The seventy-one acres that comprise Picadilly Farm have been agricultural lands for many generations. Prior to Picadilly, the farm was a dairy farm, run for 35 years by the Hudson family. We, Jenny and Bruce Wooster, purchased the farm from Albert and Judy Hudson, after a year-long transition of ownership in 2006. Albert and Judy are neighbors of the farm now, and we have a deep commitment to maintaining the fields and buildings with the same level of attention and care as they did.
The farm boasts about forty acres of prime agricultural soils, a treasure of the Connecticut River Valley. Each season, we grow produce crops on twenty-six of these acres, soil-building cover crops on nine acres, and permanent conservation, erosion preventing crops on the field edges. There are also several acres of wetlands, eighteen acres of woods, and a stream that winds down to the Connecticut River about half a mile away. The farm has two homes, a barn complex, four greenhouses, plus an additional home down the road for farm crew. The farm is a vibrant, alive place, home to many, including our family. Also residing here are our animals – barns cats, honeybees, pigs – and plenty of wildlife. We’ve seen moose, coyotes, fox, skunks, woodchucks, more deer than we prefer, many types of birds, and evidence of one bear (he enjoyed the contents of a honeybee hive for dinner one spring night).
Two-thirds of the farm is conserved by an easement with the State of New Hampshire. Development on the conserved acres is restricted to that which is consistent with agricultural use.