The previous owners of Grand View Farm were my husband's grandparents. This farm goes back 100+ years! They did dairy and vegetables, and other things. Of course, as they got older they weren't able to do it anymore. What's happened since is the grandchildren and great grandchildren have now resurrected the farm,  and it's become very active again.

 

My brother-in-law, David  Richardson, has 300 chickens, that are organically fed, and he sells the eggs to our farm stand, bakeries, other farm stands and restaurants. He also does broilers which are organically fed and sells those to those interested. He does this along with his daughter, Liz Kelley . David does the animal part of things and my husband and I do the vegetable part of things with help from many other family members.

 

It's not a new farm by any means, but a long history of the family having a business at Grand View Farm, and it's very dear to our hearts. The success of Grand View Farm has only been possible through the great help and support of all my family members.

 

How long have you been a member of NOFA-NH? For 6 years, since 2012!

 

Why did you become a member of NOFA-NH? I summed it up simply with my son: We were interested in being part of a community focused on growing healthy and locally sourced food. We could see that joining NOFA-NH, and becoming part of that family would help.

 

How has NOFA-NH impacted your business? By attending the excellent workshops and conferences over the years we have been able to really fine tune our practices, and implemented what we've learned on Grand View Farm, which has helped us a lot! And through NOFA-NH's Bulk Order program, we've been able to tap into the recommendations on soil amendments, pest and weed control, and cover crops. That has helped with the daily operations on the farm.

 

What's your number one priority for NOFA-NH this year? NOFA seems to be doing so many good things with outreach and programs, and I haven't even tapped into the advertising that you can get through NOFA! I do think the Action Alerts are extremely important to learning what's happening on the legislative side of things. And I think in order for farmers to plan for the future, it's really important to know what's going on so we can talk to our representatives and have them act accordingly. Things are really changing quickly, and that seems like the most important issue right now - to keep us all apprised on what's happening.

 

What advice do you have for anyone thinking about becoming a NOFA-NH member? We would recommend businesses take part in all the educational services provided, and the meetings where speakers shed light on the challenges farmers encounter each season. These workshops make our operations go much more efficiently.

 

Does your business have any upcoming events you'd like to share with the community? What we have been doing recently is having some junior high school students come down to the fields and do some hands on planting for us. They love it, and they love being involved. We're teaching them all about the food process: where it comes from and how it gets on their dinner plates. It has been really fun to give these kids some education on that.

 

Another big event we do each year is "all you can carry pumpkins" on Columbus Day weekend. We have so many people come to the farm stands for the "all you can carry weekend" - which costs about 5 or 6 bucks for the year. The whole community shows up, the kids load up with pumpkins, and away they go!