Volume CXXXIII, Number 5 October 12, 2001 f

Don't miss Crystal Spring Farm
ERIC WORTHING
STAFF WRITER

There are many areas of interest that lay outside the infamous Bowdoin Bubble and go unnoticed by students even after four years of living and working in Brunswick. Crystal Spring Farm, resting on the verge of wood and field on Pleasant Hill, offers the Bowdoin Student and his/her family the chance to visit and explore a progressively thinking farm and its beautiful surroundings, a chance that all too often goes undetected.

One of the many serene scenes at Crystal Spring Farm. (Eric Worthing, Bowdoin Orient)

Crystal Spring Farm, located on Pleasant Hill Road in Brunswick, holds miles of forest and field, walking or skiing trails. These loop around blueberry fields, a quarry, and the full 160-acre farmstead. These trails are open 365 days a year from dawn to dusk, and are absolutely free of charge. Only hiking and skiing are allowed, and no pets are permitted.

In addition to the network of trails, the Crystal Spring Farm also holds a farmer's market every Saturday from 8:30am -1:00pm. This weekend's though, will be the last of the season.

Available at the market is every kind of fruit and vegetable you ever wanted, as well as fresh cut flowers, eggs, lamb, freshly canned goods, a variety of jams and jellies, cheeses, sweaters, blankets, and fresh lobsters. All are locally grown and produced and organic. Farm grown pumpkins cover the landscape this time of year and are sold as soon as they ripen. When winter comes, the farm also offers horse-drawn sleigh rides to pick fresh wild Christmas trees. The horses of Crystal Spring Farm are also a point of interest. World-class Percheron work horses are breed and raised in the farmstead.

The farm represents the primary preservation objective for the Brunswick Topsham Land Trust and is the result of a five-year capital campaign. This movement was fueled by the collective efforts of close to 800 corporations, businesses, organizations, and individuals.

Spearheaded by Jack Aley and Bowdoin professor Tom Settlemire, the organization raised over $800,000 in order to purchase the farmstead itself and the adjacent areas. The project, according to Aley, was, and still remains, an endeavor to provide the public with access to a working farm with recreational, agricultural, and educational dividends. Aley also wishes to make the farm as much of an "asset to Bowdoin as it is to the town." The Brunswick Topsham Land Trust consists of over 800 members, with a board of 24 directors, and a budget of around $84,000 a year. It is one of the more successful land trusts in the country and oversees the maintenance of the Bradley Pond Farm Preserve in Topsham and the Captain Alfred Skofield Nature Preserve also in Brunswick.

So, the next time you want to escape the sometimes confining Bowdoin Bubble and want an Outing Club experience, then the Crystal Spring Farm is the place to check out. To get there, go south (away from downtown) on Maine Street, past Parkview Hospital and turn right onto Pleasant Hill Road. The farm is located a little more than a mile on the left.