THAT SENSE OF COMMUNITY has always meant the world to Betsey-Ann Golon. As the eldest daughter in a large, military family, she spent an itinerant childhood.

No one house figures in her fondest childhood recollections; no special neighborhood is treasured in nostalgia's kind, warm glow. Memories of gardens, however, have lingered.

"I spent a lot of time in Maine with my grandmother in her garden," said Golon, who was born in Portland and always considered Maine home. "Also, my dad had a garden wherever we were. Being a nomadic child, I was always looking for that connection, that sense of place. And the things that made us happy as children are what we look for when we are older."

Her affinity for herbs - humble plants that have been used through the ages to nourish the body, soothe the sick and delight the senses - is a natural extension of that sensibility.

"I love history, and I love knowing about the people who came before us," Betsey said. "Herbs do that more than vegetables and even, perhaps, flowers. And they're so darned resilient. It doesn't take a jet pilot or a rocket scientist to grow herbs".

The livelihood has become an all-encompassing way of life. Even Nicholas and Nathan have put up their fair share of tea jars, packed and shipped mixes to stores and tearooms around the country, and worked the trade shows. They balked only once when their mother asked them to don breeches as part of Colonial costumes.

"We've grown children out of this enterprise," Betsey said. "They've always had to be a part of it."

Dale calls his wife the "creative genius" of Common Folk Farm; she calls him "the rock". Dale is the "computer whiz" and office manager. ("in other words," Betsey said, "he does everything, besides being a good husband and a good father.") Betsey plants in the spring, rises early every morning to mix herbs by hand, and creates the mixes and teas - fragrant concoctions like blueberry-lemon tea, a blend of whole berries, rose hips, lemon peel, hibiscus blossoms and lemon verbena.

The hub of activity known as the herb room was once the carriage house of the three-story 19th-century Federal farm- house the couple purchased in 1992. At the time, Betsey was supplying her fledgling herbal products business from several gardens at friends' homes.

"I was wearing myself to a frazzle," she said. "I knew I had to do something the night I found myself out in South Bridgton watering plants by flashlight''.

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