Small-Town Maine Embraces Craft Beer. And Goats.
Q and A with Tim and Joy Bueschen of Turning Page Farm
Living intentionally can mean a lot of different things. For Tim and Joy Bueschen of Monson, Maine, it meant reimagining their entire lives. The owners of Turning Page Farm have been selling their homemade artisan cheese and craft beer in Monson since 2016 after leaving corporate careers in Europe. Customers can visit their Munich-inspired beer garden on weekends year round since the addition of a greenhouse-style tasting room.
The welcoming farmhouse vibe at Turning Page has quickly caught on with locals and tourists alike, even through the Covid-19 pandemic, although Joy had to cancel her annual two-day Goat School for aspiring farmers. “They added another reason for people to come to Monson and a reason to come back,” said Kimberly Hester of Shaw’s Hiker Hostel, also in Monson. “The beer is good, the pretzels and sausages are awesome, and the goats are idyllic.”
The Bueschen’s move to Monson coincided with the growth of a local arts community made possible by investments from the philanthropic group, the Libra Foundation. Downtown business renovation and new galleries are part of the culture that Tim and Joy have embraced since opening up shop.
As more and more people spend time at home while unemployed or working remotely, many Mainer’s are considering ways they can reduce their dependency on mass-produced food and energy. For the Bueschen’s, small towns and small farms fit the Maine motto: The Way Life Should Be.
How are things going on the farm this summer?
Tim: we’re still growing over last year, but we kind of thought this would be our breakout year, so obviously that’s not happening.
You’ll keep this greenhouse space open all winter right?
Joy: As long as we’re allowed to have indoor seating.
Tim: But if the sun’s shining, it doesn’t matter how cold it is, it’s warm in here. With these heated seats and the two air handlers, we’ll be able to keep a normal temperature all winter.
What else is happening on the farm this summer besides the brewery?
Joy: We have our pigs, and we sell fifty pound pork boxes in the fall. And the goats, I’m milking five girls twice a day and making cheese. Mostly I sell my cheese here on the farm. I sell to Monson General and Spruce Mill Farm and that’s about it, which we love because those places are close by.
What about Goat School?
Joy: I went to goat school and I graduated, and the owners were looking to retire and sell it, so that worked out. I do it in May, so unfortunately this year it was cancelled. People come from all over the country to attend. It’s fun — there are baby goats everywhere, and it’s really a hands on experience. Most of the people who come are living life in a cubicle and dreaming of having a farm. They’ve read about goats and watched videos but don’t have hands on experience, so we’re trying to bridge that gap.
What do people say when they come out here? It’s still a relatively new experience for folks around here.
Joy: The feedback is overwhelming. People love it. That was really the question we had, like do people really want to come to our farm, drink a beer and look at a goat? Is that the dumbest thing ever? But they really do have a great time. It’s a unique experience and I think that’s what people are transitioning to, right? They want an experience rather than buying something material.
There are microbreweries popping up everywhere. A lot of them look really similar. Barn wood, barrels, exposed pipe, you know. Not the case here.
Tim: We didn’t start thinking we were going to be a brewery, which made this easy. Our aesthetic was never really meant for public consumption. We just wanted a really pretty place that we liked to live on and farm. When we decided to start the brewery and invite people here, it kind of made sense to leave it as is. It’s still a barn, it looks and feels like a barn. I think it’s unique. Our goal is to be able to do this just the two of us. We can pour the beers, talk with the people, be the hosts and servers, and make everything ourselves.
Joy: We’re welcoming people to our home. That’s how we want the experience.
Why did you choose Monson, Maine?
Joy: We were lucky. We looked at places like Washington state, Idaho, Montana, and Michigan. Maine kept coming up. Maine Maine Maine. So it felt like we were supposed to move here. We bought this place sight unseen while still in Europe, but Tim was able to come here and meet the inspector, so we had a little bit of a feel before finalizing.
Tim: I had a series of meetings in Montreal, and decided fly in early. I met with the inspector and it was what we thought it was going to be, so we said O.K. We’re doing it.
Joy: That’s pretty random right? Random how we landed in Maine, random how we landed in Monson.
You were in Europe before coming here. Is that where you started to feel the wear and tear of the corporate world?
Tim: It was a good life. We were doing well professionally, and we got to travel a lot. But it felt like it was time to slow down. We were always in airports and hotels. We started to really slow down when we got a place in Italy, a long-term rental that was just a little cabin we could get away to.
Joy: We kept spending more and more time there.
Tim: The decision was made when we were down there for a month just before Christmas one year. We made the decision sitting around the kitchen table saying, “O.K. Let’s do this.” That’s when we started looking around and Zillowing and found this farmhouse.
Has your partnership evolved since leaving Europe?
Joy: We’re around each other so much more, which is nice. People were really struggling with Covid and being home with their spouses (laughs), and we’ve been doing it for four years.
Tim: We’ve had goats to milk since day one, so quite frankly we’re always here.
Joy: That part works out. We divide and conquer pretty well.
You lost your barn to a fire not long into having the property. That sounds like a really traumatic experience. What was it like rebounding from that?
Tim: Numb. I don’t know how else you can describe it. It was so abrupt and raw. We were so new to this that it didn’t make sense to do anything but rebuild.
Joy: We were so early into plan A, we couldn’t think about doing anything else. It was the dream, and we were only one year into the dream. We named our farm Turning Page Farm because we were turning the page to a new chapter of our lives, and we had to do it again.
I’ve noticed that a lot of people moving incrementally toward a more self-sufficient lifestyle in Maine. They’re growing vegetable gardens or buying chickens. Is that a logical response to the world we live in now?
Joy: It is. And I think it makes perfect sense. I think everybody should do it, so I’m really happy to see it.
Tim: There are tons of these pioneers of permaculture that have been showing others how you can make a living on small bits of land and be productive with small amounts of livestock. It’s kind of revolting against these huge industrial output farms. That’s driven us in everything we’ve done. We’re not perfect yet, but the idea of knowing where our food comes from is really important to us, and I think its resonating with a lot of people.
Joy: Its super important! Know where your food comes from, and know your local farmers. I think Maine is a great place for that to happen.
Tim: if there’s any silver lining to Covid, it’s that people are afraid when they see people hoarding things, be it toilet paper or pork. They’re like, “what if I can’t go to the store to get stuff?” They were afraid of getting cut off from their food sources. People have almost been forced to learn that themselves. I don’t think everybody will continue to do it, but I’m sure plenty will.
It seems like the financial hardships in Maine may have driven more people to this lifestyle too. Is there an economic future in this for Maine families?
Tim: I don’t think it can hurt. There’s a surprising market for this stuff because there’s so many tourists that come through. If you have the wherewithal to learn how to do it you can make a decent amount of money. Not everybody’s going to make a living out of it, but if you can find what the tourists in your area are lacking, there’s a way. People have to innovate, and I think they will.
Have I missed anything?
Joy: I think you should come back. Our fundraiser (for the Monson Fire Department) this Saturday should be good.
Tim: After we had our fire, I joined the department as a way to say thanks. The people of the Monson fire department saved our house. Now we have a new fire truck. It’s probably been twenty years since Monson has had a new truck. This weekend residents can come see it up close and see where their tax dollars are going. I’m certainly the first to tell people how great it was to have dedicated volunteers available. It’s a chance for the community to get together and meet the firefighters as we try to make the community safer and raise some money. It’s our way of saying thanks. If we can have a fundraiser like this, maybe there’s an extra bit of gear we can buy. It will go a long way toward getting stuff that might really make a difference.
I learned about Turning Page Farm through a friend who had visited the brewery. I later found that Tim and Joy had also been featured in a local paper, the Piscataquis Observer. I reached out to the Bueschens because they seemed like more than just another new business in town. They had a story to tell that resonated with locals. When I called, they invited me to their farm on a Thursday evening where we sat and sipped beer in the greenhouse tasting room.
Find out more about Turning Page Farm at turningpagefarm.com, or visit the farm at 842 N Guilford Rd, Monson, ME 04464. You can contact Tim and Joy via their website or by phone at 207–876–6360.
Kimberly and Jarrod Hester can be reached at Shaw’s Hiker Hostel, 17 Pleasant St, Monson, ME 04464. You can also visit the website, shawshikerhostel.com. Contact Shaw’s at 207–997–3597.
