Meet a Farmer: Amanda and Hugo Gervais of Savage Gardens
Farmer Amanda Gervais give a tour of the farm to local students.
“I’m mad about peas,” says Amanda Gervais, who is co-owner of Savage Gardens with her husband, Hugo. “I also love growing kale, and lettuce that’s not bitter.” While they are well known for their delicious eggs (including their infamously large “jumbos”), I wanted to know what else Amanda and Hugo are proud of from their diversified organic farm. The list is long: their veggies, fruits, farmer’s cheese, milk, pickles, crafts, and cut flowers…
Growing up, Amanda learned the value of hard work helping her parents run their family B&B in Isle la Motte. When the Gervais family from Quebec brought the old dairy farm down the road, the two families became friends. Little did they know they would become more than friends a few years later! Amanda and Hugo found common ground in a shared love of food and farming. Having grown up working at family businesses, they wanted to start their own. So in 2001 they bought 10 acres of land in North Hero, and took the first steps towards their dream.
Amanda remembers those early years as particularly special, but also difficult. She and Hugo both had off-farm jobs, and they soon had two young children. They started raising vegetables, and became early vendors at the Champlain Islands Farmers’ Market. They built an inviting farmstand on Savage Point, which became a favorite stop for neighbors and the Islands community. In 2007 they started selling eggs, opening up wholesale markets in Burlington, and eventually Hugo left his off-farm job to farm full time.
Right around the time Hugo and Amanda were getting started, Christine and Adam at Blue Heron Farm in Grand Isle were starting their own diversified farm. I wondered if Amanda and Hugo had worried about competition, but Amanda laughed when I asked. “We didn’t see ourselves that way at all; they were another farm family like us, people to share ideas with, support each other, and help build community. The Islands are small, but there is plenty of room for all of us!” In fact, another farm family, the Pomykalas, gave Amanda her first job away from the family B&B, and her first experience in farming.
These days at the market, you are just as likely to meet their kids behind the tent as you are Amanda and Hugo. Just like they dreamed, they built a real family business– all four spending time together, growing vegetables, collecting eggs, swimming, making jewelry, or cooking and eating great farm meals.
Free range chickens at Savage Gardens.
A Favorite Recipe (or two!)
One of the benefits of growing a diversified range of products means you can make almost anything from scratch. Amanda shared a favorite frittata recipe with us, one that they make using mostly products from their farm!
Connect with Savage Gardens
You can find Savage Gardens’ products at the Champlain Islands Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays and at their farmstand on Savage Point Road in North Hero. Their eggs can be found at many local stores across the Islands and around Burlington. You can also sign up for a Savage Gardens CSA e- share! Learn more about Savage Gardens in the Northwest Vermont Grown Guide to Agriculture, a guide to local food and farms, published every year by South Hero Land Trust.