Operation brings together farming, fitness and faith

DOVER-FOXCROFT — A dream has come true for a Dover-Foxcroft couple, combining farming, physical fitness and mental wellbeing and their Christian faith.

U.S. Army veterans Adrienne and Brian Clarke moved to town more than a decade ago and several years ago they began Farm Faith Fitness LLC at their approximate 20-acre property. 

Adrienne Clarke grew up on a farm in Georgia and Brian Clarke had summer jobs at apple orchards during his youth in Massachusetts. Clarke asked her husband one day what his dream would be if money was not a consideration and he responded that he would like to have a farm, to his wife’s surprise.

“We got our first cow when we got here,” Adrienne Clarke said while she tossed old vegetables underhand over the fence to some of their dozen head of cattle. They moved to Dover-Foxcroft after Brian Clarke retired from Fort Drum in upstate New York. He is the JROTC classroom teacher at Nokomis Regional High School in Newport.

“We both work together on the different projects that we are doing,” Adrienne Clarke said. “I pretty much do the fitness portion. I have classes here periodically and I also have worked in town at the (Piscataquis Area Community Center) and also at (Friends of Community Fitness in Guilford). We started processing some of our beef. We sold some of those so it’s just building a little bit.”

The Clarkes are both strong Christians with their faith guiding them in all they do, Adrienne Clarke said.

“Marrying agriculture and health and wellness, it’s not a far stretch and it goes hand in hand in our minds,” she said. “I like the fact that it allows us to work together no matter what’s going on.”

The Clarkes’ cattle include jersey mixed, Devon and Dexter with varying ages, including a 2-month-old calf. They also have three sheep and some chickens. In the past they have had goats.

Bees will arrive for an apiary in the near future and they are looking into having a greenhouse.

“We’re just a small family farm but since we are veterans I’ve gotten a couple of veteran certifications, it’s Homegrown by Heroes,” Adrienne Clarke said. 

Homegrown by Heroes is the official farmer veteran branding program of America administered by the Farmer Veteran Coalition which the Clarkes belong to.

“Veterans are very near and dear to our heart,” she said. 

They belong to the Chadbourne-Merrill American Legion Post 29 of Dover-Foxcroft and one of their sons is about to deploy to the Middle East with his Brewer-based Army National Guard unit. 

Adrienne Clarke is a certified personal trainer through the American Council on Exercise and she has a masters in clinical mental health counseling.

Farm Faith Fitness has outdoor and indoor exercise space for various classes.

“I am thinking of starting a boot camp next month,” Clarke said. “Since the weather’s so nice, I might do it outside. I have a setup over there and in that house there is a space.”

She has offered classes emphasizing stretching, hips, high intensity interval training and circuits.

A women’s retreat included breakfast and then going out for a walk to take in some scenic views before returning for lunch. The session had a spiritual aspect to help encourage all participants. 

“All my classes I like to ask for prayer requests,” Clarke said. “We will open with a prayer, that’s the faith part of it, to work our spirits and our bodies.”

The Clarkes would like to have Farm Faith Fitness be open to their fellow veterans and/or families as a retreat.

“Being out in nature is a form of therapy,” Adrienne Clarke said.

Walking paths and an outdoor chapel are ideas they have for the future.

“We just want to impact the community,” she said.

For more information on Farm Faith Fitness, visit the business Facebook page or email farmfaithfitnesstheclarkes@gmail.com.