Who We Are

lomah, officially known as LOMAH LLC, is a Limited Liability Company (LLC) located in central Maine. We are a small farmstead that uses permaculture practices to mimic nature. lomah is operated by Brooke Isham and Steve DeGoosh.

Brooke Isham is from Flint, Michigan. She is a graduate of Northern Michigan University (Social Science/Research Analysis) and Western Michigan University (Evaluation, Measurement, & Research). In 2011 she was trained in Permaculture Design. When she’s not gardening or farming, she enjoys: making soap, jewelry, and wine; knitting; canning and fermenting food; traveling; cooking; being outdoors; and spending time with friends and family.

Steve DeGoosh is from Norway, Maine. He is a graduate of Indiana State University where he studied Life Science and Economic Geography. He was trained in Permaculture Design in 2009. In 2011 he completed a Permaculture Educator course. Professionally, he worked mostly as a planner and instructor. He has two pretty awesome “kids”. When he is not designing, building, or grounds-keeping on the farmstead, he enjoys: listening to music, watching movies, following world geopolitics, kayaking, canoeing, observing and exploring the great outdoors, and chasing Sparky (the cat).

What We Do

Together, we farmstead a 16 acre piece of land we call lomah (land of milk and honey). We raise bees, grow vegetables, and make soap. In the near future we will grow food year-round in our greenhouse; as well as raise pigs, diary sheep, laying hens, and broilers on our pasture.

We are still getting established, but so far we produce maple syrup, honey, veggies, and fruit. Although not certified, everything we grow/raise is done organically. We also make and sell soap using local lard, tallow, honey, milk, and various other ingredients (e.g., vegetable juices, herb infused oils, botanicals, etc).

Why

Before we moved to Sangerville, Maine, we lived in Marquette, Michigan, a University town with a population of 21,000 people. We lived in the city on a small urban lot. After becoming aware of Peak Oil, we took some small steps to live more resiliently. We learned some new skills, including how to: can and ferment food, save seeds, sew, knit, use plants for their medicinal properties, process chickens, make compost and organic fertilizers, and so much more. We took our love for gardening a bit further and transformed our entire lawn to a permaculture-inspired food-producing system. We raised (illegal) urban chickens and grew everything we could, focusing on edible perennials, including: apples, peaches, plums, cherries, strawberries, blueberries, lingonberries, choke-berries, grape holly, spikenard, horseradish, hops, grapes, raspberries, hazelnuts, asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, as well as various perennial herbs, flowers, and annual vegetables.

Eventually, growing and raising our own food became so important to us that we wanted to homestead on a larger scale where we could raise our own animals for meat and dairy. At the same time, Steve was considering retirement, and really missing his kids and “the way life should be” in Maine. So, we decided to pack up and head out east.

In the fall of 2014 we found our home and put down roots in Sangerville, Maine. With a population of less than 17,000 people for our entire county, it was a very big change for us, to say the least. Since then, we have used our permaculture knowledge to design systems that work for this property.