Osborn family opens 3rd Agway Farm & Garden Center — this one in Winnisquam section of Belmont

BELMONT — The Osborne family of Loudon has a long tradition of farming and that continues in a new and different way with the opening of their third Agway Farm and Garden Center, located just east of the Winnisquam Bridge.

The family has been farming the rocky soil of New Hampshire since 1776. David and Louise Osborne milked cows at their hilltop farm in Loudon for more than 30 years. In the mid 70s, they even tried their hand at the retail business, operating a farm store out of their home, selling fresh milk, eggs, and meat, all the while raising four sons, three of whom have returned home from different careers to help run the family farm and their Agway stores .

After making the tough decision to sell the cows in 1986, they embarked upon a new adventure, opening their first Agway store in Hooksett in 1987. Their son, Andy, returned home to help them run the store and also operate the farm in Loudon, which still produces products marketed through the stores, such as hay, firewood, bedding plants, perennials, fall mums, and pumpkins.

In 1998, when Agway was getting out of store management and concentrating on being a supplier, another son, Tom, who had worked for corporate Agway out of college, returned to New Hampshire and helped the family open a new store on Sheep Davis Road in Concord in 2000.

A third son, Paul , who was self-employed as a logger for 15 years before joining the family business full time in 2002, now manages the daily operations of the new Winnisquam store.

''I used to help out in the stores during mud season when I couldn't log,'' says Paul, whose experience in the forestry industry has helped the Osbornes grow their firewood and wood pellet business.

He says that the he's pleased with the new location, which was built on the site of the former Gourmet Food Barn, and that the existing building was able to be incorporated into the farm and garden supply business operation as a country store and craft shop, which is reached from the main store through a covered walkway which starts at the greenhouse and takes customers through a display of flowering plants .

All told, the buildings total nearly 15,000-square-feet and the center offers a wide variety of farm supplies, dog, cat and equine supplies, grains, incubators, seeds, bulbs, planters and fertilizers.

The greenhouse and garden center are filled with a wide selection of flowers and shrubs along with fountains and other lawn and flower garden ornamentation.

The store also offers a line of Carhartt clothing and footwear, and the country store offers food items, including raw milk, cheeses and local eggs.

Paul Osborne says freshly baked goods will soon be available, baked in the commercial kitchen downstairs in the former food barn location.

''We're going to have pies and all kinds of bakery products which will be sold right here,'' says Osborne, who says the bakery will be operated by Debbie Cousineau, known as "AbracaDebra" for her kitchen magic.

PHOTO CAPTION:

Kerry Sullivan checks on some of the plants in the greenhouse at Osborne's Agway in Belmont. The new farm and garden center opened in April and is the third store owned by the Osborne family. (Roger Amsden/ for The Laconia Daily Sun)