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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 28, 2015 - B3

Intertwining Agriculture and Art

Environmental Engineer and Farmer

Nancy Hayden Lives Her Ideals
Leon Thompson

ticides on his lawn.

The feedback was great. Things
Vt. Correspondent
went really well at NOFA, Nancy
BURLINGTON, Vt. Nancy
Hayden said a few days after the
Hayden filled many roles during
conference, via telephone. Its a
the Northeast Organic Farming Asgood place for me to get with likesociation of Vermonts (NOFA-VT)
minded people and discuss my pasWinter Conference, on Valentines
sions: agriculture and art.
Day weekend, Feb. 14-16.
Agriculture was first for NanHayden has attended NOFAcy Hayden. While growing up in
VTs annual gathering for 22 of its
Jamestown, N.Y. also the home
33 years as a farmer, workshop
of Lucille Ball Haydens late
leader and artist. This year, she was
parents, Norman and Doris Johnthere as an exhibitor, for the first
son, owned a popular storefront
time.
fruit market in the 1960s and 1970s
She prefers farming and painting and stocked it with goods from local
over marketing.
producers. She recalled her father
Theyre both much more fun, driving 60 miles south to Buffalo
Hayden said, while standing at her at 4 a.m. to collect produce from
vendors spot at NOFA a table farmers at a central location.
covered with the bottled syrups that
Fruit is in my history, she said.
she and her husband, John Hayden,
Nancy Hayden has four siblings.
produce from the fruits and berries She is the only one that works in
they grow at their organic opera- agriculture.
tion, The Farm Between, in JefferIts interesting how people with
sonville, Vt.
the same roots can go in such differOf The Farm Betweens 18 ent directions, she said.
acres of land, about 4 of them are
Mans walk on the moon and othin production, while the other 14 er technological advances of the era
are preserved
sparked Nancy
as a pollinator
Haydens intersanctuary. The
est in science.
plight of the
I
thought
pollinators is a
(science) was
major focus of
the wave of the
the Haydens
future, and that
work.
it was how we
At the NOwere going to
FA-VT
consave the planference, they
et, she said.
presented a dayShe gradulong workshop
ated from high
called Enhancschool in 1976
ing Pollinator
and then from
Populations in
Syracuse UniYour Working
versitys ColLandscape, at
lege of Enwhich they disvironmental
cussed pollinatScience
and
ing insects and
Forestry,
with
the difficulties
a
bachelors
pollinators face
degree in fortoday, including
pesticide
Photo provided by the Haydens est biology, in
1980.
toxicity, loss of
Nancy and John Hayden
She also met
floral habitat,
John, her future husband, at college.
and disease and parasites.
Nancy Hayden also had an art They are a day apart in age and
display at the NOFA conference turned 57 last week. They also have
a three-piece, fabric-art series four grown children: two biological
themed around critical issues facing sons, Connor and Nolan, and two
pollinators. Her artworks depicted a adopted daughters, Ellie and Kayla.
John Hayden asked Nancy to
large monarch butterfly on a search
for milkweed to lay eggs; a tribute marry him during the end of their
to local beekeepers; and a faceless, two-year stints in the Peace Corps.
clueless homeowner spraying pes- He was a New York City native

Photo by Leon Thompson

Nancy Hayden works the booth at the NOFA-VT conference in Burlington, Vt., held Feb. 14-16. Hayden and
her husband, John, make and sell syrups from the fruit they grow on their organic farm.
who spent lots of time observing
nature in his tiny backyard and
had volunteered in Mali. Nancy was
in Kenya, helping fish farmers introduce tilapia into their ponds to increase villagers protein intake and
economic capabilities.
I was a Peace Corps do-gooder,
she says with a chuckle.
After returning home, she and
John went to undergraduate school
at Michigan State University. John
knew he wanted to study entomology. She was unsure, but after some
encouragement from a professor,
MacKenzie Davis, she earned her
masters degree and eventually her
Ph.D. in environmental engineering
from Michigan State.
The Haydens moved to Jeffersonville, Vt., in 1991 after Nancy
Hayden earned a teaching position
at the University of Vermont. There,
she worked and conducted research
for 22 years. John Hayden, meanwhile, tended to The Farm Between,
a former longtime dairy operation
settled in the early 1800s.
The Farm Between is a metaphor
for transitioning from an old dairy to
something more organic and more

for the future, Nancy Hayden said.

She simultaneously farmed and
worked at the university until she
officially retired from the school in
2013.
It was hard as new farmers to buy
land and make a sustainable living
while paying off a big fat mortgage,
Nancy Hayden recalled. Today,
there is usually someone working
off the farm to help pay the bills.
Thats something really important to
think about when we talk about future farmers. How do they have the
up-front capital to buy a farm? Its
very difficult.
Spring and summer are busiest at
The Farm Between. With some seasonal, part-time help, the Haydens
grow more than 30 types of fruit.
They sell their fruit and the syrups
from them used in sodas, cocktails and desserts at farmers markets and on a wholesale basis to local
businesses.
They started building their pollinator sanctuary about five years ago.
Its great, Nancy Hayden said. I
cant believe the number of insects
and bees you see out there. Its making a difference on the farm, too.

Winter is slower at The Farm Between.

Thats when I paint, Nancy
Hayden said. The thing about art
is you cant really put it on hold for
six months. You have to do it all the
time.
While working at the University
of Vermont, she could also take art
classes, but it was sometimes difficult to enroll in the ones she wanted.
So she applied to be an art major and
spent 13 years earning another bachelors degree.
That was the way to do it, she
said. It was way more relaxing. I
could do it with the kids at home,
and it gave me some ease from my
engineers right brain.
Nancy Hayden wants to establish
her art more as a business, she
said. As for The Farm Between, the
Haydens want to expand the nursery to a much higher level, she said,
and perhaps focus exclusively on
wholesale markets.
As we get older, we wont be able
to keep loading and unloading for
all these markets, she said. Were
still flexible, though. Well see how
it goes.

Photo by Leon Thompson

Haydens art series, Pollinators in Peril, was on display at the NOFA-VT conference.
She has led a life that revolves around agriculture and art.

Photo provided by the Haydens

Apple blossoms are in bloom at The Farm Between, in Jeffersonville, Vt.