FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Christine Palmer
Telephone: 207-807-7929
www.oohfarms.com
NEW NAME, NEW TALENT FOR CAPE ELIZABETH FARM
CAPE ELIZABETH, ME — Dr. Rodney Voisine, owner of Old Ocean House Farms in Cape Elizabeth, recently renamed his business—a popular source of heritage fruits, vegetables and flowers—and partnered with two talented young farmers to run the operation. Austin and Mary Ellen Chadd of Portland, Voisine said, will be responsible for tending to the crops and marketing the harvests from the land that he owns on Old Ocean House Road.
Voisine said he changed the name of his farming business, well-known to Portland Farmers’ Market patrons as Apple Tree Hill Farm, because “everybody just kept calling it ‘that other farm on Old Ocean House Road’.” It made sense, he said, from a branding standpoint to call it by the more colloquial name and to adjust the business’ website accordingly. “Our information is now on www.oohfarms.com,” he said.
Even though the name of the farm has changed, its focus on heirloom or “lost” vegetables and flowers has not, Mary Ellen said. “We will continue to provide products that others don’t have. For example, rather than raising and selling brussels sprouts, we’ll raise red brussels sprouts, plus purple broccoli and seven colors of carrots—black, red, orange, yellow and three shades of purple.”
Chadd said Old Ocean House Farms’ first appearance at the Portland Deering Oak Farmers’ Market will be Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, May 23.
Voisine purchased his land in the fall of 2003 from Donald and Marjorie Fowler, who lived on the 10-acre property for more than 50 years. Marjorie Fowler was a devoted gardener, and the farm still uses the decades-old compost heap she contributed to there for years.
Under its new name, Old Ocean House Farms remains a member of the Cape Elizabeth Farm Alliance, an organization dedicated to preserving the viability and sustainability of Cape Elizabeth's agricultural properties (open space, fresh local produce, scenery, recreational opportunities).
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