By VICTORIA GUAY

Staff Writer

SANBORNTON — Eva Dunn and Jack Potter are living out their dream at Shaker Woods Farm.

Located on Lower Smith Road, the 5 1/2- acre bed and breakfast was started by the retired military couple five years ago. It now hosts families and small groups from around the world.

Dunn and Potter converted a horse barn, apartment and hayloft into guest rooms and an apartment for themselves.

If running a bed and breakfast wasn’t enough, the couple also raise goats and grow a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, flowers, herbs and spices on the site. Dunn uses the goat milk for drinking, making cheese and soap.

Most of what they grow is sold at local farmer’s markets and craft fairs, and many of the fruits and berries are made into preserves that are used at the B&B.

In her spare time, Dunn also quilts and does decorative painting.

The couple are used to years of a can-do military lifestyle, but they also want to live a peaceful, natural life, eating fruits and vegetables they have grown organically. They want their guests to experience the simple life as well.

"We’re definitely not a fancy Victorian B&B," Potter said. "You definitely don’t stay with us because you want to stay in a posh, Martha Stewart-type place."

The couple moved to Sanbornton from Stuttgart Germany, in 1997, when Potter retired as a colonel after 24 years in the Air Force. Dunn had retired in 1994, as a lieutenant colonel after 21 years in the Air Force.

Potter is originally from Arkansas and Dunn is from Texas, though they’ve called many places home.

Jack Potter examines a kohlrabi growing in the garden. He and his wife grow their vegetables naturally, weeding and picking bugs by hand.

"This is the longest I’ve stayed in any one place since 1968, the year I went to college," Potter said.

Dunn’s father was in the Air Force, too, so she got used to moving around as a child. For example, she went to kindergarten in Germany.

Dun and Potter have decorated the B&B with items they’ve collected from the various places they’ve lived.

"There’s a lot of us in this place," Potter said, pointing to his German beer stein collection lining the walls of the common area. He also called attention to a quilt Dunn made out of old air force uniforms.

Potter said the idea of running a small B&B came about through their European travels, during which they stayed at many bed and breakfasts.

"Often they would be run by a retired person who had an extra room or two in their house they decided to rent out," Potter said. "We preferred bed and breakfast type places because we would get a good deal on a room and meet someone local. We thought it was a neat idea."

At Shaker Woods Farm — so named for the Shakers who used to own cabins in the lakeside neighborhood — they try to make their guests feel as much at home as possible.

Because the bed and breakfast is so small, often there are only one or two families or a group of friends that stay at a time, it’s a personal experience and many guests are regulars.

Open year-round, Shaker Woods’ busy season is May through October.

During the busy season, it averages eight guests a week, but during Motorcycle Week there can be as many as 10 guests.

"We try to limit the number of guests to eight because that’s how many people can fit at the table," Potter said.

On the Shaker Woods Web site (www.shakerwoodsfarm.com), Dunn and Potter describe their B&B and farm. They’ve even included a photo page of many of their guests who come from all over the United States and the world, including Canada, Mexico, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and France.

One of their favorite returning guests is a young English couple, Jo and Gary Etherington, who live in Princeton, N.J.

They first came to stay at Shaker Woods three years ago, before they were married.

"They came with her parents and had intended to stay only one night," Potter said. "They liked us so well, they decided to stay for three and when they left, they were going around saying ‘y’all’, which we say a lot."

The Etheringtons come back two to three times a year, each time bringing a different couple with them.

"We’ve sort of adopted them," said Potter, who has no kids of his own.

Jo Etherington said she and her husband keep coming back because Potter and Dunn create such a wonderful, homey atmosphere.

"It’s almost like going to visit family, they are so welcoming," Jo Etherington said on the phone from her home in New Jersey. "It’s a special little place for us."

Etherington noted that Potter will tell guests about various points of interests in the area and loan them walking maps and guides.

"He really wants visitors to get the most out of their stay," Jo Etherington said.

She added that they also love the location, being surrounded by the lakes and mountains of central New Hampshire.

"It’s absolutely lovely," Jo Etherington said. "One of the reasons we love going back is that I have a crazy, mad job in Manhattan and it’s so quiet and peaceful up there, it’s like heaven."

Running both a farm and B&B takes organization, dedication and hard work.

True to their military roots, everything is run on a tight schedule.

Potter said they are both up at 6 a.m., milking the goats and preparing breakfast for themselves.

Then they start preparing breakfast for their guests, which they always serve between 8 and 9 a.m. Breakfast includes homemade preserves such as the house rhubarb and fresh fruits in season.

After breakfast, the guests usually leave to visit area shops and attractions or to enjoy outdoor recreation. That’s when Dunn and Potter clean and straighten rooms.

"Then we’re out tending the garden," Potter said. "We weed by hand and pick bugs by hand."

On and off during the day, guests come back and ask questions about the area or want to chat.

Around 6 p.m., the goats are milked again.

Thursdays and Fridays, Dunn or Potter go to the farmer’s markets. There’s one in Sanbornton that they helped start, and one in Bedford.

The other person stays at Shaker Woods to check guests in.

In between, the couple make fruit preserves and salsa and Dunn makes goat milk soap and cheese.

She also finds time to paint ceramic soap dishes and anything else that could use decoration, such as jars, glasses and baskets. Dunn even sponge painted the guest rooms in the B&B.

Dunn became interested in raising goats while in Europe but couldn’t find anyone to teach her how to make soap and cheese from the milk.

So when she came back to the U.S., she decided to teach herself.

Dunn said goat’s milk is better than cow’s milk because it is lower in fat, higher in vitamins.

"Goats are smaller than cows, the milk is better for you and there are a lot of things you can do with the milk besides drink it," Dunn said.

Dunn said goat milk soap is mild on the skin and has vitamins and minerals skin needs such as A, C and calcium. Made with natural oils such as olive, coconut or soy, Dunn said it is an alternative to commercial soaps made with perfumes and animal fats.

Dunn gives soap- and cheese-making lessons to guests.

Dunn only keeps up to four goats at a time.

Currently the couple has two goats, a black goat named Java and a brown one named Dell. All the goats they’ve owned have computer names.

Both receive military pensions, so Dunn and Potter said they run the bed and breakfast and farm as an income supplement, making a small profit each year.

But they are not in it for the money, Potter said. They are doing what they love.

"Our goal was to cover basic living expenses so we could live here free," Potter said.

Dunn said they both prefer a natural, self sufficient lifestyle.

They are not vegetarians, but they don’t eat red meat and they are wary of commercially produced foods.

"Have you looked at the side of any package of a commercial product and tried to pronounce the names of the ingredients?" Dunn said. "If I’m picking a raspberry or a cherry, I’d like to know I can just pop it into my mouth without having to go rinse it off."

In their small garden, they grow a cornucopia of fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices.

Here are just a few of the items they grow: several types of tomatoes, leeks, peas, beans, corn, kohlrabi, squash spinach, lettuce, asparagus, grapes, elderberries, blueberries and raspberries. They have young apple and pear trees bordering the garden.

They also grow herbs such as mint, thyme, basil, rosemary and lavender.

The garden, which is a third of an acre, is organic but not certified.

Dunn explained that they are not a certified organic farm because there are too many regulations to become certified.

"We wouldn’t be considered organic, however everything we do from planting to harvesting is organic," Dunn said, noting they use no commercial pesticides or herbicides.

"It’s not a large garden, but it’s an intensive one," Potter said.

For more information visit http://www.shakerwoodsfarm.com/ or call 528-1990.