We grow various nut trees, make mushroom logs, ferment vegetables, grow chestnut trees, gardening

Maine
This picture of me is about 10 years old.  The tool is called a pickeroon
This is the loft of the tiny house, just big enough for 2 people hybrid chestnuts harvest, 2023
4 Updated 3 months ago
Permaculture enthusiast who grows various nut trees, especially chestnuts and other nut trees and mushroom logs. I have one female partner, one dog and one cat. Morning walk, gardening, manage nut tree seedlings, grafting trees, manage nut tree orchard, harvest and process firewood, mowing and mulching, building maintenance, manage about 300 mushroom logs, dehydrate mushrooms and other veggies **This week: grafting chestnuts in the woods and in the greenhouse, mapping the grafted trees, processing firewood, mowing and mulching...and more...** We have a tiny house for a wwoofer to live in and can provide food for meals for them to make themselves or we can eat together at the main house. I play various instruments but no longer play professionally. Hiking, swimming, shopping and other various activities and sizable towns within a half hour drive. My partner knits and cooks often. Je parle Francais un peu, pas bien. Habla Espanol un poco, no mas.
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Fruit or nut farming
Wild foraging
Aromatic or medicinal plants, teas
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Renewable energy production
Mechanics / tools / technology
Methods or systems
Biological pest control
No-till farming
Permaculture
Regenerative agriculture
Host type
Self-sufficiency property
6.9 Hectares | 17 Acres
Accommodation
1 WWOOFer
Campsite
Cabin / Mobile-home
Children not accepted
Pets not accepted
Meals
Omnivore
Vegetarian
Vegan
Length of stay
1-2 weeks
3-4 weeks
Over a month
Tom
Tom
Member since 2025
Languages spoken: English
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Response rate: 100% Response time: typically within 1 day
Maine
Bus- Waterville, Maine, train Brunswick, airport Bangor
Feedback
Axel
Axel
United States • June 2026
Following Tom through the depths of his woods—he’ll have a delightful, insightful, or possibly tragic story about nearly each and every tree—& certainly for any chestnut tree, of which he could each write a memoir for. He’ll point out what’s edible and not (& take a bite out of it together!); and listen intently to & heartily answer any question you may have about the state of the natural world & all else. With Tom I’ll forever cherish musing on, under, and with the chestnuts—a few hundred mostly American & American-Chinese hybrids stand triumphantly & happily on his soil! Tom’s work is sheer testament through the genocidal blight: true empathetic labor of dear friendship with the trees, to bring the American chestnut back home to the forests, free again. Tom & Diane both possess several lifetimes of wisdom each & infinitely more between them, being deeply willing to share and help you, too. Their hospitality, joyous presence, knowledge of Nature & whatever may exist beyond, boundless. About any page in an encyclopedia of homesteading, they could show you how it’s done: gardening, farming, forestry, homebuilding, electrical & solar, cooking, herbal medicine, food preservation, dulcimers & even more. There are not too many places still around where, as the Sun sets, you can chew on a basswood leaf while playing cribbage in the shade of American chestnut trees—soon to be surrounded by the fireflies here and stars above. Infinite thanks again to Tom, Diane, & the Chestnuts—
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Tom
Reply from Tom
You certainly are a wordsmith...Thanks for your kind and descriptive words. May your path reveal insights that you don't expect but gladly welcome. If our paths ever cross again, may you have stories to tell of journeys unexpected but welcome.
Zack
Zack
United States • June 2026
I had a very enriching and educational time with Tom and Diane. I worked and spent most of my time with Tom who is very experienced and knowledgeable about gardening, growing trees and mushrooms, homesteading, wood lot management and much more. He is a very good teacher, very easy going and pleasant to work and converse with. He could make anything a teaching moment and was very generous in taking his time to teach and discuss things I told him I was interested in. I didn’t spend as much time with Diane, but in our conversations she was always willing to share her extensive experience and knowledge on homesteading, herbs, canning, fermenting and more. I was there for the month of May. We did firewood work - felling, Limburg and bucking trees, collecting, splitting, stacking, shitake mushroom cultivation outdoors on stacked logs (mainly soaking and stacking logs), started seeds indoors for the garden , transplanted plants into the garden, garden prep like adding compost to soil, cleared brush and trails, grafted onto his many chestnuts, worked on a few small construction projects, setup electric fence to protect the garden from deer, collected nettle around the home and processed them for storage (dried, blanche and froze, fermented) and more. Accommodations were very clean and comfortable in a tiny home. I made my own meals and we also shared delicious meals together, Diane is a great cook.
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Tom
Reply from Tom
Zack is the one woofer who has shown the most interest, curiosity and dedication to the type of lifestyle we have been learning and doing here for over 35 years on this property. He worked harder than anyone who has been here in the past and took initiative by seeing things that needed to be done and doing them with a fantastic attitude. When not working with us, he spent much of his free time reading from our library of homesteading books. I give my highest recommendations to anyone who might have the opportunity to spend time with Zack. Thanks for a great month together!
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Ben
Ben
United States • September 2025
I had such a great experience staying here! Tom is an incredibly kind and generous soul who is has a wealth of wisom in permaculture and forestry, especially regarding the american chestnut and efforts to restore them in american forests. From the moment I arrived Tom made me feel extremely welcome and at ease, inviting me into his home for meals with his wife (who is a great cook!) and pup. We ate fresh fruit and vegetables from the garden every day was there. He has apples, pears, chestnuts, butternuts, grapes, kiwis, a beatiful vegetable garden, many mushroom log stacks. The work was fun and meaningful — we picked apples, pears, and sumac. Tom was great about explaining not just what to do, but why it mattered, so I learned a lot while also feeling useful. Tom tought me a ton about preserving the harvest and we also started a project of mapping out the 200 chestnut trees on his homestead. I brought a black walnut seedling that we planted in his woods wich made me super proud, it felt great to contribute to his food forest. The place itself is beautiful and peaceful. The little house I stayed in was cozy and comfortable. Afternoons walking around the property or just sitting outside were some of my favorite moments. Overall, I left feeling refreshed, inspired, and grateful. You’ll learn a ton, meet wonderful people, and get to spend time in a really special place.
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Dries
Dries
Belgium • September 2025
Tom is a great host. We slept very well in the tiny house and with the addition of the campfire it was a pleasure staying Tom’s. We had a nice outdoor shower and a small kitchen in the tiny house. We did projects together like clipping/clearing the pathways. Drilling holes in mushrooms logs and soaking them, fertilizing the nut trees, chainsawing trees, taking down bird netting from a tree and some work in the greenhouse. We got to explore the beautiful area which Tom is situated in the best possible area in Maine. I would 100% come back to Tom’s he is a kind soul with a good heart.
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Tom
Reply from Tom
Thanks Dries. Your help was so appreciated! You all had great work ethics and were very polite! Happy travels!