Photo Credit: Bardo Farm
Eggcellent Offerings
The price of eggs has been the talk of the town for weeks now, encouraging folks to seek out higher-quality local sources. Hen houses abound in the region, making it easy for folks to find locally sourced high-quality eggs.
In Claremont, a small henhouse produces dozens of eggs from chickens and ducks in a healthy, safe environment. Evie’s Eggies offers pickup and delivery to nearby customers, as eggs are made available by all her hens. Nearby in Plainfield, Mac’s Maple houses its chickens in an old dairy barn specifically designed for these hard-working birds. Hand-washed with care, the eggs are available in standard or jumbo sizes and are recommended for bakers. Slow Culture offers pastured eggs at local farm stands, and Winterstreet Farm offers soy-free, organically fed pastured eggs year-round!
Scoot over to Goshen to find some of the best baked goods made with eggs from hens hatched on the farm at Soggy Hill Farm. Established in 2022, Soggy Hill Farm specializes in sourdough products.
At Tamarack Farm in Acworth, a new flock of hens lays fresh eggs, available daily at the farm store. According to the Gowen family, everyone is welcome to come experience a “little slice of heaven” while at the farm.
If Sherie had her way, she’d spend all her time hatching baby chicks. The poultry lover and hobby breeder at Sherie’s Happy Hens in Unity pampers and adores her animals, and is interested in breeding and hatching chickens for egg color, feather color, and sweet temperaments.
If you’re looking for more than just eggs (though those are available too), Charlotte’s Eggs in Langdon offers eggs from hens raised humanely and with care. Eggs and processed chickens can be purchased at the farm stand. Bulk deliveries of eggs are also available upon request. While in Vermont, grab some eggs from Little Feet Farmstead’s egg hut. Say hi to the baby goats while you’re there.
Photo credit: Bardo Farm
Pleased to Meat You
Some member farms in the Claremont Growers Collective offer several types of livestock products in one convenient location.
Nestled in the charming farmland of Croydon, Bardo Farm is a family farm that raises happy, healthy, and sustainably raised meat.
Their animals are pasture-raised, grass-fed, reclaimed feed-fed, and are hormone and antibiotic free. They offer a variety of pork, beef, and veal cuts, plus monthly meat CSA shares, half/whole pigs and cows, and other seasonal products.
Neil and Emily Smith explain it well on their website: “At Bardo Farm, sustainability is not just a goal; it’s a way of life. Our pigs thrive on 100% reclaimed feed, featuring nourishing ingredients like milk and spent brewer’s grains. Meanwhile, our cows enjoy a diet of fresh grass or hay, complemented by our thoughtfully sourced reclaimed feed.”
You could almost say that these farmers treat their barnyard friends like royalty.
In addition to fresh meat products, Bardo Farm produces consumable gifts, such as dry-aged meats perfect for a charcuterie board.
Many Summers Farm, a more modest commercial farm, sits nearby in Cornish Center. Here, Gwyn and Heather Gallagher maintain this traditional New England farm that encompasses 60 acres. Heather takes the reins on livestock production, raising grass-fed beef and lamb and pasture-raised chicken and pork.
The farmers also dabble in cheese and yogurt.
If, you’re looking for homegrown, 100% grass-fed organic and local beef, look no further than Hilltop Farm in Claremont. They taste even better when there are no preservatives, too.
At Unity Meadows Farm, beef cattle, pigs, and chickens are raised on 80 acres of lush, high meadows in Unity, New Hampshire, with views of Mount Ascutney in the background.
Aside from paying homage to these docile sheep with its name, BesTunis Farm specializes in selling whole-grain-fed, pastured, hand-raised Tunis lambs. The meat is prized for being slightly darker and sweeter than most commercial offerings.
Across the Connecticut River in Weathersfield, Vermont, Three Square Farm takes caring for their livestock seriously. Farmers Toby and Melissa believe in farming in the least extractive way possible, in learning from natural systems to produce food in a way that benefits the soil and watershed and making a happy and healthy life for themselves and their animals.
Three Square Farm sits on 64 acres of mixed woodlands and pasture, where cows, chickens, and sheep graze in a constantly rotating system to maximize forage quality and pasture regrowth.
According to their website, “Our goal is for our animals to spend as much time on pasture as possible, in a way that benefits the soil and watershed. We practice managed intensive grazing with our cattle and sheep, moving them constantly throughout the grazing season to maximize forage quality and regrowth. Outside of grazing season, they are kept in dry lots with outdoor access and fed hay, to protect and rest our pastures. Our chickens are raised seasonally in summer only and are out on pasture as soon as they’re feathered & ready at 4-5 weeks.”
Carina Gardens raises pastured, organically fed chickens. These birds tweet and play in their brooder for 2- 3 weeks and then are on pasture by 3 weeks of age.
Photo Credit: Carina Gardens
Photo Credit: Bardo Farm
