Farm-to-table is so yesterday; in Maine, you can enjoy farm-fresh meals right on the farm. These farm-based Maine restaurants, cafés, and pizza ovens serve farm-fresh fare. Most, if not all, ingredients are sourced onsite or nearby. Call before making a special trip, as hours vary by the season, if not the week or day. (post updated Feb. 35, 2023)
Nezinscot Farm Store and Cafe, Turner: named an American Classic in 2023 by the James Beard Foundation.
Sited on 250 organic acres edging the Nezinscot River, Maine’s first organic dairy farm is a multi-faceted find. Third-generation farmers Gregg and Gloria Varney expanded Nezinscot Farm’s operations to include a specialty food shop; a café serving breakfast and lunch; a boulangerie making traditional and European-style breads and baked goods; a fromagerie, source of more than 20 certified-organic cheeses; a charcuterie, making prepared meats such as bacon, sausage, and pepperoni; and a yarn and fiber studio.
“I like telling people that Nezinscot Farm is an interactive classroom, where people can not only learn more about where their food comes from, but more importantly, the benefits to one’s health in supporting a local food system by eating locally grown,” Gloria says.
Go for breakfast, brunch, or lunch, or stop in for the fresh-baked pies, doughnuts, bread, and sweets. Then, create a picnic by adding cheeses and charcuterie, veggies, baked treats, and other finds.
The Well at Jordan’s Farm, Cape Elizabeth
Culinary Institute of America-trained chef Jason Williams presides over The Well, a mobile kitchen amid the fields, greenhouses, and gardens of Jordan’s Farm, a 122-acre third-generation, family farm on a land trust. Dining is primarily alfresco, with seats at picnic tables, in gazebos, or at the kitchen counter.
Williams gets his pick of the farm’s produce, and he creates his menus to reflect not only what’s available but also to complement the weather.” If it’s 40 and rainy in June, I throw soups on and prepare comfort food. If it’s 100 degrees in July, I’ll prepare spicy foods and barbecue.”
Visit the well-stocked farm store before dinner, pick some fresh flowers for the table, and savor a scratch-made farm-fresh meal. Definitely make reservations.
Primo, Rockland
While most places on this list were farms first, Primo, owned by two-time James Beard award-winning chef Melissa Kelly, was first a restaurant. Kelly purchased the property in 1990. Over the years, she’s cultivated the property, sowing crops and adding gardens, beehives, and livestock for truly farm-fresh meals.
Her philosophy is to be as sustainable as possible and leave a small footprint. Nothing goes to waste. “We recycle hot water for dishes, burn local biodiesel, fertilize gardens with food waste, and grow 69 percent of our own produce,” she says. In peak season, the farm produces 80 percent of what’s served. Local farmers fill in the gaps.
I love arriving early to wander around the produce and tea gardens, view the hives, and visit with the pigs, chickens, and guinea pigs in the pastures.
Primo has formal and casual dining rooms, lounges, and a porch. Make advance reservations for the dining room, and arrive early to enjoy the experience.
Seal Cove Farm, Lamoine
Visiting Acadia? Nose out to Lemoine and watch Nubian goats romp in the field and play king of the rock, while you wait for your pizza (~$15) to be made and cooked in Seal Cove Farm’s outdoor oven. Pizza menus vary to reflect what’s currently fresh from the farm, but each is topped with Seal Cove’s various kinds of goat cheese and, if you want, goataroni. Go on a fine day, as there’s no indoor seating.
The farm store sells its cheeses and goat gelato when available. The pizza oven usually operates for lunch Friday through Sunday.
Misty Meadows Organic Farm, Lille
Whenever I’m in the St. John Valley, which edges the namesake river at the crown of Maine, I come certified organic Maine potato farm for lunch. James “Chub” and Sharon Dionne operate the farm with help from their daughters, Hannah and Haley, and son Matthew and his wife, Macey. Farm-fresh produce, preserves, salted herbs, pickled veggies, baked goods, and Maine-made crafts fill the Misty Meadows Organic Farm store, which evolved into a country café.
Misty Meadows serves hearty, all-natural or organic comfort food. And with few exceptions, everything is scratch made. “I grind 50-75 pounds of beef every other day,” Hannah says. “We know where it comes from, how it was raised and butchered.”
The menu features Maine spuds with all manner of toppings and typical luncheon fare. There are sweets (oh my, the pies!), a barbecue pit (Saturdays), and hearty daily specials. There’s seating both indoors and outside.
Stutzman’s Farm Stand & Bakery, Sangerville
If heading north to the Moosehead or the Katahdin & Lakes regions, detour to Stutzman’s, owned by third-generation farmers Sid and Rainey Stutzman. This family farm has a store stocked with farm-fresh produce and a bakery producing scratch-made breads, pies, pastries, and more, but the café with its farm-fresh meals steals my heart—or maybe stomach.
Stutzman’s serves soups, salads, desserts, daily specials, and wood-fired pizzas drawing from the farm’s bounty. Everything looks good, but I always go for the pizza, sold by the slice and pie. Even better, there’s an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet with varied pizzas, salads, desserts, and beverages.
“We try to follow the seasons with what we have on hand, starting out with greens from our greenhouse, and we buy from other farmers who might have something we don’t have,” Rainey says. And with advance notice, the farm makes a gluten-free pizza shell, offers vegetarian soups and pizzas, and can make low-sugar desserts.
Pietree Orchard, Sweden
Tabitha King, the wife of horror maven Stephen, owns Pietree Orchard, a hilltop orchard with eye-candy mountain views that are gorgeous anytime but glorious in autumn. The farm store carries produce and house-made baked goods and sweets, including cider doughnuts.
That said, plan a visit around the baked-to-order pizzas cooked in the outdoor wood-fired oven. You can even go home with a tasty souvenir: Depending on the season, fruit-picking opportunities range from strawberries to pumpkins.
Apple Acres Farm, Hiram
The best time to visit Apple Acres Farm is autumn, when the apple orchard is heavy with fruit and the hills surrounding it are ablaze with color. Can’t make it, then? Not to worry, you can stop in anytime for apple-cider doughnuts, ice cream, and, oh yes, doughnut-ice cream sandwiches, not to mention sandwiches, pies, and—surprise!—even a decent lobster roll. And pizza!
Sheepscot General Store & Farm, Whitefield
Breakfast, sandwiches on freshly baked bread, enticing baked goods, and Friday night pizza keep this rural farm store hopping year-round. And you can pick up grocery items as well as works by local artisans.
Toddy Pond Farm, Monroe
From mid-June through early October, Toddy Pond Farm hosts a dinner concert series with live music on Friday and Saturday nights. Reservations ($10/ages 11 and older) are required. These cover the concert but not food, drink, or gratuities. The menu includes starters ($6-12), such as a fresh salad or a salumi board; entreés, which might include burgers, carnitas, and wood-fired pizza ($16-20); and, of course, desserts.
Sundays ($5/adult) are more casual and geared for families. That menu includes farm-fresh salads and pizzas and perhaps local musicians.
You can see the concert lineup and purchase tickets online.
