Land buy allows Devriendt Farm to expand, evolve

GOFFSTOWN Devriendt Farm, located at 178 South Mast Road in Goffstown, is preparing to expand onto a nearby 140-acre property, the latest evolution of the family-owned business.

Were trying to build the next generation [of our family business] and to have the capability to support that generation, said Lea Devriendt, who owns the farm with her husband, Dan. Finding that was awesome. You just dont find land like this around here anymore.

The family has been in the market to acquire new land for about five years, Devriendt said Tuesday. She and her husband finalized the sale of their new property last Friday. The property is on Story Road, adjacent to the Stonebridge Country Club, and was originally established as a farm in 1797.

Devriendt said that the land is mostly flat, making it ideal for farming. However, the property is mostly forested, and will require clearing before the land can be used for farming.

The Devriendts started their business in 1986, shortly after the births of their twin sons, Jesse and Jason. Both sons and their daughter, Erica, work for the farm with their parents.

We just grew tomatoes, and I peddled the tomatoes to the local delis and a couple of pizza places and stuff like that, Devriendt said. The couple would later have a portable farm stand near Goffstown High School and eventually bought their eight-acre property on South Mast Road in 1995.

In the Devriendts time in business, they have seen ups and downs.

Business 10 years ago was a lot better than it is today, Devriendt said. When we first started, we were doing a lot of produce and not so many flowers, and now were doing way more flowers than produce. We had a lot of wholesale accounts back then, and dont do hardly any wholesaling anymore, because we just dont have the product.

With their new land, the Devriendts hope to expand their operation, getting back into wholesale of their products, growing more chrysanthemums and having pick-your-own strawberries and pumpkins.

(Wed like it to be) more of a family destination, Devriendt said, adding that they would also like to have a corn maze on the new property. The strawberries are going to be the most important thing for us to get in right away, because thatll be the quickest turnaround for us.

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Land buy allows Devriendt Farm to expand, evolve