About Our Farm
Finnegan’s Farm, West is a family-run farm on 17+ acres of beautiful, fertile land in the heart of Litchfield County in Northwestern Connecticut.
In 2012, Bill and Amy bought this property that had once been a farm back in the late 1700s. Their dream was to breathe life back into this land, so they began with clearing and milling trees to build the guest house, main house, and many of the outbuildings.
The cabinets, trim, and flooring in all the structures on the property are from their own trees. The barn is a post-and-beam structure that houses farm equipment, goats, ducks, chickens, and barn cats. A pond was dug next to the barn so the ducks could live their best life.
Since they first began building their farm, their mission has remained the same: First, to be good stewards of the land by utilizing organic and permaculture farming techniques. Second, to serve as a sanctuary to family, friends, and guests and give them an opportunity to reconnect with nature, animals, and each other.
About Our Founders
Amy and Bill met in 2005 while living in Greenwich, CT. Bill was a carpenter, and Amy was an elementary school teacher. They fell in love and bought and renovated a 1905 home. Bill gutted this house down to the rafters and then meticulously put it back together, including the original moldings and picture rails.
It was their dream home until life abruptly changed for them when Amy’s brother, John, died of ALS. This life event made Amy and Bill reexamine their lives. They decided life was too short, so they embarked on a new adventure. They rented their home and took a year to travel the world. They began in the US and then headed to Europe, Asia, Iceland, and finally, Africa.
It was during this trip that Amy began sharing with Bill her dream of one day living on a farm. Bill, having grown up in rural Missouri and Illinois, readily agreed that that sounded like his kind of dream!
Why is it called
Finnegan’s Farm, West?
This photo is one of Bill and Jim Finnegan on Finnegan's Farm in Ireland. They are in the bog collecting turf for the fire.
Amy’s mom grew up as the oldest of ten on a farm in Liskea, a village in the town of Williamstown in County Galway in Western Ireland. Mary came to the United States at the young age of 18 to begin a new life. At a dance in the Bronx, she met Amy’s dad, John, and they fell in love and married. Amy spent her first birthday and took her first steps at her grandparents’ farm in Ireland.
Amy was so enthralled with farm life and her Irish ancestry that throughout her childhood and beyond, she spent as much time as she could on Finnegan’s Farm. Today the farm is still run by her Uncle Jim and Aunt Una. When Bill and Amy married, they each kept their own last names. As time went on, they wanted to have the same last name, and they chose Amy’s mom’s maiden name, Finnegan, and Finnegan’s Farm, West was born.
The Future of Finnegan’s Farm, West
Our hope is to continue to be good stewards of our land, practice sustainable farming and animal husbandry, and welcome guests for many years to share our love of farming.
We have just added a Flow Hive to our apiculture (bee keeping). This beehive brand will allow us to extract honey directly from the hive without having to open the beehive and disturb the bees. We are also currently working on plans to build a sugar shack to expand our maple syrup production. A sugar shack also known as a sap house, sugar house, sugar shank or sugar cabin is a building dedicated to boiling the sap we collect from our maple trees into maple syrup.