highland organics
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The Story of Highland Organics®
 
Together, Tom and his wife Theresa Gaffney have been stewards of the fields for 20 years. Highland Blueberry Farm has been certified organic by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) since 2002. In that time, together with a community of family, friends, and wise advisors, Tom and Theresa have been learning how to minimize what man has done to "cultivate" the plant and fruit, while maximizing what God has perfectly created. This principle has guided the care of the fields, the nurturing of pollinators, harvesting and processing, and the care of staff and customers. Highland Blueberry Farm is privileged to introduce the first whole plant Wild Maine Blueberry Tea.
Our story began with a question: What value and purpose do the crimson-red blueberry leaves have?
Gaffney family

On a visit to the farm in 2004, Dr. Kristi Michele Crowe, then doctoral student at the University of Maine, Orono, Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, shared with us that she was looking for a project to do for the National Science Foundation program at a local high school chemistry class, Hampden Academy High School, Hampden, Maine. We posed this question to her and she thought it would make a great hands-on science project for the students. This would in turn benefit our farm with the research we needed to answer this question. Dr. Crowe, teacher Bill Leathem, and students came to Highland Blueberry Farm, harvested the crimson-red blueberry leaves by hand and returned to their lab with their samples.

Together scientist, teacher & students, tested the blueberry leaves for anthocyanin levels. This is the first time that this type of research on low-bush wild Maine blueberry leaves had ever been done. To everyone’s surprise, the anthocyanin count was higher in the blueberry leaves than they were in the organic blueberries that were tested from Highland Blueberry Farm!

What does this mean for you and me? Well, anthocyanins are also known as antioxidants. Antioxidants help to neutralize free radicals, which are unstable molecules that are linked to the development of a number of degenerative diseases and conditions including cancer, cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, immune dysfunction, cataracts and macular degeneration. Fruits and vegetables are sources of natural antioxidants and among them blueberries have one of the highest levels of antioxidant activity.

Highland Blueberry Farm has received 3 Maine Technology Institute Seed Grants for the research and development of our organic whole plant blueberry tea. These grants have helped us to develop equipment for harvesting and drying blueberry leaves. The first harvest begins in August with the harvest of the organic wild Maine blueberries and the second harvest takes place in September with the organic blueberry leaves, which is considered a waste by-product in the agricultural industry currently. 

This second harvest has given us the potential to become a year-round farm business, benefiting Maine with this first ever value-added product.

The research phase of the grants allowed us the opportunity to work with many people and departments at the University of Maine, such as the Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition and the College of Engineers at the Advanced Manufacturing Center. Our product has undergone testing to determine optimum drying times for the blueberries and the blueberry leaves, while preserving antioxidants in both.

In the summer, young people from local communities work with our family to harvest blueberries. The second harvest of leaves begins in the fall when the women from Blessed Hope Ministry of Calvary Chapel Central Maine, (a residential discipleship opportunity for women seeking a way of escape from a life of drugs and alcohol through their relationship with Jesus Christ), come to the farm to work harvesting blueberry leaves and preparing them to be packaged with the dried blueberries into the first ever whole plant blueberry tea.
Highland Blueberry Farm and Highland Organics® committed to Good-Stewardship.

Highland Blueberry Farm and Highland Organics® is committed to utilizing sustainable energy-efficient approaches in our agricultural practices; and in the preparation of our tea and barque; Highland Organics® is committed to utilizing earth-friendly packaging choices. As part of our efforts to minimally impact the environment, our unique Organic Whole Plant Wild Maine Blueberry Tea will be sold in containers that we hope will encourage recycling/reusing among our customers.  We have also begun switching our labels for our products over to the White Earthfirst labels offered by Lightning Label.  These labels are made from corn and not petroleum.  Our 2 oz tea tin, 1.5 oz and 3 oz barque labels have made the switch!

Our 6 Single Serving Gift Sets and the bags inside our 2 oz. tea tins are bagged with a Cellophane bag which is a wood by-product and is biodegradable and recyclable and purchased from The Revere Group.  As the technology comes, we will change over to 100% compostable cellophane bags for all our barque products.  The cost is more for these products, but we believe our customers and our families are worth it.

All our shipping material used in packing product for mailing is packed with recycled materials that we use here on the farm.  If it can be shredded or crumpled and it is clean, we use it.  If we use packing peanuts, they are recycled ones that we have received from others or they are made with corn so that water will “melt” them away.

Our quest for changes and improvements will continue, this is our commitment to families and farming.
Many Thanks to:

Kristi Michele Crowe, Ph.D., Food Chemist

Bill Leathem - Science Teacher at Hampden Academy High School
2004 Hampden Academy High School Chemistry Class Students
University of Maine, Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition- Dr. Beth Calder, Dr. Al Bushway, Dr. Rod Bushway
University of Maine, Advanced Manufacturing Center - Tom Christiansen, PE, Director of Operations - Stig Callahan, Electrical Engineer
Sandy Flewelling, TrueBlue Design
Maine Technology Institute, Elizabeth Crabtree
Maine Bytes, Rob & Deb Newman
Katie Thrasher, accounting student
Greenhalgh Machine, Dave Greenhalgh
Highland Farms Stockton Springs
We would like to thank our family for all their sacrifice and support, without whose help this dream would still be a thought.
Daughter, Chelsea
Daughter, Whitney
Son, Galen
Son, Christian
Son, Tyler
Parents, Bob and Barbara
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