Celia Raymond bought property in Foster with her husband in 2007 and discovered it had a blueberry patch. “I said, ‘Oh, my gosh, we have a blueberry orchard here.’ This is unbelievable.”

The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires

You could call John and Celia Raymond the accidental farmers.

They bought a dilapidated house and 3.5 acres in Foster, about a mile from the Connecticut border in 2007. The plan was to renovate and sell the property for a profit. But the foreclosed property had been trashed, and much of the land was littered with mounds of garbage.

“We had no idea what was back here,” Celia Raymond said as she walked through the yard. “[John] said ‘We’ll cut everything down to the ground and make a nice big backyard.’ ”

Each weekend that winter, they’d drive up from their Bristol home and try to clear some of the trash away. They noticed the bushes scattered around the property, and put landscaping next on the list, behind trash cleanup.

Then the flowers bloomed. And shortly after, tiny fruits began to appear on the branches.

“I said, ‘Oh, my gosh, we have a blueberry orchard here,’ ” Celia Raymond recalled. “This is unbelievable.”

And then came the apple trees and the peach trees. They even found some grape vines next to the brook that borders their property. And A Ramblin’ Brook Blueberry Farm was born.

The Raymonds are joining the throngs of Rhode Islanders venturing into the agricultural field to satisfy a deep-seeded urge, or a whim, to live more naturally.

“There is no one new farmer, that’s what we’ve found,” said Kristen Castrataro, agricultural agent at the University of Rhode Island Cooperative Extension. “There are all kinds of farmers and some of them are fresh out of school and have a degree in agriculture and think that’s what they want to do. Some of them are second-career individuals who have been doing the corporate thing and they’re tired of that, and their heart has always been at the farm and they wanted to do it.”

Michael Roberts said he and his wife, Kelli, have longed to live a “right lifestyle.” It’s the idea that their lives, professions and passions all align to create minimal impact on the earth.

“Basically, it’s a way for us to make a living that would not only not harm the environment, but if done correctly, would improve the land, improve the environment and help the community,” said Michael Roberts, an engineer.

So when the couple moved back to Rhode Island from Washington, the Robertses began looking for someone willing to rent them land to farm. That’s how they found Rotts Farm in Bristol.

The owner lives on the land, but gave the Robertses an eighth of an acre to farm as they wished. They cleared off the land and just finished planting mixed vegetables and salad greens. They live in an apartment above a nearby shed on the land.It’s an arrangement that works best for the Robertses, who are just beginning their farming lives.

“We are both still working,” he said. “I’m working full-time as an engineer. We knew that it would be much easier for us if we lived where our land was. I wouldn’t be able to handle two commutes. That was a big part of it. Another is because the residence is right here, we have water, electricity and shed space. And the landlord has a tractor he’s willing to let us use. There are a lot of benefits like that.”

The hope is to grow some organic salad greens and mixed vegetables in time to sell in the indoor farmer’s market in Pawtucket this fall. But eventually, the Robertses would like to buy their own land, build their own farmhouse and maybe begin raising chickens in addition to their vegetables.

“Five years from now, maybe we will have finished our house by then, and it should be just about time to think about making it full time,” Roberts said.

But that’s no small feat, as the Raymonds of Foster are finding. True, they’ve been splitting their time while they clear the land and prepare to build their dream home (a two-story colonial with a double wraparound porch) at the farm while they venture into the blueberries-for-profit business. Developing the blueberry business would allow Celia to stay home with the couple’s two children, Zachary, 5, and Jasmine, 2. The Department of Agriculture defines a farm as any place that sells or produces $1,000 or more of agricultural products within a given year. The Roberts have yet to sell anything, and the Raymonds said their profits have been negligible this year.

About 360 other farms took root in Rhode Island over the last seven years, according to data from the United States Department of Agriculture. With the struggling economy and the unpredictable weather this season, it just goes to show it’s that tenacious spirit that tends to separate farmers from, well, the rest of us said Castrataro of URI.

“This is one of the worst years we could have,” she said. “Spring and summer have been terrible. But if you can get over the hurdles and expense and in some cases, the acres you had to plow under, and still want to go back and do it again, then, you’re cut out to be a farmer.”

Celia Raymond hopes to beat the odds. This year, the farm got about six people seeking to pick their own fruit, and Raymond said she sold some pints at local farmers markets. The problem was, she just didn’t have the staff to harvest as much as she needed, she said. The Raymonds closed their fields to pickers late in August so that they could focus on preparing Zachary for his first day of kindergarten.

“We never planned on doing anything like what we’re doing here,” said Raymond, “but once we got out here, we loved being out here. We can’t wait to move here. By the time [Zachary] is in the second grade, we hope to live here. That’s our goal. Which means I need to sell more blueberries.”

Next year, she hopes to have at least 10 pickers to help her harvest and package the fruit. She’s also reached out to stores and some other farmers about selling blueberries wholesale to them. In the meantime, she and her husband will keep mowing and pruning and collecting the stray garbage found in the field.

tbuford@projo.com