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Frith Farm- Scarborough, Maine
Daniel Mays
Frith Farm runs as a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program where people gather in the timber frame barn once a week to pick up vegetables, herbs, flowers, and other farm-fresh goods. “Frith” is an old English word that combines the meaning of loyalty, friendship, freedom, and sanctuary and is the name of Daniel’s great grandfather’s farm across the Atlantic. Daniel bought the farm through Maine Farmland Trust’s farm link program which allowed him to purchase expensive land in southern Maine at an affordable agricultural price. Frith Farm uses no-till methods that seek to minimize soil disturbance and maximize the abundance and diversity of soil life.
“We choose to disturb the soil as little as possible. We try to mimic natural systems in which soil mixing and aeration is achieved by biological processes as opposed to mechanical tillage. When growers run fast-moving steel through the soil they chop up not only the critters in there but also their habitat, slicing up the mycorrhizal network, killing earthworms, and breaking down soil structure. The next time it rains all the fine particles wash down deeper into the soil and they’re left with compaction. Then water and air don’t infiltrate as well; water runs off causing erosion and the soil goes anaerobic. The usual response is more tillage, so the underlying problems keep getting worse.” – Daniel Mays
“Agriculture is at the root of sustainability. I think that’s where a lot of the changes can begin in terms of changing our path as a species on this planet.” – Daniel Mays
“It’s an exciting time. I think instead of farmers being a dying breed, there’s new life coming in. I think there’s a lot of hope.” – Daniel Mays
“Can this type of farming feed the world? Absolutely we can do it on a large-scale, as a team, as a community, as a region, as a planet. Let’s support lots of small farms rather than few mass-production farm factories.” – Daniel Mays
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