{"id":25803,"date":"2021-04-14T09:01:26","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T13:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/undiscoveredmaine\/?p=25803"},"modified":"2021-11-09T15:26:50","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T20:26:50","slug":"bigelow-fields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/undiscoveredmaine\/2021\/04\/14\/bigelow-fields\/","title":{"rendered":"Bigelow Fields"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Bigelow Fields!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The
The Weavers at Bigelow Fields<\/span>The Weavers at Bigelow Fields<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bigelow Fields was started by first-generation ranchers Michael and Nichole Weaver along with their children, the second-generation ranchers Barrett and Nevada. Nichole grew up in Stratton and met Michael, who is from Alaska, while he was stationed in Rangeley serving in the Marines. They had gone on to living and pursuing careers in Washington DC when Barrett was born, but decided that this urban lifestyle wasn\u2019t best for their kids. They had always known that they wanted to get involved with agriculture and that they would need to find a niche to fill, and one day while watching an episode of\u00a0Alaska: The Last Frontier<\/em>\u00a0that featured bison, which they had encountered and loved during travels out West, Nichole said \u201cyou know, people must raise bison because you can buy it at the grocery store.\u201d After some diligent research and consulting with established bison ranchers, \u201cthe rest is history!\u201d<\/p>\n

The bison are, of course, one of the main attractions at Bigelow Fields. These magnificent creatures are extremely hardy, contribute to healthy soil through grazing, and provide one of the most protein-dense, nutritious meats on the market. It is a real privilege to witness the mothers of the herd, who are so protective and work together as a unit to care for the calves, forming their own \u2018maternity ward\u2019 for their babies. There is plenty of demand; in fact, they sold out of their first bison\u2019s meat in just two weeks!<\/p>\n

\"Bigelow
Bigelow Fields<\/span>Bigelow Fields Bison<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the bison came the bread house. Nichole was interested in baking bread and creating her own starter using local wild yeast, and what started as a creative outlet while having a baby running around the house became an obsession. She passed her beautiful loaves of bread around, generating a lot of encouragement and demand for more, and decided to invest in a Belgian stone oven. A variety of sourdough loaves and other delicious baked goodies can regularly be found in the hutch, at partner retailers (including Meg\u2019s Sweets, the Farmer\u2019s Daughter, and the Maine Beer Shed), and by preordering on Bigelow Fields\u2019\u00a0website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Michael and Nichole decided that it might be fun to sell from their farmhouse porch, so people can drive out, see the bison, and safely grab some bread or cookies to give them something to do on a Saturday. This innovative approach grew so rapidly that they were selling out every week! In order to address the new challenge of so much traffic at the farm, sometimes amounting to lines of cars down the driveway, they bought a little hutch, renovated it, and opened it up closer to the road. The hutch is open most Saturdays, stocked with baked goods, hot coffee, meats, and other farm produce. Michael and Nichole are especially proud of the hutch and its part in their story, both for their success in starting it and also for the large amount of community support it has garnered.<\/p>\n

Business Lessons & Suggestions<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Bigelow
Bigelow Fields<\/span>Bigelow Fields Sourdough<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Much of Bigelow Fields\u2019 growth is due to social media. When they first bought the farm, they immediately started a social media presence, and this has become their chief source of marketing. They were initially unsure what to post, so they just posted every step of their business journey, which has helped them to build a really neat following of people from all over.<\/p>\n

Aside from harnessing the power of social media, the Weavers would advise other Maine small businesses to make sure they know what they\u2019re getting into \u2013 having a solid business plan is key; \u201cthis may seem basic but the numbers will speak for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

They also emphasize the importance of talking to experts in the industry you want to go into; their experience is priceless and can shed light on things you never considered before.<\/p>\n

Bigelow Fields has been fortunate to receive several grants from the Farmer Veteran Coalition, USDA, and other organizations for different projects, and they encourage other businesses to take advantage of similar grant opportunities and to \u201cdo their homework\u201d about grants\u2019 conditions and requirements.<\/p>\n

Several challenges facing businesses in the Stratton-Eustis area that Michael and Nichole would like to see addressed are the lack of preschool-age childcare facilities and insufficient affordable housing options for people who want to live and work in the area. They also believe that the community would benefit from having a technical school nearby to help expand the workforce of skilled tradespeople.<\/p>\n

Looking Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Adorable
Bigelow Fields<\/span>Adorable Baby Bison<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When they\u2019re not busy on the farm (which is not very often!) the Weavers love to get out and enjoy the great outdoors all around them, including Flagstaff and other nearby lakes and Sugarloaf and Saddleback for skiing. They particularly like Pine Tree Frosty in Rangeley for its scrumptious ice cream and Cathedral Pines Campground for being so kid-friendly, beautiful, and right on Flagstaff Lake. They also highly recommend a visit to nearby Quill Hill for its gorgeous 360-degree view \u2013 Nichole says \u201cit\u2019s the kind of the view people work for hiking really far, but you can just drive there!\u201d \u2013 and if you look closely, you can see Bigelow Fields off in the distance.<\/p>\n

At the time of writing in spring 2021, the Weavers were working on expanding the agrotourism aspect of their business by making their barnyard area more accessible for visitors, so more people can get outside and connect with their food sources. They are also looking forward to the upcoming bison calving season very much. Young Barrett\u2019s favorite thing about the bison is that \u201cwe get to name them,\u201d and he is excited to come up with some more names soon.<\/p>\n

Visit Bigelow Fields\u2019\u00a0website<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>, and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0pages for more information.<\/p>\n

Address:<\/strong>\u00a0624 Kennebago Rd, Eustis, ME 04982<\/p>\n

Phone:<\/strong>\u00a0207-246-2177<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Bigelow Fields! The Weavers at Bigelow FieldsThe Weavers at Bigelow Fields Bigelow Fields was started by first-generation ranchers Michael and Nichole Weaver along with their children, the second-generation ranchers Barrett and Nevada. Nichole grew up in Stratton and met Michael, who is from Alaska, while he was stationed in Rangeley serving in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1876,"featured_media":23727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nBigelow Fields - Undiscovered Maine - University of Maine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/undiscoveredmaine\/2021\/04\/14\/bigelow-fields\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bigelow Fields - Undiscovered Maine - University of Maine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Welcome to Bigelow Fields! 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