information about Thomaston and Damariscotta (Portland, Brunswick: real estate, home, neighborhoods)

[Rocky25]

My husband and I are moving back to Maine to start an organic animal/vegetable/educational farm somewhere near/on the mid coast. We are also planning on having children soon. We have wandered around Maine looking for farmland near schools and in neighborhoods and Damariscotta and Thomaston seem to be our best bet (also more affordable). Before we go ahead and find the perfect property to settle on I have a few questions about what the communties of each town are like. I know Damariscotta has a large retirement community but I don't know anything about whether there are young families/people in their late 20's looking to start families there or in Thomaston. Thomaston we are especially confused about because the schools are supposed to be good and everyone we meet is really nice but we haven't seen any young people about. Also, in Damariscotta it's hard to know, even this time of year, if the people you run into and see in town actually live there. any advice would be helpful. ..also if you know of another town that you think maybe we should check out that would be great too!Thanks

[SailorGirl2001]

Please see my latest post in "What Effect will the Closing of the Brunswick Naval Air Station Have on the Area" for some info on Damariscotta.

In my opinion, I would say Thomaston has a much bigger retirement community than Damariscotta. Lots of young families in Damariscotta for sure.

[Coaster]

Damariscotta has been a retirement center since the 1980s, and the local real estate prices reflect it. We rented there for a while in the early 1980s but had to move to find an affordable home to buy when our first child was born. To be honest I've always liked Thomaston despite the cement plant. Real estate is more reasonable -- or was last time I checked -- and I've heard good things about the schools. I really haven't heard much about Thomaston as a retirement town, so I can't comment on SailorGirl's statement.

All of that said, if you're looking to start an "organic animal/vegetable/educational farm," you might want to look a little closer to the Brunswick-Portland area just in terms of marketing, such as West Bath or Pownal. Portland's restaurant scene is getting huge attention now (major feature in the NYTimes earlier this week), and it depends on access to fresh local food. Plus the Portland and Brunswick farmers' markets are the biggest in the state.

Have you contacted Russ Libby at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association in Unity? He should be able to give you some excellent advice on these questions. (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association)

[Rocky25]

Thanks so much for the insight. We do know Russ at MOFGA and my husband has occasionally worked on projects for him. My husband currently works in Rockport so further toward Portland past Damariscotta might be difficult.

[Coaster]

Ah, if your husband works in Rockport (what company, if I may ask), you might want to look at Union/Hope/Washington along the Route 17 corridor. That gives you access to the Gardiner-Augusta-Waterville population, from a marketing standpoint. Back Thomaston, out toward Route 90, is a nice area, too, as is Warren, although the presence of the prisons there puts some people off.

[MRVphotog]

Most of the organic farms I know about are inland where land and taxes are cheaper. Some are not that far from the coast some are. When I was a food vendor at the CGF we got most of our veggies from a farm in Durham and a farm southeast of Greenville. A notable exception would be Wolf Neck Farm on the coast near Freeport.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by MRVphotog

Most of the organic farms I know about are inland where land and taxes are cheaper. Some are not that far from the coast some are. When I was a food vendor at the CGF we got most of our veggies from a farm in Durham and a farm southeast of Greenville. A notable exception would be Wolf Neck Farm on the coast near Freeport.

Wolfe's Neck Farm is no longer raising their beef in Freeport. They are raising the cattle on Pineland Farms land in New Gloucester. It seems the runoff from the cattle manure was harming the coastal zone so they moved the cattle to Pineland Farms.

[Rocky25]

I was just talking about Wolfe's neck farm with some mid-coast farmers yesterday. Wolfe's Neck Farm was about to go under so they sold their brand name to Pineland Farms. This means that the meat is no longer raised by Wolfe's Neck Farm (I'm pretty sure that the cows are now grain-finished) and Wolfe's Neck Farm now needs to come up with another name.

My husband works at Aldemere Farm in Rockport. I know a lot of farmers start farms a bit off the coast beacuse it's cheaper (and most of the time the soil is better too) but since we want to start an educational farm that works with schools and I really want to be in a neighborhood, we have been looking at Thomaston and Damariscotta. It seems like Damariscotta may just be a bit too cut up for us to get a good chunk of land at a decent price. We're also trying to stay not more than an hour and a half from Portland as that's where my parents are. . .key babysitters when we will need them. Any info about the community in Thomaston and Union would also be helpful.
Thanks for all the help!