Welcome To Green Heron Farm

Green Heron Farm was established in 1984 by Tony Ricci and Becky Smith. And, yes, there really are green herons. A pair flew by our porch the first day we moved into our place, and we named the farm in honor of these reclusive birds.

Our 11 acres was originally part of a larger 190 acre farm and we were lucky enough to get the “home place”. Had a developer gotten hold of it the log house would surely have been razed and the rest of the land leased out as a shale pit. That’s how rocky and thin our soils are. Instead, we chose to tend this small piece of ground and bring it back as a productive family farm.

We currently cultivate 5 acres of organic vegetables and tend the rest as pasture. It’s been a long journey since we first reestablished human habitation of this farm and evicted the black snakes and their rodent pantry from the house. To be sure, we still compete with the local fauna each fall for domination of the kitchen cabinets, but we have brought the logs of the house back to life, straightened and reinforced the barn, torn down old buildings for kindling and replaced them with our own generation of working structures – all with the single minded purpose of creating a home and sustainable livelihood. (I guess we’re not that different form deer mice, after all.)

This website is primarily dedicated to offering online sales to our customers. Think of it as a virtual farmer’s market. You can also shop at our farm. We accept credit cards, SNAP/EBT and FMNP coupons (Farmers Market Nutrition Program for WIC recipients and seniors.) Come visit us in Maddensville!