Whether we’ve been feeding your family since your toddler was a newborn or if you’ve just found us- we figured it might be nice to know a little bit about who we are and how we started farming.
Abby Sadauckas and Jake Galle were both raised in rural communities and spent time in nature. The Galle’s first farm was in nearby Pennellville with a dozen sheep. They moved the farm to Bowdoinham by the time Jake was 6 and established Apple Creek Farm. Some sheep still on the farm can be traced back to a few of the original ewes some 40 years ago. Abby grew up in rural Pennsylvania surrounded by green hills and dairy farms. Abby’s Aunt and Uncle ran a butcher shop after selling their dairy farm where she loved visiting the calves and the laying hens.
Abby was a rotary exchange student in Ankara Turkey and studied abroad at Salzburg College while studying printmaking at Moore College of Art. We met in 2005 while attending a low-residency MFA graduate program at Vermont College of the Fine Arts in Montpelier. Jake was graduating and Abby was just beginning the 2-year program. With similar interests in art, the environment, farming, and a shared love of Maine it wasn’t surprising that we kept in touch. Jake traveled the US extensively after graduate school – dividing his time between farm/labor jobs and artist residencies. Upon returning to Maine in the spring of 2009, our first date was to SPACE Gallery to see a screening of Food Inc. Jake’s return to Maine was fueled by a desire to farm where he was raised and with his parents. His vision included growing the numbers of their sheep flock and cow herd to provide healthy, sustainable meat for the surrounding communities and possibly earn a living from the land. For the next five years Abby and Jake worked full-time jobs while each other operating their individual farms. Abby’s was called Bacon Brook Farmstead. The farmstead, located in Unity included cashmere goats, laying hens, and is where we first started raising broilers, turkeys, and geese.
In early days of 2014 after the sale of Abby’s Unity farm, we combined all our enterprises in one location at Apple Creek Farm. Our shared values and increasing local demand meant growing the farm each year. Farming with nature (the farm is surrounded by woods), soil building, and raising nourishing food has steered our goals.
Pete (Jake’s dad) established the farm’s name by selling lamb and eggs at the Bowdoinham Farmers’ Market. In 2010, Jake began sales Augusta Farmers’ Market and in 2011 was accepted into the Brunswick Winter Market. By 2014 we joined the Brunswick Farmers’ Market and then the BTLT Farmers’ Market at Crystal Spring Farm the following year. For the past 6 years we have marketed year-round in Brunswick.
Abby attends the summer markets three days a week while we both enjoy staffing Winter Market. Abby works part-time for Land For Good and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Since 2017 Jake has been full-time on the farm. We rely on Pete for equipment work, haying and various winter chores. Janet keeps us well-fed through the summer, putting up plenty of pickles for winter and monitoring birds throughout the seasons.
On any given day at Apple Creek Farm you’ll find us working – keeping animals fed and healthy, building soil and pasture diversity, and adjusting to the ever-changing climate. We aim to raise a product that was cared for through its life – from birth to death with respect and love; a product that feeds the land that fed it, a product that feeds our community.
Thanks for choosing us to be your farmers!