LOCALadk Magazine

55 Summer 2016 LOCALadk Magazine LOCALadk A male grouse puffs his chest and struts across the road. I veer the car and venture further and further into a forest intersect- ed with trekking, snowmobile and horse trails. A moss green barn and farmhouse sit peacefully at the end of the road. A couple of goats meander around the barn, and a young gold- en retriever begins to yowl. Fences outline the garden space which will be abundant with life in late spring. It is a pristine February morning in the far northern corner of the Adiron- dack Park. The earth, dormant and sparkling, gives the farm- house an idyllic aura of warmth and comfort. Sandy Maine steps to the door and pushes it open with one hand while holding the excited puppy. Her long braid falls over her shoulder. She wears a knee length skirt with black leggings and boots. Her presence is welcoming, strong and humble. The front room is warmed by a Heartland stove. A Mason jar of goat milk sits on the kitchen counter. A clock on the wall is rimmed with birch bark, and a green parakeet pokes around his cage. The home is earthy, fresh, abundant with life. It transports me through time to the home of a childhood friend, whose parents were neo homesteaders from Connecti- cut. Their pantries were stocked with bulk grains in Mason jars, and in every soap dish lay a hunk of handmade soap. It makes sense that Sandy Maine, the founder of SunFeather Natural Soap Company and Adirondack Fragrance and Flavor Farm, be surrounded by the essential scents of her trade. She opens the wood stove and lays a log on a deep bed of em- bers. Her blue eyes watch as it catches fire. The table is cov- ered with seed catalogs—hopeful reminders to every farmer that winter will eventually yield to spring. The farmhouse was built before the Civil War by a man who never lived in it. The war took him away from the North Coun- try and, unfortunately, he was one of thousands who never returned home. Sandy shifts in her chair, looks out the window at the pastoral landscape and smiles. "I guess I always had it in me. I loved being on a farm." The lifestyle suits her, and she suits it. The long dirt road that ends with a few fence posts and mailboxes would feel isolating to many. However sparse and quaint the setting may appear, San- dy assures me that there's a pulsing and vibrant community within a twenty mile radius. One neighbor raises chickens, another focuses on dairy—Sandy enjoys the communal effort of raising food with friends. "I don't go to the gym. My exer- cise is gardening, caring for the animals, and stacking wood. This lifestyle keeps me young." Sandy grew up in New York's Finger Lakes Region in a Danish Community. After high school, she attended college at SUNY Potsdam and fell in love with the Adirondacks. She rented a room at a nearby farm and learned about the North Country farm life and decided to live that lifestyle. She became inter- ested in growing herbs and fragrant plants. North Country farming wasn't her only passion. In 1979, Sandy attended North Country Community College's Wilderness The Fragrance Farm By Bethany Garretson with photos by Ting-Li Wang

• Cover