With the help of a $100,000 federal grant, Steven Bibula has found a niche marketing food specialties to consumers.

A man with big-city roots is an unlikely candidate for raising goats, chickens, pigs and fruit in Gorham.

Yet, on Tuesday, Steven Bibula, assisted by his wife and three children, were busy rounding up three goats that had escaped a pen at their farm, Orchard Ridge, on Sebago Lake Road.

“The whole farm is a project,” Bibula, 47, said.

Bibula, who grew up in New York City, came to Maine 10 years ago as the manager for a Cumberland farm. Following changes at the farm, Bibula, who also owned a herd of Devon cattle, went to truck driving school. But he looked to venture out with land of his own. He spotted the Gorham farm in an advertisement and he and his wife bought it in 2011.

Bibula has resurrected the 167-year old former dairy farm at 236 Sebago Lake Road into a vibrant operation with 40 acres. Though commercial dairy farms once plentiful in Gorham have shrunk to three, Bibula – with the help of a major federal grant – has found a niche marketing specialties to consumers.

He has transformed a utility shed into a farm store to market a variety of local products, planted fruit trees and berry bushes. He is restoring the gambrel-roof style barn for storage.

His wife, Amy, is a nurse and stepmother to his children, Noah, 13; Leah, 11; and Chloe, 9.

He and his wife first named the farm Ploughshares Community Farm, but now call it Orchard Ridge. Years back, it was known as Sapling Hill Farm.

In December 2014, Nadeen Daniels, who is the Cumberland County Grants and Projects liaison, announced Bibula had been awarded a $100,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to expand and promote the farm’s retail store. Seven grants were awarded in Maine, but Bibula was the only active farmer receiving money. Daniels said Tuesday the grant was to improve access to local food and to support operations for additional farmers with opportunities to market products at Bibula’s store.

Armed with a grant, Daniels said, Bibula bought top-of-the-line freezer equipment.

“He has become a one-stop shop for high-quality, locally grown and produced products,” Daniels said.

Bibula said the store serves as a hub for other local producers. A variety of products available in the farm store include honey, frozen meats, chicken, pastries, cheeses, jams, goat’s milk, eggs produced at the farm and maple syrup from Merrifield Farm in North Gorham. Pickles, he said, are produced in Westbrook.

Soon, the store will have locally grown sweet corn, beans, squash and zucchini. Apples at Orchard Ridge will begin ripening in mid-August and will be available into November.

Daniels visited the farm store in May.

“It looked fabulous,” Daniels said.

The farm store is open year-round, and Bibula said the store is attracting customers from Cape Elizabeth, the Lakes Region, Portland and York County, besides neighboring communities.

“It’s a positive thing for the area,” Benjamin Hartwell, town councilor and president of Cumberland County Farm Bureau, said Tuesday.

Hartwell said Orchard Ridge is well situated to attract tourists and campers traveling to Sebago Lake and commuters. Orchard Ridge is near the Mountain Division Walking Trail, and Bibula welcomes people to park at the farm while they hike the trail.

Orchard Ridge has 1,000 birds that include turkeys and chickens. Some of their hens’ eggs are sold wholesale in Portland. The laying hens free range at night.

“It makes eggs taste great,” Bibula said.

They even sell pullets to people with backyard flocks.

Their emphasis at Orchard Ridge has shifted from growing vegetables when they were first at the farm to producing pick-your-own fruit, including blueberries and raspberries.

The farm has 2,500 pear and apple trees, featuring special varieties that are disease resistant.

“We’re not compromising in quality to be different,” he said.

Some customers at their store are descendants of the farm’s original owners. Bibula discovered the farm had a store more than a half century ago. In the house, he found a receipt for strawberries the farm had sold to Hannaford. He also found an old receipt for coal that cost “a couple bucks” for a ton.

In the winter, a Gorham snowmobile club has a trail through the farm.

“We work with (Gorham) SnoGoers,” he said, so the trail is in harmony with plantings.

Orchard Ridge welcomes families with children, who flock to the farm to see the animals.

“We’re trying to make it a comfortable place for people to come visit,” said Bibula.

Amy Bibula grew up in North Yarmouth and had agricultural experience, actively helping her grandparents on their farm.

As a youngster on a family trip, Steven Bibula said, he was intrigued seeing sunflowers and a freshly laid egg.

“I was hooked,” he said.

He has never attended an agricultural school, but in the early 1990s, Bibula took an apprenticeship at a farm in Massachusetts. Before arriving in Maine, he farmed in New York and New England, but never had opportunity to own land until purchasing the Gorham property.

He said the Lord led him to the farm in Gorham. He and his wife needed a house with space for her mother, who needed care, close enough for his kids, who live in Yarmouth, and a place for him to grow crops.

“The Lord works in mysterious ways,” he said. “I’m eternally grateful.”

Steven Bibula of Gorham owns and operates a year-round, retail farm store at his Orchard Ridge, 236 Sebago Lake Road. The property once was a dairy farm. Staff photo by Robert LowellSteven Bibula shows the raspberries he’s growing in a greenhouse at his farm, Orchard Ridge, in Gorham. Staff photo by Robert Lowell