About Us:

At a time when our planet and ourselves are under attack from bad environmental practices, food loaded with pesticides, and corporations that are sacrificing our health and quality of our food supply for the sake of profit, it is very easy to lose hope for the future. Many feel that there is little they can do. Gandhi said, “Large problems have small solutions”. We have been lucky enough to have been allowed responsibility for 19 acres in Lee, NH. We view this as a great opportunity for us to care for a part of the planet and feel this is our offering of a “small solution”.

It gives us hope. Our goal is to care for this land as best we can, grow as much of our own food as possible, and share it with our community through farmer’s markets and our CSA.

My name is Steve Haendler. I grew up on the property known as Mildred’s Drumlin Farm, moving to Lee in 1956. Catching the “back to the land” ideals of the late 60s and early 70s I started gardening and haphazardly developing the land. Over the years a house was built, then a small barn, 3 children were raised , critters were raised, and the large organic garden provided much of the food for the family. While always dreaming of being a market gardener I became a tradesman and ran a welding and metal fabrication business for many years.

The economic problems of 2008 caused that business to suffer but also presented a new opportunity. The farm had been a Certified Tree Farm for many years and a small timber harvest was arranged. This had been in the works for quite some time but no logging contractors were interested in this small project.

With the economy as it was at the time and bigger projects becoming scarce it became more interesting to an old logger friend and the harvest was completed. Weed trees were removed, some nice quality pine was harvested, and some old pasture land reclaimed. This also provided a nice bit of cash to finance the farming ideas that were coming fast. My market farm was becoming a reality through serendipity.

Over the next years the newly reclaimed land was nourished to become productive farm land. There are now 1/2 acre of vegetables, 140 blueberry bushes, 200 raspberry plants, 200 asparagus plants, and lots more. Produce is marketed through local farmer’s markets and a CSA.

In 2011 my relationship with longtime friend Deborah Fisher changed and I married the love of my life in 2013. Deborah brings an unbelievable amount of support to everything undertaken here. She tends our “cut your own herb” garden, helps with all the harvesting and market activities, does whatever I need help with in the gardens, grows beautiful flowers, makes fabric signage, and still runs a longtime cushion business. I couldn’t have a better partner.