Our Story
Paul and Angela
Meet your farmers
Angela and I almost met back in 2011 on Easter Island, a small island about 2000 miles off the coast of Chile, the country Angela is originally from. Angela was working on the island as a kindergarten teacher and I was visiting as a traveler. It wasn't until 2012 that we met in Boston - Angela was still teaching and I worked in IT. Back then, neither of us would have believed that homesteading and farming would be in our future. By 2013, I had developed enough of an interest in sustainable living that I took the summer off work and received my permaculture certification. That experience encouraged me to find land of my own to develop in a sustainable and regenerative way. In 2015 we found our farm, and in 2017 we were married in the field that would later became home to our sheep. Before we moved here full time in 2020, we commuted between Boston and the farm on weekends, vacations and throughout summers, improving the land and renovating the old house on the property (it needed A LOT of work!). Our individual strengths complement each other and make us a great team: Angela is queen of the kitchen, always trying new recipes, baking, preserving food, brewing kombucha, etc. You'll find me outdoors, making things, running (and often fixing) the machinery, taking care of the animals, or doing carpentry or electrical work. We both chip in for planting and harvesting seasons and love giving tours to visitors. Stop on in some time!
Why we Farm
There are actually so many reasons, it's easy for us to ask "why isn't everyone doing this?!". The condensed version of the story, which we find ourselves recounting often, goes like this... At one point, prior to our farming days, we made a list of things that we wanted from life - it was nothing crazy or even unusual - it included exercise, time spent outside, good quality food, enough time and energy at the end of the day for the other things we enjoy, and just as importantly, wanting to minimize the unsustainable practices that are almost unavoidable in modern life. Having a garden and animals didn't even make the list, but almost across the board, a life in the country provided everything we were looking for. It turned out to be a great bonus that we ended up loving gardening and raising our animals too! Because our values aren't that different than the average person's, we hope to show people that this kind of life might be an option worth considering, and even if we can't inspire them, we can share some of our delicious food anyway!
About the Farm
Arándano Farm is located on 26 acres in the Lakes Region of central New Hampshire, just outside of Belmont Village, around the corner from the junction of routes 106 and 140, and about 5 miles from route 93. In the past, this was a well-known pick your own berry farm that specialized in blueberries and strawberries, however it was left largely unmaintained for almost three decades before we acquired it. The property includes about 5 acres of fields for our plants and animals, and about 17 acres of high-quality timber, which we use for sustainable forestry. We're fortunate to have two brooks pass through the farm along with two man made irrigation ponds.
Did you know...
The word "arándano" means "blueberry" in Spanish, Angela's native language!