Robert K. (Bob) Sewall was born and raised in Waterville Maine. His early upbringing included many hours in the outdoors hiking, skiing, canoeing and camping. At 16, he earned certification as a Junior Maine Guide and guided wilderness trips in 1969-1970. He put in his first organic garden in 1973, bought his first parcel of land in 1975, and planted gardens at that time.

In 1979 Bob bought 22 acres of fields adjoining his land and planted the orchard there in 1980-1981. His neighbor and mentor was a Finnish farmer named Viljo Masalin. It was Viljo (pronounced "Willy-O") who sold Bob the fields where his animals had once grazed, encouraged him to plant apple trees, and sponsored him through the Farmer's Home Administration. Mr. Masalin had a profound influence on Bob and his farming practices, teaching him about land, cover crops, tractor work and the history of this area. The two spent many hours together doing farm work with and for one another and taking sauna baths in the Finnish tradition.

Bob was president of Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners from 1996-1998 during the time the organization found and purchased the land on which to build the permanent site it now occupies in Unity/Thorndike, Maine. He was a land manager and consultant for 8 years for a property on top of Beech Hill in Rockport, Maine, which is now a part of the Coastal Mountains Land Trust. His duties included managing the land organically, harvesting, processing and marketing blueberries.

A 1973 graduate of Colby College, (Art History), Bob manages and oversees all aspects of the orchard, consults on land management, prunes fruit trees for other people and has a stone masonry business, Sewall's Seawalls. He is married to Mia Mantello, and has a daughter, Samantha.

Bob and the orchard have been profiled in The Camden Herald, The Republican Journal, Steppin' Out, the MOFGA paper, and, in August of 2002, The Boston Globe cooking section. ("Blueberries for Sal and some for the crisp" by Eleanor Klivans.) He has been interviewed by Maine television stations on two occasions and has appeared on national television news once.

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Bob and Mia first met in Camden, Maine, when they were 24 and 15, respectively. They met again in 1999 and they married in 2001 in Camden. Mia was born in Washington, DC, and moved to Camden at 11. She is a summa cum laude graduate of UMass/Boston, and got her Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology at Cambridge College. Her post graduate work included a year of group supervision in the Child Psychiatry department of Massachusetts General Hospital and work in inner-city agencies and schools in Boston. She is a psychotherapist working with adolescents and adults in private practice. She handles most correspondence and publicity about the farm, and sells cider and apples on the weekends.

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Samantha Sewall was born in Maine. Her parents are Bob Sewall and Sue Fleming. She attended school in Lincolnville, Rockport and Camden, Maine (Spindlewood School, Ashwood School, Rockport Elementary, Camden Rockport Middle School and Camden Hills Regional High School). As a baby and toddler she loved to go cross country skiing with her parents in a backpack. She learned to downhill ski at the age of three and still loves the sport today. She spent many happy hours playing in the fields and woods at the family farm and enjoyed loving relationships with the family pets, particularly Tyler, a faithful Bernese Mountain dog who was her constant companion and loved to sled and swim with her. As a child and teen she helped on the farm by doing mowing, pest control, blueberry winnowing and selling apples and cider. She occasionally worked with her dad in his stonemasonry business and helped with all aspects of labor when the family home was rebuilt in 2004. Last summer she worked as an intern at Engage Maine and learned about the issues facing Maine's economy and environment and what we can do at a grass roots level.

She loves travel and has traveled extensively in the United States as well as trips to Tortola, Jost Van Dyke, England, Scotland, Italy and most recently, Cuba. Besides travel, her interests are writing, listening to music, dancing, hanging out with friends and protesting various causes (i.e war, school tuition increases and other issues).

She is finishing college at Acadia University in Nova Scotia as an honors Sociology student with a minor in Political Science. She plans to attend graduate school for International Development, most likely in Canada or the UK.

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Our philosophy is based on an elemental idea of organics: Healthy soil produces healthy plants that create healthy people. Our farm is a place that welcomes all living organisms. Therefore, we use no substances that are toxic or that kill. Pest control is achieved via the use of biodynamic techniques. We also hand-remove pests when possible and practice good husbandry by pruning and mowing.

Our next step is to work with the microorganisms in our soil in a more conscientious and direct way using soil amendments. Our desire is to have a complete and healthy biosphere.

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