Featured Farms
Mindel-Green (Stoneboat Farm)
“I know that future stewards of the property will build their own memories from the richness of the farmland.”
– Maxine Mindel
Dairy farmland under pressure
Maxine Mindel realized the world was changing when her grandparents’ 100-acre farm was sold and later turned into a subdivision. When her mother passed away and the fate of their 32-acre farm was on the line, Maxine began looking into options to preserve the property, with little success.
Smaller farmland parcels equal future success
At the time, government agencies were not interested in preserving smaller tracts of land. But Maxine kept trying. With the help of Connecticut Farmland Trust (CFT) and USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service, Stoneboat Farm was preserved in 2011.
Finding a farmer
The next challenge was to find a farmer. Cyril and Lindsay Green both grew up on farms but found the price of farms in Lindsay’s hometown of Lebanon the biggest hurdle to owning their own land. When the Greens found the Mindel farm, it was a match made in heaven. Since they purchased the land, the Greens have transformed the farm. Cyril and Lindsay cleared overgrown pastures for their goats and donkeys, improved outbuildings, and made a coop for their flock of chickens.
With the foresight of Maxine and her siblings, help from CFT and the NRCS, and the commitment from the Greens to steward the property, Stoneboat Farm will continue to serve the community into the future.
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