Homestead creating joyful, cooperative living with opportunity to manifest personal gifts & passions

Maine

18 reviews • Updated 1 year ago

We're a homestead striving for sustainability in the woods of Maine near the Saco River. We seek both helper visitors for shorter term residence and folks seeking an opportunity to join us as co-homesteaders. Your hosts here greatly enjoy conversation about deeper topics like philosophy of life. We are not politically attached left or right. We're part of the new coalescence from all political views who feel what's needed is a return to respectful discussion and balance through negotiation of differing values and views. The energy and beauty of this homestead and land is incredible. The people here work steadfastly to create an environment of good energy, camaraderie, cooperation, experimentation, curiosity, and fun alongside our serious commitment to hard work, efficiency, and integrity, as well as right-relationship with all beings and all that is. We offer a broad spectrum learning opportunity to beginners and especially those interested in pursuing the homesteading life. We are small scale and are still learning ourselves so we welcome you to work alongside us. We will happily share our knowledge as well as listen to your ideas. Our family has a history of unschooling so we take lifelong learning very seriously around here. Areas of activity include: all aspects of gardening from starting seedlings to nurturing and pest control to harvesting; greenhouse work; food usage/preservation including cooking/baking, canning, drying, freezing, fermentation; animal care & management (chickens, ducks, rabbits and some years pigs); animal harvesting; and construction projects (on the list are outdoor kitchen with cob oven and canning station, greenhouse addition, outdoor bathhouse, screen house). Additionally, our on-farm business offers opportunity to engage in building of wood products such as picnic tables-great fun! While you're with us you could take part in the highly active Permaculture Meetup group in Portland (about 30 minutes from us) offering a wide variety of opportunities including Permablitzes and educational workshops. Also we have an extensive library covering all aspects of the homesteading life which you will be welcome to use during your stay. Maine is active in sustainable farm start-ups and other aspects of a healthier approach to food as well as helping young people become farmers. You will be provided with living quarters (The Tiny or full camping set-up), or you may camp with your own tent, with use of a composting toilet and the shower in the house and with healthy food, some produced on the homestead. The Tiny is pictured and includes a comfy chair inside and a 6x6 screened gazebo. Our camping set-up is a nice canvas tent with extra wide cot, a well appointed kitchen area roofed and screened, a 10x10 screened room and a picnic table. Sometimes the whole gang gathers for a shared meal, but mostly meals are cooked separately from provided food. When there are multiple helpers they often share meals as well. The area offers swimming, use of the farm's canoe, walking in the woods, biking and the general beauty of Maine. And naturally the whole gang sitting around the campfire for good conversation and music. We seek lifelong learners with a passion for sustainable farming, the ability and willingness to work hard, the maturity to thrive in a cooperative, shared-living setting, and positive traits such as perseverance, thoughtfulness and a good sense of humor. Depending on the circumstance we may be able to accommodate 2 people traveling together. Certifications: We're growing food for ourselves and do so healthfully. Internet access available At our farm you will not be required to be Covid vaccinated.

Learning opportunities

Vegetable farming

Poultry farming

Raising of other farm animals

Seed saving or production

Meat processing

Vegetable or fruit preservation

Beer, cider, wine, or juice making

Mechanics / tools / technology

Methods or systems

No-till farming

Permaculture

Host type

Self-sufficiency property

WWOOF-Verified

Accommodation

2 WWOOFers

Campsite

Cabin / Mobile-home

Children not accepted

Pets accepted

Meals

Omnivore

Vegetarian

Length of stay

1-2 weeks

3-4 weeks

Over a month

Cheryl

Member since 2016

Languages spoken: English Response rate: 100% Response time: typically within 6 days

November 2025

Open

Planned visit

Closed

MapLibre | Protomaps | © OpenStreetMap

Maine

Happy to pick up arrivals via buses into Portland, trains into Saco and at the Portland airport

Reviews

Ash

United States • October 2025

We spent 5 months on this farm, and loved every day of it! Cheryl and Kirk are very loving and grounded people. They are good teachers and did a great job finding a variety of projects and including us in any specific task we were interested in. We got experience planting the garden, tending rabbits and chickens, building picnic tables, and building buildings! We both are so much more confident in our skills, inspired by the homestead they've created, and will forever have friends here.

Zack

United States • September 2025

I had a great time at this Homestead. Kirk and Cheryl were friendly, welcoming and accommodating hosts. I mostly worked with Kirk who was a pleasure and easy to work with. He is a teacher and offers a-lot of experience to learn from in homesteading. Though I was only there for a week in late September, a variety of task was accomplished including building a picnic table, staining the chicken coop, harvesting potatoes, and working on a new shed. Accommodation was clean and comfortable in a tiny home and I had a full outdoor kitchen to use.

Chelsea

United States • September 2025

Had an amazing time and learned so much while on my visit. Variety of tasks. Felt very welcomed on the farm.

Tessa

United States • September 2023

I really enjoyed staying at this farm for two months! Cheryl and Kirk both taught me a lot and I enjoyed the work. I was "in-charge" of feeding the rabbits in the morning, and fulfilling other farm related tasks. I learned a lot about carpentry and construction from Kirk, helped build the outdoor kitchen building, re-siding and re-roofing a shed, and other related work. I helped harvest vegetables from the garden and tend to the farm animals (chickens, ducklings, chicks, rabbits, fish), we processed some of the meat rabbits while I was there. Housing was accommodating and nice! I really enjoyed being close to Portland, while still being "in the woods", I had friends in the area that I was able to visit when I wasn't working and who were encouraged to visit the farm! I also had a part-time job dishwashing at a local brewery while there, that Kirk and Cheryl allowed and accepted! I overall really enjoyed my stay at their farm and would recommend to anyone looking for a WWOOFing experience!

Scott

United States • June 2023

I just had the best time with Cheryl, Kirk, and Mags. I felt so welcomed and a part of their team immediately. Cheryl and Kirk are lovely people and I commend their efforts to building a homestead that will nurture community and bring together like minded folks willing to work together. They generously open their home and share their knowledge and skills with anyone willing to learn and be open to new experiences. I had wonderful, lengthy discussions about life, philosophy, the 'why' behind homesteading, and a plethora of other subjects. Their picnic table building side business is rad. I learned valuable skills with a belt sander, drills, sliding compound saw, table saw, and lots of other tools. I learned to drive their tractor, which was really cool. Cheryl has so much gardening knowledge that she loves to share. Chickens were fun and their eggs were absolutely delicious. The kindness and patience shown to me was tremendously helpful as I continue my own path to self-sufficiency and homesteading. THANK YOU Cheryl and Kirk!

Lillian

United States • October 2022

It was such a pleasure meeting Cheryl & Kirk and volunteering at Bird Briar Farm. I was definitely taken out of my comfort zone a few times with some of the building tasks but, it was a perfect balance between hard core projects (building a storage space under the roof of the barn, building a dam by the pond, clearing area to make room for an outdoor kitchen, covering windows in the bunny coup in preparation for winter) and easy farming tasks (harvesting beans, kale, swiss chard, tomatoes, etc; pickling cucumbers and canning tomatoes; feeding the bunnies, etc.). Thank you Cheryl & Kirk for sharing all your skills and knowledge with me.