The Tops’l Grange

Each season we invite a small number of Grange Fellows to the farm — to share what they know, and stay on the land as one of us.

The Grange has been a cornerstone of rural Maine life for more than 150 years — a place where farmers and neighbors gather to share what they know, demonstrate craft, and eat together. That tradition is very much alive here.

The Tops'l Grange is inspired by that spirit. This season we opening the farm to a small number of Grange Fellows — foragers, herbalists, beekeepers, naturalists, seed savers, cheesemakers, fermenters, and others who carry real working knowledge of the land. They come to teach. They stay as guests. And the knowledge they bring stays with the farm long after they leave.

Why This Matters to Us

We returned to Maine with a deep desire to learn.

Growing up on a farm, these skills felt like something to leave behind. I spent years running toward other things. Now I understand what they actually are — a body of knowledge that takes a lifetime to build, that doesn't live in books, that passes from person to person or disappears entirely.

At our core, we are curious. We want to fill our days listening to people who know things we don't, learning by watching, making things with our hands, and understanding this land more deeply every season.

The Grange Residency exists because we want to share that with our guests — and because the people who hold this knowledge deserve a place to share it.

The Grange Residency

Come Stay. Come Teach.

The exchange is simple.

You lead one session — a hands-on demonstration, a workshop, a walk through the fields, whatever form your practice takes. In return you stay on the farm as a full guest: private room, all meals, sauna, and time on 83 acres of working Maine farmland.

Many Fellows stay on a few extra days after guests leave. The farm is quieter then, and the land is still there.

What a stay includes:

  • Private accommodations for the 2-night stay

  • All chef-prepared meals featuring local ingredients

  • Full access to Meadowhouse sauna, cold plunge and wood fired hot tub

  • Extended stay possible following, subject to availability

  • Time and space to work, rest, or simply be on the land

Who We're Looking For

We're not looking for credentials. We're looking for people who are genuinely inside their practice right now — and who'd find something meaningful in sharing it with a small, attentive group on a working farm in Maine.

You might be a:

  • Forager

  • Herbalist

  • Seed saver

  • Market gardener

  • Cheesemaker

  • Fermenter

  • Preserve and pickle maker

  • Cider or mead maker

  • Orchardist

  • Mushroom cultivator

  • Seaweed harvester

  • Oyster farmer

  • Smokehouse practitioner

  • Fiber and natural dye practitioner

  • Naturalist

What you have in common with every Grange Fellow we invite: you know something real, you learned it by doing it, and you're still doing it.

If that's you, we'd love to hear from you.

Introduce Yourself

While You’re Here

The farm takes care of you.

You'll stay in a private woodland cabin — quiet, comfortable, and set apart from the main property. Mornings start with a chef-prepared breakfast using ingredients from the farm and local producers. Evenings end the same way — a real dinner, made from scratch, shared at a common table.

The Meadowhouse is yours too. Sauna, hot tub, and the kind of stillness that's hard to find anywhere else.

Your teaching session is yours to shape. We're not prescriptive about format — a hands-on demonstration, a walk through the fields, a workshop in the barn, a tasting, a talk. Whatever your practice calls for, we have the spaces and the support to make it work. What we ask is that it's real, and that it comes from the work you're actually doing right now.

The rest of your time is your own. The farm is 83 acres. Use it however you need to.