Enjoying Retirement While Still Living on the Farm with Dave Pierson of Pierson Farm: EP32

Today’s Episode comes to you from Bradford Vermont where we visit with David Pierson of Pierson Farm. After 42 years of running a mixed vegetable farm to supply a roadside farm stand, with 3 acres of strawberries being one of the big draws, he was able to retire, leasing the farm to a long time employee Dan. We start off the episode walking the farm where the crew is actively planting a new batch of strawberries, check out the farm stand and reflect on the challenges of farming with today’s expensive circumstances, then he shares the benefits of getting to live up to the motto “adventure before dementia.” Thanks for listening. 

Transcript

David Pearson (00:00:08):

This is Pearson Farm, and I'm David Pearson. My wife and I ran this for 42 years. We have about 20 acres here and we grow a variety of veggies and strawberries, a lot of winter squash, but a lot of other stuff. The brassicas and the vine crops, and pretty much the whole deal.

Andy Chamberlain (00:00:31):

I'm your host, Andy Chamberlain, and I take you behind the scenes with growers who share their strategy for achieving the triple bottom line of sustainability. These interviews unravel how they're building their business to balance success across people, profits, and our planet. One ask I have for you is if you can leave a comment or write a review. There's a feature enabled right now called fan mail, so you can send a message via text to the podcast right from the link in the description. These come through as anonymous, so if you want to be known or would like me to reply, let me know who you are in the message. Give it a whirl. It's quick, easy, and free, and I'd love to hear from you.

(00:01:10):

Today's episode comes to you from Bradford, Vermont, where we visit with David Pearson of Pearson Farm. After 42 years of running a mixed vegetable farm to supply a roadside farm stand, with three acres of strawberries being one of the big draws, he was able to retire, leasing his farm to a longtime employee, Dan. We start off the episode by walking around the farm where the crew is actively planting the next round of strawberries. We check out the farm stand and reflect on the challenges of farming with today's expensive circumstances. Then he shares the benefits of getting to live up to the motto, adventure before dementia. Thanks for listening.

David Pearson (00:01:56):

So yeah, we've been here 40, this is for the farm. I leased it to Dan Bartlett three years ago, or it'd be three seasons. This is the third season he's been on. So I was running it for 42 years. The first 10, my dad was involved some, but not a whole lot. So yeah, now we have all of this 20 acres now and it keeps them busy, very busy.

(00:02:28):

We're in Bradford, Vermont, and we're right at the intersection of Route 5 and 25, and just a quarter mile off the Interstate 91, exit 16. It's a great location. We built the farm stand in 1985. First greenhouse was 1982, and then now we have one, two, three, four, five, we just have five. Well, six counting that little one. It seems to work. So probably 75% of the stuff is retail and what we grow close to that. And the farm stand's open from June 1st to October 31st.

(00:03:17):

Still involved in a limited capacity. I say my wife and I, so we do the fun stuff now.

Andy Chamberlain (00:03:26):

That's the way it should be at this point.

David Pearson (00:03:27):

I don't have any of the problems with the help or payroll or any of the financial stuff is not... Don't have that stress anymore, which is wonderful. But it's been in the family since my grandfather bought this area, 1946. He came down off from the back hills of Bradford. He had a 200 and something acre hill farm basically. And this was his retirement. He bought this place when he was 60, I believe. He's been here... well, not he, but the family since 1946.

Andy Chamberlain (00:04:14):

Wow, that's cool.

David Pearson (00:04:16):

And it was a retirement farm. He had two or three cows and he planted some strawberries and raised a few soldier beans and sweet corn, and just dibbled and dabbled. And my dad sort of took it over and upped it to milk 30 cows. About 30, 32, depending on the season. Well, depending on the winter. A lot of it was pasture land and hay fields, corn, rented land all over town for hay. The corn was closer, usually closer by. Yeah, he rented a lot of fields then.

(00:05:02):

Yeah, and then I came along. I left and went to the University of Vermont, said I'd never be a farmer. And six or seven years later, said, "Well"... I got married. My wife and I worked for a furniture company and they had stores outside of Philadelphia. And so we moved down there for a year. I managed those. Nah, I was a country boy. That was too many people, too much crime. It just wasn't me. So I came back and worked with Ed, and transitioned into vegetables and strawberries, and started putting up a few greenhouses. And then here we are today.

(00:05:48):

Fortunately, I had a younger man that worked through high school and college, and then he got a real job for quite a few years and he was working for a high-end construction home building firm. And he had some experience. He had two crews under him. He was working with architects and homeowners and things like that, and he said, "I want a farm." We'd hang out here on weekends, and we finally made it happen.

(00:06:24):

So right now it's a lease, a seven-year lease, and he bought all the farm equipment, tractors and things, but we still own the buildings and the land. And my wife and I bought seven acres and a butt's this, which we had rented for years from a neighbor lady. And she died two or three years ago, and the estate came to me and said, "You should buy this whole thing." Well, there's a four-apartment house. And I'm thinking 68 or nine, I don't want to be a landlord. And in hindsight should have done it. I mean, the rental market is crazy.

Andy Chamberlain (00:07:08):

Yeah, it's a good time for that.

David Pearson (00:07:09):

It's a good time. And I could have got somebody to be the guy to call if you got a problem.

Andy Chamberlain (00:07:16):

Fairly easy thing to outsource.

David Pearson (00:07:17):

Yeah. So anyway, that was a big mistake. And then the guy that bought it, we were going to buy all the farmland, and he decided to keep an acre and a half of the prime ag land behind the buildings. But we did buy the L-shaped piece. Fortunately, unfortunately, it's that big hill in the bank, which I had a logger come in and clear cut, because it was dark in a pocket up in that corner, just to get some light in. And plus the trees were dying. There was so much dead wood in them.

(00:07:53):

So last year we had that done and then I bought some seed, I think it's called New Hampshire hillside seed, and went up and down that steep hill. It doesn't look so bad, but I'm telling you, it's... But I got a pretty good catch. I mean, it's pretty green, a lot of grasses and things coming. A lot of junk, too.

Andy Chamberlain (00:08:16):

Is there something on there until the brambles take over again?

David Pearson (00:08:19):

Yeah, and it'll keep from eroding down into the fields here. So yeah, it's going to work out. So yeah, there's about... Now, there's about 20 acres here.

Andy Chamberlain (00:08:37):

You do any hay or is that all veg production?

David Pearson (00:08:39):

All veg production. And we rent a little bit neighborly over there, an acre, half, three-quarters of an acre. And then up on the other side of the highway, it's about 10 acres, we use up their lawn. There's no water, no water source, so we just pray. Mostly, sweet corn or pumpkins or something.

Andy Chamberlain (00:09:07):

They do pretty good.

David Pearson (00:09:08):

They do. We put heavy on the manures and there's only been one, couple of years where it's really sucked, but yeah. So yeah, Dan, the kid... the guy... Can I say kid? He's 41 now. He was a kid when he first started working here. But he's doing all this and he been putting out transplants that beat the band this week. Been so damn cold. And I guess it's supposed to be 85 or 88 today, and maybe 90 or 92 tomorrow or something. And thundershowers.

Andy Chamberlain (00:09:45):

And it was 48 at beginning of the week.

David Pearson (00:09:47):

Yeah, we had 42 here the other morning. And I was over at Crossroads, talked to Phil and he said it was 33 over there.

Andy Chamberlain (00:09:59):

Welcome to June.

David Pearson (00:10:00):

That is a cold... Yeah. And I have a quarter acre of asparagus that I put in six or seven years ago, so I kind of dabble that.

Andy Chamberlain (00:10:10):

That's your enterprise still.

David Pearson (00:10:11):

That's my enterprise. I just give it to Dan. I don't know, it's just something I did and I kind of wanted to keep it. And he doesn't really have time to fuss with that in early May.

Andy Chamberlain (00:10:23):

Yeah, right. Got everything else.

David Pearson (00:10:25):

Yep.

Andy Chamberlain (00:10:26):

Hitting the ground.

David Pearson (00:10:26):

Yeah. And this little building here was over in the yard around the farmhouse, and it's kind of going downhill. And I asked my dad, "Can we move that thing over?" Because they weren't doing anything and it was really eyesore. So I haven't quite... We put a new roof on it and I painted it, and needs painting again. Bought four of those windows and I need to do four more. But they're about a hundred bucks a piece for something just simple like that. But that's kind of nice. It was my grandfather's little shop and this little thing with my grandfather's mailbox from about 1900 or 1915, when he had his firearm up in the hills of Bradford.

Andy Chamberlain (00:11:19):

That's cool.

David Pearson (00:11:20):

Yeah, try to keep some of the stuff.

Andy Chamberlain (00:11:22):

A little touch of history. There's some nice architecture on that and detail work.

David Pearson (00:11:25):

Yeah. It's kind of cool the way they... So yeah, we got two 28 by 96 foot greenhouses with tomatoes. A little small one we just put cucumbers in. We do one half a row of cucumbers in there just to get them early. A little bit later, he does this one to get them coming before the field cucumbers come in. And we do a lot, quite a few strawberries. We got, I guess three and a half acres.

Andy Chamberlain (00:12:04):

Yeah, that's quite a bit.

David Pearson (00:12:06):

Yeah. We had some trouble last year with weeds in this field here, and there's another field on that little side hill and got them cleaned up. There's so much water sitting in with a lot of gaps, so they actually put new plants in the gaps yesterday and now they're planting the new ones for next year. But they've come back and won't be a big crop there this year, but next year they should do really well. I don't know what's over there. I think all the row covers are, a lot of them are winter squash. We do a lot of winter squash.

Andy Chamberlain (00:12:45):

Yeah. Under low tunnels there to give them a boost.

David Pearson (00:12:48):

Well, it keeps the stripy cucumber beet out for longer, too. You don't have to try to spray them or whatever. These here are maybe... What are they? I don't really know what he put here. See, I'm not quite so quite involved, so I'm not sure what's what. I just come around here and I mow, and I try to keep it looking good.

Andy Chamberlain (00:13:16):

Yeah. No, that's all right.

David Pearson (00:13:18):

And I think it does. Sometimes I've taken little trips around the state and seen some of these farms with weeds everywhere, and the fence lines are nasty, and then I feel pretty good when I come back. And I don't mean that as mean to somebody else, but it's just that we're pretty visual here. I mean, we're right at the intersection of the highway, the Interstate 91, Route 25, Route 5, so kind of learn to keep it-

Andy Chamberlain (00:13:48):

You're in a junction.

David Pearson (00:13:50):

Yeah.

Andy Chamberlain (00:13:51):

But like you said, that helps with weed management as well.

David Pearson (00:13:55):

Yeah.

Andy Chamberlain (00:13:56):

Keep the grasses trimmed.

David Pearson (00:13:59):

Some of these older bed... This half of this field will be the third year picking. And we had a lot of winter kill. There's a little ditch that runs from... Water comes out from underneath the highway. It comes up on the other side. I mean, you couldn't do it now, but they filled in half of a swamp. And so the other side, the water comes down and we had a project with conservation 25, 30 years ago and ditched it all the way around and put in a little holding pool.

(00:14:33):

And this winter I had asked my... My cousin's got an excavator and I said, "Can you get up here and clean out the ditch?" And he didn't get to it. And the weather, it was just weird. We didn't have much snow, but it was cold. And the stream doesn't run a lot, it just kept building and building and building with ice. Then it went over the bank and down into this end. And there's a lot of... Well, the year before it did that, so that whole section is plowed now, they all died. And then there's more spots from this winter, not as bad, but there's still some spots down there where they had winter kill, ice was all over it. So anyway, he got him this spring and we got it cleaned out. So hopefully, we got that problem solved for a little bit.

Andy Chamberlain (00:15:31):

Yeah. So all matted row, it looks like?

David Pearson (00:15:37):

All matted row. I think he's going to try a little bit of plastic plugs this August. Got a little spot where there's some peas now. I mean, we just don't have enough land here. He's looking to see if we put gladstone. Newmont Farm has gulped up all available land between White River and Littleton, I think. And anyway, so we got just a small, maybe put in four beds and that'll be enough to keep the farm stand going a little bit earlier, which would help to have some income earlier when it's just going out, out, out, out.

Andy Chamberlain (00:16:20):

You guys do any bedded plants or anything like that in the spring?

David Pearson (00:16:26):

Not much. I used to more, and it got so, the competition... I mean, every place around here, and it just took up too much time and we really didn't felt we have room to put on more greenhouses. And to do it right, you got to do it fairly big, right? So no, we didn't. He does a few, he's got a few tomato plants and pepper plants, and a few herbs, and that's it. All the strawberries are on drip irrigation. We switched to that about, I don't know, 18 years ago. Not that we don't have water, so we have town water, so we have all we want, but we just felt we weren't getting enough water to the plants. And now we're doing pretty much all the stuff that's on plastic has drip under it now. Everything here on the farm.

Andy Chamberlain (00:17:33):

Single drip tape per bed, is it?

David Pearson (00:17:35):

Yep.

Andy Chamberlain (00:17:35):

It's a single row of plants?

David Pearson (00:17:37):

Single row. They spread out. But some of these fields, we've always tried to bear for three years, but we've been growing strawberries here for so long, it's like 60 years. I mean, and we try to rotate, but three years is pretty much the max that we can do, and they recommend six or seven. So we get what we get. And that's one of the reasons we went to drip, so we could like to feed them... Now, I feed them every week through the drip, some calcium nitrate, which it's easy to do.

Andy Chamberlain (00:18:21):

Keep them going a little longer.

David Pearson (00:18:22):

Try to.

Andy Chamberlain (00:18:23):

Yep.

David Pearson (00:18:25):

I was a little concerned this year. I mean, they started, I don't know, didn't we have a few warm days back a while ago? Or it was just so cold, they were putting out buds and there was no leaves hardly. Calm down. Puny leaves and they've come along. No, this is second year, I think. No, wait a minute. Yeah, first, second year. Yeah.

Andy Chamberlain (00:18:56):

Well, they look like they're going to be loaded.

David Pearson (00:18:57):

It does. I mean, they may be. The trouble with that is that it's just so much fruit that sometimes you don't get the size. So it just keeps pumping water. They just keep pumping water to them and making sure they're not-

Andy Chamberlain (00:19:16):

They crowd themselves out.

David Pearson (00:19:17):

Yeah, they do. I think that variety there is Galetta. They put their blossoms right up. I hadn't really noticed that before.

Andy Chamberlain (00:19:29):

They're quite vertical.

David Pearson (00:19:30):

Yeah.

Andy Chamberlain (00:19:31):

What are your go-to or favorite varieties?

David Pearson (00:19:34):

Well, I really like the flavor and the color and the way the Galettas look. But sometimes... I mean, it depends. We've had good luck with them sometimes and sometimes we don't. These look pretty good to me. A couple years we had some that didn't, so I don't know if it was something to do with the plants we got or what. Or the spot on the farm.

Andy Chamberlain (00:20:00):

Yeah. Right.

David Pearson (00:20:01):

Well, it hadn't been that long. Three years, maybe four years.

Andy Chamberlain (00:20:06):

Was that veggies prior or you get a cover crop in there?

David Pearson (00:20:10):

Yeah. Well, we had last... All of that had, was that oats and peas? No, I think it was winter wheat. It might've been a little winter rye. We ran out and then we're using winter... He's using winter wheat more. It's a little bit easier to control in the spring once you plow it down. And I mean rye, well, you'll keep fighting with it. The winter wheat seems to go down better and tail up. It doesn't seem to re-root or come up through like rye does. But yeah, so this is pretty much it. In the barns, old dairy barns, which just house just equipment and equipment shed and equipment, equipment, equipment.

Andy Chamberlain (00:21:01):

Yeah, there's a lot of that.

David Pearson (00:21:03):

Yeah. We got an apiary. Is it... Yeah, apiary. It's got a guy, he's got 15 beehives up here, which is kind of nice. And so he buys honey from him. And so I think we're getting good pollination, although some of the people we buy bumblebees for the greenhouses. And we for a few years, before we had the bees, I would buy the quad hive, put in the fields for the squash and, I think, pumpkins and things. And they'll tell you, "Oh, bees are a better pollinator for those kinds of crops." And probably they are. But they're also, every time you order one of those, it's three or $400. And with 15 hives, I just don't feel I need to anymore.

Andy Chamberlain (00:21:56):

Yeah. Got quite a few flying insects around.

David Pearson (00:21:57):

Yeah. And there's a lot of wild bees in here, too.

Andy Chamberlain (00:22:01):

Yeah. So when was it that you started managing all of this?

David Pearson (00:22:06):

Back here? I came back here in 1979. Worked with my dad for 10, 11 years. 12. He retired pretty much fully in 1992. And he changed over the, so that all the... I was responsible then for all the bills. And I mean, for a couple of years he did some track to work for me when he still could. So yeah, it's been 40... Well, this is Dan's third season, so '79, 46 years this year, but 43 years before I transitioned to Dan. And just the last two years, I just didn't have the get-up and go. I just didn't care so much. Let the thing slide a little bit. Dan wanted to do it, and I said, "You got it, buddy."

Andy Chamberlain (00:23:17):

40 years in.

David Pearson (00:23:18):

Yeah. Which is good. I mean, I think I'm lucky to have somebody that... Because my kids are not interested at all, and I think I'm lucky to have somebody to take over.

Andy Chamberlain (00:23:31):

Yeah, that's a hard part. A lot of people struggle to find that.

David Pearson (00:23:34):

Yeah. I'd like to keep it going. My dad passed in January. We're in the process now of lawyers and surveyors and getting stuff changed over and everything. And my hope is that the Vermont Land Trust will be interested.

Andy Chamberlain (00:23:56):

Was it all still in his name?

David Pearson (00:23:57):

Yeah.

Andy Chamberlain (00:23:58):

Oh, wow.

David Pearson (00:23:59):

He says, "Why do you want to buy it? You're going to get it anyway," which is true.

Andy Chamberlain (00:24:06):

Fair enough.

David Pearson (00:24:07):

He lived to be 95, almost 96.

Andy Chamberlain (00:24:12):

Now you got to deal with all of that afterward.

David Pearson (00:24:15):

Which it's fine. So when this gets settled, then I will contact them and see what they think. I don't know what their funding is. But who did we work with, with Land for Good? You must know.

Andy Chamberlain (00:24:34):

Mike Gia.

David Pearson (00:24:35):

Mike Gia. He said, "I think Vermont Land Trust would be very interested in this land, where it is here." He said, well, they usually have a 20 acre minimum, now we have 21.

Andy Chamberlain (00:24:48):

There you go. Of sandy active farmland.

David Pearson (00:24:54):

Yeah. I mean, with the exception of the hill and the bank, it's pretty much all farmland.

Andy Chamberlain (00:25:01):

Well, it's in production. It's not like it got left and neglected. Still pumping.

David Pearson (00:25:08):

Still pumping out food.

Andy Chamberlain (00:25:11):

What's been one of your most... What's a day when you felt really successful farming?

David Pearson (00:25:19):

Nothing broke down. No problems. The weather was cooperating. And you had a good harvest of, say, strawberries or the sweet corn came in when you wanted it to. And it was good. And you got the applications, so no worms in the corn. And when things were the way they should be, that was a good day when I did that. And the farm stand was very busy. It was always the money part of it, too. So yeah, when the customers came and everything was going pretty well, we had enough help.

(00:26:07):

We started having Jamaican labor, this is the 20th year, in 2005. Yeah, 2005. None of the original guys... Well, I say that, none of the original guys are here, except the guy driving the tractor is the son of one of the originals. And there is one guy that immigrated, he and his family to New York. And he's not in the program anymore, but he comes up for six or eight weeks. Strawberry picking, peas, beans, weeding, whatever. He was one of the original. So yeah, I wouldn't have been able to do this without the Jamaican labor. Yeah, I mean, with everything, I mean, I know Dan shakes his head every year that they go up on with Adwire, the Department of Labor tells you what you have to pay the hourly wage, and it just keeps going up and up and up and up. Now, I think it's almost $19 an hour, which you can't get locals to do this kind of work.

Andy Chamberlain (00:27:26):

Even for that.

David Pearson (00:27:26):

Yeah. And so we just have to deal with it. And have to house them, have to pay their way up and back. And it's a big expense, but they're worth it. They're worth it.

Andy Chamberlain (00:27:40):

What was your average crew size?

David Pearson (00:27:43):

Oh, when I didn't have them, usually there was three or four out in the field. And I worked 80-something hours a day. And then during berry season we had kids picking, so sometimes there was many as 12 or 14. And it was just talk about stress.

Andy Chamberlain (00:28:03):

That's a lot.

David Pearson (00:28:04):

It's like babysitting. Unbelievable. I know Pooh Sprague said, "You got to get some Jamaicans, you will sleep better at night." And I did. And he was right.

Andy Chamberlain (00:28:21):

Learned some Spanish.

David Pearson (00:28:22):

Yeah. Oh, Jamaicans are English speaking mostly. Well, they have their own patois or something. And even after 20 years, I can't understand them. I said, "Slow down, guys." But yeah, they're great. They're just part of the family now.

Andy Chamberlain (00:28:40):

What does he have for a crew now? Three Jamaicans?

David Pearson (00:28:43):

Just three, and then the other guy comes up for six weeks or so.

Andy Chamberlain (00:28:49):

Any locals or no?

David Pearson (00:28:51):

Just in the farm stand. And that's a different level, you don't have to pay them the same rate. I know he's struggling since-

Andy Chamberlain (00:29:00):

Climbing.

David Pearson (00:29:00):

It's climbing.

Andy Chamberlain (00:29:01):

Yeah.

David Pearson (00:29:03):

Yeah. I mean, when kids can go wait tables and make a couple hundred dollars a night.

Andy Chamberlain (00:29:08):

Yeah. Right.

David Pearson (00:29:10):

It's hard to compete with that. So you have 15-year-olds and they're on certain hours. They can work certain hours. They can't... But it's what you got to do.

Andy Chamberlain (00:29:23):

Right. What's a time when you felt really challenged farming?

David Pearson (00:29:31):

For me, the most challenging time is getting through the spring startup, because everything is out going financially. In your two months at least before you make a penny. And it's really stressful. And never got around to doing the CSA thing. Probably silly I didn't, but I just thought it was one more thing to do in the spring.

Andy Chamberlain (00:30:03):

And manage.

David Pearson (00:30:04):

Manage and do a good job. And so we never did it. But that's probably the hardest part. And I think Dan's feeling that, too. I said, "Don't stress too much. You can stress, but not too much. It'll come around."

Andy Chamberlain (00:30:21):

Have trust that the customers come back.

David Pearson (00:30:24):

Yep. Just keep working hard and things will turn out okay. Been here long enough, so we have a pretty good customer base.

Andy Chamberlain (00:30:32):

That's good. Yeah. Is it all retail out of the farm store stand here?

David Pearson (00:30:37):

Well, we do have some wholesale accounts. There's a few. We go to Woodstock and we do certain things for the co-ops. Edgewater has a big chunk of it and Crossroads has a big chunk. And all we do really is the green beans and wax beans, which is pretty substantial, but not like it was 10 years ago. It's off a little bit. And we do squash. We have little squash, winter squash for the co-ops. So we do a lot of squash.

Andy Chamberlain (00:31:20):

Have you seen the marketplace change over your career? Do you think there's been many shifts or swings or have you changed your model at all whole lot?

David Pearson (00:31:32):

Not too... Not really. Well, we're bringing in more things to sell. We've got meats now and dairy, and I didn't have that when we first started. A lot of the locals, maple syrup, the honey, a lot of that kind of stuff. And that's a pretty good sizable amount we do. Things we don't grow or don't have access to, we buy through Black River produce. They've been pretty good. Although it's different now, it's been sold two or three times. And it's a big corporate thing now, so it's not as easy to deal with them.

(00:32:17):

But I think they were buying some surplus stuff from us, but not... Pick your own has kind of faded and it's come back a little, but not the way it used to be. A lot of the older generation that would come in and pick 50 pounds or something, they're not there anymore. It's just younger people buying a half a tray or something just for a day or two consumption, I think.

Andy Chamberlain (00:32:48):

Yeah. Something to do rather than feed your family.

David Pearson (00:32:51):

Yeah, more of a family outing. Yep. But it's all part of it. I mean, it's a pretty nice spot to come with your family.

Andy Chamberlain (00:33:05):

Absolutely. Yeah.

David Pearson (00:33:07):

Yeah.

Andy Chamberlain (00:33:07):

And you're not right on the highway either. The fields are set back, so it's an easy flat walk from where you park and it's a good location. What does sustainable farming mean to you and what were you doing to achieve it?

David Pearson (00:33:25):

Well, sustainable is being able to produce a crop with minimal inputs. People get scared of pesticides and things, and rightly so. But we're doing just the minimum to be able to produce a crop that you can put out to sell. And I think doing a good job with that. And I mean, I haven't found for us the way to go completely organic, although a lot of the fields we don't use anything on, but some we do. And to me, that's just what we have to do to be competitive and to be able to put a good-looking crop on the stand to sell.

(00:34:25):

A lot of this stuff is pretty old and we'll be going to upgrade it. And we've recovered these two greenhouses. That one's going to be recovered. One of those is going to be recovered as soon as we get all the plants out of it. Yeah, so there's two plantings of tomatoes. And we just do inside... Pretty much sell most of them retail. It's just you don't have to spray. I mean, we just do organic practices in here. So always thought outside was you were just spraying for blights and things all the time and kind of control everything in here. Trouble is, you got to keep at these. I mean, they need to be gone through and clipped and suckered and everything again now. But they're trying to get all the crops out and it's just not enough hours in the day.

Andy Chamberlain (00:35:28):

Yeah. Especially when it's first week of June and we're pushing 90 degrees, things are just leaping.

David Pearson (00:35:35):

Yeah.

Andy Chamberlain (00:35:38):

Weeds and plants alike.

David Pearson (00:35:40):

This stuff here needs to be all... And they're tall enough now, so you probably need a step ladder to... Yeah.

Andy Chamberlain (00:35:51):

So what do you use this little shed for?

David Pearson (00:35:53):

Well, just storage basically. I don't know. I have ideas of... My grandfather used this as a workshop and he used to have a little wood stove in there. And he'd go in there and the thing would be cherry red. It's a wonder that it didn't burn down at some point. So when we moved it over here, put a new roof on, we took down the chimney and everything. And I used this as a pesticide storage place for a while, but then I cleaned it all up and we brought it up here for just storage. And there's some tires in there now. But just his stuff.

Andy Chamberlain (00:36:53):

Classic little old shed.

David Pearson (00:36:55):

Yep. And I've been told that at one point in the turn of the century, people that owned this property, the guy was a... He didn't farm, he was a, they called him a Raleigh man, which was full of brush type of thing back in the turn of the century. And this was his little, so we call this the tea house. This was his little storage shed. Yeah, my grandfather's. We kept all these tins and things. I don't know, I may put another set of drawers in here and kind of clean it out a little bit and just use it as a little workshop.

Andy Chamberlain (00:37:41):

I like that little hutch there.

David Pearson (00:37:44):

Actually, that came from my in-laws' barn or shed. And they lived in Thetford. Yeah, and that's a kind of cool thing.

Andy Chamberlain (00:37:54):

Yeah. Just old.

David Pearson (00:37:57):

It's old. Everything's old.

Andy Chamberlain (00:37:59):

Everything's old.

David Pearson (00:37:59):

This is one of the stovepipe went out and the chimney. So yeah, we had to put a whole new roof on here. It was funny, the structure was... There was nothing like two foot on center. This was almost three feet, three and a half feet, two and a half feet. So nothing was-

Andy Chamberlain (00:38:19):

It was all eyeball.

David Pearson (00:38:20):

Yeah, apparently. Come, Dan. We finally looked at... We started, we were spraying beans, and what a smart thing. And the peas. I never did that, and they were mess. And now he looked up and he says, "We could spray the peas." I said, "Go for it." So there there's hardly weed in them.

Andy Chamberlain (00:38:54):

Nice.

David Pearson (00:38:56):

So that's another reason I'm not organic. The labors, I don't see how you can do it. But we try.

Andy Chamberlain (00:39:10):

So you're growing peas on the flat or do you trellis them once they get a little taller?

David Pearson (00:39:14):

No, they're just the 18 inch or two foot ones, and they flop over and that's it. No trellis, that's too much labor. And the Jamaicans can pick peas fast.

Andy Chamberlain (00:39:29):

Right.

David Pearson (00:39:30):

Yep.

Andy Chamberlain (00:39:32):

Is that the primary tractor, the 5075?

David Pearson (00:39:35):

Yeah, that's it. That's the newest one on the farm.

Andy Chamberlain (00:39:39):

What year is that one?

David Pearson (00:39:42):

God, it's got to be going on eight years now. I think I had a five-year loan. And when Dan took this over in '23, I made my last payment. Well, we have a Kubota that's, I bought that in 2000, I think. It's 80 horsepower. But we put smaller tires on it just so we could do more work in the rows and things. And we love that tractor, Christ, it's just keeps going. We never had a knock on wood. Never had a bit of trouble with it. It's just a workhorse. But he bought all that equipment.

(00:40:32):

So yeah, that's a nice tractor. It's just new enough so it's got all the gadgets on it. Like yesterday, he says, "Well, I got to leave it running." And it's doing the burn thing where it does the burn for the, I don't know, some filter.

Andy Chamberlain (00:40:48):

DEF.

David Pearson (00:40:49):

You don't have to use DEF, but there's something that burns the carbon up or something, and some filter where the temperatures get like, what, 500 degrees or something. Well, I didn't realize you're supposed to leave it running. And a few years ago you just shut it off when it was... We were done using it, shut it off. Well, after a few times, all of a sudden it would barely run. It didn't have any power. So I had to call the John Deere dealer and he hooked it up to his computer, $350 later it was running fine. So he said, "Don't shut it off when it's doing the burn." So now we know.

Andy Chamberlain (00:41:36):

All plugged up.

David Pearson (00:41:37):

Yep. You just got to do it.

Andy Chamberlain (00:41:40):

Yeah.

David Pearson (00:41:40):

So yeah, we built this in 1985, the farm stand. And I think the next year put on a bigger porch and a kit in the back kitchen. And this year we've made a few changes again. We're trying to do more, just bring in more stuff that'll sell local. Local stuff.

Andy Chamberlain (00:42:11):

Round it out.

David Pearson (00:42:12):

Yeah. Dan would like to... He was telling me his plan would be to take that little greenhouse, which we haven't used for several years, put it on the other end of the porch and build a wash facility out here.

Andy Chamberlain (00:42:33):

Yeah. Oh, off of this end? Wash tap out of this side.

David Pearson (00:42:39):

Put up a real wood structure.

Andy Chamberlain (00:42:43):

Yep.

David Pearson (00:42:45):

I will say, I mean, I'm all for it, but I don't know. I think I have to contact Efficiency Vermont, because I know there's money out there. These produce cases we bought used 19... See, we built it in '86. Probably one in '85 and another one in '86. And they came out of a grocery store up in Woodsville, New Hampshire, so who knows how old they are. Although, it was new downstairs, new compressors and everything. We actually replaced some of the... at least one of the compressors we've replaced. But there's got to be more efficient... I mean, the electric bill here goes sky-high when you turn these babies on.

Andy Chamberlain (00:43:35):

I bet.

David Pearson (00:43:36):

But now we have two chest freezers for the meats. And upright freezer, he is got the Walpole ice cream. And then a refrigerated unit for local dairy and eggs. And then we get, right now nothing here, but when we get our lettuces and cucumbers and kooks and all the other stuff, that will be full. And we got some big goods and it works.

Andy Chamberlain (00:44:13):

Yeah. Well, this is a nice farm store.

David Pearson (00:44:18):

The only problem was when we built it, we didn't insulate it enough, the ceiling. Why do you need to insulate a farm stand? I mean, the walls have just three and a half inch.

Andy Chamberlain (00:44:32):

Yeah, you put a little something in while you were at it.

David Pearson (00:44:35):

And it was like half inch solid foil-backed stuff. Not enough. And I think the second or third year it was open and we just put the boards. And we did that. And that was our own lumber. Most of this, my dad and I cut the lumber for this building.

Andy Chamberlain (00:44:57):

Makes it special.

David Pearson (00:44:58):

Yeah. He had a couple hundred acres up called Wright's Mountain, which is out, it's like five miles out. 25, and then you go up a dirt road. And I think I put the skylights in a few years later to get more light in. But yeah, it's kind of nice.

Andy Chamberlain (00:45:21):

Yeah, it is. I like it.

David Pearson (00:45:23):

Nice thing is I bought the house next door, which was my dad. I grew up in it. And then a few years later we put a second story on. So I've pretty much lived there my whole life. It's kind of nice, you get up and walk out the door to go to work.

Andy Chamberlain (00:45:42):

Yeah. Right.

David Pearson (00:45:43):

No commuting time here.

Andy Chamberlain (00:45:44):

Well, I love that.

David Pearson (00:45:45):

Yeah. So yeah, probably I'll keep my hand in this place as long as I can.

Andy Chamberlain (00:45:54):

Who's been an inspiration, mentor or influence for you?

David Pearson (00:45:58):

Oh, gosh. All the guys in the Upper Valley. We've pretty close group, Pooh, Jake, Tim Taylor. We just sort of talk to each other and see what are you doing? How are you doing it? And that kind of thing. But when I first started, gosh, I remember going to places all over the state just to see what they were doing, what their farm stands were like. And I know when I was first starting a strawberry production, I used to talk a lot with Hesse Summers, which I think he died last year, a couple years ago maybe. I think his grandkids were running a farm up in Barnet now. But I was with him and the extension. Ed Booton was the extension agent back then, and I used to talk to him a lot. Come over. We had on-farm visits here and a lot of things. I went to every meeting that I could. He didn't really know anything about growing crops. Pretty long learning curve to learn all this stuff.

Andy Chamberlain (00:47:11):

Yeah. Did your dad teach you a whole lot or were you really just kind of farming beside him?

David Pearson (00:47:17):

Farming beside him. He was from the old school and he never went to any meetings, never did anything like that, which is fine. I just wasn't him. He'd milk cows and he was done.

Andy Chamberlain (00:47:32):

That was his thing.

David Pearson (00:47:33):

I mean, he had a few strawberries, three quarters of an acre or maybe an acre at one time, but all one variety. It's what the old guys used to grow.

Andy Chamberlain (00:47:43):

More cows in a garden.

David Pearson (00:47:44):

Yeah. Right. So yeah, I think he was pleased with what I've done. But I remember last year or two years ago when he was living with my brother and sister-in-law, when I was talking about retiring, well, he says, "Well, I don't know why he wants to retire, boy." Of course, he was 62 pretty much when I took over. So 30-something, 35 years ago.

Andy Chamberlain (00:48:18):

In the same boat.

David Pearson (00:48:19):

Yeah. And he was going to Florida every winter for 28 years. So yeah. "You didn't know why I wanted to retire. Geez, I'm getting tired. Retiring and getting tired." So yeah, it was fine. He finally, I guess, got over it. But yeah, it's a pretty good spot. And last summer it was really good, the farm stand. It was good. We hadn't had all the labor fussing with strawberries that the weeds got out of control. Because they closed the south lane on I-91 for most of the summer, everything came by here. There's no way to know exactly how many people came in just because of that. But it was up.

Andy Chamberlain (00:49:08):

Yeah. I mean, that doesn't hurt.

David Pearson (00:49:10):

It wasn't tremendous, but it was a help.

Andy Chamberlain (00:49:13):

Construction in your favor that season.

David Pearson (00:49:15):

Yeah.

Andy Chamberlain (00:49:17):

If you were just going to restart farming now, would you do the same thing or would you do it completely differently?

David Pearson (00:49:25):

Probably wouldn't do it at all. I know that... No. Well, I think because I started with my family, my dad, I didn't have a mortgage, and that was a big... I was paying rent to him, pretty good rent. But I don't know if I could have done it. I don't know how these kids do it. I really don't. It's hard. I mean, we're fortunate we had this location.

(00:50:02):

And I lobbied with my dad even before I came back. The year before, I was outside of Philadelphia working for another company, and I was going to farm stands down there and taking pictures. And I go, "This is what I want." This is basically what I took pictures of in a farm stand outside of Philadelphia, up in Montgomery County. And I lobbied for him and he said, "Yeah, I guess we got to do something." And he had just sold some property that he had, and so he put the money into this. So I thank him for that. Over the years, the rent paid handsomely for this building. Because there was nothing growing, but a quarter, three-quarters acre of berries. That was pretty much it.

Andy Chamberlain (00:50:55):

But that was supporting his retirement.

David Pearson (00:50:57):

Yeah.

Andy Chamberlain (00:50:57):

Yeah.

David Pearson (00:50:58):

Yep. That was what he always said, "Well, I don't want to sell it. I like it this way." So finally, about, let's see, 2012, finally went to a lawyer and got this place in a truss. So it's a good thing we did. We did something and then they had a special... My mom went into a rest home. And they had a, the lawyer called it a Medicaid Trust or LBJ Trust or something, so that Medicaid couldn't come back after it. To work your whole life and then have it snatched out from under you. I mean, they don't kick you off, but if you ever go to sell it, they're first in line. They're first in line is probate. So something to think about. Anybody that's...

Andy Chamberlain (00:52:04):

It's a good reminder.

David Pearson (00:52:08):

So I don't know. I don't have any plans to sell it. Well, I'm going to investigate the Land Trust, and a lot of guys have, and see what they value it at. I don't know. I mean, I think it's pretty valuable.

Andy Chamberlain (00:52:29):

What advice would you give to a beginning farmer who's trying to make a go of it?

David Pearson (00:52:36):

You got to have some markets before you start. And you got to go to meetings. I mean, it's different today with the listserv and everything. But all these young guys, they put out, "What do I do?" They're asking the rest of us questions, which is fine, but you got to go and find out for yourself. Go visit farms, go find out where the meetings are. Go to all of them. You got to have a lot of knowledge. Today's times you just can't do it. I mean, you got to have the knowledge, you got to have the markets. You can't just throw seeds in the ground and think, "Oh, where am I going to get rid of this stuff?" It's difficult. And you're trying to take a piece of the pie away from the established places. And I don't know. Like I said, my kids really didn't have much interest in this anyway, but I would not want them to do this. It's a way of life, it's not just a job.

Andy Chamberlain (00:54:02):

Right.

David Pearson (00:54:04):

So I don't know if I could properly advise younger people, endorse this. As fortunate the land we have and the location. But if I was off some dirt road somewhere, you butting heads with everybody else to try to get into a wholesale account or something. It's just dog-eat-dog, I think. I mean, we all get along really well. All of us, the guys in the Upper Valley, which is nice, but I don't know about other places.

Andy Chamberlain (00:54:41):

Yeah. How did that work out? You mentioned your biggest mentors are all your friends right here in the Upper Valley. That's a lot of other farms of pretty good size, all not too far away. How'd you foster that relationship to be friendship and not competition?

David Pearson (00:54:56):

Well, I don't know.

Andy Chamberlain (00:54:57):

It was a friendly competition.

David Pearson (00:54:59):

I guess it's friendly competition, but we don't step on each other's toes. I've had good relations with Crossroad and with Jake. He's one of my good friends. And we just know what the other's doing. And if they're short, sometimes they'll call me, do you have any extra this or that? Can you take it to the co-op? And that's just the way we work, and it's been great. It's been great. So I'm just easy going anyway, so I don't get too upset about stuff.

Andy Chamberlain (00:55:38):

Do you have a particular tool or piece of equipment that you just couldn't live without?

David Pearson (00:55:43):

Well, the older things that we use. I mean, we have an old power transplanter. And we've had that thing since I started. In fact, I bought Pooh's one, which was one year older, but we use them both for different things. And I don't know, equipment's expensive, too. I mean, I think new, my dad was still with me then doing that. And I think the first year I came back, so that would've been '79, we bought that power planter from Norse Farms. He was a dealer for Powell. And I don't think it was more than $495.

Andy Chamberlain (00:56:29):

Which would've been expensive back in '79.

David Pearson (00:56:31):

'79. But before that, my dad would have three or four old guys and they'd plant berries, put in a stake and a string, measure between the rows. And they had a strawberry ax, which is an like ax head pointing down and a welded handle on it. And so you just stepped on it in every foot or every 16 inches.

Andy Chamberlain (00:56:57):

Gap them down.

David Pearson (00:56:58):

Gap them. Guys would bend over, put them in, tuck the roots in, go like this with their foot and stamp them in. But all those old guys died. The Powell was... And then we used it for broccoli and cauliflower, all those kind of things. Even onions. It's a little tricky with onions. Then the other one, we don't have a potato planter, so we take the discs off and just use it and just throw potatoes down in the hole. We don't grow that many.

Andy Chamberlain (00:57:41):

With the Powell.

David Pearson (00:57:42):

Yeah.

Andy Chamberlain (00:57:42):

Yeah.

David Pearson (00:57:44):

It's a little bit weird.

Andy Chamberlain (00:57:45):

It's a little trencher, but it works. Yeah.

David Pearson (00:57:46):

Yeah.

Andy Chamberlain (00:57:48):

Use what you got.

David Pearson (00:57:49):

Use what you got. Everything's expensive.

Andy Chamberlain (00:57:52):

Yeah. What do you do outside of farming to disconnect?

David Pearson (00:57:59):

Well, we've got three grandchildren, so they're into sports. So we're going to basketball games, softball games, soccer games during the school year. And in the summer, I just help out here on the farm and I've been doing deliveries to what we do with stores, pick up stuff. Go up to the dairy and pick up stuff. And just keep mowing and keep things looking decent. But we have some friends that we probably be more apt to go see, because I don't have to be here.

(00:58:37):

And we just went to Nantucket. A friend of mine from college has a house there, and we went down for about a week and worked, helped him open up, did landscaping on their property down there. And it was fun. When you don't have to do it, it's fun.

Andy Chamberlain (00:58:56):

Right. Absolutely.

David Pearson (00:58:57):

Yeah. And one of our best friends that lived in town forever, like me, they just moved to Southern New Hampshire, so we'll probably go visit them now and then. And my best friend from high school, another best friend lives in Kentucky, we're going down there in September for a week. He also just got a place in Florida, and we spent six weeks at his place in Florida. And a bunch of friends through him that we know that have boats, so it's kind of nice. So yeah, I'm just trying to do more. We're going to do more traveling and see the country and stuff.

Andy Chamberlain (00:59:40):

Yeah, that's good.

David Pearson (00:59:42):

While we can.

Andy Chamberlain (00:59:43):

Absolutely.

David Pearson (00:59:44):

We got these patches on our backpacks that say adventure before dementia. I remember Jake Guess telling me three or four years ago, I was talking about retirement, and he said, "Do it." And my wife was saying, "You need to retire before you can't do anything." And Jake said, "Listen to your wife. I should have retired 10 years earlier."

Andy Chamberlain (01:00:13):

Thinking back to when you started farming, what was easy then or hard then, that may be completely different, maybe easy to do now or got harder now?

David Pearson (01:00:22):

Well, when we first started, we were milking cows too for the first six years, five years. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Well, it's easier to get money to take out loans, but it may be harder to pay for that.

Andy Chamberlain (01:00:38):

That's a good one.

David Pearson (01:00:44):

I don't know, everything's changed. Just the vendors, most of the vendors that used to have a relationship with the owners and things like with Black River, for instance. I used to know, I had a guy that I talked to order stuff. Mark Curran was one of the owners, and Steve, I can't think of his last name now. But I had a relationship with them. They weren't my friends, but you could call up and talk to them, "How you doing?" And it's all different. I mean, it's some mega corporation owns them now. And so just dealing with things and all these people. If you're lucky, you get 30 days to pay a bill. Most of the time now it's on delivery, which didn't used to be. Just when you got around to it sort of. You couldn't just leave it for a long time. But it was just friendlier, easier.

(01:01:45):

So that's different. The equipment is so expensive. Anything new, it's just crazy. But yeah, we have a lot of old equipment, too. I didn't charge him very much for the old stuff. A couple hundred dollars for three bottom plow.

Andy Chamberlain (01:02:07):

He got a good deal on stuff.

David Pearson (01:02:09):

Yeah. What I did the tractors, I just talked to the dealer and he's got like a used equipment book that may tell you-

Andy Chamberlain (01:02:21):

What's the trade-in price.

David Pearson (01:02:22):

Yeah. And so I went by that on some of the stuff. Yeah. But he's got a big payment I know on that equipment, too. Seven years. Doing it again, I probably would've kept the mortgage on the equipment. It would've been probably better for him. He's paying like 7.5%, and I know I would've done it for 4.5 or something. But that would've been income coming in over seven years.

Andy Chamberlain (01:03:03):

Right. That would've been...

David Pearson (01:03:04):

Yeah. But stupid. But anyway. No, well, actually, a lot of the money or some of the money I got, I bought that piece of property, so I would've been paying six or 7% on-

Andy Chamberlain (01:03:23):

Right. Instead, you got an upfront check.

David Pearson (01:03:25):

Yeah.

Andy Chamberlain (01:03:26):

Which isn't bad either.

David Pearson (01:03:27):

It worked out.

Andy Chamberlain (01:03:27):

Yeah. Well, that was the list of my questions. Is there anything else that you'd like to share or talk about while we're here today?

David Pearson (01:03:35):

I mean, like I said before, with young people, and I didn't want my kids to do this. But somebody wants to do it, it's a hard go. I don't know if there's any money, seed money out there. Probably not much, is there, if any?

Andy Chamberlain (01:03:55):

Not now, not this season either.

David Pearson (01:03:56):

Well, yeah, especially now.

Andy Chamberlain (01:04:00):

Just got a lot harder.

David Pearson (01:04:04):

Yeah. So no, I don't really have anything more to say that's worth anything.

Andy Chamberlain (01:04:12):

Well, it's been great visiting with you, hearing about your farm, so thanks for showing me around and chatting.

David Pearson (01:04:18):

All right.

(01:04:19):

All right, Andy.

Andy Chamberlain (01:04:20):

Thank you. Yeah, have a good one.

David Pearson (01:04:21):

Yep.

Andy Chamberlain (01:04:30):

And that was The Farmer's Share. I hope you enjoyed this episode with David Pearson of Pearson Farm.

(01:04:38):

The Farmer's Share is supported by a grant offered by the USDA Specialty Crop Block Program from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets. This funding helps to cover some of my time and travel in order to produce this podcast until March of 2026. The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service supports projects that address the needs of US specialty crop growers, and strengthens local and regional food systems. I have no doubt that this podcast will meet those needs and help educate growers to support the industry.

(01:05:09):

If you enjoy the show and want to help support its programming, you can make a one-time or reoccurring donation on our website by visiting thefarmersshare.com/support. The show is also supported by the Ag Engineering Program of the University of Vermont Extension. We also receive funding from the Vermont Vegetable and Berry Growers Association. The VVBGA is a non-profit organization funded in 1976 to promote the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of vegetable and berry farming in Vermont. Their membership includes over 400 farms across Vermont and beyond, as well as about 50 businesses and organizations that provide products and services of all types to their members. Benefits to members include access to the VVBGA listserv to buy, sell plants and equipment, share farming information, and tap the vast experience of our growers.

(01:06:03):

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(01:06:41):

Memberships are on a per farm per calendar year basis, and annual dues this year are $80. These funds pay for the organization's operating costs and support educational programs and research projects. These funds also support projects that address grower needs around ag engineering, high tunnel production, pest management, pollinators, produce safety, and soil health. Become a member today to be a part of and further support the veg and berry industry.

(01:07:12):

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(01:07:40):

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