Why did I buy a farm?

When I first decided to open a restaurant, I asked Tim Wightman, the President of the Farm to Consumer Foundation and a very knowledgeable farmer, to help me find sources for the meat and vegetables.  I wanted to find farms that were grass feeding their animals and not using any GMO grain.  Tim told me that this was going to be difficult.  Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of farmers were raising animals for pastured meat, and the ones that were found they could make more money selling directly to the consumer than they could selling their product to me wholesale.

So, I looked into sourcing my own meat for the restaurant, and started to look at farmland.   Coincidentally, I knew a farmer, Mark Baker from Michigan, who was thinking about packing up his wife and eight kids and moving to a farm in New Hampshire.  His successful  Mangalitsa Pig farm had to be shut down and all of his animals killed, because the Department of Natural Resources in Michigan promulgated a law, stating that his healthy pigs were now considered feral and a threat to Detroit.

Because my films on farming and passion for real food have connected me with farmers and their advocates all around the country, every time a farmer gets raided, I make a new friend.  Mark, his wife, Jill, and their kids and some pigs came to visit my family and me.  He gave my local contacts a butchering class (in my garage), and Jill gave a cooking class in my kitchen.  We had a wonderful time with them and asked if they would farm for us and help us find the right property.

We looked in New Hampshire, but I couldn’t find a farm that felt right. Then, Mark decided to stay in Michigan and fight the battle against the new state law.  I think he realized that it would be too much for all of them to move from Michigan. Suddenly, I was without a farmer and without good prospects for a farm.

I called Tim again.  I let him know that my research confirmed his early warning that I was going to have a hard time staying true to my mission for the restaurant if I didn’t have my own sources.  I asked him if he would consider farming for me; he laughed and said he would get back to me with some other ideas.

As luck would have it, Tim was in transition and when he took some time to think about it, he realized that really he would like to take on a new farm project.  And, just as fortuitous, Tim had seen a gorgeous farm in Bath, New Hampshire, that was on the market. We drove up to take a look and we both loved it immediately.  The farm was on Clough Road…which is my maiden name!  The more we learned about the property, the more it seemed meant to be.  It turns out that a Clough family owned the farm years ago.  I am still researching old records, but I am beginning to believe that I may have purchased a property that once belonged to my own ancestors.

More recently, it was owned by a wonderful family, who clearly cared deeply for the property.  They sold us the Farm in May.  Not only did they love the fact that it would become a working farm, but also they were pleased to know that, perhaps, in the future, we may create some kind of educational center, too.

As planned, Tim Wightman is the head farmer and we were fortunate to hire Amber Reed, as the assistant farmer (more on Tim and Amber will come soon).  They have been working very hard, putting up fences for our pastured animals and researching which breeds will thrive, on a grass diet in a New England climate.  If anyone can do it, they can.

So far, they have raised broiler chickens, layer chickens and pigs for our personal consumption.  Tomorrow, the steer for the restaurant are coming to the farm.  I will write about them next week, after I go up to the farm to visit them.

Kristin