Meet The Owners: Nunley Family Farm

Kathie Nunley likes it when her food is real, so she started her own farm at her Amherst home.

Nunley and her husband started farming right after moving to town almost nine years ago. The chickens came first with only a dozen laying hens on their property. The couple then expanded to honeybees and gardening, with a raspberry patch and other produce.

The Nunley Family Farm has grown and now has one hundred chickens and three dairy cows on the property. Kathie is an educational psychologist, her husband a marketing writer, but they sure do know how to farm.

They sell their products in front of their house on Route 122 (across from Ponemah Greens) and face ever-increasing demand for their local offerings.

We sat down with Kathie Nunley to talk about her “second job” on the farm.

Patch: What do you like about farming?

Kathie: I grew up in a corporate family and always wanted to produce my own food. People are pretty distant from their food, and we wanted our kids to know where food came from. Two-thirds of the food on our table comes from our yard, and I like the fact that I know what I am eating.

Patch: What is the difference between homegrown food and the supermarkets?

Kathie: It is like apples and oranges. For example, the eggs have more protein and vitamins and it is the same with the chickens that lay them.  The first thing you discover is ‘wow chicken has flavor, it is not this spongy thing.’ Our milk is also raw, so we can make our own dairy products out of it. It is great to make homemade cottage cheese, mozzarella and yogurt.

Patch: Are more people turning to local food options?

Kathie: I think it is exploding. The demand for real food is huge and growing. We see it in the number of people that come to our door and the distance they travel to get there. New Hampshire has some of the most generous laws for farms, and this region in New Hampshire is tenth in the nation for food sold from producer to consumer. We have lots of farmers’ markets for those who want to buy food directly from the person who produced it.

Patch: What is in the future?

Kathie: We are definitely going to do more with meats and expand our laying flock. Even with a hundred birds, I literally have people waiting at my door waiting for more. The demand is huge and we are going to keep growing it as long as we have the time to put into it. We are going to continue to make sure our animals, and customers, are taken care of.

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