John Moulton, well known local farmer and owner of Moulton Farm of Meredith, was our guest speaker.

John began his talk reminiscing about meeting in this building when he was a member of the Kanasatka 4-H Club as a teenager.

He mentioned that Earth Day, which is April 22, was started exactly 40 years ago and has been celebrated every year since.

The Moulton Farm was begun in 1892 by John’s family and the farm has gone through several evolutions since then, but remained in the Moulton family. He told of the many different phases of farming that the family has seen – summer boarders, a dairy farm, selling pumpkins and corn by the roadside, selling only what they grew, etc. He told of cleaning out an old shed on the property which held a collection of everything that his grandparents and parents had kept over the years – they never threw anything away.

In order to make a living, the farm has evolved to a full service farm stand carrying fruits, flowers, berries (Did you know that Belknap County produces the largest amount of blueberries in the state?) from other growers, besides all of the produce that is grown on the farm. The Moultons have acquired more land to add to the original farm as well as growing crops, mostly corn, on several other pieces of land around the area. Fresh seafood has been added to the stand as well as a commercial bakery. The CSA – people who buy shares during the winter and received regular baskets of produce from the farm all summer is a program that now has over 1,000 shares sold. The farm has also expanded into the Christmas season with trees, etc.

John hires students during the growing and harvesting seasons as well as a core of adults who oversee the planting. He owns machinery of every type to do the work of the planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops, although some crops are handpicked. He praised the work of the young students who do such good work and many return for several summers. People come to the farm for farming advice as well.

John praised the research and work of Ortho Welles and the University of New Hampshire – their work is well known throughout the USA. The New Hampshire Department of Agriculture and the New Hampshire Farm Bureau are of utmost importance and help to the farmer. Labor is the highest cost.

Everyone was given a ticket upon arriving for a raffle of a wonderful cake especially baked for this meeting with “Center Harbor Historical Society” written on it, and two baskets of pansies raised on the farm. We did have two winners… Perhaps the next meeting you attend you might win something!

John entertained questions from the audience before the meeting was adjourned to enjoy refreshments.