BrennaMae Thomas Googins
Human, mother, farmer, friend, community member... BrennaMae hails from Minnesota and meandered around before landing in Maine to start Patch Farm and raise some feral farm children! When not oohing and aahing over the latest vegetable or the way a bit of dew gets stuck in the leaves of the kale in the middle of a sunny winter day, you can find her singing to her headphones, making up funny farm songs (she has been described as the farm "jukebox" before!) and trying her best to sneak in a moment of calm between farm tasks and parenting. Her all time favorite task on the farm is weeding - also harvesting garlic scapes - bunching kale - spending hours in the seedling tunnel - trellising tomatoes - harvesting garlic - flipping the compost and basically everything on the farm... with the exception of open harvesting raspberries - that she could do without.
BrennaMae's farming career started as a youngster puttering around in her moms garden, was fostered during a WWOOFing trip in Ireland in 2004, nurtured as she earned her degree in the Business of Agriculture at the Evergreen State College in 2011 and assistant managed at Sunbreak Farm in Olympia, WA, fostered again during a WWOOF trip to New Zealand in 2011 (alongside farming partner, Brandon!), further nurtured at Rippling Waters Organic Farm as a MOFGA apprentice from 2011-2013.Her dreams of owning/operating a farm came to fruition in the fall of 2013 when she and Brandon started Patch Farm, planting their very first cover crops and garlic at a small rented plot of land in Hiram at Apple Acres. Fall of 2014 brought them to Denmark, Maine, where she served as a MOFGA Journeyperson from 2013-2015 and moved the farm to its current property. A recent graduate of the MOFGA Farmer Resiliency Program, Brenna is continually honored to be stewarding this land in Denmark alongside her children Finnian and Ainsley, Brandon, her mother Nancy and the amazing group of farmers that show up to create this great food and medicine!
Brandon Mckenney
I am one of the owners of Patch Farm. I manage the livestock on the farm, and work in the pack shed on harvest days.
My favorite farm task is a tie between harvesting bunched greens and the satisfaction after putting animals on a new pasture spot.
My most dreaded task is castrating male piglets.
As a 90's kid, I'd say a theme song for the farm would be Fresh Prince of Bel-Air or Captain Planet, not because they have anything to do with farming, but because they're just 90's bangers
Nancy
my greatest claim to fame, here on Patch Farm, is being BrennaMae’s “Mombo” (“Nanbo” to Finn and Ainsley!). We have farming in our blood.
I work with herbs - weeding, harvesting, drying, and concocting. I also make our goat milk soap. In past years I have made various cheeses and butter, and kept bees, something I intend to do again. Bees are amazing!
My favorite task is weeding. I like tidy (although you wouldn’t know it by looking at the herb gardens!). My Grandma B (farmer) would say, “a plant out of place is a weed.” Sometimes it’s difficult to weed, when I have to pull a plant that qualifies as a weed!
Least favorite thing to do here on the farm…?? mmm, putting transplants into the ground. There’s something about commitment… I wonder if I’m putting a plant in the best place possible, and that debate will slow me down.
Jess Webb
Hi y’all, I’m Jess. An avid farmers’ market customer turned year round farmer. June 2025 marked the start of year 4 at Patch for myself and daughter Penny. There’s no turning back now, our hands are too dirty.
Favorite farm chore: “All of it really; bed prep, planting, harvesting, weeding but most of all broad forking (in the late winter/early Spring to be specific).”
Least favorite farm chore: “That’s a tough one. If I had to pick though it would be planting garlic but only because it means the summer has come to an end.”
Farm theme song:
Bill Withers “Lovely Day”
In no particular order Jess enjoys kayaking, snowshoeing, homeschooling, and coffee.
Irma Garcia
A Jersey girl at heart who is grateful to call Maine her home. When I’m not working at Patch farm, I’m devoting my time developing my homestead. Reconnecting with my Mexican roots through food. I also enjoy making juice from the bounty of my garden. My favorite farm chore is harvesting figs. Last autumn sweetness. Additionally, I take pleasure in bed prepping, planting and harvesting melons and peppers. My least favorite farm chore is weeding because it’s a constant battle throughout the summer that you can never win.
Farm theme song is anything Shakira or Pocketful of sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield
“Be the change you want to see in the world”-Mahatma Gandhi”
jess Warren
I’m the second Jess W. here at Patch so most call me Warren. Former hairstylist of 20 years turned farmer, my already sizable love & appreciation of food has grown since coming to work here. I’m charged with a wide array of tasks at the farm so I’m not often in the same place. this all includes seedling tunnle work in the early season, to keeping up the Farmstand, bed prep, weeding, harvesting, & I’m also your DESIGNATED Pack Shed gal. You can find me wrangling my three boisterous kids- Tillie, Hazel, & Archer in our homeschool life rodeo. I love that these kids get to roam the land, play in the mud, catch frogs, & harvest right alongside us- it’s what I would consider the epitome of childhood!
My favorite thing is processing greens & I dread broad forking and raking- it doesn’t agree with my body.
I absolutely adore this community so “This Must Be The Place” by Talking Heads easily would be my choice for Patch’s theme song.
Danea Rowland
My name's Danae and I'm from Bridgton Maine. People know me now as Wylie's mom and that person that makes sourdough everything although in a past life I danced ballet and knew a lot about rocks. My favorite farm chore is picking raspberries with Wylie (her favorite snack here), and my least favorite is probably squishing Colorado potato beetles, it's a job that seems never finished.
There are so many options for Patch's theme song... Let's go with the Cheers theme song?!
Emiilie chatelain
Hi, i’m Emilie, a newbie to patch farm this year, but no stranger to chatting and laughing with BrennaMae at the farmers market. When I'm not getting my hands dirty at the farm, you can find me teaching yoga, barre, pilates, classes around Western Maine, or riding horses(recently started riding again after 20 years!) fishing, or simply being outside. I love everything about being at the farm, the various task, the crew, the kids, but the least favorite thing about it is the snakes.