MAINE HAS A REPUTATION as one of the toughest places in the country to make a living from the land. The Golons are among a small but growing group of "innovative, smart and capable people" who are showing how it can work, said Deanne Herman of the state Agricultural Food and Rural Resources Department. When farmers add a finished product, as Common Folk Farm has done with its herbal mixes, being from Maine suddenly is an advantage.
"Betsey is very thorough, flexible and adaptable to what's working and what isn't," said Herman, who worked with the Golons on the QVC project and at trade shows. "She's a great collaborator, a great team player who sees the benefit of working together and promoting us all."
Betsey Golon characteristically deflects credit for Common Folk Farm's success onto others, including Herman’s agency, which helped the company get noticed by QVC.
"Life in Maine is hard, yes, but it's hard for everyone," she said. "Everyone here is working at making a living and that bonds people together. You don't grow without support."
But the gestures that touch her most deeply, the ones that make her feel blessed, are the personal ones that have come from family, friends and co-workers. She marvels at the way her crew worked to the loud rumble of a generator after January's Ice Storm, and how her neighbors, with farms of their own to run, pitched in to meet the demands of QVC.
The supportive atmosphere came through strongest last fall during Nicholas' hospitalization.
"People came out of the woodwork', said Gail Leahy, who was there to witness the affection shared by so many people at the big old farmhouse at Kimball's Corner. "Betsey knows everyone in town, and she is very well-loved."
The outpouring of love at the time, said Golon, has kept her family in balance.
"It's one of those turning points in your lives," she said. "It makes you or breaks you. Maine is unique. Maine people take care of each other. They're not afraid of hard work. They don't expect to be given things. That's why we call ourselves Common Folk Farm. We are the common folk of Maine."
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