Hidden Valley Farm in Maine: History, What It Does, How It Makes Money and How to Contact It
Profile updated November 2026
Hidden Valley Farm in Whitefield, Maine, was the 2024 New England Leopold Conservation Award recipient and the first Maine winner of the award. David Moskovitz and Bambi Jones manage 1,200 acres, including a 15-acre organic farm that fed a neighborhood CSA and a working forest managed with licensed consulting foresters.
| Location | Whitefield, Lincoln County, Maine |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1970s, when the owners moved to Maine |
| Sectors | Organic vegetables (CSA); sustainable forestry |
| Scale | 1,200 acres, including 15 acres managed organically, per Sand County Foundation |
| Why it is elite | 2024 New England Leopold Conservation Award; first Maine recipient |
| Ownership | David Moskovitz and Bambi Jones |
| Official website | Sand County Foundation Leopold Conservation Award profile |
History of Hidden Valley Farm
David Moskovitz and Bambi Jones, both from Cleveland, met as attorneys in Chicago and moved to Maine in the 1970s as part of the back-to-the-land movement. They began organic farming and later shifted much of their focus to sustainable forestry.
They founded the nonprofit Hidden Valley Nature Center in 2007, which offers nature and forestry programs. In 2016 they sold the center's land at a bargain rate as part of a merger of four local land trusts that created the Midcoast Conservancy. In October 2024 they accepted the New England Leopold Conservation Award. Later local reporting indicated the owners were seeking new stewards for the farm, so check current status before planning a visit.
What Hidden Valley Farm Grows and Raises
The farm covers 1,200 acres, with 15 acres managed organically for a neighborhood CSA. Bambi ran the CSA for about 20 years, serving 120 customers. Timber has been harvested to build a house and barn, and the land has more than 20 miles of logging roads and recreational trails.
Forestry practices include thinning for well-spaced trees of mixed sizes and native species, consolidating parcels, keeping continuous forest cover, limiting soil-disturbing work to frozen or dry ground, and protecting wetlands, streams and vernal pools. Brush piles, bird boxes and retained trees provide habitat. The owners also replaced stream crossings to improve aquatic passage.
How Hidden Valley Farm Makes Money
Organic CSA vegetables
The CSA sold shares of organic produce to a neighborhood customer base of about 120 households, a direct sales model that avoids middlemen.
Timber from managed forest
Licensed consulting foresters help the owners keep income flowing while improving timber quality and quantity, wildlife habitat and forest health.
Education, trails and membership
Hidden Valley Nature Center offered educational tours and a membership program for outdoor enthusiasts that helped fund trail development.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from Hidden Valley Farm
The first lesson is that forests are a farm crop. Sustainable forestry gives landowners a long-term income stream and protects water and wildlife at the same time.
The second lesson is to combine enterprises: vegetables for steady weekly income, timber for periodic income, and education or trails for community support. The third lesson is to plan the transition early, as the owners did when they merged the nature center's land into a larger conservation organization.
A farm where the trees get a management plan and the vernal pools get protection has clearly thought about the neighbors, even the amphibious ones. For farm satire, farm humor, ranch humor and farm jokes about CSA pickup lines, farm.FM keeps the mood light. Whitefield's forty tagged trees on the annual hike surely have better attendance records than most committees.
The outlet behind those laughs, farm.FM, is the nation's first satirical farm site, complete with Tractor Tunes country music for farmers. A farm.FM humorist's archive shows what a week of it looks like.
How to Contact Hidden Valley Farm
No official farm website was found in November 2026, and no phone, address or email was verified. The linked page is the award profile. Local reports in 2026 indicated the owners were looking for new stewards, so confirm status before contacting.
Hidden Valley Farm Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Sand County Foundation award profile - Acreage, practices and history of the farm
- Lincoln County News via RESTORE - First Maine recipient of the New England award
- Finalist announcement - Stream crossings, wetlands and nature center
- UMaine Cooperative Extension agriculture programs - University help for Maine farmers
- USDA farmers.gov - Federal conservation and loan programs
Hidden Valley Farm FAQ
What award did Hidden Valley Farm win?
The 2024 New England Leopold Conservation Award, the first won by a Maine farm.
How large is it?
Sand County Foundation lists 1,200 acres, with 15 acres managed organically.
Who owns it?
David Moskovitz and Bambi Jones.
Can I visit?
No visitor information was verified. Local reports in 2026 said the owners were seeking new stewards, so check current status.
Hidden Valley Farm demonstrates how organic vegetables and sustainable forestry can build a conservation award winner. See the Maine farms guide for the state picture and other profiled operations.