Earth Tender Farm
The Beginning
June 18th, 2025 - The Gerhardt’s
For the entirety of our nine year relationship we’ve been talking about wanting our own farm and constructing a naturally built home together. A few years ago we were getting discouraged about it ever happening so we sat down and wrote out what exactly we were looking for and the farm name came to us, Earth Tender Farm. We hoped that writing it all out and bringing our fullest intention to it would help make it a reality.
After increasingly high prices kept us out of the market and feeling low on our prospects we went to Northern New York to visit friends. Just for fun we decided to look around to see what land might be for sale in an area we liked and knew had farmland within the Adirondack Park where Sarah was born and raised. We were surprised to find a listing that checked all of our boxes and then some, posted that very day. On a whim we made some calls and visited the property.
Jason in the high meadow during our first visit in July 2023
The meadow was waist high with wildflowers and grasses galore. As we walked the land we noticed some of our favorite plant friends among the field. Red clover, birds foot trefoil, yarrow, and black raspberry at the edges. As we ventured into the forest we were surprised to find another plant of interest poking up from the moist earth, Indian Ghost Pipe, a white and grey plant without chlorophyll shaped like a smoking pipe.
We walked down to the big brook and explored as much as we could among the thick growth. As we exited the woods a black butterfly flew out in front as if to say “welcome my friends.” When we got back to the car and faced the open field one last time we felt we may have found a place to call home.
It wasn’t perfect. We knew the soil was heavy in clay. The entrance sat at a potentially hazardous curve in the road. And a neighboring property was a golf course, a sport we don’t play or have much interest in, and we wondered about having to listen to the mowing machines for five months out of the year.
The property is 11.3 acres with roughly 3.25 acres cleared and the rest in forest. It has three watercourses of varying sizes. Two smaller intermittent streams on the west and east sides of the meadow with a bouldery mountain brook at the north property boundary that’s big enough to wade in. All flow directly into Lake Champlain. The property is on the edge of town, secluded enough to feel private, but close enough for easy walking to the coffee shop, a market, the public beach, some restaurants, and to have meaningful relationships with neighbors.
The brook at the back of our property
Aerial view of our property, surrounding neighborhood, Lake Champlain, and the Green Mountains of Vermont
Fast forward to now and we’ve been designing a straw bale home with architect Sigi Koko (real name, not a hippie, just German) for the last year and a half. We’ve also been diligently mapping out the potential of our farm and the surrounding forest. We’ve camped on the land, recently moved nearby, and have been going through the steps to start our build. We’re estimating that our house will take about two years to complete (maybe ambitious). We’re planning to do about 70% of the build ourselves to reduce the cost. We will also be hosting construction workshops led by Sigi for those who want to learn natural building techniques and enjoy the Adirondacks.
This is the very beginning and we look forward to sharing the continuing story of Earth Tender Farm with you.
Stay tuned for the journey,
Sarah & Jason
Sarah setting foot on the land for the first time