A much-loved strawberry farm in Cape Elizabeth is closing up shop after over a half-century in business. The family-run Maxwell's Farm made the announcement on Sunday.
As a child, Pauline Jones spent summers at her grandmother's home on Two Lights road.
"It was always a big thing for us as kids to be up here for the Fourth of July. And the fourth of July always meant fresh salmon, green peas, and Maxwell's strawberry shortcake," Jones said.
Jones said half of the fun came from picking her own strawberries.
"We'd get boxes and we picked but it was irresistible. That is fresh strawberries for Maxwell's or cannot be compared to what you get in a chain supermarket. The fresh are the best," she said.
Maxwell's Farm began operating in the 1970s, but the farmland itself has been in the Maxwell-Bamford family since 1772. Just a few weeks ago, a fruit fly infestation forced the farm to cancel its strawberry picking season for the summer. While the Bamford family said there's no singular reason behind the farm's permanent closure, Caitlin Jordan Harriman, the third generation owner of nearby Alewives Brook Farm, said financial pressures, a decline in consumer demand, and the effects of increased property development have made farming in Cape Elizabeth progressively more difficult.
"You have houses going up all around us, the property taxes are increasing, it seems to be less people coming to the farms," Jordan Harriman said. "And so this change of times, people shop, make things, you know, make it easier for themselves, get deliveries, order their groceries online. I don't know, they have different priorities, I guess."
Jordan Harriman said she empathizes with the Bamford's decision to close.
"It's an incredibly hard decision and it's a decision that our farm has faced and continues to face, like, being the next gen or taking over," Jordan Harriman said. "You know, is it something that I want to do for the next 40 years, just like my father did? Or should I do what Maxwell's is doing, you know, their children have other lives and do different things."
Over a decade ago and in an effort to survive, 17 farms around the Cape, including Maxwell's, formed the Cape Farm Alliance to support the area's farmers. Harriman said she and the other farmers are feeling the community's loss of Maxwell's.
"In Cape Elizabeth, the farming community is very close and tight knit, I would think, above and beyond most farming communities in our state or in our country. We just, we all care about each other and want to work together for the same goals."
People outside the farming community are also mourning the loss. Hundreds posted supportive messages on the farm's Facebook page. Many of the comments express hope that the land will continue to be used for farming. Pauline Jones shares that sentiment.
"It would be sad to see it turn into houses, I have to be honest, it it would be a sad thing. The Cape has changed so much over the years that we've lost a lot of the farmlands."
Whether the land continues to be used for farming remains to be seen.
