A little about us - Jason

Jason grew up on his parents dairy and vegetable farm in Dayton, ME.  He learned many aspects of farming from his parents as well as both his maternal and paternal grandparents who had farmed in Dayton. 4-H and showing the family's dairy cows were also an integral part of learning more about agriculture.  Showing cows taught him the rewards of hard work and his quest for knowledge continued in dairy quiz bowl competitions and dairy judging events from Maine to Louisville, KY and Toronto. Jason then earned his degrees in dairy science at SUNY Colbeskill and VA Tech. 

Jason and his twin brother Keith started raising some vegetables in 1984 to sell on a picnic table in front of the farm house.  Today, Harris Farm owned by Jason's parents and oldest brother Clint and his wife Rachel have over 30 acres of vegetables as well as dairy and beef cows.  Keith branched out to start a corn maze and wedding barn venue also in Dayton.  

Jason bought a house in Newfield in 2013 with 3.25 acres of land that used to have a few cows and horses, that same year he met Chase and as they say, "the rest is history."  The house and property needed lots of work that they weren't afraid to tackle.  Jason has been a territory sales manager for Blue Seal Feeds covering Maine, eastern NH, and the Canadian Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island) for 17 years.  Blue Seal Feeds is a livestock grain company that started in Lawrence Massachusetts in 1868!  This year, Blue Seal Feeds is celebrating 150 years in business and is still made in New England and a family owned company.  During Jason's time with Blue Seal he developed an interest to educate people in raising backyard poultry.  During its peak, Jason's seminars would reach an estimated 300-500 people each year about raising backyard poultry.  He has studied with the New England Applied Poultry Science group to further educate his knowledge of nutritional needs, diseases, facilities, and processing.  Jason was gifted a dozen broad breasted white turkeys by one of his feed stores in 2014.  This was the start of their turkey business.  The first year, the turkeys were raised for family and friends.  In 2015, Jason and Chase decided to raise turkeys on pasture instead of mowing the back field.  Currently, most of the turkeys grown at Harris Turkey Farm are used to make pot pies, soups, and chili.  They do sell a few fresh for Thanksgiving, but enjoy the more year round aspect of the value added products from the commercial kitchen they built in 2017.  

In his spare time (yes, he makes time for some fun hobbies) Jason likes to travel and any outside adventures with Chase or his son and daughter.  However, his biggest interest is photography.  In 2017 Chase got him a Canon T6 with 300mm zoom lens for his birthday.  He has been making time to get out and take some fantastic shots.  They even have some featured  on greeting cards in their farm store.  He has an instagram page @turkeyfarma to showcase his photography.  

Follow @turkeyfarma on Instagram for more pictures

Follow @turkeyfarma on instagram for more pictures

Follow @turkeyfarma on Instagram for more pictures

Follow @turkeyfarma on Instagram

Maybe the next hobby Jason will seek out is drone photography.  There is always something new to learn regardless of how old you are.  Technology will continue to develop and new electronics will make it easier to capture that unique picture.