Flewelling family recognized
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
MAGGIE CASTONGUAY read an essay her mother, Courtney, wrote in college about the love-hate relationship a young person oftentimes has living on the farm at the Maine Potato Board’s Industry Dinner that was held July 15 in Fort Fairfield as her grandfather, Fred Flewelling, looks on.
Flewelling and his family, of Crouseville, were recognized as the Board’s 2011 Farm Family of the Year.
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
FORT FAIRFIELD — With relatives, friends, fellow potato growers and political leaders looking on, Fred Flewelling and his family, of Crouseville, were recognized July 15 as the Maine Potato Board’s 2011 Farm Family of the Year.
The Flewellings were the guests of honor at the Board’s annual Industry Dinner held during the Maine Potato Blossom Festival in Fort Fairfield.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
DURING THE FARM FAMILY OF THE YEAR awards presentation, Tim Hobbs, director of development and grower relations for the Maine Potato Board, presented Fred Flewelling with an American flag that was flown over the U.S. Capitol on behalf of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). Pictured are, from left: Flewelling’s wife, Patsy (Campbell) Flewelling, grandchildren Brayden and Maggie Castonguay, Hobbs and Flewelling.
“I can’t express how honored my family is to receive this award. It’s great to be recognized by your peers; I’ve worked with a good many of you over the years on one committee or another and I highly respect you,” said Flewelling. “I appreciate it very much.
“People tend to see farming as one of the most basic occupations, but the reality is, it’s extremely important, and I want to see it carried on for future generations,” he said. “There are a lot of family farms represented here, and I know you all understand what it means to be a farm family. There’s no better way to raise a family, and to work together like this is very rewarding.”
Flewelling started working on the farm as a child and then joined his father, Wilmot “Bill” Flewelling, full-time in 1974 after purchasing land from his great uncle, William Crouse. In 1981, Flewelling purchased his uncle Leo Flewelling’s farms, which included land homesteaded by his great-great-grandfather in the early 1860s. Today, he runs Flewelling Seed Farms with his wife, Patsy (Campbell) Flewelling.
During the Farm Family of the Year awards presentation, Tim Hobbs, director of development and grower relations for the Maine Potato Board, presented Flewelling with an American flag that was flown over the U.S. Capitol on behalf of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). Brandon Roope, president of the Maine Potato Board, presented Flewelling and his father with engraved clocks.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
REP. PETER EDGECOMB (R-Caribou), left, presents a legislative sentiment to Fred Flewelling of Crouseville who, with his family, was honored as the Maine Potato Board’s 2011 Farm Family of the Year.
Rep. Peter Edgecomb (R-Caribou) presented a legislative sentiment to the Flewellings on behalf of Rep. Alex Willette (R-Mapleton), who was unable to attend.
“I can only imagine the pride and satisfaction that this family must have when their own peers have selected them as the outstanding Farm Family of the Year,” he said. “Every one of us would like to think that we would achieve being the top in our profession and reach the level of excellence that this family has achieved.”
Perhaps the most entertaining moment during the celebration came when Flewelling’s granddaughter, Maggie Castonguay, read an essay her mother, Courtney, wrote in college about the love-hate relationship a young person oftentimes has living on the farm.
“Being a potato farmer’s daughter, I was expected to help out on the farm. It was backbreaking labor from 6:30 a.m. until at least 6:30 p.m. — sometimes later — Monday through Saturday. The thing I dreaded most was the morning. I’m not a morning person. My father and mother are both morning people. I cringed every morning when my light flicked on and I heard my mother’s cheerful voice saying, ‘Good morning. It’s time to get up,’” read Castonguay. “Her voice became increasingly less cheery with each time she hollered until it became, ‘It’s 6 a.m. You had better get up right now. Your father will come back to pick you up in 20 minutes and every minute that you are late costs your father a lot of money.’ Then I knew it was time to get up.’
“My father would always say as we were driving to work, ‘Look at that sunrise. Aren’t you glad you’re up to see it?’ I personally didn’t think I should be up before the sun. It should get up first to warm things up a bit,” Castonguay read. “The longest days were the ones that just threatened rain. All day I’d look up at the sky hoping to see it get darker. Then it would start to sprinkle, getting my hopes up that maybe I would be able to go into town and spend some of my hard-earned money. The rare, wonderful days were the ones I woke up to rain pounding against my window and I knew that I didn’t have to get up that morning.”
Recognizing the fashion sense that goes into working in the harvest, Castonguay read of her mother’s essay, “Sometimes I wondered how I was ever going to move as I piled on four layers of sweatshirts, plus the T-shirt, turtleneck and jacket, and even an occasional snowsuit and big boots.”
“I always hoped my father wouldn’t hire the guy I liked that year,” she read. “Unfortunately, sometimes he did. There was no such thing as a social life during harvest. The only people I saw during harvest were the ones I worked with during the day. One year my father hired two of my best friends to work with my sister and I. No matter how hard we had worked that morning, we always had enough energy to have fun at lunchtime. That was the year that my father cut the lunch hour to a half-hour. He decided that we could use the energy more productively.”
With nearly 300 acres devoted to potato farming, Flewelling Seed Farms once yielded table stock, but in accordance with the market, switched to seed potatoes, supplying both Frito Lay and McCain Foods.
Flewelling serves on the National Potato Council board of directors and is chair of the National Council’s seed subcommittee. He has also served on the Maine Potato Board, Seed Executive Council, Maine Seed Potato Board, Aroostook Water and Conservation Service, Maine Potato Growers board, two years as vice president of the National Potato Council grower relations committee, and chairman of the board of the Crouseville Advent Christian Church.
His awards include MPB Young Farmer of the Year (1981), NPC Gold Potato Award for Leadership (1992), NPC Seed Grower of the Year Award (1998) and MPB Farmer of the Year Award (1999).
