HomeFarm at Undermountain features two houses and four barns, the largest of which is over 14,000 square feet with 20 horse stalls.
barn houses their barnyard animals— five donkeys and seven goats— and includes a large room the farm plans to use as an education center. A third barn, known as the Arena barn, has 22 horse stalls and four pony stalls and opens onto a majestic indoor riding arena with postcard perfect views of the incredible surroundings.
One of the first things Pestana did after getting the fundraising ball rolling was appoint Dr. Gray Elrodt to HomeFarm’ s board. Ellrodt, formerly the chief medical officer at Berkshire Health Systems, is now the head of a non-profit that serves uninsured and underinsured residents of the Berkshires and surrounding area.
“ I’ m a runner,” he explains vis-à-vis his introduction to the farm.“ I live in the neighborhood and would run past this beautiful farm every day. I love barns. One day on my run, I stopped and started talking to Pestana about the state of the property. Pestana’ s amazing. She’ s got this unflagging passion for horses and the good they can do for people.”
Within hours of meeting her, Elrodt was offered a seat on the board. His goal for the farm is to take it to the next level as a state-of-the-art facility for helping anyone interested in the healing potential of relating to animals.“ Just being here and taking in the amazing scenery is therapeutic,” he says.“ I call it‘ farm therapy,’ and everyone can benefit from it.”
HomeFarm’ s equine therapy program is certified by the National Equine Institute of Growth Through Healing( NEIGH). In an effort to upgrade the farm’ s therapy capabilities, Elrodt and Pestana applied for and received a grant from the state’ s Community Preservation Fund with the help of Susan Wissler, executive director of The Mount in Lenox.
“ Folks have no idea how much it costs to keep horses healthy and happy so they can be at their best to also help people,” Pestana explains. The wood shavings she buys for the stalls to keep her steeds comfortable, for example, cost $ 405 per truckload.“ We do 52 truckloads a year,” she says. You can see how things add up. Knisely mentions the farm’ s capital campaign that was launched in 2023.“ We’ re still in the capacity-building stage,” he explains.“ So far, we’ ve gotten close to $ 100,000 from neighbors and generous anonymous donors.”
A Typical Day of Life for the Horses
During the summer, the horses are kept indoors during the heat of the day, are turned out after 4 p. m. and return indoors at 7 a. m., when they are fed and groomed by some of the 11 staff employees who all live on the property.“ It’ s great that the people who work here also live here,” says Pestana.“ It makes for a very strong sense
Fall 2025 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // 21