FROM APPLE PICKING AND SANDWICH MAKING
Bernie Marvin
April 30, 2026
FROM APPLE PICKING AND SANDWICH MAKING, SHEILA FABRIZIO IS ADDING ANOTHER SPECIALTY…. TAX PREPARING! As usual for the past 40 years, Alan Rutherford has prepared my taxes for submission to the Internal Revenue Service. As everyone knows, only death and taxes are sure things here in America, and we have been very lucky to have found Alan to prepare our financial records.
So, it was a big surprise when Alan recently informed me that he intends to retire from the active tax prep life and move into something like spending "more time with my loved ones and reflect on the journey thus far." He wrote in his message to customers that he will also miss the personal interactions he had with customers over those years.
So, what happens now? Well, good things are happening now, I am told. There is a new group in town that has come together to keep the business flourishing. Sheila Fabrizio of Windy Ridge Orchard fame and the founder and owner of Windy Ridge Café has taken over the Rutherford tax preparer business, as she tells me, as the sole owner, in partnership with Lisa Knapton, with help from Jean Conklin.
With this new setup for the Rutherford business, Sheila as owner, Lisa as assistant, and Jean helping out as they get ready for a new year of business operated by the three talented women who have named the new business Farm Girls' Tax Service LLC.
The three of them sure know how to work the land and animals or grow things. Sheila's parents, the late Dick Fabrizio and her mother, Ann, started the Windy Ridge Orchard adventure in 1967, when Mom and Dad and family began planting apples, which eventually evolved into a wonderful apple, food, and gift business high atop Windy Ridge on Route 116 in North Haverhill.
Sheila's two assistants in the new business venture are Lisa Knapton, who owned a successful dairy farm on Piermont's River Road for many years, and Jean Conklin, who owned and operated Jalco Farm in Haverhill Corner for over 20 years. All of these ladies are well-versed in business, land, banking, and business management, and they are proud of their farming background. Alan indicated in his notice that Sheila will have the "help of Jean Conklin and Lisa Knapton, who have also been part of my team." Sheila said they are still "up in the air" as far as the business's future location is concerned, and that they haven't decided yet whether they will remain at Rutherford's. "The location is up in the air right now," she said.
They are open Monday through Thursday, 9 AM to 4 PM, and on Fridays, 9 AM to 1 PM. Sheila is no stranger to the business world of the Northcountry. She began the Restaurant at Windy Ridge Orchard in 2004, after returning from service with the Peace Corps in 1995. It quickly grew from a small eatery featuring her famous donuts into a very busy restaurant.
At the time, I was selling my Bernie's Bread varieties, and she began using my bread as her house bread for her busy sandwich menu. That continued until I sold the bread business about 12 years later, but the cafe still opens each summer and has become a destination eating place for the past 23 years. I wish the best for the Farm Girls Tax Service LLC.
So, it was a big surprise when Alan recently informed me that he intends to retire from the active tax prep life and move into something like spending "more time with my loved ones and reflect on the journey thus far." He wrote in his message to customers that he will also miss the personal interactions he had with customers over those years.
So, what happens now? Well, good things are happening now, I am told. There is a new group in town that has come together to keep the business flourishing. Sheila Fabrizio of Windy Ridge Orchard fame and the founder and owner of Windy Ridge Café has taken over the Rutherford tax preparer business, as she tells me, as the sole owner, in partnership with Lisa Knapton, with help from Jean Conklin.
With this new setup for the Rutherford business, Sheila as owner, Lisa as assistant, and Jean helping out as they get ready for a new year of business operated by the three talented women who have named the new business Farm Girls' Tax Service LLC.
The three of them sure know how to work the land and animals or grow things. Sheila's parents, the late Dick Fabrizio and her mother, Ann, started the Windy Ridge Orchard adventure in 1967, when Mom and Dad and family began planting apples, which eventually evolved into a wonderful apple, food, and gift business high atop Windy Ridge on Route 116 in North Haverhill.
Sheila's two assistants in the new business venture are Lisa Knapton, who owned a successful dairy farm on Piermont's River Road for many years, and Jean Conklin, who owned and operated Jalco Farm in Haverhill Corner for over 20 years. All of these ladies are well-versed in business, land, banking, and business management, and they are proud of their farming background. Alan indicated in his notice that Sheila will have the "help of Jean Conklin and Lisa Knapton, who have also been part of my team." Sheila said they are still "up in the air" as far as the business's future location is concerned, and that they haven't decided yet whether they will remain at Rutherford's. "The location is up in the air right now," she said.
They are open Monday through Thursday, 9 AM to 4 PM, and on Fridays, 9 AM to 1 PM. Sheila is no stranger to the business world of the Northcountry. She began the Restaurant at Windy Ridge Orchard in 2004, after returning from service with the Peace Corps in 1995. It quickly grew from a small eatery featuring her famous donuts into a very busy restaurant.
At the time, I was selling my Bernie's Bread varieties, and she began using my bread as her house bread for her busy sandwich menu. That continued until I sold the bread business about 12 years later, but the cafe still opens each summer and has become a destination eating place for the past 23 years. I wish the best for the Farm Girls Tax Service LLC.
A view of the Windy Ridge Orchard Cider House Café and visitors on Route 116 in North Haverhill, a destination business that was begun in 2004 and now owned by Sheila Fabrizio. She has recently added her new business, Farm Girls’ Tax Service LLC, having purchased that from retiring Alan Rutherford after his more than 50 years in business. The Bridge Weekly/Bernie Marvin
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