By Wiley Wood

Husky Meadows Farm applied for and was granted a special permit to operate a five-bedroom country inn on its Doolittle Drive property.

At a public hearing on March 12 before the Planning and Zoning Commission, farm manager Tracy Hayhurst described the proposed inn as a place for weekend-long retreats that would combine fieldwork on the farm with cooking classes.

David Low, who owns and lives part-time on the 83-acre property with his wife, Dominique Lahaussois, described the farm, which raises organic produce and markets a variety of prepared foods, as having maxed out the capacity of local farmers markets and retail outlets. With four full-time employees, said Low, the farm needed a new business plan to become sustainable.

A new post-and-beam barn is being built, which will include guest rooms and a production kitchen where Husky Meadows will hold cooking classes and prepare food. The farm currently rents the kitchen at the Colebrook Senior Center to produce its line of baked goods and preserves. The barn will be built in the coming season, with completion expected in the fall.

Hayhurst, who developed the business plan, previously worked at Plantin’ Seeds, a restaurant and cooking school in Canaan, and before that at Chubby Bunny Farm, which she co-owned with her husband.

She was trained at the Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork, Ireland, where students start the day by visiting the gardens and greehouses to harvest the produce that will be used in that morning’s cooking classes. Hayhurst hopes to provide a similar experience to guests at Husky Meadows. Turning the compost, feeding the chickens, harvesting greens, weeding—all of that might be part of a guest’s stay, according to Hayhurst, along with sessions in the kitchen.

“Every time I’m out in the garden,” said Hayhurst, “I think people should come and see this, they should have this experience, it shouldn’t just be for us who get to work there.”

Hayhurst also hopes to tie in the program at the farm with other agricultural and cultural activities in Norfolk and the surrounding area—from the making of goat cheese, maple sugar and craft beers to chamber concerts at the Music Shed and author talks at the library.