One look at www.beansandgreens.com will tell you that Beans & Greens farm owners Andy and Martina Howe know how to move a farm from the past into the present and on into the future.                                                          

As for the past, it was 1986 when they discovered that selling milk and hay as a dairy farm was a good life, but found it difficult to raise a growing family on what they were making just wasn’t going to cut it so, they sold their herd with the idea of going into the business of selling replacement heifers.

By then Martina, very pregnant, found the vigors of the farm limited her contributions to sitting by the roadside selling sweet corn while Andy chopped field corn. And then, more reality struck; Andy was kept busier picking sweet corn to restock Martina’s supply and says Martina  “Our minds immediately began churning with plans for a vegetable farm stand operation.”  Selling Christmas trees the following December brought them in enough money to build a small greenhouse to grow their first seedlings, and they were on their way to becoming vegetable farmers.

“We attended every one of the summer “twilight farm meetings” held by  Co-operative Extension experts on neighboring farms to glean information on growing vegetables and  flowers. “Kinda a funny,” thinks back Martina, “Andy used to ask me questions because I had some experience with my little home garden, and now he’s in charge of raising all our wonderful homegrown vegetables and our cattle, chicken, and turkeys.” Meanwhile, Martina put her singular skills to work managing the retail end which includes a large store, deli, bakery, and greenhouse.

With hard work and imagination and an obvious inclination to risk new things, success for the Howes has bred more success. Nor have they settled for that old killer of dreams, the status quo. In fact, not a year has passed without Martina and Andy springing increasingly inventive ideas for making their farm a destination point for the whole family to visit, to learn about farming, and to buy their fresh products.

By no means are the Howes the first to till their soil, however. The land on which Beans & Greens sets has been farmed actively since the 1700s by other Yankee farmers, and houses the only remaining barn of the original Ebenezer Smith farm who, with his brother, petitioned to create their town of Gilford. Today, with 370 acres farmed, and with a profound appreciation for its history, the couple have seen to it that conservation easements preserve it for farming and forestry forever.

Of several barns that the Howes own, the largest one was built in 1878, and after it was designated an historic structure in 1999, they were allowed to move their store into that venerable old structure. “In that year,” still speaking with a tone of disbelief in her voice, Martina says “we closed the old store in October for the season and tore it down, then tore down a greenhouse and fully rebuilt  the old barn with a timber frame addition for a vegetable prep area, coolers, bakery and a new gutter connected greenhouse – all in one winter!” By Memorial Day they were ready for a grand opening.

Nor has the dust settled over the last decade on Beans & Greens. Martina and Andy enlarged the store with an addition, put in another three irrigation ponds, and then, in 2010, built a pavilion for events and picnicking.

Each year, the farm begins its season with a large selection of perennials, hanging basket, annuals and vegetable plants. As the growing season progresses, pick your own strawberries becomes a popular outing. Meanwhile, homegrown vegetables fill the store.

Recently, Martina and Andy have added their own chickens and pastured beef to their retail efforts.  Their “choose your own Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares”  help finance the farm during spring planting season and allows customers to choose whatever they wish at the store as things come into season

Their pavilion show cases events and allows visitors to purchase sandwiches, hot and cold, and baked goods to munch on and then stay a bit longer for children to check out the bee hive and coi pond and other scheduled farm activities.

As the season moves into fall, a wagon ride across the road to a large intricate corn maze to test your directional skills, a hay maze (best for the young ones), vegetable slingshot games to challenge your aim, and a haunted tent to challenge your courage,  all entice visitors as they wander amongst a dazzling array of mums, pumpkins and winter squashes

And remember that anticipated birth way back when Andy was picking corn? Well, that event brought Isaac, followed by Katrina, Alex all of whom have grown up and ventured into the outside world, leaving Mom and Dad alone to manage the farm.

But there’s hope for the wanderers’ labor returning, as none of the children is truly settled. Isaac skippers a schooner, Katrina is pursuing her interest in International Biathlon competitions, Alex is a University of Vermont student completing his Eco Agriculture major. So don’t bet against one, or even the whole caboodle from coming back to their roots, to this 1998 New Hampshire Farm of Distinction. There is most assuredly work a-plenty for the whole family on Beans & Greens Farm.

Beans & Greens Farm                                                                                                         
Andrew and Martina Howe
300 Gunstock Road, Gilford, NH
603-293-7070
www.beansandgreens.com

Farmstand,CSA & public events