Vernon Family Farm Explores Happiness at Assembly
One morning, in the middle of the scorching New Hampshire summer, hundreds of mature chickens lay still on the grounds of Vernon Family Farm. After long days of tending to the chickens, Jeremiah and Nicole Vernon’s local, family-run farm had suffered a near-fatal hit.
However, the local community, which had eaten the Vernons’ fried chicken for years and celebrated with the family on Chicken Rotisserie Nights, provided them with an outpouring of support. The farm’s years of family service have fostered a supportive community in both good and bad times.
Their farm, based in Newfields, New Hampshire, is located just ten minutes away from campus. Invited by Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Szu-Hui Lee to speak at Tuesday’s assembly, the Vernon family emphasized pursuing passions, even if the path does not lead to conventional success.
Lee introduced the Vernon family with a proverb her own father had once told her. “Don’t chase money or happiness; go after the things that give you purpose, and the rest will follow,” she said.
Lee hoped that by inviting the Vernons, she could show students an example of living by one’s personal direction and principles. “Happiness is a side effect and bonus of living life in congruence [with] your values,” she said.
Students saw what “living their best lives” meant to the Vernons on Tuesday, when the entire Vernon family took the Assembly stage together: the parents Jeremiah and Nicole, seven-year-old Magnolia, five-year-old Indigo and three-year-old Pingree.
J. Vernon, who was originally invited to speak by himself, explained that he brought his whole family to share their story collectively due to the communal nature of their business. “The girls are in the store, and all of us are operating on the farm as a group. Let’s just be what we are, which is a family farm.”
The Vernons also saw the speaking engagement as an opportunity to teach their children about public speaking, community and responsibility while also providing engaging interaction between the children and the students.
Lower Emma Chen noted the proximity from the farm to Exeter, something she found unusual on the assembly stage. “Usually, we find people from very far away, like the most famous people from all over the world, but then [the Vernons are] people who are right next to us, who we don’t know,” Chen said.
One of the main messages the Vernons hoped to leave with students was that there are many different pathways to fulfillment. “You can find an immense amount of happiness in other things that are not traditional career paths,” N. Vernon, who introduced herself as a Spanish teacher at Exeter High School, as well as a chicken farmer, mother and community member, said. Raising chickens involves chemistry, mathematics, art, anatomy and many other disciplines, and for the Vernons—“farming itself is a foundation for a lot of creativity.”
Many students enjoyed the positive message of the family, especially when they considered Exeter’s environment. “It was very informative for Exeter students to know that you can find happiness outside of academia,” lower Neha Nedumaran said.
Other students, while they enjoyed the positive atmosphere, believed that the Vernons’ philosophy did not consider the other factors playing into a person’s life choices. “Especially in more strict immigrant families and communities, parental expectations and what society thinks of you is really important,” lower Lekha Masoudi said. “[With] my parents’ expectations, I can do what I want to an extent, but I have to go to a good school. I have to have a respectable profession.”
While working on their farm, the Vernon family prioritizes the sustainability and quality of their food. “In the farm store, we don’t have plastic bags and only have paper bags,” N. Vernon said. “We recycle all the dairy containers and glass. All those little steps make a large impact, and it’s important to understand that.”
In the future, the Vernon family looks forward to possible collaborations with the Academy. “PEA, in my opinion, is a huge contributing member to the local community,” Jeremiah said. “You consume an incredible amount of product, food and energy. You should be supporting the local farmers and businesses in that process. I think a student-led action to improve the quality of school dinners and stuff would be awesome.”
Faculty members, such as Director of Service Learning Elizabeth Reyes, were also interested in the campus’s involvement with the broader community, which includes the Vernon Farm. “I have plans to follow up with them to see if anyone in the ESSO program wants to go up there,” Reyes said. “If any students are interested [in] trying to get a relationship and going out there to serve once in a while, I'd love to help make that happen.”