The Making of Budworm Farm

After being mugged for the third time in twenty years, Andrea Suarez-Hill knew she could no longer live in New York City. She and her partner, Arthur Hill, read a three-line advertisement in Down East Magazine, "Last land on the coast of Maine for sale" and went to take a look.

What they found was eleven acres of trees which had been logged twenty years before and blighted by an infestation of spruce budworm. But, the beauty of the Chandler River with an old farm on the opposite shore more than made up for the work that lay ahead. Two years later, they left their careers in New York to find a new way to live.

They planned to call their new home "The Lough" due to its location on a bay at the mouth of the Chandler River. But, as they worked to clear the land, a friend who helped them, Jon Watts, said "you have a budworm farm" and the name stuck. Budworm Farm was born and stands today because of townspeople like Jon, Mark Alley, Al Caruso, Ginny Fieldman, the Snowdeal family and Mary & Eddie Stubbs. With the help and guidance of all these locals, the Hills began to create a farm to fit their vision.

The poems and photos in The Making of Budworm Farm express the life they made together over the past thirty-four years. The poetry explores subjects in down-to-earth language, painting a story full of pictures: the seasons, each with its own scent, sounds, rituals and weather to tend, as well as emotional landscapes that describe the passage of time with nature, horses and each other.

From image to image, one sees Budworm Farm evolve as the land is shaped and rites of passage mark the years: the birth of a colt, the death of both mentors and friends (both two and four-legged) and the changes in the climate that affect the seabirds, fishery and the lives of all beings.