PENOBSOT
Paul Grew Birdsall was born in Massachusetts to Paul M. Birdsall and Helen Grew Birdsall on June 4, 1927. He skied, skated and loved the outdoors. He was schooled at Phillips Exeter Academy then on to Harvard University, where he graduated with a master’s in English. He served in Korea, then came home, traveling to France, where he met his incredible wife-to-be, Mollie Weare Borden. They had two sons, living in Connecticut and teaching high school until 1972 when they moved to Penobscot. They bought an old farm; this is where they created Horsepower Farm. Farming with horses was his peace; he taught over 150 apprentices at Horsepower Farm over 45 years of farming. There he joined MOFGA, the Hancock County Soil and Water Commission and Maine Farmland Trust. He started Blue Hill Heritage Trust with an easement of his own farm so it would stay farmland forever.
His beloved wife, Mollie, passed in 2000. Paul continued his work with farming until his own passing on June 12, 2018. He leaves Nathaniel and Jeanne, Andrew and Donna, their children and grandchildren. There will be a celebration of his life and journey July 7 at Horsepower Farm from 2 to 4 p.m.