Short Creek's Story
Short Creek founders Jeff and Dave have been friends since high school, and both studied environmental science in college. After college and some time spent working on endangered species conservation and ecology, Jeff began apprenticing on small, diverse organic farms, seeking a tangible connection to the ecological principles he had been studying. Within a few years, he had started a small farm of his own on leased land in Massachusetts, raising heirloom vegetables, grassfed beef, and pastured pork. At the same time, Dave was pursuing a PhD in evolutionary biology while actually putting most of his energy into studying homemade sausage and charcuterie production. After Dave left his PhD program to seriously pursue a career in the artisanal processed meat industry, and in 2015 he and Jeff decided they would start their own business making the best specialty meats from pork and beef they raised themselves.
We are reestablishing the connection between good farming, dedicated craftsmanship, and great food.
Short Creek’s story actually begins at Harmony Hill Farm, as the collected pastures, hayfields, woodlands and wetlands were called when Jeff and Dave started leasing the land from Carl Wallman in 2015.
The son of Jewish immigrants from Poland escaping persecution in the early 20th century, Carl moved to the property in 1969 after graduating college with a degree in mathematics. What he lacked in actual farming knowledge he made up for with insatiable curiosity, a boatload of gumption, and a famously prodigious work ethic. Over the next 20 years, he went from having a few cows in the field behind the house to being one of the premier Angus breeders in the country. In 1989, he went to the National Western Stock Show in Denver and won Grand Champion in the "Pen of Bulls" competition, basically the World Series of cattle breeding.
When Carl sold the herd in 1995, he went from farmer/conservationist to conservationist/pot-luck supper enthusiast, founding the Northwood Area Land Management Collaborative and devoting the last 25 years of his life to connecting people in the community to the land he loved. Before he passed away in 2020, Carl worked with the Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire to place a new and innovative easement (an Option to Purchase at Agricultural Value, or OPAV) on the farm property. This easement essentially ensures that the land he loved will be forever preserved as a working farm, affordable and accessible to future generations of farmers in New Hampshire.