Bill Parsell (1926 – 1998) and Eileen Parsell (1926 – 2015) purchased the land for Parsell Farm in 1968, moving to New Hampshire from Illinois. Bill raised pigs and beef cattle, but his main crop was hay. Bill and Eileen had a small vegetable garden for the family and started selling the extra produce from a picnic table on the side of the road. And so began the makings of the vegetable business!
Bill sold his pigs after 6 years and his herd after almost 20 years and focused on the vegetable and hay production. One of their sons, Randy, had always been a huge part of the farm – working alongside his father for many years. Randy took over the business in 1996, expanding the vegetable business, growing many different crops, and making it what it is today. Randy’s wife, Susan, always helping out with the farm, began working with Randy full-time after her retirement in 2020.
One of Randy and Susan’s daughters, Lisa, always loved agriculture. She went to Panama with the Peace Corps as an agroforestry volunteer. There she met her husband, Fermin Hernandez, a Panamanian native who had grown up working in agriculture. Fermin and Lisa completed a year-long practical farm training program in Massachusetts in 2008 after leaving Panama. They moved to New Hampshire and continued to help Lisa’s parents on the farm. Fermin and Lisa purchased the farm in July of 2021 and took over the vegetable production in the spring of 2022.