I grew up farming and working the land with my parents and grandparents. The summers of my youth were spent mostly at my grandparents' small farm where my mother managed many acres of vegetables to sustain a farm stand at Kelly Brook Farm in Dummer, NH and to take to local farmers markets.

My sister and I started, at age six and seven, to run the farm stand cash register and customers were impressed when we did not use the cash register function to determine the change owed back to them. Instead, we counted it back to them, just like Grammie had taught us! We also spent time in the garden, mostly weeding as I recall, but also learning about what plants need to thrive in our short growing season here in northern New Hampshire. We also spent time helping to maintain Gram and Gramp's small herd of cows (including many beef animals and one-to-three milk cows at any given time), sheep, chickens, and pigs. We hayed until long into the evening or night depending on the weather predictions for the following day. We helped stack firewood and we ate like kings from food grown mostly on their farm. We had a pretty magical childhood, actually. Lots of time with family (big families on both sides and most people living very close by) and LOTS of love. 

I continued to be enamored with farming as I entered high school and continued to work with Gram and Gramp, although they stopped selling vegetables as a business and decreased their animal herds as they aged. I had every intention of pursuing agriculture in college, but switched gears a bit late in high school - I learned about environmental science and was hooked! I pursued associate's and bachelor's degrees in Environmental Science and then a master's degree in Biology. I continued to come back to farming, though, pursuing locally grown vegetables, eggs, and dairy products wherever I lived. I rented and maintained garden plots, experimented with cheese-making and sour-kraut in my tiny apartment kitchen, and  dreamed of a homestead of my own.  In my college years, sketches of compost bins were pinned to the fridge, blue-print scribbled layouts of dream-farms littered the desk, and my windowsills housed sprouting greens. Eventually I moved back home, purchased a 37-acre spread in Stark, NH and really settled into the rhythm of homesteading.

Growing up on a farm really engrained in me a work ethic I've taken to my adult professional and personal life. I guess that is the reason I work full time, have a family, AND have a rugged little farm. Thanks to my parents and grandparents, I’m not afraid of long days. I get to do a job I love AND come home to raise my boys on this little homestead. Each season - each year - I do things a little differently or learn a new skill. I have budgeted some years to invest in mobile electric fencing, other years to put in a raspberry patch, and others to fertilize (with 688 lbs of bone meal, lime, greensand, and other organics to be exact) and revitalize our apple orchard. My reward is to have food produced from my land and to show my sons the wonders and trials of farming life. This really hit home for me during kidding time in June 2019. I was six months pregnant with my second son, supporting Rosalyn while she delivered three kids. My oldest son (2 1/2 at the time), who was in the barn with me, said, "Your a really good farmer, Mama. Your a really good doctor, too." There are pictures of us below - my son is being silly and covering his face :). 

Some photos from my childhood farming days

As we continue our farming ventures, and move through life, it becomes more and more evident to me that what we are doing here is ever-more important. Our boys are growing - they eat well, they get lots of fresh air, and sleep like logs at night.