A solo bike tour to WWOOF along the East Coast left Laura wanting a deeper farming education. She found this experience as an apprentice at Bahner Farm where she stayed for three seasons. She and three friends, who had also been Bahner Farm apprentices, used their combined know-how to cooperatively manage Streamside Farm in Brooks, ME for two years. In the fall of 2017, Laura and Dylan moved across the street from Streamside to start Stubborn Ox Farm. Laura enjoys the balance of hard work and freedom that farming affords her. Such freedoms include snowy days spent by the wood stove, long skis through the woods, lunch break swims on hot days, and drinking coffee with close friends.
Over the course of his farming tenure, Dylan Brown has traveled from Pennsylvania to Maine, beginning his education in sustainable agriculture on the Dickinson College Farm, furthering it at Nettie Fox Farm, and applying it as Farm Manager of Dilly Bean Farm – a three year endeavor to maximize the output of an intensively managed quarter-acre vegetable plot. Experiment concluded, Dylan transitioned to being the produce buyer/supervisor at the Natural Living Center and then pursued an hourly labor position at Ironwood Farm, all in an effort to expand his understanding of the local agricultural economy. Dylan has a keen interest in plant physiology and has found farming to be a gratifying blend of practical, purposeful work and daily, trial-and-error based research. Through farming, Dylan can eat heaping platefuls of organic produce without breaking the bank, lead a rigorously active life and maintain his hard earned weight loss, and continue to grow … as a person, as an entrepreneur, and in a literal sense, continue to grow and study edible plants.
Phineas is our customer relations specialist. He enjoys being pet, laying on your lap, and gazing into your eyes. At 100 lbs, he’s a big guy with a fierce bark, but he’s the biggest love we’ve ever met.
Nora specializes in behind the scene farm jobs. She excels at catching and killing voles, and occasionally gets a groundhog. She spends her days roaming the farm, warding off intruders, and napping on the porch. She enjoys digging for potatoes and running through the woods.