The Farmers Hand at Robins Nest Farm
Welcome to a new way of farming that coaches and supports you to grow your own fresh fruits and vegetables at home!
Today, more and more families are taking a serious look at where their food comes from. As our world becomes smaller, it seems our food sources have grown farther away. We've also seen a huge increase in the price of produce at the supermarket in recent years, so the idea that global sourcing is cost effective is out the window. The choice to grow our own food has become a popular one in the last few years, due to these factors and many others. The satisfaction one can get from growing ones own vegetables or fruit makes this even more valuable to our pocketbooks and our well being.
A brief story:
When I was a youngster I lost my mother to cancer. I found myself at age 11 living in an orphanage in the city of Burlington, Vermont. Having, until then, grown up around the farms of the Champlain Valley, i wanted to get back to the country. It wasn't long before I convinced the nice sisters and brothers of the Catholic Diocese to let me convert an old shed into a chicken coop and tool shed. That first year, I planted a 10 by 20 foot garden. I built a compost pile and added the chicken manure and vegetable waste from the kitchen (there were a few hundred of us that didn't like our veggies so much), and used the material as fertilizer in my garden. I didn't grow enough to feed the whole place, but was mentored by a wonderful Christian brother on how to use my bounty in the kitchen. He taught me a lot of Chinese cooking, a great use for lots of vegetables. When I left at age sixteen, there were only a handful of kids living there and most were refugees from Vietnam. By then, and with the vietnamese kids enthusiasm, the garden was much larger. This has stuck with me for my entire life, I have always had a vegetable garden in one form or another, and now we have a farm. Consequently, I love to share the bounty, and the more people around my dinner table, the better.
Christopher Paquette, owner, The Farmers Hand
To learn how to grow vegetables and fruit at home can take years. The Farmers Hand will get you going right from the first seed!
With more than 50 years of produce growing experience on staff, our goal is to help "you" grow. View our pages to see the support, equipment, and supplies we have to make you a proud and knowledgeable gardener.
View our membership page to sign up, or give a gift membership. Get started with planning this winter, and be on your way to a successful year of fresh produce growing.
Today, more and more families are taking a serious look at where their food comes from. As our world becomes smaller, it seems our food sources have grown farther away. We've also seen a huge increase in the price of produce at the supermarket in recent years, so the idea that global sourcing is cost effective is out the window. The choice to grow our own food has become a popular one in the last few years, due to these factors and many others. The satisfaction one can get from growing ones own vegetables or fruit makes this even more valuable to our pocketbooks and our well being.
A brief story:
When I was a youngster I lost my mother to cancer. I found myself at age 11 living in an orphanage in the city of Burlington, Vermont. Having, until then, grown up around the farms of the Champlain Valley, i wanted to get back to the country. It wasn't long before I convinced the nice sisters and brothers of the Catholic Diocese to let me convert an old shed into a chicken coop and tool shed. That first year, I planted a 10 by 20 foot garden. I built a compost pile and added the chicken manure and vegetable waste from the kitchen (there were a few hundred of us that didn't like our veggies so much), and used the material as fertilizer in my garden. I didn't grow enough to feed the whole place, but was mentored by a wonderful Christian brother on how to use my bounty in the kitchen. He taught me a lot of Chinese cooking, a great use for lots of vegetables. When I left at age sixteen, there were only a handful of kids living there and most were refugees from Vietnam. By then, and with the vietnamese kids enthusiasm, the garden was much larger. This has stuck with me for my entire life, I have always had a vegetable garden in one form or another, and now we have a farm. Consequently, I love to share the bounty, and the more people around my dinner table, the better.
Christopher Paquette, owner, The Farmers Hand
To learn how to grow vegetables and fruit at home can take years. The Farmers Hand will get you going right from the first seed!
With more than 50 years of produce growing experience on staff, our goal is to help "you" grow. View our pages to see the support, equipment, and supplies we have to make you a proud and knowledgeable gardener.
View our membership page to sign up, or give a gift membership. Get started with planning this winter, and be on your way to a successful year of fresh produce growing.
Don't Wait!
Program limited to 75 members in 2012 growing season.
Program limited to 75 members in 2012 growing season.