LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Gray Raven Farm has moved its store to the center of town. 

 

Dan and Sharon Bergeron have moved their store to 65 North Main St., filling a vacant storefront across the street from the police station. The two had been leasing the former Bradley Farm.

 

"We were going to go up to New Ashford but we had a lot of town people asking us if we'd look at other locations in town. They loved coming to us," Dan said. 

 

The Bergerons said the new space helps reduce the overhead to run the small company. They are now leasing a small storefront for retail and have a workshop to make their products.

 

"We made our own goat milk soaps, goat milk and honey lotions, some with CBD oil in them. We made our own CBD, we grow our own plants organically. We make our own honey," Dan said.

 

The company is also carrying a tick prevention product made in Lenox and a line of CBD products from California. The couple is also looking to add a line of jewelry and hemp clothing and developing more products.

 

"It takes a while to create a product. We would like to make liquid soap with CBD," Sharon said.

 

The pair started in North Adams, where they were homesteading. They were looking to live a clean lifestyle and live mostly off the land. They got dairy goats in order to make cheese and they ended up with more milk than they knew what to do with. 

 

Sharon modified a family recipe to make the soap and Dan took it to work and shared it. Soon he was being asked for more and of different scents.

 

"We just didn't know what to do with the stuff. We didn't know what to do with the honey. We didn't know what to do with the milk," Sharon said.

 

They began taking it to the North Adams farmers market and selling it. They added more markets and events and eventually decided they should open a store. They were told that the former Bradley Farm was available and began leasing and living there in 2017. It didn't quite work out.

 

"It was a big overhead and not the direction that we really thought we would go in. We kind of got out of it and we're here now," Dan said.

 

But in their time at the farm, two miles or so north from their new space, they had grown a loyal customer base. They saw a sign on 65 North Main advertising space for lease and called the number. Within a month they packed up just about everything and re-opened on Monday.

 

"It was just a nice, clean space," Dan said.

 

The couple is now up to three markets a week and a number of renaissance, county, and agricultural fairs. They've recently gotten a license to sell in New York State and travel to fairs within a 75-mile radius. 

 

The new store is open from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. during the week and from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. on the weekends.