Taylor & Austin's Farmer Fellowship
Donation protected
Help support our first Beginning Farmers Fellowship recipients
Know Your Food, Support Young Farmers, Create a Sustainable Future
We're a non profit 501(c)(3) so your donations are tax deductible.
All across the U.S., but especially in New Hampshire, farmers are aging. Willow Brook Farm & Art Center ensures their knowledge and love for growing local food endures and expands. We follow the farmers’ own wisdom by building an environment with perfect conditions to germinate new farmers. Willow Brook Farm & Art Center is a nonprofit permaculture homestead in central NH that strives to increase the number and long-term success rates of organic famers by providing Beginning Farmer Fellowships to ambitious young farmers. Through these two-year fellowships, we provide the seeds, tools, and training for beginning farmers to develop and grow their own farming practice and business in a low risk environment with support, mentorship and collaboration. Through the fellowship provides beginning farmers with housing, access to land and equipment, a stipend, mentoring, and a helping hand to incubate and launch New England’s next generation of sustainable farmers.
Farming is tough business – farmable land is hard to find and, along with the necessary start-up equipment, is often prohibitively expensive. Farmers must work long hours and it takes years to set up productive gardens. Most farmers struggle with oppressive debt before they are able to generate a stable income. Farmers wanting to get started often don’t have the means to purchase land and equipment.
Our Beginning Farmer Fellowship serves as an incubator and launch pad for beginning farmers. Freed from the worries of paying overhead expenses, Fellows can experiment and hone their farming skills and their business model in a low risk environment. They can experiment with different crops, livestock, techniques, and markets without the stress of needing to pay off a mortgage and equipment loans. The fellows can then save any income earned to cover the start-up costs for their own farmland at the conclusion of the fellowship
In a world of large conglomerates and huge agribusiness, it has become even more important to know and support the farmers that grow our food. Small farmers are crucial to keeping our air breathable, water drinkable and food flavorful.
As a society, we need to support permaculture and organic growing and we need to encourage and support young people to farm sustainably. Willow Brook Farm & Arts Center puts your dollars to work to do just that.
Meet Austin & Taylor
Austin Coad grew up in the beautiful lakes region of New Hampshire where he was homeschooled until freshman year of high school. Ever since a young age Austin had a gift for music. He started with piano, but now plays guitar, drums, saxophone and more. Even as a young child, Austin watched his Dad grow tomatoes, cucumbers, and more in their small garden in the yard. He remembers summer harvests in his hometown with all of the neighbors’ kids eating his father’s delicious fresh tomatoes. At age 16, Austin’s family moved to the NH Seacoast, downsizing from 2 acres and a barn to a town house in Exeter. In 2010 Austin enrolled in Exeter High School and met Taylor McGuinness, a nature bound beautiful track athlete with an enormous enthusiasm for life. After high school graduation, he traveled with Taylor to Hawaii where they farmed on a certified organic orchard that produced countless tropical fruits and vegetables. When they were back in NH in 2013, Austin helped create Back to Eden Gardens and began selling their wares at farmers’ markets. Austin enjoys permaculture design, architecture, building community, cooking, biking, making cider, foraging, juggling, composting, and taking care of animals.
Taylor McGuiness is a native to Stratham NH, where her family has farmed the land many generations before her. After graduating high school and traveling throughout the islands of hawaii, Taylor WOOFed on a farm which rekindled her love for and connection to the soil. She began to farm and build her own market garden business on a small piece of land in Stratham, NH. Growing for market and providing food for herself sprouted her passion for sustainable, local agriculture. She apprenticed with gardeners in Maine and Pennsylvania, where she gained valuable animal husbandry skills working with pigs, cattle, goats, and chickens. Taylor enjoys dairy goats, doing yoga, making yogurt, holidays, red clover, swimming, maple leaves, using food as medicine and cartwheels.
Our fellowship includes
Housing
Land to farm
Weekly stipend
Two tractors with loaders and attachments
A barn for storage and processing
Introductions to other famers and resources
Access to permaculture books and videos
Hand tools
Seedlings
About Willow Brook Farm & Art Center
Willow Brook Farm is a 75-acre permaculture homestead in central NH (located in the greater Concord Area) founded in 2014 and is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization. After extensive renovation of the antique colonial farmhouse, Willow Brook Farm is pleased to offer its inaugural Beginning Farmer Fellowship in 2016.
The farm was originally established in 1840 and used for agriculture through the first half of the 20th century. Since most of the original fields returned to mixed hardwood forest over the years due to their lack of use, in 2015, we cleared a patch of forest to return the land to field production. The farm property contains trails, streams and ample wood resources.
We established Willow Brook Farm to incubate and launch beginning farmers’ who would embrace organic growing and permaculture practices. We are at the early stages of a long-term vision, which also includes our offering public workshops, community events, public art, and art residencies – all with the goal of forwarding sustainable living. The property currently produces and supports annual vegetables, a goat dairy, Christmas trees, hops, maple syrup, and honey. While not at commercial scale, we also have apples, pears, and raspberries.
To learn more about Willow Brook Farm & Art Center and find out about all of our plans, check us out at:
http://willowbrookfarmnh.org
We're working toward a sustainable future for everyones' children and we're extraordinarily thankful for your support!
Know Your Food, Support Young Farmers, Create a Sustainable Future
We're a non profit 501(c)(3) so your donations are tax deductible.
All across the U.S., but especially in New Hampshire, farmers are aging. Willow Brook Farm & Art Center ensures their knowledge and love for growing local food endures and expands. We follow the farmers’ own wisdom by building an environment with perfect conditions to germinate new farmers. Willow Brook Farm & Art Center is a nonprofit permaculture homestead in central NH that strives to increase the number and long-term success rates of organic famers by providing Beginning Farmer Fellowships to ambitious young farmers. Through these two-year fellowships, we provide the seeds, tools, and training for beginning farmers to develop and grow their own farming practice and business in a low risk environment with support, mentorship and collaboration. Through the fellowship provides beginning farmers with housing, access to land and equipment, a stipend, mentoring, and a helping hand to incubate and launch New England’s next generation of sustainable farmers.
Farming is tough business – farmable land is hard to find and, along with the necessary start-up equipment, is often prohibitively expensive. Farmers must work long hours and it takes years to set up productive gardens. Most farmers struggle with oppressive debt before they are able to generate a stable income. Farmers wanting to get started often don’t have the means to purchase land and equipment.
Our Beginning Farmer Fellowship serves as an incubator and launch pad for beginning farmers. Freed from the worries of paying overhead expenses, Fellows can experiment and hone their farming skills and their business model in a low risk environment. They can experiment with different crops, livestock, techniques, and markets without the stress of needing to pay off a mortgage and equipment loans. The fellows can then save any income earned to cover the start-up costs for their own farmland at the conclusion of the fellowship
In a world of large conglomerates and huge agribusiness, it has become even more important to know and support the farmers that grow our food. Small farmers are crucial to keeping our air breathable, water drinkable and food flavorful.
As a society, we need to support permaculture and organic growing and we need to encourage and support young people to farm sustainably. Willow Brook Farm & Arts Center puts your dollars to work to do just that.
Meet Austin & Taylor
Austin Coad grew up in the beautiful lakes region of New Hampshire where he was homeschooled until freshman year of high school. Ever since a young age Austin had a gift for music. He started with piano, but now plays guitar, drums, saxophone and more. Even as a young child, Austin watched his Dad grow tomatoes, cucumbers, and more in their small garden in the yard. He remembers summer harvests in his hometown with all of the neighbors’ kids eating his father’s delicious fresh tomatoes. At age 16, Austin’s family moved to the NH Seacoast, downsizing from 2 acres and a barn to a town house in Exeter. In 2010 Austin enrolled in Exeter High School and met Taylor McGuinness, a nature bound beautiful track athlete with an enormous enthusiasm for life. After high school graduation, he traveled with Taylor to Hawaii where they farmed on a certified organic orchard that produced countless tropical fruits and vegetables. When they were back in NH in 2013, Austin helped create Back to Eden Gardens and began selling their wares at farmers’ markets. Austin enjoys permaculture design, architecture, building community, cooking, biking, making cider, foraging, juggling, composting, and taking care of animals.
Taylor McGuiness is a native to Stratham NH, where her family has farmed the land many generations before her. After graduating high school and traveling throughout the islands of hawaii, Taylor WOOFed on a farm which rekindled her love for and connection to the soil. She began to farm and build her own market garden business on a small piece of land in Stratham, NH. Growing for market and providing food for herself sprouted her passion for sustainable, local agriculture. She apprenticed with gardeners in Maine and Pennsylvania, where she gained valuable animal husbandry skills working with pigs, cattle, goats, and chickens. Taylor enjoys dairy goats, doing yoga, making yogurt, holidays, red clover, swimming, maple leaves, using food as medicine and cartwheels.
Our fellowship includes
Housing
Land to farm
Weekly stipend
Two tractors with loaders and attachments
A barn for storage and processing
Introductions to other famers and resources
Access to permaculture books and videos
Hand tools
Seedlings
About Willow Brook Farm & Art Center
Willow Brook Farm is a 75-acre permaculture homestead in central NH (located in the greater Concord Area) founded in 2014 and is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization. After extensive renovation of the antique colonial farmhouse, Willow Brook Farm is pleased to offer its inaugural Beginning Farmer Fellowship in 2016.
The farm was originally established in 1840 and used for agriculture through the first half of the 20th century. Since most of the original fields returned to mixed hardwood forest over the years due to their lack of use, in 2015, we cleared a patch of forest to return the land to field production. The farm property contains trails, streams and ample wood resources.
We established Willow Brook Farm to incubate and launch beginning farmers’ who would embrace organic growing and permaculture practices. We are at the early stages of a long-term vision, which also includes our offering public workshops, community events, public art, and art residencies – all with the goal of forwarding sustainable living. The property currently produces and supports annual vegetables, a goat dairy, Christmas trees, hops, maple syrup, and honey. While not at commercial scale, we also have apples, pears, and raspberries.
To learn more about Willow Brook Farm & Art Center and find out about all of our plans, check us out at:
http://willowbrookfarmnh.org
We're working toward a sustainable future for everyones' children and we're extraordinarily thankful for your support!
Organizer and beneficiary
Tim Gaudreau
Organizer
Portsmouth, NH
Willow Brook Farm & Art Center
Beneficiary
