Windshake Farm

About Me

I moved to Altamont with my husband Trapper after purchasing the farm in September of 2007. I was raised in Franklin TN, and moved to Maine after getting married in 2000. There I spent several years as the Produce Manager and Meats Buyer for the Good Tern Natural Foods Coop. During that time I met many local growers and was so inspired by their lifestyle and work ethic that I got my Master Gardener Certification and decided to take it one step further by taking a farming internship in North Carolina. I spent 2 years in Hot Springs at Mountain Harvest Organics learning everything I could about organic farming. I had great teachers and was really able to immerse myself in all aspects of farming, from planning and greenhouse growing to field and tractor work to farmers markets and so on. Now I am here at Windshake Farm ready to put everything I have learned over the years into practice. Right now we only have about an acre in production, as well as chickens, goats and most recently a cow named Tasty McGee. Of course, we just had a baby in January so I expect that all my big plans will take a little longer than I imagined! In the meantime, you can benefit from all the things I actually am able to get done!

How We Operate

Since I was trained in organics, that is typically how I choose to grow. While I am not certified, I am certainly working toward that end and pretty much all ofmy practices are in line with OMRI standards. I haven’t sprayed a thing this year … but our main garden pest is our neighbors pigs anyway (Is firing a shotgun over their head considered organic?). I never grow anything I don’t eat myself, that is to say I don’t grow things just because I hear they sell good at market. Everything I sell to you is on our dinner plate, too.

That being said, I am a big believer in the Prettier is Not Always Better theory of growing. If I have to spray lots of expensive chemicals just so the leaves of something will look pretty when it will grow perfectly fine and much healthier if I don’t spray, then I won’t. I love odd shapes and don’t think a little dent or superficial blemish should keep someone from enjoying produce. How wasteful it would be if we threw out everything that wasn’t picture perfect, especially when we don’t have the advantage of all those pesticides to keep it all looking good, and the chemical fertilizers to make it grow bigger, when appearance is not necessarily an indicator of nutrition!

I hope one day to have a tractor, but right now all the work here is done by hand – planting, weeding, hoeing and harvesting. Right now I am working around my baby’s schedule, getting in the dirt when I can. I take pride in my work and hope that everything you purchase from Windshake Farm tastes good and makes you happy. If it doesn’t, please let me know! How can you make something better if you don’t know it’s wrong? I am so happy to be doing what I am doing and hope that in the years to come this farm will be as healthy and productive as possible!

Thanks for looking!

Mandy Haskins
Windshake Farm
mandysull@hotmail.com