Fifth generation takes over 102-year-old Hampden farm

HAMPDEN, Maine (WABI) - As the country prepares to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, multigenerational family farms remain the backbone of U.S. agriculture. According to the most recent USDA Census of Agriculture, 95 percent of farms in the country are family-owned.

Calkins Farm Stand on Main Road South in Hampden has been operating for 102 years.

Ben Nelson is the fifth-generation owner. He inherited the farm from his uncle in 2024. His great-grandparents founded the farm and built a home that sits just two doors down from the farm stand.

“We moved here in 1924 and have been here ever since,” Nelson said. “This has always been home.”

Growing with the seasons

The farm stand has grown and adapted over the years. Nelson, a graduate of Hampden Academy, grew up on the farm.

“We started to get into chickens back in the 70s. We departed from that and we started doing the flowers and then worked on still doing the vegetables throughout all of it,” he said.

What Calkins grows changes with the seasons.

“You do it for a bit, and then it’s on to the next thing. It’s not day in and day out you’re doing the same grind every day. It changes as the year goes on,” Nelson said.

Nelson said he plans to move into the original family home within the next year or two. The house was originally built in the 1800s.

“Now it’s at the point where it is so engrained that if I am not doing this, it feels weird to me,” he said.

Customers become family

Sue Hopkins of Newburgh has been coming to the farm for 50 years.

“Back when Mr. Calkins would be sitting here, I’d have my tray full of stuff and he’d go, ‘here, I want you to try this one.’ He’d walk over here and get something and put it in my tray just as sweet as he could be. And then there was John who would do the same thing,” Hopkins said.

The family has faced challenges over the years. Nelson said last year was difficult due to drought.

“I think as farmers we are always optimistic, sometimes to a fault,” he said. “Even if you have a bad year, you always have that mindset that next year can’t be any worse.”

Nelson said he hopes to pass the farm on to the next generation if they wish to continue.