Enfield
For months, Fulton has attempted to sell the organic vegetable farm to someone who might be willing to continue on in Enfield. But the effort ultimately failed to recruit a serious buyer and Fulton, who is soon moving to Finland, is now opting to sell the farm off in pieces.
Two parcels totaling about 25 acres are now on the market, he said, and the farm equipment will be sold at auction on Tuesday.
“We’d like to have someone come, keep everything together and keep it going agriculturally, but we also have to go on with our lives,” Fulton said, while standing in a greenhouse that once produced tomatoes that were sold to grocers and restaurants around New England.
“Someone else has to make the decision that farming is something they want to do and support,” he said.
For Fulton, much of the last decade and a half has revolved around the farm. An engineer by trade, he made the leap into commercial farming in 2002, planting two acres with soybeans for sale at the Hanover Co-op Food Stores.
At the time, the Co-op was looking to partner with local farmers and Fulton was looking for a career change. The grocery chain — along with Three Tomatoes Trattoria in Lebanon — would become Blue Ox Farm’s most loyal customer, continuing to purchase produce throughout its entire history, Fulton said.
“The first year was definitely a big learning experience,” he recalled during an interview on Sunday. “(But) the Co-op was really happy with the product we had, and so we started supplying them more the second year.”
Operations at the farm expanded so that by 2004, Fulton was selling produce at farmers markets in Enfield and Norwich. By 2012, Blue Ox Farm began shipping to Whole Foods in Nashua, N.H., and ultimately supplied three of the high-end grocery stores in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Fulton also began a farm stand on the side of the road in 2014, before later renting a space between the Dunkin’ Donuts and Enfield House of Pizza on Route 4.
While the farm was successful in its later years, things weren’t always prosperous, Fulton said.
He only became a full-time farmer in 2010, when profits from the farm allowed Fulton to quit his job consulting as a mechanical engineer.
“It’s like the only way to make it financially,” he said of the two jobs. “It was paying the bills of the farm.”
Fulton made the difficult decision to end the Blue Ox Farm store in 2016, deciding to only sell to retailers and restaurants, which provide a steadier income.
“You didn’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “The last four years have been quite good financially for a farm by the time you get to the end of the year, but there’s often a fair amount of panic going through the year.”
Fulton decided to end the farm’s operations about 18 months ago, when his family began toying with the idea of moving to Finland. His wife, Marja, hails from the Nordic country and has extended family still there.
While on a vacation last summer, the two committed to make the move, and Marja took a job there in October.
“I really enjoy the planning and a lot of the work, but there’s times when it gets to be a little much,” said Fulton, 62. “These 80-hour work weeks are probably not going to be missed an awful lot.”
Fulton is selling the farm in two lots — a 13.6-acre parcel with an asking price of $399,900 and a 10.47-acre lot going for $229,900. Both lots include single-family homes.
As for the farm equipment, everything from tractors to plastic totes will be sold during an auction on Tuesday.
Although Blue Ox Farm might be gone, some community members are hoping it’s not too late for another farmer to take over the property.
“It would be a shame to see this land that has been certified organic just become something else,” said Enfield Selectboard Charwoman Meredith Smith on Sunday. “We hope that somebody might take over and run it as a farm.”
Rebecca Horvath, a neighbor who rented land to Fulton, also hopes to see fields full of vegetables again.
“We would love to see that sort of initiative continue,” she said in a phone interview.
As for Fulton, he’s leaving greenhouses standing on the properties for future owners in the hope they’ll be used.
“Nice farmland is kind of nice to keep as farmland, as open space,” he said.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.