RUMFORD — When the economy collapsed and the Great Recession washed over Maine,  two former city slickers decided to make a career change.

Jennifer Czifrik and Colin Smorawski moved to Rumford and became farmers.

Spurred by their love of horticulture and a bleak economy, the couple uprooted their lives in Portland several years ago to farm a 5-acre plot in Lebanon. Those first few years were a trial for Czifrik, 30, who has a degree in sociology from the University of Southern Maine.

“We said, ‘Let’s make sure we don’t kill anything and we actually like this,'” Czifrik said. “What if we buy a place and we’re like, ‘Wow, we really hate this?’ But the exact opposite happened.”

Last winter, Smorawski, 30, was looking at real estate and fell in love with a 98-acre farm on Ellis River Road. Surrounded by fields, forests and centuries-old farms, Smorawski — a sculptor and graduate of the Maine Center for the Arts — knew he’d found the property of his dreams.

“You can see the history in Rumford,” he said. “This place used to be hopping. All these farms were so bumping before.” He and Czifrik bought the property with friends Mike and Melissa Mayo of North Reading, Mass., whom will move to the farm later this summer.

Roaring Lion Farm, named in honor of the thunderstorms that echo off the nearby mountains, is quickly coming to life. Though they moved in just three months ago, Czifrik and Smorawski have planted a large garden with potatoes, tomatoes, bok choi, kale and onions, among other vegetables. A menagerie of animals, including sheep, goats, pigs and 14 alpacas also call the farm home. About 45 chickens freely roam the farm.

“I don’t think people understand what good workers chickens are,” Czifrik said. “They’ll clean up the place after you, they’ll go through and they’ll kind of rake through everything. They’ll eat tons of bugs and ticks.”

The couple plans to start a community-supported agriculture garden next year, allowing customers to pay a set fee to receive fresh food all season.

“Rumford could get back on its feet again, as far as just being more local,” Smorawski said. “People are still farming up here. Up here, it’s like, ‘My great-great-grandfather was doing the same thing.’ You see that and it’s so cool, the history up here.”

Czifrik and Smorawski intend to feed themselves and their neighbors.

“It’s about being part of a community, and it’s about bringing good food, like meat that doesn’t have hormones and antibiotics in it,” Czifrik said. “You can meet your meat. Come if you want to meet your pig, you want to meet your lamb, you want to meet your eggs.”

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To learn more about Roaring Lion Farm and its produce, email [email protected] or [email protected].