The old house came with its own share of challenges, however. Porcupines were living in the carriage house. A kitchen woodstove was the creaky building's only source of heat; army blankets on the walls were the only insulation. Wind blowing from the barn into the kitchen ruffled Betsey's clothes as she prepared dinner.

Still, there was never any question that the house was the right place to carry out the Golons' dream of making a living from the land. Set on a high open ridge three miles from Naples village, the house is nestled smack in the middle of a supportive farming community, with neighbors' orchards on either side and their greenhouses across the street. These are the neighbors who celebrated the Golons' growing success by turning out to help load 1,400 boxes of tea for Common Folk Farm's debut on QVC, the cable television shopping network, three years ago.

"When people say,'This is cool; you've done this all on your own,' I look at them and I think they're crazy," Betsey said. "We've been blessed with good fortune. Maine people look out for each other."

THE WAY THOSE CLOSEST to Betsey tell it, the generosity and work ethic she values in others has less to do with geography and more to do with the woman herself. She reaps what she sows.

"She goes the extra mile," said Nicholas, who, with the help of leg braces, therapy and surgery, is now back on his feet. "She is always helping people out. Everywhere we go, she is always making new friends. I've learned a lot from my Mom. I've learned independence from her, and social skills. She's definitely an original."

It is not uncommon for Betsey to show up in the herb room with flowers and a hug for the employee who is going through tough times, said Gail Leahy, who has known Betsey for 16 years and worked for her for three.

"She makes you feel like you're somebody," Leahy said. "Working for her has just made our friendship closer and stronger. She's fun to be with. She's caring and loving.''

Those traits are what convinced Dale, the self-described man behind the woman," that a business built on Betsey's talents could succeed. "I saw the way people responded to her at the Saturday craft shows," Dale said. "She's a good-natured person. She's a giving person, and people respond to that."

They were college students when they met on a blind date in Virginia, where both were studying horticulture. Together they bought a pre-Civil War era farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains and grew herbs and strawberries. Both went to work for Virginia Polytech, Dale on an experimental farm, Betsey as part of a dairy science team studying embryotic transplants in cattle.

When her grandmother's health began to fail, Betsey and Dale moved to Ellsworth to provide her care. A few years later they moved to Bridgton, where Betsey worked as a school librarian and started a weekend crafts business. Soon after adding herbal products to the display, they were selling better than the crafts. Serendipitously, the "for sale" sign went up outside the Naples farmhouse, and Dale happily walked away from an electrical engineering job to get the house in shape for the new venture.

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