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FROM OUR FARM TO YOUR KITCHEN
Full Circle
Farm
Amenia, NY
Jesse Mandel’s father kept bees when
Jesse was a boy, and now he’s back at
it. His father cultivates the Full Circle
Farm honey and also helps out with
the crops and the livestock.
w
hen Shelle Bailey talks about how she and
her boyfriend, Jesse Mandel, started Full Circle
Farm, she begins by telling about their “first
house.” That’s what they called their truck after
they bought a topper for the flatbed and created a
home on the road. For two years, from 2011–2013,
Jesse and Shelle worked on farms around the
United States, often staying in their first house
after a long day’s work.
The name Full Circle Farm reflects their journey:
“We traveled from Maine to Texas and everywhere
in between. We ended up doing circles across
the country. We also liked the name because it
symbolizes nature, its balance, and how everything
replenishes itself,” explains Shelle.
Jesse is a fifth-generation farmer from Duchess
County, New York, and Shelle grew up in a family of
gardeners in the Adirondacks. She had been growing
her own food for awhile when she started to sell
her artwork and handcrafted jewelry at local
farmers markets. She was enjoying being a part of
the farmers markets, and then in meeting Jesse,
she says that she “met someone who was as into
it as I was. It was just the right time in both of our
lives to say, ‘Let’s go!’ and we did.”
They returned to Jesse’s family farm that had been
a small mom and pop dairy farm for a long time,
before Jesse’s father retired. Now, they are
growing produce, as well as raising grass-fed
Scottish Highland beef and French Label Rouge
“Our trip was a great, cheap way to travel. You can
learn something from anybody. We decided to hop
around without a big plan and took opportunities
as they arose.”
– Shelle Bailey
chicken. “Everything we do is either heirloom
variety or heritage breed -- varieties that are
known for quality and flavor,” Shelle shares.
“We grow the things that taste good and
even the bugs love them,” Shelle continues,
“We won’t spray anything that’s not organic
to combat them. As Jesse says, ‘There is
nothing better than Dr. Green.’”
173 Main Street, 3rd Floor
Ossining, New York 10562
914.923.4837 tel
914.801.2336 fax
DowntoEarthMarkets.com