PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 11, 2023
When an electrical fire destroyed their family’s dairy barn in August, Ashley Young surveyed the damage and called her sister. Corey Young was still on her way, and Ashley wanted to prepare her for the burned shell she would see when she crested the final hill. The original red barn stood for 200 years – 100 under the stewardship of the Youngs. the future hinged on whether the sisters – the fourth generation of Youngs at Flaggy Meadow Farm in Gorham – wanted to continue the business. Their industry is shrinking; the number of dairy producers in Maine went from 4,578 in 1954 to 286 in 2017. Ashley, 32, and Corey, 27, decided they did want to keep the family farm going. Now, the view over the hill is of a construction site, the frame of a new barn rising on the old foundation.