Sewall Orchard was featured in the October 2017 Down East Magazine! Click here to read the article!
Sewall Orchard is featured in the Ellsworth American. Read more about Healing Tonics!
Sewall Orchard is featured in the Ellsworth American. Read more about Healing Tonics!
Our Philosophy
Our philosophy is based on an elemental idea of organics: Healthy soil produces healthy plants that create healthy people. Our farm is a place that welcomes all living organisms. Therefore, we use no substances that are toxic or that kill. Pest control is achieved via the use of biodynamic techniques. We also hand-remove pests when possible and practice good husbandry by pruning and mowing.
Our next step is to work with the microorganisms in our soil in a more conscientious and direct way using soil amendments. Our desire is to have a complete and healthy biosphere.
Our next step is to work with the microorganisms in our soil in a more conscientious and direct way using soil amendments. Our desire is to have a complete and healthy biosphere.
About The Orchard
From the top of the hill.
On April 11, 2022, we became a FOREVER FARM through Maine Farmland Trust. This means that long after we are gone, these beautiful 57 acres will remain a farm and there will be no subdividing or development of any kind.
The orchard sits on the side of Levenseller Mountain and the top of our blueberry hill is 900 vertical feet above sea level. From the top there are views of the Camden Hills State Park, Norton Pond, Megunticook Lake, and the ocean beyond. You can also see views of Acadia. Looking the other way from the top of our hill you can see the foothills of western Maine.
The soil was prepared organically for two years using the Rodale method in 1978. The trees came from the Stark Brother Nursery in Missouri.
As of 2016, all apple, apple cider and apple cider vinegar business will be conducted from our new building, the large, dark green structure about 100 feet uphill from the barn. Please park in field at top of driveway which is marked and walk up, UNLESS you are an elder, have trouble walking, or are picking up a large order and need your vehicle up in front of the ciderhouse.
The orchard sits on the side of Levenseller Mountain and the top of our blueberry hill is 900 vertical feet above sea level. From the top there are views of the Camden Hills State Park, Norton Pond, Megunticook Lake, and the ocean beyond. You can also see views of Acadia. Looking the other way from the top of our hill you can see the foothills of western Maine.
The soil was prepared organically for two years using the Rodale method in 1978. The trees came from the Stark Brother Nursery in Missouri.
As of 2016, all apple, apple cider and apple cider vinegar business will be conducted from our new building, the large, dark green structure about 100 feet uphill from the barn. Please park in field at top of driveway which is marked and walk up, UNLESS you are an elder, have trouble walking, or are picking up a large order and need your vehicle up in front of the ciderhouse.
This 1,280 square-foot building was constructed mostly by Bob and Isaac Young in the summers of 2015 and 2016. The lower floor houses the cider press, a walk-in cooler, bathroom and storage for several thousand gallons of vinegar. We thank the excellent local tradespeople who did the excavation, foundation, roofing, electrical work, plumbing and heating. Above are two brand new apartments for short-term rentals, which, with the tiny barn apartment, make three in all.
View our rental listings here:
Cider House East at Sewall Orchard
Cider House West at Sewall Orchard
The Treehouse at Sewall Orchard
Some Apple Varieties
Prima, a hybrid Jonathan that is resistant to disease and fungus. These are red apples with yellow highlights, medium to large, good for baking, cider and eating when fresh. They keep for 4 to 6 weeks in cold storage such as a root cellar or refrigerator.
Priscilla, a hybrid Red Delicious which is also disease and fungus resistant. Priscilla apples are red and somewhat elongated in shape, with a distinctive series of five points on the bottom similar to those of a Red Delicious. This is where the similarity ends. They are crisp with a sweet, full-bodied flavor. They gain full flavor after 3 to 4 weeks of storage, thus earning classification as a good "keeping apple". They store easily for 3 months.
Golden Delicious, bred for heavy bearing and flavor. This is a bright yellow apple with some green tinge remaining. It is elongated and medium in size. Goldens are good to eat, give an unusual and pleasant taste to baked goods, and make an outstanding sweet tasting cider. These store for 2 months.
Jonagolds, a hybrid of Jonathan and Golden Delicious apples. This apple is red with golden streaks, elongated and medium to large in size. These are superior eating apples, good for cooking and store well up to 2 months. The remainder of the orchard is planted with 15 heirloom varieties, such as Black Oxford, Winter Banana, Red Astrakan, and Maiden Blush.
Priscilla, a hybrid Red Delicious which is also disease and fungus resistant. Priscilla apples are red and somewhat elongated in shape, with a distinctive series of five points on the bottom similar to those of a Red Delicious. This is where the similarity ends. They are crisp with a sweet, full-bodied flavor. They gain full flavor after 3 to 4 weeks of storage, thus earning classification as a good "keeping apple". They store easily for 3 months.
Golden Delicious, bred for heavy bearing and flavor. This is a bright yellow apple with some green tinge remaining. It is elongated and medium in size. Goldens are good to eat, give an unusual and pleasant taste to baked goods, and make an outstanding sweet tasting cider. These store for 2 months.
Jonagolds, a hybrid of Jonathan and Golden Delicious apples. This apple is red with golden streaks, elongated and medium to large in size. These are superior eating apples, good for cooking and store well up to 2 months. The remainder of the orchard is planted with 15 heirloom varieties, such as Black Oxford, Winter Banana, Red Astrakan, and Maiden Blush.
Meet Your Farmer
Robert K. (Bob) Sewall was born and raised in Waterville Maine. His early upbringing included many hours in the outdoors hiking, skiing, canoeing and camping. At 16, he earned certification as a Junior Maine Guide and guided wilderness trips in 1969-1970. He put in his first organic garden in 1973, bought his first parcel of land in 1975, and planted gardens at that time.
In 1979 Bob bought 22 acres of fields adjoining his land and planted the orchard there in 1980-1981. His neighbor and mentor was a Finnish farmer named Viljo Masalin. It was Viljo who sold Bob the fields where his animals had once grazed, encouraged him to plant apple trees, and sponsored him through the Farmer's Home Administration. Mr. Masalin had a profound influence on Bob and his farming practices, teaching him about land, cover crops, tractor work and the history of this area. The two spent many hours together doing farm work with and for one another and taking sauna baths in the Finnish tradition.
Bob was president of Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners from 1996-1998 during the time the organization found and purchased the land on which to build the permanent site it now occupies in Unity/Thorndike, Maine. He was a land manager and consultant for 8 years for a property on top of Beech Hill in Rockport, Maine, which is now a part of the Coastal Mountains Land Trust. His duties included managing the land organically, harvesting, processing and marketing blueberries.
A 1973 graduate of Colby College, (Art History), Bob manages and oversees all aspects of the orchard and consults on land management. He had a stone masonry business, Sewall's Seawalls, from 1975 to 2008. Several of the young men he employed and mentored now have their own masonry businesses in Maine.
Bob and the orchard have been profiled in The Camden Herald, The Republican Journal, Steppin' Out, the MOFGA paper, The Ellsworth American and, in August of 2002, The Boston Globe cooking section. ("Blueberries for Sal and some for the crisp" by Eleanor Klivans.) He was interviewed for Michael Phillip's book The Apple Grower and was featured in an interview by Harry Rosenblum, owner and CEO of the Brooklyn Kitchen in Brooklyn, New York and author of Vinegar Revival ( 2017, which pictures Bob's vinegar). Click here to read an article about Harry and vinegar from the New York Times. Bob has been interviewed by Maine television stations on two occasions and has appeared on national television news once. Bob regularly speaks to groups about the health benefits of apple cider vinegar.
In his rare spare time Bob enjoys reading, travel and yoga. He loves to mentor young farmers.
In 1979 Bob bought 22 acres of fields adjoining his land and planted the orchard there in 1980-1981. His neighbor and mentor was a Finnish farmer named Viljo Masalin. It was Viljo who sold Bob the fields where his animals had once grazed, encouraged him to plant apple trees, and sponsored him through the Farmer's Home Administration. Mr. Masalin had a profound influence on Bob and his farming practices, teaching him about land, cover crops, tractor work and the history of this area. The two spent many hours together doing farm work with and for one another and taking sauna baths in the Finnish tradition.
Bob was president of Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners from 1996-1998 during the time the organization found and purchased the land on which to build the permanent site it now occupies in Unity/Thorndike, Maine. He was a land manager and consultant for 8 years for a property on top of Beech Hill in Rockport, Maine, which is now a part of the Coastal Mountains Land Trust. His duties included managing the land organically, harvesting, processing and marketing blueberries.
A 1973 graduate of Colby College, (Art History), Bob manages and oversees all aspects of the orchard and consults on land management. He had a stone masonry business, Sewall's Seawalls, from 1975 to 2008. Several of the young men he employed and mentored now have their own masonry businesses in Maine.
Bob and the orchard have been profiled in The Camden Herald, The Republican Journal, Steppin' Out, the MOFGA paper, The Ellsworth American and, in August of 2002, The Boston Globe cooking section. ("Blueberries for Sal and some for the crisp" by Eleanor Klivans.) He was interviewed for Michael Phillip's book The Apple Grower and was featured in an interview by Harry Rosenblum, owner and CEO of the Brooklyn Kitchen in Brooklyn, New York and author of Vinegar Revival ( 2017, which pictures Bob's vinegar). Click here to read an article about Harry and vinegar from the New York Times. Bob has been interviewed by Maine television stations on two occasions and has appeared on national television news once. Bob regularly speaks to groups about the health benefits of apple cider vinegar.
In his rare spare time Bob enjoys reading, travel and yoga. He loves to mentor young farmers.
Mia Mantello first met Bob in Camden, Maine, when they were 15 and 24, respectively. Due to serendipity and synchronicity, they met again in 1999 and they married in 2001 in Camden.
Mia was born in Washington, DC, and moved to Camden at 11. She is a summa cum laude graduate of UMass/Boston, and got her Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology at Cambridge College. Her post graduate work included a year of group supervision in the Child Psychiatry department of Massachusetts General Hospital and work in inner-city agencies and schools in Boston. She is a psychotherapist working with adolescents and adults in private practice. Her practice emphasizes Positive Psychology and a mind-body-spirit approach which posits that we all have the inner wisdom and resources to heal our lives, and that a therapist's job is foremost to help people to learn to love themselves and hear their inner wisdom.
Mia handles most correspondence and publicity about the farm, and sells cider and apples on the weekends. She is also a singer-songwriter and her two recent CDs are "Restoration" and "The Flower in Your Heart." A third CD is in the works.
Mia was born in Washington, DC, and moved to Camden at 11. She is a summa cum laude graduate of UMass/Boston, and got her Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology at Cambridge College. Her post graduate work included a year of group supervision in the Child Psychiatry department of Massachusetts General Hospital and work in inner-city agencies and schools in Boston. She is a psychotherapist working with adolescents and adults in private practice. Her practice emphasizes Positive Psychology and a mind-body-spirit approach which posits that we all have the inner wisdom and resources to heal our lives, and that a therapist's job is foremost to help people to learn to love themselves and hear their inner wisdom.
Mia handles most correspondence and publicity about the farm, and sells cider and apples on the weekends. She is also a singer-songwriter and her two recent CDs are "Restoration" and "The Flower in Your Heart." A third CD is in the works.
Samantha Sewall was born in Lewiston, Maine. Her parents are Bob Sewall and Sue Fleming. She attended school in Lincolnville, Rockport and Camden, Maine. As a baby and toddler she loved to go cross country skiing with her parents in a backpack. She spent many happy hours playing in the fields and woods at the family farm and enjoyed loving relationships with the family pets, particularly Tyler, a faithful Bernese Mountain dog who was her constant companion and loved to sled and swim with her. As a child and teen she helped on the farm by doing mowing, pest control, blueberry winnowing and selling apples and cider. She occasionally worked with her dad in his stone masonry business and helped with all aspects of labor when the family home was rebuilt in 2004.
She loves travel and has traveled extensively in the United States, the Caribbean and Europe. Besides travel, her interests are writing, listening to music, dancing, hanging out with friends and working for various causes (the environment, social justice, health). She graduated from Acadia University in Nova Scotia as an honors Sociology student with a minor in Political Science. She earned her Master’s Degree in Public Health from the University of York in York, England. She was a Public Health Educator at the Center for Disease Control in Augusta, Maine and is a graduate of the accelerated Nursing Program at the University of Southern Maine. She currently works at the Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Clinic affiliated with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital. She lives in New Hampshire with her partner, Jake, and their new baby, Evelyn.
She loves travel and has traveled extensively in the United States, the Caribbean and Europe. Besides travel, her interests are writing, listening to music, dancing, hanging out with friends and working for various causes (the environment, social justice, health). She graduated from Acadia University in Nova Scotia as an honors Sociology student with a minor in Political Science. She earned her Master’s Degree in Public Health from the University of York in York, England. She was a Public Health Educator at the Center for Disease Control in Augusta, Maine and is a graduate of the accelerated Nursing Program at the University of Southern Maine. She currently works at the Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Clinic affiliated with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital. She lives in New Hampshire with her partner, Jake, and their new baby, Evelyn.
Gratitudes
We are deeply thankful for God, Mother Earth, the Sewall, Smith, Mantello and Plotkin families, Warren, Kathie, Bennu, Patti, Al, Jody, Nathan, Pearl, and all our local Maine musician friends. Also for Gina, 'The Senator,' Adam, Liam, Noah, Olivia, Wyatt, Maya, Reiki Master/Teacher Barbara, Linda, our special yoga community, Dr. Mary Ashmore, Dr. Tom Piel, Dr. Adam L'Italien. We are blessed with many gifted healers who help keep us strong, healthy and relaxed so we can continue to give to others. Most of all we are grateful to our loyal friends, employees, customers and clients. Thanks to all the loved ones, friends, acquaintances and even strangers who helped us build a new home after we lost our house to fire in February, 2004. May your generosity always be returned to you ten-fold. We are especially thankful for Bob's mother, the lovely Regina Corsi Sewall. Her blessings abide.
Thank you for supporting organics and for making our work so much fun.
Thank you for supporting organics and for making our work so much fun.