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In the 1980s, Nezinscot Farm in Turner, Maine, began as the first organic dairy operation in the state. It’s diversified since then, but the passion for good food and sustainability has endured, and Nezinscot is a favorite of Bates students for its homemade goods and delicious farm breakfasts.
AESOPers on this trip learned about farm life through hands-on participation in daily activities, whether feeding the animals or working in the vegetable fields. The trip was led by Sophie Warren ’19 of North Reading, Mass., and Ellis Obrien ’19 of Palo Alto, Calif.
Led by Paul Phillips ’17 of New Gloucester, Maine, and Emma Marchetti ’17 of Whitefish, Mont., the bikers headed to the Carrabassett Valley, near Sugarloaf Mountain, a premier location for mountain biking in Maine. The group camped on Flagstaff Lake, with access to canoes and swimming.
“I have a much better idea of this community after doing this work,” said AESOPer Timothy Kaplowitz ’20 of New York City, as he emptied a bucket full of weeds in the Hundred Acre Garden at Lewiston’s Hillview Apartments, where the gardens are part of the Lots to Gardens urban garden program.
Kaplowitz and his fellow first-years were participating in an AESOP service trip. Along with partnering with organizations in the community, they explored the area in the afternoons with hikes, swimming at Range Pond, and canoeing on the Androscoggin River.
Trip leaders were Kevin Tejada ’17 of Mount Kisco, N.Y., and Lisa Choi ’17 of Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.
Two trips headed to Lake Mooselookmeguntic and the Stephen Phillips Memorial Preserve in the Rangeley Lakes region of western Maine.
The area comprises more than 6,000 acres and more than four miles of lake shore, and the AESOPers canoed around the lake and its many small islands. Two days hiking provided views of Saddleback Mountain, Rangeley Lake, and the eastern edge of the White Mountains, along with plenty of swimming in Smalls Falls
One trip was led by Tess Miller ’19 of Santa Monica, Calif., and Eli Nixon ’19 of Eliot, Maine, and the other by Emma Smith ’17 of Braintree, Mass., and Wade Rosko ’17 of Dillon, Colo.
“Farming has always been a part of my life, and I am pumped to get these kids into the farming life, especially in a place that I know so well, my own hometown,” said Emma Egan ’18, of Freeport, Maine, who led an AESOP trip to Winter Hill Farm.
Set atop a hill surrounded by woods and pastures in Midcoast Maine,Winter Hill is a small family-run operation that manages a herd of very rare Randall cattle, alongside a few Jersey cows.
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