THE NANCY PLACE IS

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Best of luck to the new owners, wishing you many uears of learning and joy. 

At the Nancy Place Homestead in North Orland, Maine we slowly, over 16 years, carved a forested retreat, 1/4 mile off the rural road with a terraced hillside for gardens and permaculture plantings. The property has grapes, kiwi, jerusalum artichoke, elderberry, and many young fruit trees and bushes. Although life has changed drastically and rapidly for us, causing a need to move from what was thought to be our forever property, we have infused the land with love and hard work, and it's ready for new owners to carry forward their vision here. It's ideal for back-to-landers, permaculture enthusiasts, environmentalists, and bug-out property seekers. It'd also be great for a communal living situation. 

The Nancy Place paid its own way over the years. We've hosted guests in our two rental (on site) properties via Airbnb and have watched as the howl of a coyote or the hug of an animal melt the barriers & resistance to personal change. We've stood by as guests were moved to tears and vowed to change their lives as they disconnected from their "normal" busy routines. We've also assisted many with pain relief through Maine's medical marijuana program as outdoor organic growers. With the addition of two high tunnels on an adjoining leased property we also sold veggies, blueberries, crafts and baked goods both at a farmers market and directly from the property. 

PLEASE READ

***Important Announcement***

JUNE 22, 2019

WE ARE NO LONGER OPERATING OUR U-PICK OPERATION. CALL AHEAD TO PICK UP FROZEN BLUEBERRIES ANYTIME OR CALL AHEAD TO ORDER FRESH BLUEBERRIES STARTING IN LATE JULY THROUGH MID AUGUST. 

OUR FARM STAND IS CLOSED. CALL AHEAD TO ORDER VEGGIES FOR PICK UP.

WE ARE SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE, WE ARE TRYING TO EXTRACT OUR PRESENCE FROM THE INTERNET, PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU FIND US IN A LISTING SOMEWHERE THAT IS NOT UP TO DATE. 

FARMING IS NOT A LUCRATIVE BUSINESS, AND IT'S HARD WORK-- 

TAKE TIME TO SEEK OUT FARMERS IN YOUR HOME COMMUNITIES AND SUPPORT THEM WITH YOUR LOCAL DOLLARS. 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST AND SUPPORT.  HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!

About US

The Nancy Place sits on 200 acres of family land in Orland, Maine. It is a mostly wooded place, with our little off-grid, solar farm carved out of a Western facing hill-- and the wild blueberry field just beyond. 

We are idealists, and strive to live in a way that makes sense for our planet. We hope you'll join us as we seek ways to connect more deeply to the land-- through the food we grow, the music we make, our workshops, or by staying with us! 

We've recently closed our sales operations-- we are no longer operating a farm stand or selling farm products except by special order. This includes our u-pick wild blueberry operation. We are no longer able to offer this opportunity. With change, comes lots of growth, and we're grateful that we've used the closing of some roads that we'd anticipated walking to find new places to explore. 

New at the farm: Molly is offering energy balancing sessions!   Reach out to us here or give us a call at 207-949-7662 (or rootedheartwellness@gmail.com )

Shawn & Maizey have brought their presentations of music & story to a new level, pushing particpants to look inside themselves to find the answers to creating a brighter future. ( shawndmercer@gmail.com to find out more)

This is an exciting time for us, please join us in celebrating change and inspiration! 

New at The Nancy Place

We've always got lots of interesting stuff going on, as life leads us in new directions and we just try to catch up! New this season is a glamping site on the edge of our wildlife pond:

For more info about our Tentrr site, and to book: Click Here

And we are getting along pretty well on the site prep for our second high tunnel:

And Molly has started accepting clients for energy balancing sessions (you can book right here on the homepage!):

Learn More: https://www.facebook.com/rootedheartwellness/





We welcomed some new friends:

In a much sadder vein, we said goodbye to our beloved Beauty. Not too ready to talk about that yet:

And we've had our usual visitors:

And we're baking and making our usual things:

Summer Transitions

Almost summer. . . and we find ourselves very briefly coming up for air.  We are transitioning from the rush of planting and preparing into a busy maintenance mode, that is topped off with a giant hopeful list of projects. These normal transitions--like the changes of seasons--, and the brief pauses between them, remind us that it's ok to change, it's ok to grow into new areas. It's been a bit of a hard go, as farming and small business can be, and we find ourselves in an unexpected transition. Life does this sometimes, we know, and it's hard and exciting and such a curiosity all at once. 

We've been slow to see how the old and the new weave together.  The last six or so years we have pushed to get ourselves set up with a careful and diverse plan that kept all our farm eggs spread into several baskets, while also keeping true to our hearts and mission. But all good ideas and plans are shared, and we've watched the market saturate in every.single.area. that we had set ourselves up in. The messages have been clear, but we have had such a hard time understanding how all the doors that had opened to us so easily and successfully could be closing to us so suddenly. And so, acceptance. . . it's time to become more aligned; more specific in what we are dedicating ourselves to. And that means letting some things go, and it means adding some things that are calling to us. 

What we think we are becoming is more of a dedicated retreat space. Rather than casually pursuing our mission, we intend to pursue it more wholeheartedly. We hope to welcome guests specifically for retreats, workshops, adventures and connective experiences.  Shawn has increasingly been weaving wisdom and story into musical presentations that are heartfelt and inspirational and Molly has dedicated her next two years to cultivating her healing work and sharing her gifts. Both experiences will be woven into the deepening mission on the homestead.  We'll also be able to offer farm-to-table pick-up catering and to-go lunches and dinners, and a bigger list of experiences--from re-wilding to energy medicine, to guided out-our-door adventures, and workshops-- but as transitions can be, we expect it may be a little messy as we figure it all out, so please bare with us! Do ask us lots of questions, do book your stay, do schedule an energy session or a workshop, do order your foods with us and shop at our farm store-- we'll need your advice and encouragement. Thanks for all your support, we appreciate you. 

Spring 2018

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
We are thrilled to be ushering in another busy season here on the homestead! Within the next few weeks we'll be getting busy filling soil trays and sprinkling seeds into them. We'll be gathering our sap supplies and planning which trees to tap, and we'll prepare the high tunnel for early spring plantings. The chickens will (hopefully!! finally!) begin laying eggs in abundance and we will welcome another round of fluffy yellow chicks. Our traveling guests have already begun booking, and we are delighted to meet new faces and visit with returning ones.

As the snows melt, we'll sleep each night with the sounds of spring coming alive: dripping, trickling, peeping. I miss the days when the kids looked forward to the mud and the melt in a toddler kind of way-- but I know that we all appreciate the thaw and are awed by it nevertheless.

We have a few changes this year: Shawn has gone to work full time off the homestead, so you'll be seeing less of him during working    hours. Molly has several courses that she'll be working through during high season-- primarily in the field of energy medicine, so you may miss her depending on the timing of your visit. We are excited to let you know that our daughters, Maizey (14) and Ella (12) will be more visible on the farm. We're also likely hosting an apprentice from UMaine. We'll keep you posted. As always, reach out if you need any veggies, eggs, medicine, meats, or lodging! We look forward to another great season.

Stories Inside Stories: Death, Birth, Transitions

I am thinking about changes and transitions-- about the unexpected and even the surprise within the expected. .. Thinking about life on the homestead and about life's bigger picture --about what went down out at Standing Rock this past week and about reversals to human and environmental protections that are jarring and significant. I am thinking about all of you, getting weary, and I'm sending you some love from the homestead. 

miss you Solita. . . 

Here in a week's span we lost a pig-- a friend-- so unexpectedly.  She was a great cuddler. Our friendliest farm buddy. In the early morning, before we realized she was gone, I woke in the dark, startled by a pig outside my window.  Rousing from deep sleep, I wondered why a pig was loose in the early cold.  Seeing nothing,  I drifted back to sleep. Later, finding her still soft body, and definitely no signs of loose pigs,   I guessed she just floated through to say goodbye,  on her way down her road, on her journey.


And yesterday, after being woken in the night by a pacing,  irritated goat-- I looked to the frozen ground- the coldest in Maine's ongoing vacation from winter,  and thought, of course they'll come today. And surely, they did. Shivery, we dried them and quickly cut up little sweaters to keep them cozy. Of course, life-school took over and the babes had no shortage of warm bodies to hold them until they steadied to this new world.

The death and birth within the few days are meaningful,  reflective of the little stories within bigger stories.  We are on a journey, as change makers and creators, as activists and builders-- and we are seeing setbacks; really awful setbacks-- for our clean and free water, for our wild places, for our citizens, for our democracy. 

And yet, the story isn't finished.  We are writing it still, and when it's ended, there's sure to have been struggle and tragedy but also a great uprising of inner strength,  transformation,  and a deepening, widening love that has found its power in its sadnesses. It won't be a story about that one time we took a stand, lost, and gave up. It will be a resilient story; a healing story. We will see to the birth of a new way-- it will come through the stresses of labor and into the cold dark,  but we will be ready,  waiting for ourselves.

Thanks to the Bangor Daily News for capturing the last picture of Solita alive (first photo, of Shawn feeding pigs-- Solita is the black and white Kune Kune)-- it was a nice surprise to see her looking well just last week, and to get that delivered to my inbox via friends yesterday. 

Read the full article here: 

https://bangordailynews.com/2017/02/27/homestead/happytown-road-community-brings-rural-mainers-together/