Gerritsen perfectly suited to farming life

By Angie Wotton
    Megan Gerritsen is the sort of person who, in being pulled in 10 different directions at any time during the course of a regular day at Wood Prairie Farm, remains calm and focused. In other words, she is perfectly suited to being a farmer. Growing up in New York state her family kept chickens, goats and ponies, but it wasn’t until she was in college and went to visit a friend who was working on an organic farm that it became suddenly clear that farming was exactly what she wanted to do. Post-college and a couple of farms stints later, she made her way to Maine with only $700 and a dream of having her own farm. That move, based not on some long-term goal or well-thought-out business plan but instead based solely on instinct, proved the right choice. Her journey led her eventually to meeting Jim, who was not only single but had started an organic farm in Bridgewater. The rest is history, albeit with lots and lots of stories.
Contributed photo/Lottie Hedley
MEGAN GERRITSEN, her husband Jim and oldest son Peter at work on the Wood Prairie Farm in Bridgewater.
    Present day, the Wood Prairie Farm mail order business of certified organic potatoes, vegetables, grains, seeds and more has created a full-time office job for Megan. Being in the office during the winter months is probably not the vision of farming that she once had but it does emerge in other aspects of small farm life. In this case — the barnyard.
    Megan’s chore time in the early morning and late afternoon hours is an important and sacred part of her day. Not only is that time a piece of simple quiet in an otherwise hectic day, but the family barnyard is a reality. At the end of the day in the office Megan may have a smaller pile of paper on her desk but at the end of her time in the barn, she has a gallon of milk, a half dozen eggs and her compost pile is a little higher. It is also her way of providing for her family and staying in touch with nature.
    When I asked Megan about her favorite part of the cropping year she replied that she loves to get out on the ground in the spring with the feeling that you’ve got the whole growing season open in front of you like a blank canvas and that this year you are going to do everything right. Having the feeling of being poised on the edge of so much possibility.
    That feeling of possibilities must be what keeps farmers farming. In Megan’s case, she makes it clear that they farm because it is satisfying and they believe in what they do. For her the satisfaction of painting that blank canvas each year involves growing crops and including their livestock in the cycle of grazing, fertilizing, growing, feeding their family and having their children grow up and work on the farm, building an important work ethic while giving them personal strength and responsibility. In the end, it also builds a community and that is a very valuable part indeed.
    Editor’s note: Angie Wotton loves her work as district manager for the Southern Aroostook Soil and Water Conservation District. She also raises pastured pork and vegetables with her husband on their small West Berry Farm in Hammond. She can be reached 532-9407 or via e-mail at angela.wotton@me.nacdnet.net.