Projects
For Which We've Provided Financing:
Equity
Trust Fund Borrower Projects
Cold
Pond Community Land Trust - Acworth, NH
The Davis family spent 20 years developing their small New Hampshire farm-reclaiming
overgrown fields and building their own barns and house, while putting into
practice the principles of biodynamic agriculture, with a small herd of
Jersey cattle, a team of horses, organic crop land, a diverse little orchard,
and a sugarbush. (Members of their CSA receive, in season, not only fresh
vegetables but maple syrup, eggs, cheese, fruits, berries, nuts and more).
But it was only after they had accomplished all of this that they came to
the ETF - because their vision extended beyond the idea of a successful
but isolated family farm.
With others who shared their vision they organized Cold Pond Community Land
Trust. The Davises transferred ownership of their land to the land trust,
retaining ownership of the buildings and a long-term leasehold interest
in the land. The land trust then sought to acquire an adjoining property,
for which it needed a loan. The organization had no track record (though
the Davises certainly had), and many would have considered CPCLT's goals
over-ambitious. But Equity Trust made the loan. We believe it is critically
important that people who are so powerfully committed to a more sustainable,
rooted, and just approach to land and community be enabled to pursue that
vision.
View Cold Pond Community Land Trust's website:
http://www.coldpondclt.org
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