Deborah Hinman

Title: District Manager
Organization: NRCS Cheshire county
State: New Hampshire
Email: deborah-hinman@nh.nacdnet.org
Deborah Hinman who is the NRCS District Manager in Cheshire county, NH began working with the learning community in 2001 when another NRCS employee, Ron Desrosiers, transferred to Maine. Ron had established ginseng, goldenseal, and mushroom trials with 4 cooperators in Cheshire county and 1 in Sullivan county. Deb is now the contact person for those 5 cooperators.
Deb's first cooperator, Hank Kenney, is a small farmer (See photo on right). He is semi-retired and his son farms with him. Their major crops are maple syrup and hay, but they also raise lamas, peacocks, and bees. They used to raise dairy cows as well, but they have sold those and rent out the pasture land. Hank is also a landscaper and has one garden area near the 1778 farm house and barn set up for weddings. Hank is running a ginseng trial near his maple tapping operation.

Deb (left) and Hank posing in the barnyard.

Deb's second cooperators, Heidi Smith and David Konesko, are conducting ginseng, goldenseal, and mushroom trials in the forested land surrounding their home. Heidi works for the NRCS and also uses part of her property for training dogs.

Deb also works with Ken Gagnon and Steve Davis who with their families live on a land trust in Sullivan county. The trust owns the land, and each of the three familes involved own the homes they build on it. Individually and together the residents run a variety of farming and income generating projects. Some examples are homemade bread, pottery, and cut flowers. They also run a CSA, where people buy a yearly membership and get weekly boxes of vegetables. Ken and Steve are running ginseng, goldenseal, and chicken of the woods trials, with the idea that they may become income generating projects. They have expanded upon the trials by purchasing additional shitake and pearl oyster spawn for their own experimentation. (see photos below)

Deb (left) and Ken (right)
pose next to a goldenseal bed.
Ken is checking on a ginseng bed.

Deb's fourth cooperators, Lorna McKinnon and Brian MacMaster are running ginseng and goldenseal trials. Lorna is a Conservation District Board member and she and Brian operate a small sheep farm.

Deb also works with Dave and Tim Wichland. Dave and Tim are brothers collaborating on an environmental education project on the forested land they own. They are running a ginseng trial in connection with this project, and they are also testing mushrooms and other agroforestry techniques outside the project.