Oak Hill Farm came under our care during the summer of 1995. We do not consider that we "own" the 120 acres of vertical landscape in the foothills of the White Mountains, but rather that we have been entrusted with the care of the land and are bound to work with the gifts, energy and direction it gives us.
When we came to Oak Hill Farm, Art brought with him twenty-six sled dogs. He had founded Washington Kennel in 1987 near the coast of Maine. Art and his son, James Melanson, trained and raced 4-dog and 6-dog Alaskan and Siberian Husky teams in sprint competition. Besides training and racing, we also bred several litters of pups each year. But that chapter of Oak Hill Farm history is over now.
Sue came to Oak Hill Farm from Reading, Massachusetts (we lived on Irving Street and my last name was Horn), bringing with her a curiosity and aptitude for working with the bountiful medicinal herbs found in the forests, fields and gardens here. She laughs that she can create teas, tinctures and salves from green things her former suburban neighbors were trying to eradicate from their lawns.
Together we have added High Acres Maple Syrup to the property, as well as The Cottages at Oak Hill Farm.
Maple Syrup Weekend is celebrated the weekend of the fourth Sunday in March. Our sugarhouse will be up and running and we serve a pancake breakfast in the heated barn on both Saturday and Sunday.
In our "spare time", we tend to the forest, the maple sugarbush and all the usual chores rural living brings with it. Sue is also a shamanic practitioner, herbalist, author, and watercolor artist. Sue's artwork was as the poster for the 2008 Cornish Apple Festival (See Artwork). She has always been a collector and re-connector of people and in that capacity has brought together classmates from the Wellesley High Class of 1964 and campers from Labor Day Weekend at Geneva Point Conference Center and Camp Yo Aunta in Winthrop, Maine. Art's career as an oil tanker captain will probably be one of the books written at Oak Hill Farm.
Sue is a member of the MSAD#55 School Board, treasurer of the Southern Maine Maple Sugarmakers Association, vice president of CAB (the Cornish Association of Businesses) and a two-year breast cancer survivor.
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