Farmer Interview: Liz Lauer from Maine

This past summer, I had the pleasure of taking a three day road trip along the Maine coast with two women who wanted me to meet some of their fellow homesteading, capable, strong female friends who had all once been connected through MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association). It was a wonderful way for me to wrap up my 10 week internship in New Hampshire, which had led me to question ideas I' d had about the ability to make a living through small scale diversified farming.

The last couple I met - Liz Lauer and Chris Blanchard of Springfield, ME - gave me a burst of new ideas about what I could do with my future. They have over a 100 acres, which is mostly in in hay and a great deal of organic wholesale fruit - all kinds of berries, grapes, apples, and pears - through the cooperative known as the Crown of Maine. This is also not to mention all of the produce they grow and process for themselves to last the entire winter and spring.

I knew since the very beginning of my senior project that I wanted to interview her about her experience growing pears in a pretty tough region in Maine. What is especially fascinating to me is her long time relationship trialing apple and pear varieties for Fedco Trees.  

I was ready to print out adoption papers after being there only a few hours. Most of what you see in the front of the house are grapes and pears. 

She rattled off more than three dozen varieties of pears, both old and new, most of which I hadn't heard of. I doubt that many people will ever get the opportunity to taste more than a half dozen in their lifetimes. Many of the hardiest and most disease resistant ones had come out of Quebec.

We talked about the explosion in interest for heirloom varieties in apples, which she says did start happening much until the 80s when she first got involved with the back to the land movement. We shared ideas about why the pear hasn't managed to be as popular as the apple with both growers and consumers - that the shape of the fruit don't pack quite as tidily as apples, that there's a lack of education on how to properly wait for them to ripen, the negative feedback loop of market demand for the same three varieties that are actually some of the least competitive against disease and pests.

Liz in particular loves pears because they store so well and add a wonderful variety to her winter pantry. She makes all sorts of juices, fruit sauces and fruit leathers, which she thought might be a gateway for earlier season pear production in New England, with other opportunities for winter storage pears. "It will most likely not be me to start that up. I hate marketing, I want nothing to do with it!" She said, and then went on to tell me how it takes a certain kind of person to hold that role with the public. Being so far out in rural Maine poses a challenge for farmers who need to get their products closer to their customers, but with the increase in wholesale distributors, seem to make it easier for them to live so far out as they like it.

Lix also brought up an interesting point about climate change and how it has seemed to affect the growth of her pears. The winters in Maine have been more unpredictable - sometimes milder than normal, or dipping dangerously cold in other years that kill off some of the more tender varieties.

Though she doesn't make quite so much anymore, Liz is an incredible wine maker. I remember distinctly that she said the apple and pear mead we tried with dinner that day (photo above) were not very good!