bered in many hundreds. It supported theentire family throughout
World War IIalong with Pats restaurant and EskaFarms, this was one
of the largest pigfarms in the state as written in MainesOwn Pizza
King, The Life and Times ofCarl D. Farnsworth, 1909-2003, a
bookwritten by granddaughter Sue Fletcher.
In present day, a hay farmer cuts hayeach season on the former
Farnsworthlands in Alton that were made rich frompig manure. So
lush in fact, this groundhas seen little to no fertilizer added
formany years. Commuters along Rte. 16 -well known as the winding
Esker Road orBennoch Road - were keen observers ofpigs in those
same fields for most of thefifties and sixties and the Eska Farm
porkproduction activity was both a visual andolfactory landmark for
passers by.
Bruce Farnsworth offered, My good-ness. How cute piglets really
are whensmall. He said he and several of hisfriends and 3 siblings
had daily chores onthe farm and unlike Pat and his siblings -where
few if any chores were once sharedas fairly - Pats workaholic
lifestyle wasinstilled within his own children that sea-sonally,
there were many roundups to
gather all piglets one at a time for vaccina-tions and return
them accurately to eachproper sow. Thereby, that function -
allchores - was a lot of exercise catchingscreaming piglets, and a
full focus coordi-nation for each farm discipline for
feeding,mucking out, and watering.
Esker Farm had its own licensed slaugh-ter house right on the
premises. The fami-ly prepared the hogs for shipping, keptthem in
large refrigerators ready for ship-ping directly from the farm. And
as a boy,Bruce was directly involved in that processof the farm.
Bruce became almost a car-bon copy of Pat with his lifetime spent
atPats Pizza and yet it was Bruce who de-veloped the statewide
franchise of thefamily recipe and diligent menu practicesfor the
many stores throughout Maine thatresulted and continue to trade
upon Patswell known persona and restaurant suc-cess. The demise of
the pig farm from theinterruption of road building ushered in
anoff-farm place of steady work for all fourof Pats sons and
daughters and twelvegrandchildren and many great grandchil-dren.
Most of them taking meals at therestaurant with their expected
chores forthe growing years. Today, four genera-tions of Farnsworth
grandchildren andgreat grandchildren still work the Oronostore with
the many employees overseenby Bruce Farnsworth. Bruce neverworked
for any other company, workingfor Pat, unlike his siblings who went
off ondifferent career paths. Bruce led the fran-chise success
story that now has PatsPizza stores south to below
Portland.Historically at the pig farm, feed for somany pigs came
from local restaurants,
chicken plants and through a truckingroutine that saw Pat
Farnsworth with con-tracts to include all mess facilities at DowAir
Base, hauling off table scraps. At thattime that was the main
source of pig
for farm use, it was later mined for graveland the final
divesting of the whole farm,sold off. As if pig farming and running
arestaurant were not enough, Pat DouglasFarnsworth was an avid
horticulturalistmaintaining a large greenhouse at the fam-ily farm
and even managed many beehives, later selling honey at his
restaurant.V
Over the years Pat owned several rentedbuildings and leased
other fully operatingbusinesses in Orono to include a bowlingalley,
a small excavation / constructioncompany and he even managed
cattlefarming operations with his licensedslaughter house at the
farm. His garden-ing, greenhouse and planted flowers werepart of a
landscaped farmstead that fea-tured a 100-foot rock wall that Pat
built inhis spare time.
During the world war, Pats trading ofscrip and cuts of meat by
bartering amonglocal merchants and food customers be-came a
dickering practice to make endsmeet in his very early farm and
familybusiness operations. Pat was never fond ofbookkeeping for so
many activities, evenwhen shared with his wife, he eventuallyknew
he had to give all this to an accoun-tant to keep him current with
governmentrules and regulations. Government, a per-sonal irk for
the workaholic who lost his
successful pig farm to the highway cutoff,seemingly gardened
each day before openinghis business as an escape and avocation
beforea steady routine 12-14 hours a day, seven daysa week spent at
Pats Pizza. His full menurestaurant regime as the final vocation of
hislife, was loved by his many loyal customers.Customers at Orono
are still made up of 75%townspeople, and the rest, college students
anda continued university alumni that show upmany years returning
with their own familiesand with second, and third generation
universi-ty students hungering for a relaxed meal in acollege town.
The Pats Pizza taste is nowbeen duplicated in every store of the
samename, across the state.
On February 13, 2003, Pat didnt show up forwork and that was the
day he died, at age 94.With him, the ever present cigar stub,
hisstarched restaurant-white clothing and coloredsuspenders had
left an indelible iconic imagefor thousands of patrons over many
manydecades. A member of the Maine RestaurantAssociation, he was a
recipient of that organi-zations lifetime achievement award for a
ca-reer that started with tedious hard work at thefamily pig pen,
clerking at stores and finally,mixing all of his own beloved
farming activi-ties within his exacting food preparation detailas
practiced at his restaurants and handed downfrom his father before
him to be passed onagain and again, ever since.
Transport issue complicated farming
To my children I said, I love youAs I worked both day and
nightIt wasnt for me I put in these hours,It was for you all to be
alright.
- Sherri Cunninghamg granddaughter to Pat Farnsworthaft after
his passing at 94 years
fodder other than thenatural rooting natureof pork. Like his
fa-ther George, beforehim, food scraps fromthe fraternity or
later,scraps from so manyarea local restaurantsserved as the
majorpig food at the startthrough a much largerfull fledged pig
farmdeveloped by Pat inhis early years ofmixed farming anddowntown
businessactivities.
When the state ofMaine and most statesadded more and
moreregulations aimed atpork production andfood preparation, Es-ker
Farms was forcedto go out of business.Already - because of I95 -
the farm was cutin two by the new in-terstate, and all day today
operations at Esk-er Farms becamemuch more compli-cated with the
routineof operating a grow-ing Pats Pizza busi-ness in Orono.
While some of theformer farm was cut
ORONO - What is not a widelyknown fact, the construction of I-95
inthe fifties, forever forced Carl PatFarnsworth into a major life
disciplinefor his continuous on and off-farmwork activities
preceding the eventualmajor growth of Pats Pizza, here. Theoriginal
head of the household, Georgeand wife Eva Farnsworth came toOrono
from Harrington, Maine withtheir children and George, previouslya
logging camp cookie and rail cardiner chef, traded in that work to
cookfor a fraternity here for 28 years at theUniversity. In summer,
George, Eva,Pat and his older siblings spent everysummer in
Ogunquit where Georgetaught them all the skills of the
trade,cooking, cleaning, preparation, eachannual season at Lookout
Hotel. Backat home, on a small plot of ground, thefamily homestead
was never withoutchores, gardens and livestock. Pigswere a standard
with the Farnsworth's.Pat - more than his siblings - did mostof the
chores and worked various smalltown jobs like subbing at a filling
sta-tion for the owners lunch hour to adaily after school clerking
job at anOrono store before his waiting pigpen-chores at home. A
family pur-chase of more farm ground that was tobecome Esker Farms
of Alton/OldTown in the period of 1931-1940 -reported son Bruce
Farnsworth - wasfar more than just a growing familyfarm, as the
number of sows and litterswere beyond the hundreds and num-
2015 S P R I N G ISSUE Mainely Agriculture || Equi Ag &
Livestock || Aqua Agriculture 13
1931-2015 (84 years)
- Be sure to visit your Pats Pizza in the following towns in
Maine -
By Wally Sinclair, Publisher
20 Park St.
100 E Main St.
791 US Rt. 1
209 US Rt.1
1 Main Rd.
209 US Rt. 1
662 Main Rd.
168 Main St.
237 Main St.
11 Mill
209 USRt. 1
396 High St.
30 Market St.
844Roosevelt Tr.
Rt 2 Mayfield Rd.
292 State St.
