years spent working as a free lance floral designer, I would always steal discarded flowers out of the compost pile the day after an event and take them home to dry. Watching them transition from fresh to everlasting flowers always brought me peace. A sentiment preserved in Time. Thousands of puzzle pieces waiting to fall into place. Countless possibilities for creation.
If you would like to adorn your spaces and events with preserved Flora, let’s dream together.
Keith
The brains behind the operation. The backbone of Fogwood. Making our dreams into reality.
With a degree in Sustainable Agriculture from the University of New Hampshire, Keith makes it possible for us to farm with intention. Starting with the soil, all the way to organization in the drying barn, he wraps his mind around every detail, large or small.
His love for tomatoes started in college, when him and a few friends started “From my Head Tomatoes,” a micro farm specializing in heirloom tomatoes. He took some time to learn different trades after college, but found his desire to return to tending the land impossible to ignore. No matter what he is doing, there is always a farming book on the side table.
Inspired by their productivity in small spaces, multiple uses, and overall out of this world characteristics, Keith thought exploring mushrooms would be a great idea for Fogwood. We had no idea how much we would fall in love with growing them! He looks forward to inoculating more logs every year for his birthday.
He is the person to talk to if you have any questions regarding Fogwood produce.
Sawyer
Inventory specialist. Tool maintenance. Wielder of the watering wand.
Sawyer can often be found surveying the gardens. Always making sure to pick more husk cherries for himself than for sale, he helps us focus on indulging in the true pleasures of life. He can already tell the ripeness of a tomato better than mama, and can name most of the flowers we grow. He is fiercely independent, and feels very strongly that any hour of the day is an appropriate time to be outside.
If it weren’t for him, we wonder if we would have ever taken the leap of faith into full time farming. Our greatest goal with Fogwood will always be to teach him self sufficiency and respect for the land.
I dare you to try and walk by the stand without this guy convincing you to take a tomato home.
The Girls
AKA Ophelia & Panda. The greeters. Moral support.
Ophelia worships the sun, and will never stop looking for the squirrel that got away. Although she prefers to take long naps in the sun, Panda often convinces her to sneak off for a woods adventure.
Although they may bark and run up to “intruders,” they can be quickly diffused by pets.
Ziggy
Exterminator. The Muscle. Often found sleeping on the job.
Ziggy takes his purpose here in the gardens very seriously. There is no mouse, vole, fly, pest or new addition to the property that he does not inspect. That includes your vehicles, so please make sure he is not inside before you leave.
He didn’t really discover himself or understand his place in this world until he was finally able to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors and be a farm cat.
