Green Spark Farm

We’re Mary Ellen and Austin Chadd, and we own and operate Green Spark Farm. Mary Ellen grew up in South Portland next to Maxwell’s Farm and got her first taste of organic agriculture in 2000 at New Leaf Farm in Durham. That summer sparked a passion that led her to apprentice with MOFGA growers, study at the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine, and become a Master Composter. In 2005, through The Evergreen State College, she studied tropical agroecology in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, interning with the Nicaraguan National Farmers’ Union—where she deepened her understanding of sustainable farming practices. We met in an Ecological Agriculture course at Evergreen, where Mary Ellen convinced Austin to help her with soil chemistry... and eventually, to move back east with her to Portland, Maine. Austin grew up in the foothills of Mount Rainier in Washington and farmed with his dad, growing berries, flowers, raising animals, and helping run a small farm. He also worked at Evergreen’s student farm, gaining hands-on experience. Our professors there taught us “systems thinking”—how to see a farm as an interconnected ecosystem and community. We took that mindset with us when we joined the crew at Kirsop Farm in Tumwater, Washington, where we got a full view of a working organic market farm and learned practical skills that we still use today. In the fall of 2009, we broke ground on land that had been fallow for decades and named our farm Green Spark—after the wonders we see every day in vegetables. With support from MOFGA’s Journeyperson Program and mentors like Mark Fulford and Seth Kroeck, we developed our soil management and farm planning skills. We've since grown from a one-bedroom apartment on Portland’s East End to leasing 15 acres in Cape Elizabeth, where we now farm full-time, year-round. In 2013, with help from family, we bought a home just seconds from our fields. We’re grateful to our community—Cape Elizabeth, Portland, South Portland—and to the organizations like MOFGA and the Maine Vegetable & Fruit Growers Association for their support. From researching the land’s farming history to watching our crops thrive, running Green Spark Farm has been the most challenging and rewarding work we’ve ever done. We owe everything to our loyal customers, farmer-mentors, supportive family, and a community that values local organic food.