About Craig and Karen
Prior to becoming farmers, we had spent the previous 17 years living in France while Craig worked for a small United Nations agency based in Geneva, Switzerland. And then in 2020, in advance of retirement, we purchased our 56-acre farm. We wanted to create a refuge as climate change became an increasing reality.
The farm:
The farm is divided into three sections. We took 40 acres out of production in 2024 and began expansion of its natural wetlands, creating new ponds, while surrounding them with native grasses and wildflowers. It was time to heal the land.
We are beginning a three-year reforestation project on ten acres that is currently scrub and grass. A variety of hardwood trees will be planted to replace the invasive autumn olive.
The remaining six acres is Permaganic-Authenticated by the regional hub of the Permaculture Institute of North America. Our work on the farm tends to be project-based. One of our first projects was to plant over 200 blueberry bushes and install a gravity-fed drip irrigation system. Another water-harvesting project was the construction of a 2,500-gallon ferro-cement water tank using bits and bobs of scrap material we had on the farm.
We built an earth-sheltered solar greenhouse out of septic tank risers that we sunk nine feet into the ground. This gave us the confidence to begin building an earth-battery greenhouse. With the help of a master stone mason, we renovated a dilapidated stone foundation using 150 tons of fieldstone from our property to create a greenhouse.
In addition to our gardens and young orchards, that are being converted into food forests, we planted a vineyard on a south-facing slope. There is a lot happening at Russon Family Farms!
