Andrea LaPlante is one of our newest staff members, having started just this summer. She was born in western Massachusetts and has worked on farms since she was 13. Even as a small kid, around age 7 or 8, she knew she loved animals and traded work in neighboring stables for horseback riding lessons, or volunteered at animal shelters.
Her early farm experience was working on a tobacco farm, harvesting and hanging the big tobacco leaves to dry. “Sometimes I was the only girl on the entire farm,” Andrea laughs. “It made me tough and got me started.”
She went from there to a plant nursery, two vegetable farms, and finally a dairy in Maine. Then she was accepted at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. “It was a very small agricultural college,” says Andrea. “They had a 300-acre farm and garden and they specialized in animal husbandry.”
Warren Wilson focused on sheep and cattle, but at Nash’s, she’s working with pigs and chickens. “I’m fine with that,” she exclaims. “I love them all!”
After she graduated in 2015, Andrea worked as an intern at a goat dairy and learned how to make cheese. She got experience in record keeping and tracking the history of each animal that she hopes to apply to the pig herd at Nash’s.
Andrea came to Nash’s Farm via the internet. She posted her résumé on an agricultural site and Nash found it there.
“I was very excited to read about Andrea’s work and goals,” Nash recalls. “She has the enthusiasm and know-how to raise the quality of our livestock operation.”
Above, Andrea and a little pig who has bonded with her.