Press Room – CISA – Community Involved In Sustaining Agriculture: Recent Episodes
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https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Dickinson-compressed.mp3It’s time for another #LocalHeroSpotlight on the Fabulous 413! Listen using the link above.
This week, Monte and Kaliis visit Dickinson Farm in Granby, where they walk pick-your-own strawberry fields and learn about the farm’s wholesale relationship with Market Basket.
Fun fact: the Granby land where Dickinson farm sits was a gift by an English king to the Dickinson family in the new world. The family was directly related to Emily Dickinson, the belle of Amherst. With that in mind, here’s a poem:
The Products of my Farm are these by Emily DickinsonThe Products of my Farm are these
Sufficient for my Own
And here and there a Benefit
Unto a Neighbor’s Bin.With Us, ’tis Harvest all the Year
For when the Frosts begin
We just reverse the Zodiac
And fetch the Acres in.
Crowd members listen to Harrison Bardwell, of Bardwell Farm, speak during a local farmer rally at Hadley Town Hall.
Published: Jun. 15, 2025, 8:29 a.m. on MassLive
Immigration crackdowns, and the resulting protests, have been at the center of the news for the past several weeks – this is a violent, divided moment centering around a highly divisive issue.
It is also a sweet season in the Valley – the start of the growing season, when farmers’ markets are full of early produce and the strawberries have finally arrived. These might seem like completely unrelated realities, but they are closely connected by one thing: the deeply skilled, and largely invisible, farm workers who plant, pick, and process the harvest – many of whom are immigrants.
Our work at CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) provides a specific lens on the extremely complicated issue of immigration. Agriculture is one of several industries in the United States that would not function without immigrant labor – and that means that every one of us relies on immigrant workers for our food.
According to the USDA, around 70% of crop workers in the U.S. are foreign-born, and 42% do not have work authorization. There is insufficient data on the makeup of the Massachusetts agricultural workforce, but we know anecdotally that many farms across the state rely on immigrant workers.Much of the political rhetoric around immigration attempts to render this complicated issue into something simple. It’s common for people to say that they support legal immigration, suggesting folks should just “get in line” to “come here the right way.” The reality is that – with a few exceptions for highly trained workers and family members of U.S. citizens – there is no “line” to get into. Our current immigration system allows for very few pathways to citizenship or long-term legal residency and work authorization.
A great many more immigrants hold an ambiguous status. Many have applied for asylum and received work authorization, but are waiting, sometimes years, for a decision about their asylum application. Some are in proceedings to decide whether they will be deported or granted relief. These people might be counted as “undocumented,” but they are moving through the legal process to determine whether they may be granted secure status.
Other large groups of people were welcomed into the United States based on conditions in their home countries, and hundreds of thousands of them have recently had their authorizations abruptly terminated by the Trump administration, leaving them stranded in the U.S. with no safe options.Agricultural work is physically demanding, underpaid, seasonal, and sometimes dangerous. Many farm owners are acutely aware of these intersecting realities: that they are absolutely dependent on their employees, who work extremely hard under difficult conditions and who deserve security and fair pay; and that their businesses are competing in a system that values low food prices at the expense of farm workers. Farm owners and workers alike struggle to navigate the immigration system’s ambiguities and contradictions, and both groups feel stuck between forces that are beyond their individual power to change.At CISA, we do not support the status quo. Our vision is of a local food system that provides ample food for our whole community as well as secure livelihoods for everyone who works so hard to grow that food. The Trump administration’s recent actions steer us in the opposite direction.
Many farm and food workers, regardless of immigration status, are now terrified of being harassed or detained by ICE. We are all witness to the increased normalization of detention without warrant or due process – rights afforded to everyone within the U.S.People with Green Cards are facing deportation orders, humanitarian protections have been summarily revoked, and people are being disappeared to prisons beyond the reach of human rights protections – sometimes due to basic administrative errors. Many people have been detained in Western Mass. in recent months – hardworking people targeted as they leave their homes to go to work, separated indefinitely from their children and communities. The fear resulting from recent immigration action undermines food production, food security, and farm and food businesses.
Anyone who works closely with local farms, as we do at CISA, understands this: Immigrants are woven tightly into our local food system, and the system cannot thrive if they are suffering. Caring about the viability of local farms, about our agrarian landscape, about our vibrant local food system must include advocacy for the skilled and hardworking food and farm workers who hold it up – not just for their labor, but as valued members of our communities.
We call for the pursuit of real and sustained immigration reform that creates a path for stability, safety, and respect for each of them.
By Jennifer Core & Claire Morenon. Jennifer Core is executive director of CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). Claire Morenon is the organization’s communications manager.
John Smiarowski with strawberries at the Smiarowski farm stand in Hatfield. PC: Paul Franz, Greenfield Recorder.
The Smiarowski family name has been a fixture in valley farming since around 1923, when Alexander Smiarowski came from Poland, and purchased farmland in Montague for a dairy, along with cucumbers, asparagus, and corn.
The family grew, and their children continued the work and lifestyle of farming. Today, the larger Smiarowski family runs farming operations in Montague, Sunderland, Whately, and Hatfield.
Teddy C. Smiarowski Farm has been growing strong since 1950, when Teddy and Eleanor Smiarowski settled on 50 acres in Hatfield. The couple had seven children, and Bernie, Ron, John, and Jim Smiarowski continue their parents’ work on the Teddy C. Smiarowski farm today. Teddy Senior passed away in 1989, and Eleanor celebrated each spring by selling asparagus and strawberries at their family’s farm stand until she passed in 2023.
Early Galletta variety strawberries growing at the Smiarowski farm in Hatfield.
PC: Paul Franz, Greenfield Recorder.
Over the years, they added more land, including a strawberry patch on Routes 5 & 10 in Whately. Ice cream lovers in the area may know the family through Simmers Creamy, on River Road in Whately.
Teddy C. Smiarowski Farm has evolved over the years, growing potatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, and tobacco. At one point, the farm grew over 400 acres of cucumbers and 50 acres of peppers and other vegetables for pickles for Cain’s Pickle Factory in South Deerfield. Residents may recall trucks slowly going down Sugarloaf Street, occasionally hitting a bump and dropping cukes off the back.
In 2002, the brothers joined with other partners to buy the pickle factory and form Oxford Foods in South Deerfield. Using fresh, valley-grown produce in their recipes, Oxford Foods won competitions for their products. The cohort sold Oxford Foods in 2005, and it closed soon thereafter.
The brothers adjusted their crop plans, and today they grow 700 acres of potatoes in the fields that once grew cucumbers. Teddy C. Smiarowski farm grows russets, red, yellow, and white potatoes, and they sell them at their Hatfield farm stand.
John Smiarowski with strawberries at the Smiarowski farm stand in Hatfield. PC: Paul Franz, Greenfield Recorder.
While potatoes are a favorite staple in many households, ripe, local strawberries truly excite the general public. The Teddy C. Smiarowski strawberry fields are full and ready for the short berry season, of perhaps two or three weeks.
Historical records report that Indigenous people were growing and cooking with strawberries dating back to 1622, and there are reports of commercially grown strawberries in Boston around 1812.
Despite being native to North America, “strawberries are not easy to grow: they are finicky,” says Bernie Smiarowski. “They need a sound nutrient management plan and the right soil types. The soils here are great for them.”
Bernie Smiarowski explains, “We have a microclimate here along the Connecticut River. We get heavy fog and dew in the mornings, and the river is a blessing for irrigation. The downside is the moisture increases disease pressure from fungi and molds that thrive in this climate.” The farmer continues, “Some diseases travel through tiny spores in the air, while others spread through water.”
Both strawberries and potatoes face these pressures. The same fungus that caused the Irish Potato Blight in the 1840s still spreads by water and wind, infecting potato crops today. “We have ways of dealing with this now that didn’t exist then,” says Bernie Smiarowski.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the path Teddy C. Smiarowski Farm chooses to manage their crops. The principle of IPM is to use the most beneficial, least harmful product to address a given problem.
The brothers have worked with a certified IPM expert for many years, mainly to protect their strawberry crops. Bernie Smiarowski notes, “IPM allows us to address a situation before it becomes a problem.”
Temperatures and humidity or rain impact the presence of molds and fungi. New England weather has always been changeable, but in more recent years, farmers have managed extremely wet years and flooding in 2021 and 2023, with 2022 being one of the driest years on record. “We’ve gone from one extreme to another,” Bernie Smiarowski says. He explains, “We like to put our crops on lighter soil, where you can irrigate. You can put water on, but you can’t take it off.” The river has served the farm well.
Strawberries for sale at the Smiarowski farm stand on Main Street in Hatfield. PC: Paul Franz, Greenfield Recorder.
Rain or shine, strawberries are here. Sweet memories of previous seasons fill Bernie Smiarowski with joy, “Strawberries were my late mother’s absolute favorite time of year. People would come from all over to see her at the stand and buy strawberries. We have even had people drive from the Cape.” He concludes, “We love strawberries because they taste great. It’s sad that it’s such a short season because it’s a lot of work leading up, and then it’s gone.”
Pick-your-own strawberries are open for the season at Teddy C. Smiarowski Farm from 8am-4pm, seven days a week. The stand accepts cash only and is located on Routes 5 &10 in Whately, ½ mile north of LaSalle Florist—watch for signs. For more information on berries, watch the Simmer’s Creamy Facebook page. The Teddy C. Smiarowski Farm stand is located at 487 Main Street, Hatfield. They are open 8am-6pm daily.
Lisa Goodrich is a Communications Coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA). To find pick-your-own strawberry fields near you, see CISA’s online guide at tinyurl.com/LHStrawberries.
All photos by Paul Franz, courtesy of the Greenfield Recorder.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Rays-Farm-compressed.mp3Kaliis visited Ray’s Family Farm on this week’s Fabulous 413. Learn about the wide array of veggies and flowers that are grown in Southwick. Co-owner, Heidi Brzoska and farm manager Sabrina Kanner talk about the farm’s history, serving areas that don’t have farms, and their exuberance for growing food for all in the community.
Aaron Moody in the upper pasture with views to the east at the Moody Family Farm in Bernardston.
When farming is in the family, the land calls no matter where else life takes a person. Aaron Moody, owner-operator of Moody Family Farm, was born in Greenfield and from the beginning, he knew that he loved working with animals. Three generations of Moody’s family farmed, and young Moody occasionally worked at his uncle’s dairy farm while growing up.
Moody became a teacher and married. Eventually, Stephanie and Aaron Moody landed in Keene, New Hampshire, as caretakers for a non-profit, agricultural education center , called Stonewall Farm. Here, Aaron Moody raised cattle for beef and produced hay.
Eventually, the Moodys wanted their own farm and sought available properties for multigenerational living. Their search brought them to the Perry Farm in Bernardston: a historical farm on Route 5 sporting a federal-style house that was built in 1790. The couple moved to Bernardston in December of 2024, and they are poised to open their farm stand this month, selling high-quality beef and more.
While the Bernardston property is new to the family, working with cattle was not new for the couple starting their beef herd. Aaron Moody explains, “We’ve been directly raising our own cattle for about ten years, starting with Holstein bull calves from Stonewall Farm, moving to belted Galloways and Angus before settling on Herefords for their size, temperament and adaptability to conditions.”
The farmer continues, “We currently have 13 cows including five cow-calf pairs. One mama had two calves with us here. We also have a bull and a heifer. We plan to grow to about 30 head to fit within our available pasture.”
A cow and calf at the Moody Family Farm in Bernardston.
After their tenure at Stonewall Farm, the couple is well acquainted with rotational grazing and their goal is to improve the quality of the hay they grow in their pastures. As the Moody family reclaims the fallow farmland, they are putting up fenced enclosures, or paddocks, to keep animals safe while they finish building fences on the overall property.
Moody Family Farm is raising cattle for meat, and they are raising turkeys and chickens as well, creating a cycle that may improve the quality of the land as well. Aaron Moody notes, “We like to be as close to nature as possible, and let the livestock roam. We put out water, hay, and minerals. During the summer, we have a plan to systematically move them from paddock to paddock, which helps manage the land.”
The general idea is the cattle graze in an area and then move on to the next paddock. Chickens and turkeys go behind the cattle to graze bugs while controlling weeds, breaking down manure, and improving the overall health of the pasture.
Moody believes that this natural cycle produces high quality food for his family and community. He says, “We raise our animals humanely with minimal interference. We want them to live their best life while they are with us. We are restoring a dormant farm, so they are in a paddock more than we’d like as we continue to restore fence lines. We plan to rotationally graze and have them outside year-round, with access to indoor shelter.”
Aaron Moody of the Moody Family Farm on Brattleboro Road in Bernardston.
Generally, farming takes the long view, and the Moody family vision includes what they might grow on their pastures to feed their cattle. He says, “We are big fans of cows grazing on a mix of native grasses. We find the beef tastes better than when feeding only one type of feed or grass.”
Still getting started, the farm has supplemented with hay from nearby farms. Moody says, “We’ve bought in hay from Everyday Farm in Bernardston, Manning Hill Farm in Winchester and Hillwind Farm in Leyden. We’ve also used hay from my aunt and uncle’s dairy farm in NY state.” The family just started haying for this season and plans to produce their own hay going forward, including some for sale.
Moody Family Farm opens their farm stand in early June. Stephanie Moody says, “Our goal for our farm store is ‘simple and familiar’ and we hope to offer a fun, down-home farm feel when everyone visits our store.” With an old-fashioned feel, Stephanie curates recipes to share with customers that use their farm-raised ingredients.
Stephanie Moody explains their farm stand will sell their beef, homemade snacks and quick foods, locally made crafts and other locally sourced foods. Currently, the farm sells beef boxes, quarters, and halves.
Gratitude, joy, and respect for the past weave together this farm’s story. Aaron Moody credits assistance from the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture (MDAR), Franklin County Community Development Corporation, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) for making the purchase and move to Bernardston possible.
Community and family are central to this farm’s launch. Aaron Moody points out that their children are the fifth generation of their family to farm. He says, “Farming is a physically and emotionally demanding life. I have had great mentors along the way.”
Stephanie Moody continues, “We’re teachers. We are taking a leap of faith as a family. We have high hopes for our farm, but we haven’t been farming forever.” She explains the bigger picture, “As a wife, it brings me great joy to see my husband working in an environment that he loves and created. As a mom, I love seeing my boys grow up in a family-owned farm that feeds their work ethics and appreciation for seeing that hard work can serve our family and the community.”
Aaron Moody reflects on being outside at sunrise with the birds and cows. He says, “Hopefully, I’m doing something that helps improve the earth, while caring for my family and community.”
To purchase Moody Family beef, call 603-762-4119 or email moodyfarmsllc@gmail.com. Watch Facebook and Instagram for the announcement of their farm stand opening.
Lisa Goodrich is a Communications Coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA). To find local beef and other local meat near you, check CISA’s online guide at buylocalfood.org.
Photos by Paul Franz, courtesy of the Greenfield Recorder.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/NEPM-Beaumonts-Berries.mp3After sixteen years as CISA’s Local Hero Program manager, Devon Whitney-Deal turned her hand toward farming. From a homegrown patch of raspberries, blackberries, and high-bush blueberries, Beaumont’s Berries has grown into a specialty producer of jams. With jams made with honey, low sugar, and no sugar, she likes to say, “I make the jam that is good for you.”
Other Local Hero farms have helped her along the way or supply the fruit she doesn’t grow. Listen to this week’s interview on NEPM’s the Fabulous 413 to learn more.
NEPM visit to Beaumont’s Berries in Conway.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Boulder-Top-1.mp3Have you ever wondered about what it takes to grow mushrooms? This week, Monte and Kaliis talk to Elijah Lagreze, of Boulder Top Farm in Montague. Learn about agriforestry and how growing mushrooms can co-exist with other crops, how to inoculate a log, and how Boulder Top was awarded a PASA grant for expansion through the USDA which has been pulled by this administration. Boulder Top Farm sells to the public at the Amherst Farmers’ Market and local co-ops.
NEPM visit to Plainville Farm in Hadley
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Plainville-Farm-asparagus-NEPM.mp3It’s asparagus season! Monte and Kaliis of the the Fabulous413 visit Wally Czajkowski of Plainville Farm to learn everything you ever wanted to know about asparagus. Hear about past harvests, recipes and the NEPM Asparagus festival. The conversation shares glimpses into the current affects of federal persecution of legal immigrant laborers on farm labor. (Hint: they don’t let schools out for local kids to work the fields any more!)
Published May 24, 2025 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
By Jacob Nelson
“It’s usually around April 20th when I plant things in the field that can handle light frost,” says farmer Dan Greene of Good Bunch Farm. “Then there’s a longer wait until the next big planting date in late May. By then the threat of frost is gone and you can finally plant all the warm-loving crops. After that, you really don’t have any time except for weeding and harvesting.”
As the earth turns green around us, many farmers are taking their last big inhale before their fields explode with life, demanding every ounce of their attention. This is certainly the case for Dan Greene, who cultivates about five acres at his farm in Shelburne with a few helping hands.
Dan Greene with herbs in the green house. Photo by Paul Franz/Greenfield Recorder.
Greene is one of many local farmers who springboarded from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at UMass Amherst to running their own farm. In Greene’s case, there were several years of work and training after graduation before he founded Good Bunch Farm in 2012. He rented land for a while before finding his permanent spot in 2018.
“The land itself is pretty good,” he says. “It’s flat, not too rocky, and above the floodplain. We’re pretty far from bigger towns, but we have the advantage of serving this little hub of Shelburne Falls. It’s a bit far for the bigger Valley farms to bother selling to, but it’s a great market for a farm like mine.”
In terms of what he grows, it’s “a whole array of fresh vegetables, a lot of culinary herbs and starter plants too,” says Greene. “For farmers markets especially, it helps to grow a little of everything so I can be a one-stop-shop.”
Dan Greene waters tomato starts in the green house. Photo by Paul Franz/Greenfield Recorder.
Farmers markets sales are a big part of Greene’s business, as is true for many smaller farms. Over the past decade, Good Bunch Farm has cemented itself as an important vendor at summer farmers markets in Shelburne Falls (Fridays, 2:00-6:30 p.m. at the corner of Main and Water streets) and Ashfield (Saturdays, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm on the town common). Both markets are running now through the end of October.
“Shelburne Falls is small but it’s a good market,” says Greene. “It’s walking distance from most of the town and people in the neighborhood definitely come to shop. I’ve been there for as long as I’ve been farming and have a very loyal customer base. Ashfield is about twice as big, and a great gathering place on Saturday mornings.”
For many years Greene only grew for farmers markets and a handful of restaurants and venues. Then, when he finally got land in Shelburne, he opened a self-serve farms stand and was surprised how popular it was.
Good Bunch Farm’s farm stand in Shelburne Falls. Photo by Paul Franz/Greenfield Recorder.
“Sales-wise, it ends up being about the equivalent of doing a third farmers market,” he says.”
The stand is open now, offering a variety of early veggies like radishes, arugula and other greens, scallions, and fresh herbs. They also have many different kinds of starter plants for sale, ready for planting in home gardens when the weather is right.
A few things are different this year at Good Bunch Farm. For one, hopefully there will be a lot fewer vegetables lost to hungry deer.
Says Greene, “We recently got a grant from the Farm Viability Enhancement Program at MDAR (the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources) to put up a deer-prevention fence. Deer are kind of a constant nuisance, and we’ve tried other strategies to stop them, but none really worked.”
Photo by Paul Franz/Greenfield Recorder.
That funding, coming from the state of Massachusetts, is not in question, and should result in more local food ending up on Hilltowner’s plates this summer. Meanwhile, many of Greene’s peer farmers were left in the lurch when the federal government canceled other grant programs, breaking promises to compensate farmers for taking care of natural resources, growing food for schools and food banks, and other public services.
“I count myself lucky that I wasn’t pursuing any federal grants right now,” he says, “but even then, I’m still affected. One of the USDA’s programs was compensating us for food we gave to local food pantries – that was really helpful and now it’s gone. If they cut SNAP, that will affect my farm.”
“Having such uncertainty, lack of support, and even combativeness coming from the feds … it’s not great, I’ll say that.”
Greene is glad that the state of Massachusetts seems much more invested in farms’ survival. Still, states and the private sector do not have the financial resources to make up for the federal government canceling their investments.
Photo by Paul Franz/Greenfield Recorder.
“I was actually just at a meeting with state officials who are trying to figure out how the state can help,” he says. “We had a bunch of farmers, people from MDAR, Senator Markey’s office, and some others. It’s great, I just don’t know what their resources can support. It’s not just agriculture but a lot of services being targeted, and a lot of holes to plug, but they want to help.”
As the growing season gets underway, farmers have even less time to lobby for the support they need, because the needs of their animals and seedlings and soon-to-be-planted fields are even more immediate. For the moment, they must trust others to keep speaking up on their behalf.
“I know there’s a lot of community support for farms, and I’m so grateful for that,” says Greene. “It’s always nice to realize that when talking to people at farmers markets.”
Looking ahead to this year, Greene says, “Honestly, I’m just really excited for the deer fence. I feel like the farm is entering a new chapter, getting bigger and better. Hopefully we can have a good productive season.”
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about local farms, farm stands, and farmers markets opening up hear you, visit buylocalfood.org.
Lady’s Slipper Orchids grown in Ashfield. Photo from Hillside Nursery website.
The spring planting season is upon us, and home gardeners are out in full force on weekends, visiting farm stands and garden centers hunting for just the right elements for their gardens and outdoor spaces. The season celebrates the return of the sun and warmer overnight temperatures, with many sun-loving species taking center stage on magazine covers, websites, and in newsletters.
But nature is a balance, and light and shade go together. As the woods warm up, trillium and lady slipper orchids may be found on woodland slopes under the cover of budding trees. As stems and leaves unfurl from the forest floor, a few local plant nurseries focus on woodland shade plants for those who appreciate a quieter, more understated garden palette.
Hillside Nursery is a small plant farm in Ashfield that specializes in the propagation and production of lady-slipper orchids and woodland wildflowers, whose botanical origins are the temperate forests of the Northern Hemisphere. Since 1989, these growers have been developing propagation and cultivation techniques for this unique group of plants so they can make these plants more available to the public.
Owner-operator, Amy Murray, talks about the start of the growing season, “The early spring can be a bit stressful not knowing what survived and what didn’t over the winter, but the cheerful early blooming plants that greet me when I go into the greenhouse lift my spirits.”
The nursery comprises of one greenhouse and a couple of shade houses for potted plants and raised beds. Hillside grows plants that are found in woodlands that gardeners can add to their shade gardens.
Murray explains, “When I was a new gardener, I only knew hostas, impatiens and astilbe for shady areas. While those are good choices, I like to think of the plants we offer as providing more interest in the shade garden by giving it a more woodland feel.”
Spring ephemerals are some of the plants that Hillside offers. These are plants that bloom in early spring before the forest is fully leafed out. Some of these plants go dormant in the summer and some do not.
Murray notes, “Some of the early spring bloomers have interesting seed pods that add further interest in summer. Some of our plants provide foliar interest; rather than being known for flowers, they have interesting shaped, patterned or colored leaves.” She adds, “We grow native plants and plants native to Europe and Asia.”
Hillside Nursery thrives in this niche of woodland plants for our region’s backyards and wooded borders. Murray says, “Our plants are more unusual, and we think, more interesting than plants offered at big box stores.”
She explains that their plants elude mass production because some are harder to grow in cultivation. Murray says, “This doesn’t mean they’re hard to grow in the garden, it just means they don’t like being in pots for extended periods of time.”
Lady slipper orchids are the farm’s specialty. Lady slipper orchids are grown from seed in laboratory conditions, and it can take up to 5 years to get a lady slipper blooming from seed.
Murray says, “We propagate most of our plants by seed, but there are others that we divide root stock because it is faster than doing it by seed. A lot of our plants take two years from seed, but there are some, like trillium, which can take four-to-five years to reach flowering size from seed.”
The specialty nursery grows and sells plants on nature’s timeline. Murray explains, “We don’t pump our plants with growth regulators and fertilizer so they’re full of flowers on the sales bench. They are allowed to grow as they would in nature, which sometimes requires a bit of imagination on the part of the customer. Just because a plant is not blooming on the sales bench, doesn’t mean it won’t bloom in the garden in the future.”
Overall, growing native woodland plants brings Murray joy. She explains, “I love all the steps of propagation, sowing seed, stepping up seedlings, dividing, potting—all of it. Even though it can be monotonous at times, it is soothing.”
Murray continues, “I also like providing people with happy, healthy plants that they can enjoy in their gardens for many years. At the plants sales we do, we have a lot of return customers who come by to say how much they love all the plants they bought in the past, and that makes me happy.”
Hillside Nursery sells through online sales: plants are bare root or potted, and some are sold as bulbs. The farm starts the season focused on wholesale accounts and spring plant sales in New England. Once the spring push is behind, Murray and her team work on propagating varieties for the next year and planning the fall sales.
The fall plant sale is bigger and offers more than the spring sale. “We turn our website on for ordering in July for fall and December for spring shipping. Things sell out quickly, so it’s best to get on our email list so you’ll get the email when we turn the website on,” says Murray.
Hillside Nursery sells plants by pre-order on their website, hillsidenursery.biz, and a selection is available locally at Baystate Perennials or Nasami Farm. The public is welcome to visit the farm’s open house on Saturday, May 31st from 9 to 1 to see the nursery and to buy plants. Hillside Nursery is open by appointment only.
Lisa Goodrich is a Communications Coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA). To find cultivated native plants and perennials at local flower farms and nurseries near you, check out CISA’s online guide at buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Walking-Cloud-MA-Sheep-and-Woolcraft-NEPM-2025.mp3Claire takes Monte and Kaliis out to visit Marti Ferguson and her herd of Finnsheep at Walking Cloud Farm in Buckland, where they also discuss the legacy and present day examples of sheep farming in the Hilltowns.
Then the party grows, as Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Fair supporters Barbara Goodchild of Barberic Farm and Launie York join to talk about nearly 50-year history of this event and everything people can enjoy this year.
The Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Fair takes place all day this Saturday and Sunday (May 24-25) at the Cummington Fair grounds. Animals, so much wool, great food, oh my! See the schedule here.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Amherst-Nurseries-John-Kinchla-NEPM-2025.mp3.
Arbor vitae growing happily at one of Amherst Nurseries’ fields (their photo)
On a very muddy day, Jennifer brings Monte and Kaliis out to Hadley to see where Amherst Nurseries grows many of the trees and shrubs they sell or use locally for landscaping jobs. They talk about:
- The two sides of John’s business: growing things, and planting them somewhere else (i.e. commercial and residential landscaping –> see what they offer here)
- How tree farms face many of the same challenges as other farmers, from extreme weather and other climate change issues to policy changes and more…
- …And how tree farming is different. Plant it today, have faith you can sell it 4 years from now!
Published February 15, 2025 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
For this family of sugarmakers, time to tapBy Jacob Nelson
Plenty of young kids tap a few maple trees, inspired by the sweet promise of maple syrup. Few become enamored with it to the point of kickstarting a family business. Cooper Deane, who helps run Bear Hill Sugar Farm, is one of them.
Cooper Deane cuts a lateral line to add a dropline while tapping trees. GAZETTE/DANIEL JACOBI II PHOTO
“I was probably 8 years old when I tapped my first tree,” he says. “A family friend who was sugaring gave me some old tubing and said, ‘here, you can try it at home if you want.’ And I remember boiling sap in a five-gallon turkey cooker in our front yard.”
From then on, collecting sap became a February tradition. Their harvest was small at first – just enough to make syrup for themselves and a few friends. About 10 years ago, production jumped as neighbors began giving the Deanes permission to tap trees on their land (in exchange for syrup). Five years ago, the idea of building their own sugarhouse took hold, so they could boil all the sap they collected themselves, rather than selling most of it to other sugarmakers. Last year, that idea became reality.
Today, the Deanes – mainly Cooper, his brother Dakota, and his father Doug – set about 3,000 taps across seven properties in Shelburne Falls. In a good year, they collect enough sap to make over 600 gallons of maple syrup. The family also raises a handful of beef cattle and milking cows, cuts hay to feed both herds and keeps chickens for eggs and bees for honey.
Maple sugaring, “has always been a family thing,” Deane says. “Whether we’re out setting tubing in the sugarbush or in boiling, we do it all together. I work in landscaping and my brother and father work in carpentry, so this time of year we’re less busy with other jobs and can spend time on it.”
Now in February, everything is set for collecting sap. Their maple trees have been tapped for weeks, expecting warmer days when the sap will start running in earnest.
Cooper Deane walks through the snow while tapping trees. GAZETTE/DANIEL JACOBI II PHOTO
“When we were younger, we used to plan on tapping the third week of February during school vacation,” says Deane. “The last few years though, we’ve started tapping before the end of January. Winter temperatures have been changing and getting warm so much earlier, and we want to catch the sap as it starts running.”
Except for a few buckets on trees in the family’s yard where it all started, most of their sap runs through networks of plastic tubing that drain into collecting tanks spread throughout the woods. During heavy sap flow, the Deanes drive around every few days, emptying sap into a larger tank on a trailer and bringing it back to their sugarhouse.
“Before we boil,” Deane explains, “the sap goes through a reverse-osmosis machine to remove some of the water (making for quicker and cheaper boiling). Sap goes in at about 1.2% to 1.5% sugar content and comes out at 12% to 14%. Then we store the concentrated sap in a tank above our evaporator and gravity-feed it into the pan below for boiling.”
When boiling, another handy tool they use is an automatic draw off system. With this, rather than continually checking if it’s ready and manually removing syrup from the pan in batches, small amounts of finished syrup are drawn off by a computer-operated valve based on data from a temperature sensor. This automation makes the process easier and the final product more consistent. After it is drawn off, syrup is filtered and either bottled then or put into steel drums for bottling later
Cooper Deane cuts a lateral line to add a dropline while tapping trees. GAZETTE/DANIEL JACOBI II PHOTO
Right now, a lot of Bear Hill Sugar Farm’s maple syrup is sold at their own farm stand, alongside their eggs and – in warmer months when it won’t quickly crystallize – their own honey too.
“Sometimes we’ll also sell syrup to other sugarhouses by the drum,” Deane explains. “This time of year especially, other folks start to run low on their own supply and buy from us. We’re also looking for stores and other places where we can sell our syrup by the bottle.”
In the future, Deane would love to expand Bear Hill Sugar Farm even further, noting that their sugarhouse could handle sap from three times the taps they currently set. At the same time, he admits he is hesitant to look too far ahead.
“The way the weather has been the last few years – big temperature swings and earlier sap runs – it makes you wonder how much it might keep changing in the future,” he says. “If it gets too warm, sugarmakers might have a much shorter season or no season at all.”
The maple industry is at an interesting crossroads. On one hand, as climate change ushers in warmer winters and more erratic weather patterns, New England maple production will be threatened. These changes can directly affect the timing and length of the sap run, and thus farmers’ bottom lines. At the same time, thanks to advances in technology, increasing consumer demand, and farmers simply tapping more trees, production of maple syrup in the Northeast is the highest it has been in decades. Canadian production is even higher, which can sometimes drive down the price of syrup and make it harder for U.S. farmers to compete.
Cooper Deane, top, taps into a tree while daughter Everleigh, bottom, 4, plays in the snow. GAZETTE/DANIEL JACOBI II PHOTO
While the industry’s future depends on big decisions about our climate and economy, on a local scale, sugarmakers like the Deanes continue to chase that sweet promise of maple syrup. They do it for the income, but for many, the motivation is fueled by something more intrinsic too. Whatever fascination drove Cooper Deane to the alchemy of sugarmaking all those years ago, it’s clear much of it remains.
“You don’t make a ton of money doing it at our size,” he says, “but it’s not entirely about that. It’s also about the experience – being outdoors, in the woods, seeing real results from the work you put in.”
Real results that the rest of us can savor all year long.
Bear Hill Sugar Farm’s self-serve farm stand is always open at 205 South Warger Road in Shelburne Falls. To learn more about local sugarshack restaurants and chances to see how maple syrup is made, visit tinyurl.com/Maple2025.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA).
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Pete-Mitchell-and-Liz-Garufalo-Headwater-Cider-NEPM-2025.mp3
Peter Mitchell of Headwater Cider and (“almost Dr.”) Elizabeth Garofalo of UMass Extension give Claire, Monte, and Kaliis a peek at the winter wonderland of Headwater Cider’s homebase in Hawley. They talk about:
- Ice cider – a sweet treat that concentrates ciders’ sugars, sharpness, and flavors. Headwater just won an award for theirs!
- The two biggest challenges orchardists face: labor shortages and “climate chaos” (weather and pests don’t follow any regular schedule at all!)
- Why the small batch, estate cider Headwater and other western Mass cideries are known for is so different from “six-pack cider” – and why each batch is unique.
Headwater’s cider is available at many stores across Hampshire, Franklin, and Berkshire county. See the full list here!
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Kyle-Zegel-Just-Roots-NEPM-2025.mp3Clockwise from top: Monte, Jacob, Kaliis, and Kyle Zegel
Food is love. That is the ethos of Kyle Zegel‘s Field Notes story, and how he approaches his work at Just Roots, teaching kids and families to approach cooking with a sense of empowerment and joy.
In this segment, hear about Just Roots’ amazing food justice programs (food-is-medicine CSAs, community gardens, farm to school and more!), and don’t miss Kyle’s story at Field Notes this Saturday. It’s a doozy – he’s closing out the show! Tickets start at $10 – get yours here!
Published February 1, 2025 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Food that brings you home: At Smith College, sustainable food bridges culturesBy Jacob Nelson
From Puerto Rico to Northampton, from popular steakhouses to college cafeterias, Jamil Asad-Ubinas, has helped run a lot of kitchens in his life. Today, he is Smith College Dining Service’s menu and systems specialist.
“What stands out about Smith,” he says, “is how true they are to supporting local and sustainable food. They want to be part of that movement.”
Jamil Asad-Ubinas, menu and systems specialist at Smith College.
What stands out about Asad-Ubinas is his passion for good food, not just for the pleasure of eating it, but also for food’s capacity to teach about and affirm the value of each other’s cultures. Next Saturday, February 8, he will tell a story about the transformative power of food at Field Notes, a live storytelling event hosted by Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) featuring stories from people working hard behind the scenes of the local food system.
When school is in full swing, Smith College serves three meals a day to over 2,400 students. They operate nine dining halls, each with varying menus for different cuisines and dietary needs, along with two cafes and catering for events. Most locations are for students only, but visitors can eat at the Campus Center Cafe.
In his role, Asad-Ubinas is a key part of Smith’s efforts to buy more food from local businesses and farms. The college regularly serves local produce, dairy, sweeteners and more, yet where they truly excel is in getting more local meat on the table. That work began in earnest back in 2018, when Smith rallied several schools, including Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Westfield State, to propose what ended up being a winning proposal for the Kendall Foundation’s New England Food Vision Prize.
(Smith College Photo)
Their idea was simple, in theory: instead of buying meat by the cut, schools would buy whole cows and pigs from Massachusetts farmers, taking on the responsibility of getting the animals processed and then storing and using meat from the whole animal. Farmers would benefit from increased sales and getting to focus more on raising animals while the schools handled the rest. Meanwhile, the schools would get a reliable supply of fresher, higher quality beef and pork. The whole arrangement would reduce waste – since schools would use the whole animal, not just popular steaks or tenderloins – and direct more money into the local economy.
The training, new equipment, and learning curve of using whole animals was considerable, but seven years later, Smith is still buying whole animals from local farms. “It costs a little more than buying meat from other vendors,” says Asad-Ubinas, “but Smith recognized the benefits. It helps local businesses thrive, the students love the product, and so we worked it into our regular budget.”
Smith College’s regular dining menus feature cuisine from close to home and around the world, just like their student body (Smith College Photo)
Once food comes into their kitchens, Smith College Dining also excels at meeting students’ dietary needs. “Any student can meet with our nutritionists or chefs and make a dietary plan that fits their needs,” Asad-Ubinas explains. Among their dining halls, “there’s a gluten-free facility, an allergen-friendly space that also serves only Halal proteins, and a vegan and vegetarian space serving no meat whatsoever.”
Good food must be safe and nourishing. To Asad-Ubinas, it should also teach students about other cultures, or – if they themselves are far from home – offer familiar comforts and and sign of being welcome. These views come partly from his own upbringing, which helped encourage him into the kitchen in the first place.
“My mom is Puerto Rican, my dad is Palestinian, and I grew up in Puerto Rico,” he explains. “My parents’ food was amazing and just so unique, man. I knew if I wanted anything like it, I’d have to learn to make it myself.”
In high school he worked at a nearby bakery. After graduating and earning an associate’s degree in business, he said, “Dad, here’s the diploma you wanted, now I’m gonna go get mine,” and promptly earned his culinary certification too. By 2011, he was married and working for dining services at the University of Puerto Rico when funding shortfalls eliminated his job. Not seeing a clear future for his family and career in Puerto Rico, he moved to take a seasonal job in Florida.
(Smith College Photo)
“I made some contacts there and landed a job as executive chef at a new steakhouse in Maryland,” he says. “The restaurant was a hit, but the job and cost of living there weren’t sustainable for our family. So, we decided to move to Holyoke, where my mother-in-law lived.”
Arriving in Massachusetts in 2014, he first had little luck finding a job as a chef, until one fateful day at Hampshire College.
“My father-in-law was interviewing there to be a dishwasher, and because he’s deaf, I went with him to help translate,” Asad-Ubinas says. “I ended up talking to the general manager, and he realized, ‘I have your application on my desk. I was debating whether to call you for an interview. Since you’re here, do you want to do it now?'”
A few days later he got the job. Less than three years later, he was Hampshire’s executive chef. A few years after that, a workplace injury changed his life forever.
Jamil Asad-Ubinas will tell a story at CISA’s Field Notes storytelling show in 2025
Adjusting to his new reality was difficult, but Asad-Ubinas continued to find meaning in making food – especially recipes from his Native Puerto Rico – and sharing it and the cultural lessons it contained with others. His accident, and the lessons he learned about himself afterwards, are the seeds of the story he will tell at Field Notes next weekend (tickets on sale now at tinyurl.com/FieldNotes2025).
Looking ahead, Asad-Ubinas dreams of opening his own restaurant where everything from the menu to the art on the walls is an homage to the rich history of Puerto Rico. “There’s so much the mainland can learn from the food and culture of this one little island,” he says, “and I know that’s true about everywhere.”
By the same token, at Smith, “I’m always excited to connect with students and bring in more of their food cultures,” he says. “Not just for special events, but as part of our regular menus. We do that for our students because we care – because we want to offer them a feeling of home.”
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA.
Get your tickets for Field Notes! –> tinyurl.com/FieldNotes2025
Follow Jamil on social media and see how to make delicious Puerto Rican food! See him on:
- Facebook: facebook.com/talydbd
- TikTok: tiktok.com/@taly_dbd
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Lincoln-Fishman-Momentum-Ag-1.28.25.mp3Lincoln Fishman is performing a story at Field Notes next Saturday, Feb 8 – a bit of an origin story for Momentum Ag, the organization he founded to help speed the adoption of sustainable farming techniques through farmer-led research and learning. Momentum has worked with a handful of Northeast farms so far on fine-tuning living clover mulch systems, virtual fencing, and new strategies for cover crops. Each year they’re adding new farms. Want to enroll? Click here to contact them.
Momentum also gives away thousands of pounds of produce from their research farm in “feast boxes,” distributed last year to kids at New Hingham Regional Elementary School in Chesterfield and Conte Community School in Pittsfield. Next year, they hope to add more schools. Want to see about getting your school involved? Email hello@momentumag.org.
“A pause on federal grants and loans (and changes to immigration policy) could impact the farming community, so Western Mass News spoke with Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern and Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture.” Watch the 3 minute segment here.
Christopher Owen, an employee at Richardson’s Candy Kitchen, fills the funnel with milk chocolate to make Non-Pareiles in preparation for valentines day.
Richardson’s Candy Kitchen in Deerfield celebrated its 70th anniversary last year, and the Woodward family has operated the business since 1983, taking over where the Richardsons left off. Owner Kathie Williams, née Woodward, grew up in the business, which has always had strong ties with the local farming community.
Richardson’s Candy sources ingredients from local farms for their famous chocolates, with seasonal favorites highlighting the marriage of chocolate and local fruit. Year-round they use milk and cream from Mapleline Farm’s Jersey cows in Hadley. Fresh, local milk lends sweetness and creaminess to their chocolates. Williams says, “We’ve worked with them for 20 years. If we need a last-minute delivery in a pinch, we meet them at the barn to pick up.”
During the growing season, Richardson’s offers seasonal specialty items that have a strong following in the community. Once strawberry season is underway in June, Richardson’s offers their beloved chocolate-dipped strawberries.
Long-term relationships sweeten this iconic confection. Williams explains, “For our local strawberries in June, we rely on the Hatfield Smiarowski brothers from Teddy C Smiarowski farms. My husband and I went to high school with all of them!”
While customers anticipate this berry treat, they never quite know when the shop will offer them. Williams explains, “I tell our customers that it’s not our decision how long the season lasts—it’s up to the farmer. Strawberry season only lasts two weeks, and we have to wait for a certain, larger size of strawberry. Once the farmer gives us the go ahead, we meet every morning to pick up our flats, either at the farm or out in the field if needed.”
In the fall, Richardson’s features Clarkdale Fruit Farms’ apples to make chocolate covered caramel apples. “We have a great relationship with Ben,” Williams says, “I usually text him at the beginning of the season, and like with the strawberries, the farmer sets the schedule for both the beginning and end of our chocolate covered caramel apple season.”
Williams continues, “Clarkdale’s Honeycrisp apple is the perfect complement to our sweet caramel and chocolate. We’ve been making our chocolate covered caramel apple for 15 years. It is a beautiful drive up to the orchard and we have plenty of employees volunteering to pick up. Ben has delivered to us in a pinch, bringing a gallon of cider for us to share.”
Relationships with farmers continue to be the foundation of Richardson’s Candy Kitchen. “Farmers are great people to work with. It’s special to be able to call the farmer and meet them in the field or at the farm.”
This dedication to local sourcing is tied to Williams’ own family history. Williams’ grandfather was a farmer who grew vegetables and tobacco in Hatfield and her husband grew up on Luther Belden Farm, a dairy farm in Hatfield. Williams Sugarhouse, the maple syrup farm across the road from Richardson’s, is owned by distant relatives.
Williams recalls the neighborly rapport her parents enjoyed with the sugarhouse. “When my mother, Barbara, was working at the shop, Milt Williams would come in to deliver a fresh batch of still-warm maple sugar for us. He always grabbed a piece of chocolate or two for his ‘long’ ride back across the street,” she notes warmly.
Richardson’s Candy sells Williams Farm’s maple syrup and maple sugar, and now the family relationship continues through Kathie Williams working with Chip Williams, Milt’s great nephew. Williams notes, “We have a customer who pre-orders maple sugar to take to friends in Germany on a regular basis. Whenever our maple sugar and syrup supplies run low, Chip is right here in Deerfield and seems to deliver our orders within minutes.”
Solid Milk Chocolate Cups at Richardson’s Candy Kitchen in Deerfield.
Many ingredients for making chocolates and candy cannot be grown in New England, like chocolate, tree nuts, or coffee. Climate change and global markets can influence pricing and availability. Most recently, cocoa prices have soared, with demand exceeding supply.
Closer to home, climate change has had a ripple effect on Richardson’s. In 2023, when late frosts diminished the apple crop, there were fewer apples available for making chocolate covered caramel apples. The torrential rains of July 2023 also caused the business to close for repairs due to water damage.
Usually, weather is less of a factor for candy-making. Valentine’s Day will soon be here, and Richardson’s Candy Kitchen offers chocolates shaped like hearts and roses, plus heart-shaped boxes of candy for Valentine’s Day or candies in red wrapping. While they do offer chocolate-dipped strawberries, they are not local berries in February.
White and dark chocolate hearts at Richardson’s Candy Kitchen.
Williams explains that Valentine’s Day differs from the holiday season between Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, because people can plan ahead or shop another day during inclement weather. Valentine’s Day sales are concentrated, occurring entirely between February 13 and 14. “It’s a very last-minute holiday,” she says. “We always hope that Mother Nature cooperates, because there have been a number of years where a big snowstorm hits on the 14th, and then the holiday is over. You can’t make that up as a business,” adds Williams.
After all these years, Williams still enjoys “how every day is different. Some days, I’m more involved on the customer side; others are spent ordering, cooking, or making chocolate. I enjoy the seasonal flow, where we build up to a holiday, recover, and then move on to the next.”
The proprietor finds joy in her staff and customers. “I have an incredible staff, many of whom have been with us a long time. We have great customers, who come in periodically. We hear stories about their extended families. Some share how their grandparents used to come into our store. I am excited to carry on this 70-year tradition,” says Williams.
All photos by Carol Lollis, Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Lisa Goodrich is a Communications Coordinator with Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA). Richardson’s Candy is located at 500 Greenfield Road in Deerfield. To learn more or for online ordering, see their website and social media.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Local-Burger-NEPM-2025.mp3Local Burger’s “local burger” – two angus patties topped with cheddar, American, sauteed mushrooms, sauteed onions, roasted red peppers and bacon. Their photo.
Claire, Monte, and Kaliis talk to Joe Igneri, Tabitha Salfrank and Lexi Badelucci from Local Burger about their incredibly good (and incredibly inventive) food, often featuring the flavors of local farms. As their fan base grows, they’ve expanded from their first restaurant in Northampton to now having FOUR locations. Each is known for being a little different: Northampton is the biggest, Haydenville (open seasonally) has barbecue straight from the smoker, Easthampton has the most drink options, and Keene NH…is in NH!
Local Burger uses grass-fed beef from Porter Family Farm in Ashfield for several of their burgers. They also use local potatoes and other produce throughout the year, and serve locally made beer and spirits too. For hours and menus at all locations, visit: www.localnorthampton.com.
A local spot that’s easy to love: Familiars Coffee & Tea in Northampton sources local for their seasonal flavorsBy Jacob Nelson
Some restaurants are once-in-a-while places. Maybe they’re a bit fancy. Maybe their menu is a bit one-dimensional. Maybe they’re great for grabbing a sandwich to-go between meetings, or a sit-down Sunday morning brunch while your parents are in town, but not both.
Emma Colwell photo
Then there are restaurants that seem like the right every day. They are comfortable and inviting, begging you to linger and enjoy the space and people around you. The food is good quality and easy to love. The satisfaction ceiling is high, and so is the floor, because they are consistent. These are the restaurants that quickly turn first-time customers into familiar faces.
This is exactly what owners Danny McColgan and Isaac Weiner are aiming for with Familiars Coffee & Tea, tucked into the iconic red diner car on Strong Avenue in Northampton. As their name implies, “we love regulars and seeing familiar faces from behind the counter,” McColgan says. “Really, we love getting to know our community.”
The first thing that stands out about Familiars is its outward appearance. Built by the now-defunct Worcester Lunch Car Company decades ago, the building was designed to look like a passenger train’s diner car. Having graced that corner of Strong Ave for decades, “it’s always had this familiar quality itself, and we wanted to maintain its legacy as a landmark,” McColgan says. Today, from the outside, it looks nearly the same as when it was Kathy’s Diner (from 1989 to 2013), or the Miss Northampton Diner or Red Lion Diner before that.
The inside dining area, however, looks “jarringly different,” in McColgan’s words, compared to both the outer facade and how the inside used to look under different owners.
“Walking in, it feels like a reading room or maybe a public library – warm and academic, sort of,” he says. “There’s antique solid oak paneling everywhere, which was reclaimed from the executive offices of an old paper mill in Holyoke, and there’s a vaulted ceiling in the back room. If people haven’t been in before, they sometimes have a bit of confusion and a bit of awe on their face.”
The back room at Familiars Coffee & Tea. Danny McColgan photo.
Upon entering, visitors immediately face the counter where they can place their order before claiming their seat. There are cozy nooks to settle in with a cup of warm tea and a book, while other tables are well-lit by natural light streaming though head-height windows.
The food itself McColgan describes as, “approachable and, well, familiar.” They have options for omnivores, vegetarians and vegans alike, offering seasonal specials alongside a main menu available year-round.
The biggest section of the menu is devoted to perhaps the most familiar food there is in American cuisine: sandwiches. Most breakfast sandwiches start with an egg, sometimes paired simply with cheese and meat or tempeh bacon as a vegetarian option. Others include more inventive combinations like the “Mediterranean,” featuring roasted red peppers, feta and balsamic reduction. Lunch sandwiches include a laundry list of well-loved combinations like BLTs, chicken salad, turkey avocado, apples and cheese, and hummus and veggies. Most sandwiches are served on any bread or bagel of choice, with bagels made locally by Tandem Bagel Company. Pastries, granola bowls, bagels with spreads, sweet and savory toasts, and salads round out the food options.
Emma Colwell photo
The drink menu is equally straightforward yet diverse, with many choices for coffee and tea. Most coffee drinks are espresso based, but they also have drip, pour over and cold brew. The tea selection includes white, green, black, oolong, herbal and others. Hot chocolate, specialty sodas, and other unique homemade drinks also make an appearance.
In terms of seasonal additions, “this winter, we have a smoky tofu sandwich with marinated tofu and pickled veggies, and another sandwich with maple-roasted carrots,” McColgan says. “For seasonal beverages, my favorite is our salted maple caramel latte. We caramelize local maple syrup from Snowshoe Mountain Farm to make a very distinct wintery flavor. We also just launched a Biscoff latte, flavored with a house-made syrup made from Biscoff cookies.”
Some ingredients for seasonal specials come from local farms and businesses. So do many of the ingredients they use every day of the year. “As a coffee shop, we use a lot of milk and cream, which we get from High Lawn Farm in Lee,” says McColgan. “We also use a lot of sprouts on our sandwiches, which come from Gill Greenery, and we use Kitchen Garden Farm sriracha because it’s just the best.”
Familiars orders a lot of their produce through Marty’s Local, a distributor that McColgan calls “such an amazing resource. They have connections with a whole network of local farms, which allows small businesses like us to get tons of local ingredients in a single order. It’s such a treat.”
It has been nearly six years since McColgan and Weiner opened Familiars’ doors for the first time. Before that, the two had plenty of experience managing other people’s eateries and retail businesses, but opening Familiars was a leap of trust – trust that they understood what people wanted and that a place like Familiars would deliver. By all accounts, it has.
Emma Colwell photo
With the confidence that comes from experience, when the previous owner of the Florence Pie Bar, Maura Glennon, wanted to step away, McColgan and Weiner made an offer to buy and run that restaurant alongside Familiars.
“We heard Maura wanted to sell, and we thought it would be an interesting opportunity to see how the two businesses could work together,” McColgan explains. “We also wanted to preserve the legacy of another beloved space that meant so much to people.”
Ultimately, McColgan and Weiner seem to have a knack for, as McColgan describes, “creating spaces that people enjoy spending time in,” along with recognizing and enhancing ones that already exist.
“Whether that’s through customer service, getting them hooked on a great sandwich, or making the best coffee – or all those factors coming together – that’s our big love,” he says. “We love creating these third spaces that aren’t work and aren’t home, but are kind of a home, that people go out of their way to enjoy.”
Familiars Coffee & Tea is open 8am – 6pm daily at 6 Strong Avenue in Northampton.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about restaurants cooking farm fresh local food near you, visit buylocalfood.org.
Published January 11, 2025 in the Greenfield Recorder
Local stores report a drop in those using Healthy Incentives Program in recent weeksBy Chris Larabee
Just over a month since Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) benefits were cut by a minimum of 50%, local businesses and advocates for the initiative are hopeful that it will be restored, as farmers, vendors and stores are seeing the effects of reduced benefits.
In December, HIP benefits, regardless of household size, were reduced to $20, as the Department of Transitional Benefits (DTA) made the reductions to ensure the program can operate through the end of the fiscal year at its current level of funding. The previous benefit model saw households of one to two people receiving up to $40, households of three to five people getting up to $60 and houses of six or more people getting up to $80 per month.
HIP is a program that puts money back on EBT cards when people use their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to buy healthy, local produce from HIP vendors. Both HIP and SNAP are administered by DTA.
The effects of those cuts are becoming apparent at stores around the region, such as the Atlas Farm Store, where owner and manager Kelly Hickey said December HIP and SNAP sales — the state combines the numbers — were down 27% from the previous year, a stark decrease compared to the average 15% to 20% increase the store typically sees every year.
“People are still coming out, but we’re not seeing as many people. We’re not seeing people get everything they want … their budget is so much tighter,” Hickey said, adding that the last day of November saw its highest-ever percentage of SNAP/HIP sales. Dec. 1, she noted, was the lowest percentage of those sales the store ever had.
In November, the month prior to the reduction, 43,039 households across Massachusetts participated in HIP, totaling 72,027 transactions with an average incentive of $39.46 per household, according to data released by DTA. Data is not available for December 2024 yet.
At Quabbin Harvest in Orange, interim Team Leader Camille Bedaw said the decrease in HIP shoppers has been evident since the reductions took place.
“We’ve definitely had a decrease in people who are utilizing the HIP program,” Bedaw said. “Those people aren’t coming in and shopping like they used too … not having those people come in hurts.”
While it hurts financially, Hickey said it also takes a personal toll on everyone involved, starting with the farmers and vendors.
“It’s the feeling of helping people put back an apple [when they can’t afford it],” she said. “We’re really feeling for our vendors and customers.”
Those more-widespread concerns are also shared by Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), as interim Executive Director Kelly Coleman said the cuts are having “immediate negative impacts on families who rely on HIP and on winter sales for vendors.”
“We’re also hearing from farmers that this reduction introduces a whole new level of uncertainty as they plan for the coming growing season, especially those that offer CSA shares or sell products year-round,” Coleman said. “We are continuing to advocate that the governor and legislative leadership pass a supplemental budget to restore full funding for HIP for the rest of the fiscal year.”
Bedaw said she and her team are hopeful the state can restore the funding.
“From what we’ve heard, they’re working really hard on getting it restored,” she said. “It’s a great program and it helps a lot of families in the area.”
HIP funding
HIP is funded through the state budget process and Gov. Maura Healey’s initial fiscal year 2025 proposal requested $25 million for HIP. The final budget, though, provided only $15 million.
State finance laws require DTA to operate within the appropriated budget for the agency.
To restore the program back to its previous levels, the $10 million shortfall would need to be filled by a supplemental budget, which needs to be filed by Healey, according to state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton.
Attempts to reach the governor’s office were unsuccessful. Healey filed a supplemental budget request on Jan. 6 for $425 million to fund the state’s emergency assistance shelter program.
Comerford said the Legislature anticipates another supplemental budget soon and once it is filed, she expects the House and Senate to act quickly on it.
“I recognize the delays are concerning. We need the governor to act and I understand the supplemental [budget] is on her plate and that she’s working on it,” Comerford said. “I can tell you the leadership in the Senate is completely tuned in on the Healthy Incentives Program … This is a legislative priority program, it makes it even more imperative that the Legislature act.”
She said the ongoing push to restore HIP has been “one of the major advocacy campaigns we’ve seen in the last handful of weeks.” Coleman added CISA has participated in a wide-ranging coalition of advocates to prevent the cuts and, now, restore the funding.
“CISA, along with many partner organizations, HIP vendor farms and markets, community members and supportive legislators, did a lot of advocacy work in the hopes that we could stave off the HIP cuts,” Coleman said. “Unfortunately, the state did not increase this program’s funding, and now we’re over a month into the benefit reduction.”
Comerford noted the HIP program is a “triple win,” as it spurs economic development, puts healthy food into people’s hands and boosts revenue for farmers.
“For example, a farmers market, that farmers market will attract more people because they have more money to spend and they might choose to buy something that is not covered by SNAP or HIP,” Comerford said. “It’s a positive reinforcing program.”
In the meantime, SNAP benefits remain an option for folks and there may be opportunities for people to maximize their SNAP benefits by reporting expenses, such as housing or medical costs, to DTA. More information can be found here: bit.ly/40iouca.
If people need help finding food, they can locate the nearest pantry or meal program through the Western Massachusetts Food Assistance Network at the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts’ website here: bit.ly/40tQDhI.
Published January 11, 2025 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
This CSA farm sets the standard: Mountain View Farm in Easthampton heads into 20th season with over 2,000 membersBy Jacob Nelson
“Yes, you get some veggies to take home,” says Liz Adler of Mountain View Farm in Easthampton about becoming a member of their community supported agriculture (CSA) program. “But if you want it, the whole experience is a lot more than that.”
On the surface, CSA programs are simple: customers pay a farm up front for a CSA membership, and in exchange take home a portion of that farm’s harvest. Some people become CSA members to save money, taking home local food for less than it usually costs to buy it retail. Others want to expand their culinary horizons, either with a produce CSA or one for local meat, dairy, eggs, or even grains and beans, all of which and more are offered by western Massachusetts farms. Still others join CSAs to widen their social circles or to involve themselves or their families more deeply with where their food comes from.
Mountain View Farm’s land in Easthampton. Courtesy Mountain View Farm.
As CSA farms go, it’s hard to find one with more practice — or more public support — than Mountain View Farm, run by Adler and her husband, Ben Perrault.
“We’re heading into our 20th season next year, and for the last 16 years we’ve been named the best CSA farm in the Valley according to the Valley Advocate,” Adler says. “Altogether we farm over 100 acres in Easthampton, Northampton and Hadley, and have more than 2,000 CSA members, all of them local and many of them with us for a long time.”
Perrault started farming right after high school, working on several farms in Vermont and Massachusetts including a longer stint at the original Food Bank Farm, run in partnership with the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. Adler took a different path, getting a master’s degree in education before eventually joining forces with her husband to open Mountain View.
Summer CSA sign-ups are open now for them and many local farms. Courtesy Mountain View Farm.
Today, most of Mountain View’s farmland is leased from other landowners, including 60 acres from Mass Audubon and 35 acres from the Food Bank. With the latter organization, “we have a unique relationship,” Adler explains. “Instead of paying cash rent, we give them organic produce – over two million pounds since we started. We often grow more than we can sell, and they can give it to people who need it.”
The remaining acres are their home base in Easthampton, including their family home and the buildings where members come to pick up their CSA shares. Behind these are large fields of you-pick produce, herbs, and flowers, and even a kids play area.
Over time, Adler and Perrault built the kind of CSA farm where, if they weren’t the farmers, they would want to be members. Schedule flexibility, a family-friendly atmosphere and opportunities to engage kids with the farm all seemed important to their own family. So, that’s the experience they create for their members.
Produce ready for members to choose from to fill out their weekly CSA shares one recent summer at Mountain View Farm. Courtesy Mountain View Farm
Mountain View Farm’s main season CSA – which is currently accepting new members for 2025 – includes 21 weeks of produce from early June through October and offers members a lot of choice. CSA shares come in three sizes: a small feeds one to two people, a medium feeds three to four, and a large is designed for big households or for two households to easily split. Rather than accepting a pre-made box of produce, most weeks people can choose to take home whatever they want from each category of produce, up to a certain weight. Members can pick up their shares and harvest generously from the you-pick gardens any time the farm is open – typically Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
In addition to their main-season CSA, Mountain View also offers a winter CSA share that runs from November through January. That includes five free-choice distributions of produce like carrots, potatoes and sweet potatoes, each totaling over 20 pounds.
CSA farmers and their customers tend to support each other and grow close. Courtesy Mountain View Farm.
As a business model, the benefits of a CSA break both ways. “Farmers tend to get more autonomy and a more predictable market,” says Adler. “Customers get better value. I mean, our small share is $26 per week. If you walked into grocery store with $26, you couldn’t get anything close to the amount of organic produce you get here each week.”
Covering the upfront cost can be a financial barrier. However, anyone who qualifies for SNAP (formerly food stamps) or HIP (the Massachusetts Healthy Incentives Program) can use those benefits to pay for a CSA share at Mountain View or several other local farms. Plus, some healthcare companies offer a wellness credit that can be put towards a CSA share, and UMass Five College Federal Credit Union also offers a farm share loan, where people take out money to cover the upfront costs and pay it back over six months with 0% interest. Together, those strategies make CSA membership far more approachable.
That’s good news for anyone looking for new inspiration for what to cook or eat, since joining a CSA program almost always shifts members’ perspectives about food.
Celeriac makes amazing stocks and soups, Liz Adler says. Courtesy Mountain View Farm.
“Part of the joy and adventure is being encouraged to try new things,” says Adler. She loves the chance to teach members both about enjoying new-to-them foods and about the realities of farming, often through weekly newsletters. Those kinds of interactions usually don’t happen when farmers and eaters are separated by a middle business, like a grocery store. CSA programs make it possible.
“Finding recipes is also one of the few reasons we’re better off with the internet,” Adler adds, laughing. “Type in celeriac (celery root) and you’ll get like 10,000 recipes. We love making stocks with it or pureeing it with fresh herbs for a delicious and creamy soup. Watermelon radishes are another current favorite, which we love eating raw, roasted or as a quick pickle. Quick pickles are so easy and good. You just boil the right amount of sugar, vinegar and water to make a brine, and pour it over them in a jar. You can quick pickle almost anything.”
As the new year dawns, CSA farms are already planning for next summer. Signing up for a CSA sooner rather than later offers farmers and eaters more certainty, and something to look forward to during the chilly winter months.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about local farms offering CSAs near you, visit buylocalfood.org.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Charlotte-Cote-Cote-Cattle-Company-1.6.24.mp3.
Monte, Kaliis, and Claire visit Cote Cattle Company in Granby where farmer Charlotte Cote talks about the wild world of raising Registered Texas Longhorn cattle. Hear about:
- Why longhorns are such hardy and unique creatures
- All the cute baby longhorns (“shorthorns”?), and how selective breeding is a big part of raising these animals
- Why longhorn beef tastes different and where you can get it (on the menu at Something Special Cafe in Granby or ordered straight from the farm here)
Josh Puza, and Vicky Puza-Allen managers at Puza’s Pure Food Market in Southampton. Photo by Carol Lollis, Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Upon walking in the door at Puza’s Pure Food Market, a commitment to fresh, local produce is on display. Visually, produce seems to fill a substantial portion of the store. As the harvest season eases towards the holidays, bins and baskets overflow with gigantic cabbage for golumpki, bags of onions and potatoes straight from our region’s famous soil.
Siblings Vicky Puza-Allen and Josh Puza are the fourth-generation co-managers of the family-owned and operated Puza’s Pure Food Market. From the moment their great-grandfather, Boleslaw Puza, came from Poland to Westfield, feeding the community has been the family’s vocation. Raising chickens and goats on his farm, Boleslaw Puza sold chicken and goat meat door-to-door.
After a brief tenure in Holyoke, Boleslaw’s son, William Puza, opened the Pure Food Market in 1949 in Westfield on North Elm Street, at the location of the North Elm Butcher Block shop (that business is also in the family under the care of cousins to the Puza’s Market siblings).
In 1964, brothers Don and Bill Puza opened a large supermarket in Southampton, but local produce was Don Puza’s passion. In 1988, Don Puza, father of Vicky Puza-Allen and Josh Puza, moved the store to 31 College Highway in Southampton. As Don Puza taught his children to run the store, supporting local farmers was the priority for the store. Puza-Allen says, “Dad became very friendly with a lot of local farmers. He believed in supporting them first, and Josh kept that going.”
Local produce sold at Puza’s Pure Food Market in Southampton.
Photo by Carol Lollis, Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Josh Puza explains that he kept the farm relationships that began with his father. Some of the farmers of his father’s generation have passed, and now Josh Puza works with the sons of those farmers to procure local produce for the store.
Puza-Allen notes “many of the farmers are short-handed too, and so Josh uses his own vehicle to run back and forth between farms and the store.” Josh Puza continues, “During the heavy season when everything’s coming in, I’m pretty much going to farms on a daily basis to pick up produce for our store.”
The produce aisle is a mini roll call for local farms throughout our region: Wendolowski Farm, Bashista Orchards, Fini Farm, Bardwell Farm. The siblings note they work with too many farms to name, but additional farms include Fairview Farm in the spring, and Kosinski Farms. Soon the store will offer Christmas logs, wreaths, swags, and kissing balls from Gooseberry Farms.
Josh Puza notes, “The North Hadley Sugar Shack stepped in when a supplier decided of the blue to no longer wholesale. The farms know my customers and they know what I can move.”
“It’s an old fashioned ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours arrangement,’” Puza-Allen notes. “They want to see our store succeed. The farms support a family-owned market because they are family-owned as well.”
Times have changed, and foods come in and out of fashion. Puza-Allen explains that while Don Puza ran the market, “he kept to the basics: lettuce, onions, potatoes. He insisted we always keep the ingredients for boiled dinners.”
The siblings banter as they recall the gradual change in produce offerings from the farms that made their way into the store. Josh Puza chuckles about their father’s response to kale: “Don’t waste your money. We don’t need that.” And to leeks: “giant scallions.” As time moved on, Josh introduced a greater variety of produce to the store, including fresh radishes, purple-top turnips, and beets with the greens attached.
Don Puza centered the business on serving the local community, by supplying local churches cabbage for their Polish holiday food sales of golumpki, sauerkraut, kapusta, and pierogi. His children have continued this tradition, and Josh Puza notes, “Cabbage is one of our biggest crops.”
A bin of cabbage might contain 80-120 cabbages, depending on the size of each vegetable. The store will sell a bin of cabbage every other day. “Our customers know that when they need big, blocky heads of cabbage, they’re coming here to get what they want,” says Josh Puza.
The siblings honor arrangements established by their father, ensuring best pricing on cabbage and other produce for churches and other civic organizations in the community. Puza-Allen notes, “We still have people telling us stories about how our dad helped them.”
Josh Puza says, “I don’t like to go too high on produce, so people can afford it. I do my best to match the prices of other stores.” The store accepts SNAP so that fresh produce is accessible to more people.
While produce takes center stage at Puza’s Pure Food Market, their in-store butcher shop and salads have drawn loyal customers over the decades. “We specialize in cutting our own meats to order, all our deli salads are made in-store using fresh, local produce in season. If the farmers are out there,
Jesse Allen, employee at Puza’s Pure Food Market in Southampton, at the meat counter. Photo by Carol Lollis, Daily Hampshire Gazette.
we’re using their produce. It depends on the season, of course,” says Puza-Allen.
The store features fresh “heat and eat” items that are made daily, and include golumpki, lazy pierogi, chop suey, and more. “Everything is made here with local ingredients,” Puza-Allen notes. “I hope people continue to support us and all our hard workers.”
Growing up in the store, the siblings still enjoy their community market. Josh Puza quips, “We’re almost the Cheers of Southampton. We really do know almost everybody by name. It’s fun when someone comes in and is genuinely excited to find cabbage or a honeynut squash.”
Lisa Goodrich is a Communications Coordinator with Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA). For hours and more information, check out Puza’s Pure Food sales flyer each week in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and on their Facebook page.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Nan-Parati-Ashfield-Winter-Market-NEPM-2024.mp3Nan Parati joins, Jacob, Monte, and Kaliis to talk about two events in Ashfield this weekend that she hopes can bring more joy and connection to our lives: A concert and dance party Friday November 15 at 7:30 with the band “Timeless,” and the Ashfield Winter Farmers’ Market every Saturday until Christmas from 10am – 1pm.
Nan also talks about how she wound up in Ashfield with an unfortunate nudge from Hurricane Katrina. You can hear that story in full from her Field Notes performance in 2018.
By the way, we’re currently recruiting storytellers for this winter’s Fields Notes show! You could be like Nan and share your local food or farm story from the big stage! Learn more here.
Nan Parati speaking at Field Notes in 2018
Published November 9, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Coolidge Hill Farm: Hip to the Future of Local FoodBy Jacob Nelson
Jared Duval built his farm around Massachusetts’ innovative Healthy Incentives Program (HIP). Since 2017, HIP has helped tens of thousands of lower-income households buy fresh produce grown by local farmers. By most accounts, it’s been a wild success, improving access to nutritious food and the economic outlook for local farms.
Yet funding for HIP is still much lower than the demonstrated need, putting the future of farms like Duval’s in question. Given recent rhetoric from state government, “we were really hoping HIP would be expanded,” he says. “Instead, it’s being cut. It feels like we’re being told two opposite things.”
Jared Duval, farmer-owner of Coolidge Hill Farm
Duval runs Coolidge Hill Farm in New Salem. He owns 25 acres and farms about five using integrated pest management (IPM) practices, which he describes as “a melding between organic and conventional farming.” After growing up on a dairy farm, he learned produce farming hands-on by working on several local farms, including Coolidge Hill, and through the Sustainable Food and Farming program at UMass. Eventually, life brought him back to Coolidge Hill, where eight years ago he was able to buy the farm.
Today, most of Coolidge Hill Farm’s land grows vegetables. “If you pick up a seed catalogue, we grow pretty much everything in it,” Duval quips. They also grow some fruit – mostly berries – and raise pigs.
During the growing season, Duval sells food at two farmers markets in Worcester plus the Orange Farmers Market, where he’s also on the steering committee. The farm also sells produce to a mobile market in Worcester and most of their pork to the Quabbin Harvest Food Co-op in Orange. Some of their remaining produce goes to a 20 week produce CSA of their own for a handful of customers, but the bulk goes to Quabbin Harvest’s Community Shares Program. This is a unique take on the CSA model, where customers can pay for year-round, biweekly fruit and/or vegetable shares with HIP.
HIP eligible produce from Coolidge Hill Farm at a recent farmers’ market
HIP, run by the state’s Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), reimburses families for locally grown fruits and veggies each month bought with SNAP (formerly called food stamps) at approved HIP vendors. They simply pay using SNAP and see that money, up to a monthly cap, immediately reimbursed back onto their SNAP-EBT card. This innovative program helps people stretch food budgets to include healthy local produce, and helps local farms reach financial stability while encouraging them to cater to all people in their communities.
At Coolidge Hill Farm, sales to HIP customers have increased steadily ever since Duval took over. “Over the last 3 years in particular, it’s become a cornerstone of our business,” he says. “A lot of our farmers market sales are very HIP driven, and the Quabbin Harvest CSA is entirely for HIP customers. At this point almost 50% of farm income is based on HIP.”
Duval built his business around HIP for the financial stability and community benefits it offered. That makes it difficult to stomach the recent announcement that the cap on HIP households’ benefits, which now ranges from $40 per month for one or two people up to $80 for households larger than six, are slated to be flattened to $20 per month for all households starting in December. The average HIP household now buys around $40 of local produce per month using HIP, according to the state’s own data – twice the new proposed cap.
According to the DTA, these cutbacks are to ensure the program can run without fear of draining its funding. HIP is funded in the state budget, and although Governor Maura Healy proposed $25 million for it this fiscal year, the legislature’s final budget only made about $16 million available. That’s far less than the $18.4 million worth of local produce families bought with HIP the year before, or the $25 million advocates say would keep the program fully funded this year.
All the math points to HIP filling a real need, and many local legislators and HIP advocates have reacted with shock and determination to see it fully funded as more and more households use it. Led by the Massachusetts Food System Collaborative in collaboration with Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), Gardening the Community, the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and others, the Campaign for HIP Funding is advocating for an additional $10 million for HIP in an upcoming state supplemental budget.
As a farmer, Duval says the recent announcement leaves him confused and saddened, especially since other state programs are actively helping farms grow more local food and make access to it more equitable.
“Two summers ago, we got a $57,000 Food Security Infrastructure Grant for a new tractor and irrigation system that’s helped us grow a lot more food,” he says. “The whole basis of our proposal was about growing food for lower-income communities. One department funded that, then another slashed HIP and undercut us being able to sell to that market.
“There’s not much money in farming to begin with,” he continues. “Even losing 10% of your sales in a year can be the difference between surviving or folding. A lot of farmers are talking about backup plans for our businesses in case that doesn’t come through.”
Duval’s contingency plan for Coolidge Hill Farm might involve raising more pigs and starting a meat CSA. It could also mean expanding their own produce CSA or getting into more farmers markets to offset lower HIP sales. In short, other markets exist, but they remain unproven, and it’s not easy to remake a farm or any business overnight.
“A lot of farmers I’m talking to are disgruntled,” Duval says. “Some are speaking out.”
Some are adding their support to The Campaign to Fund HIP at www.hipma.org. Some are calling the Governor’s office and legislative leadership or planning to gather on the statehouse steps this Wednesday the 13th to lobby against the proposed cuts. Many are still selling a lot of their fall harvest though HIP, wondering what the winter holds.
Jacob Nelson is a communications coordinator at CISA.
All photos provided courtesy of Coolidge Hill Farm.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Tuesday-Market-and-HIP_NEPM-2024.mp3Claire takes Monte and Kaliis to Grow Food Northampton’s Tuesday Market, where market manager Helen Kahn and farmers Sarah and Ryan Voiland of Red Fire Farm and Tevis Robertson-Goldberg of Crabapple Farm share why HIP (the Healthy Incentives Program) should be fully funded.
After the election, many of us are looking for meaningful actions we can take. Supporting HIP at the state level is a great one. Call the governor’s office and legislative leadership and urge them to fund HIP fully through the rest of the year. You can find contact information and talking points here.
HIP gives all households with SNAP extra money to spend on produce grown by local farms, helping them stretch their SNAP dollar and farms reach more financial stability. Until now, households of different sizes could spend $40 to $80 per month using HIP. Proposed cuts may lower that cap to $20/month for everyone starting in December.
“People have been pretty devastated,” says Helen. “At our markets alone, we had over 1,200 households use HIP, spending over $80,000. That’s $80,000 of free food for them, and it goes right to our farmers and local economy while allowing more access to this great food.”
By Claire Morenon, Communications Manager at CISA
Published November 7, 2024 in the Greenfield Recorder
This winter, thousands of low-income Massachusetts families will have less food on their tables — unless we take action now. The state needs to allocate an additional $10 million to HIP, the Healthy Incentives Program, to stave off program cuts that are set to take place in December, and you can help to make that happen by calling the governor and legislative leadership.
HIP is a state program that provides nutritious food for low-income households and a vital income stream for local farms and markets. It works as a rebate, so when a shopper uses SNAP (formerly food stamps) to buy vegetables or fruit directly from a participating farm, farmers market or farm stand, they receive an instant rebate on their EBT card of up to $80/month, depending on household size. At least, that is what the 180,000 Massachusetts households who use HIP have come to rely on over the years.
Elizabeth Solaka photo
The state Department of Transitional Assistance announced that, starting on Dec. 1, HIP benefits will be cut to just $20/month for all households. This is because HIP received only $15 million in the state’s fiscal year 2025 budget, despite estimates that the program needed $25 million to be fully funded for the whole year. That’s why we are calling on our legislators and the governor to approve the additional $10 million to keep HIP fully funded for the rest of the fiscal year.
HIP has been a point of pride for Massachusetts, and its benefits are clear. The extra money allows low-income people to buy fresh, local, healthy, culturally appropriate food, which offers immense benefits to health and well-being. And for the hundreds of farm businesses that have signed up as HIP-approved vendors, it has created a new income stream and revitalized markets that aim to provide food to low-income communities.
There are 38 farmers markets, 12 mobile markets with 109 stops, 59 farmers with 66 farm stands, and 25 farmers with SNAP CSA programs that accept HIP and that will be open in December. For the CSA farms, who have seasonal agreements with customers, this cut is especially direct.
The losses to the households who rely on HIP will be serious. The most vulnerable members of our communities will see an immediate loss in their grocery budgets, amounting to a 50% reduction in benefits for the vast majority of HIP households, and that will increase food insecurity. Cutting a family’s food budget right before the year-end holidays and throughout the cold winter months is an especially painful blow.
Many HIP shoppers make a special trip to a farmers market or farm stand so they can take full advantage of their benefit, which can be costly in time and transportation fees. This steep reduction in HIP benefits will change the calculation about whether that trip is worth the costs, which may force many HIP shoppers to forfeit their entire benefit as a result.
The longer-term impacts are no less important. Low-income people who rely on SNAP and HIP to feed their families deserve security and continuity in their food budgets, and this cut will undermine their trust in HIP. After even a short-term reduction in benefits, it will take many months to return to earlier usage rates and for customers to feel secure in using their benefits again.
For the hundreds of farmers who have shaped their business plans and crop production so that they can serve their low-income neighbors through HIP, this will result in an immediate loss in much-needed income. Farmers have made significant investments in training staff to manage the additional administrative costs of HIP, in hiring multilingual staff to better serve HIP customers, in staffing markets that rely on HIP customers for financial viability, in signage and outreach. They will be on the front lines of communicating these cuts to customers, and rebuilding trust in the program.
The state made a tacit promise to HIP vendors: If you grow the food to serve this new market and create, staff, and manage the infrastructure that makes it possible, it can be a reliable income stream for your small business. These cuts break that promise.
You can help reverse this wrong. Call the governor’s office and legislative leadership and urge them to fund HIP fully through the rest of the year. You can find contact information and talking points here.
Claire Morenon is the communications manager at CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture).
Pure maple products made by Massachusetts maple syrup producers were once again proclaimed to be the best in the world, as three of the state’s sugarmakers took home prizes from the North American Maple Syrup Council’s annual competition, held this year in Portland, Maine.
Four prizes were collected by Massachusetts producers. Massachusetts’ winners were:
Maple Cream: 1st place, Rob & Melissa Leab, Ioka Valley Farm, Hancock
Maple Cream: 2nd place, Paul & Serena Zononi, Paul’s Sugar House, Williamsburg Golden/Delicate syrup: 2nd place, Howard & Jeanne Boyden, Boyden Brothers Maple, Conway
Amber/Rich syrup: 3rd place, Rob & Melissa Leab, Ioka Valley Farm, Hancock
The winners represent the breadth of the maple industry in Massachusetts. Ioka Valley Farm is a fourth generation diversified, family owned and operated working farm dedicated to providing high quality locally grown products as well as enjoyment for all ages offering seasonal activities. Maple sugaring has been a part of Ioka Valley Farm since 1992 and currently they have 18,000 taps. Boyden’s are a multi generational maple business well known for their high quality syrup, cream, granulated sugar, and candy. They tap between 3500 – 4000 taps each year and market their products directly, mail order, and wholesale. Paul Zononi is a first generation sugar maker that has been producing maple syrup for over 60 years, where making quality maple syrup and maple products has been his passion. He and his wife Serena have been sugaring together since 2007 and have won numerous International Maple Awards. They currently have 3,400 taps.
Pure Massachusetts maple syrup is one of the healthiest sweeteners, as it is fat-free, all-natural, single ingredient, plant based, with fewer calories than most other sweeteners. Pure maple syrup also contains minerals, antioxidants, and amino acids not found in other sweeteners. Remember pure maple syrup is the all natural, nutritious, and most delicious sweetener!
There are more than 250 maple sugaring operations in Massachusetts, many of which sell their products directly to consumers at farmstands and farmers markets. A directory of sugarmakers who sell maple products to the public can be found at www.massmaple.org.
The Massachusetts Maple Producers Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of maple sugaring in Massachusetts.
Published November 2, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Bringing Kosher Back to Local with Robariah FarmsBy Jacob Nelson
“When people say our chicken is the best they’ve ever had, some of that is the breed we’re raising, some is how we’re
raising them on pasture, and some is because of the koshering process,” says Robert Friedman of Robariah Farms in South Deerfield.
It’s becoming more common to find meat that’s certified kosher or halal, which is great news for Jews and Muslims, respectively, who follow those religious dietary rules. There are also many local farms in western Massachusetts raising pastured meat and prioritizing animal welfare, the health of their land, and local sales. Yet few farms raise local meat that’s also kosher, especially. Robariah Farms does.
Robert Friedman and Shemariah Blum-Evitts holding two of their laying hens at Robariah Farms in South Deerfield (their photo)
“If you care about ethically and pasture-raised local meat, that’s what our chicken is,” says Friedman. “If you care about it being kosher, that’s also what it is. Our customers are people who care about either or both of those things.”
The name Robariah combines Friedman’s first name and that of his wife, Shemariah Blum-Evitts. In addition to farming with her husband, Blum-Evitts is also the executive director of Land for Good, a nonprofit that helps farmers and landowners navigate the complexities of finding, leasing or transferring farmland. Friedman also works off-farm as a communications and marketing consultant.
In the past, the couple also raised kosher certified duck, turkey and lamb, and may again as time allows. For now, their flocks of egg-laying hens and meat chickens are the only animals they tend on seven acres of leased farmland in the shadow of Mt. Sugarloaf.
Autumn colors on the mountain mark the end of a farming season that starts when day-old chicks arrive in March. The chicks are first raised in a warm greenhouse and then move outdoors, spending 10-12 weeks on pasture before being processed. The cycle then begins again, with a second and then a third batch of chickens raised on grass before pastures go dormant in late fall.
Roberiah Farms raises a variety of chickens called Freedom Ranger, which are bred to thrive living outside on pasture (theirs)
Three months may seem quick to raise a full-sized chicken, but as Friedman explains, most commercial farms raise theirs in half the time.
“Almost all the chicken sold in the U.S comes from a breed called Cornish cross,” he says. “They grow very fast in confined, indoor environments and have lots of breast meat, because that’s what people are familiar with.”
Unfortunately, accelerated growth can sometimes bring health issues, and while they eat voraciously, these chickens prefer sitting to foraging, making them difficult to raise on pasture. Instead, Robariah Farms raises a variety called Freedom Ranger that’s been bred for life outside.
“They’re super active, always digging and eating grass and bugs,” says Friedman. “They’re very resilient to swings in temperature and weather, and just healthier overall I think, which translates to the quality of meat. To me, Cornish cross chicken tastes more like tofu compared to these birds.”
(Robariah Farms photo)
The breed of an animal and how it’s raised both affect the quality of any meat. How animals are processed does too. For Robariah Farms, kosher processing at a local facility ensures that the broader community and their Jewish community can both enjoy their chicken.
Friedman describes three ways that kosher processing of poultry is different. First, all animals must be slaughtered by a trained shochet using a special straight-edged knife to quickly and humanely end the animal’s life and drain as much blood as possible. This step stems from teachings in the Torah that equate blood to life force and say every drop must be removed before meat is eaten.
The second difference is how feathers are removed. Often chickens are scalded in hot water to make this easier, but kosher rules prohibit cooking meat at this stage, so instead they must be dry plucked.
The third difference is the koshering step. For this, the meat is soaked in water for half an hour, then covered in salt and let sit for another hour before being rinsed. “The intent is to remove all remaining blood,” says Friedman, “but it also essentially brines the meat, which adds a lot of flavor.”
Laying hens also enjoy life outside at Robariah Farms (their photo)
Because kosher processing takes more time and special equipment, it’s mostly big facilities out of state that are willing to do it. Robariah Farms used to send their birds to a facility like that, but soon felt the drawbacks were too big to ignore. Besides the logistics, emissions, and stress – for chickens and farmers – of driving chickens far away and back again, Friedman didn’t like feeling beholden to big businesses to earn kosher certification.
“We wanted to take back our agency … to make an option for kosher processing that’s less industrialized and more community-based, as it was for generations,” he says. “But to do that, we had to create the local infrastructure we need.”
Because kosher processing uses different equipment and methods, many local meat processors have not invested in providing that service. Friedman doesn’t blame them, but he’s glad to have found one local facility that wants to collaborate on making small-scale kosher processing more efficient. Backed by a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant, the two parties have experimented with new techniques and co-invested in new equipment.
“Plucking is the biggest bottleneck for small kosher processers,” Friedman says. “It’s more challenging and time-consuming to dry-pluck. We’ve tried many types of machines, and the one we’re piloting now is much faster than those before.”
Scan this QR cod with your smartphone to learn more about preordering Robariah Farm’s chicken
Initially, Robariah Farms reduced the number of chickens they raised because the local facility they work with couldn’t process that many. Now that they’ve loosened some bottlenecks, they plan to raise more chickens again. Meanwhile, they’ve paved the way for other local farms to raise more kosher meat too.
For now, Robariah Farms chicken is only available through their CSA farm share. Customers can sign up to reserve chickens in any multiple of five (five being the minimum) either whole, halved, or in cuts. Orders for spring 2025 are now open, with pick-up location on-farm, at the Congregation B’nai Israel synagogue in Northampton, and further afield. Their eggs are also available year-round at their farm stand at 144 N. Main St. in South Deerfield or via weekly delivery. Those interested in their CSA or egg delivery can sign up at their Instagram page: instagram.com/robariahfarms.
“Our tagline is ‘bringing kosher back to local,’” says Friedman. They are certainly making headway.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about all kinds of local farms and local food for sale near you, visit buylocalfood.org.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Franklin-County-Cider-Days_NEPM-2024.mp3Claire takes Monte and Kaliis up to West County Cider’s taproom in Shelburne to talk about this weekend’s Franklin County CiderDays (events Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Nov 1-3). We talk about some crazy apple facts and history too. You’ll hear about:
- How there are apple orchards all over the 413 and remnants of past ones scattered in the woods. Matt Kaminsky (AKA Gnarly Pippins) and Field talk about the history and diversity of local apples.
- The resurgent popularity of hard cider from Field and his mother Judith, the matriarch of West County Cider (and CiderDays). They started making small batches in 1984 when few people understood, and persevered into the hard cider boom of the 2010s.
- All the wonderful events happening this weekend! “Many opportunities to tap into Cider , the history of apples and cider, and the bigger picture of local agriculture,” Sue says. And most events are free!
See the full lineup of CiderDays Events at ciderdays.org/schedule-of-events-2024
Published October 26, 2024 in the Greenfield Recorder
Amid $10M gap, Healthy Incentives Program payouts to be reduced in DecemberBy Chris Larabee
A big change will be coming to families who take advantage of the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP). Beginning in December, all families using HIP benefits, regardless of their household size, will see their monthly incentives reduced to $20, which is, at a minimum, a 50% cut for all users. The current benefit structure sees households of one to two people receiving up to $40, households of three to five people getting up to $60 and houses of six or more people getting up to $80 per month.
HIP is a program that puts money back on EBT cards when folks use their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to buy healthy, local produce from HIP vendors. Both HIP and SNAP are administered by the state Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA).
“We are writing to share with you an update on HIP. With limited funding for HIP in fiscal year 2025, DTA and MDAR (the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture Resources) explored several options to reduce program spending in order to maintain a year-round program,” the email states. “At the current funding level, the only viable option that ensured year-round program operation was reducing the monthly HIP incentive amount.”
During the state budget process, Gov. Maura Healey requested $25 million in her fiscal year 2025 budget proposal, which would fully fund HIP. The final approved budget, though, provided only $15 million.
DTA has been working with MDAR to determine what options are available to meet the revised budget and reducing the monthly incentive to $20 was found to be the only viable way to ensure year-round operation of the program without any suspensions.
Atlas Farm Store in Deerfield makes about $25,000 in SNAP sales per month, the majority of them to customers using HIP. Cuts to HIP benefits may drastically impact sales to customers relying on the program. PAUL FRANZ PHOTO
McCue said the agency restructured HIP to keep this “critical” program in operation. In September, nearly 55,000 households across Massachusetts participated in HIP, totaling more than 103,000 transactions, with an average incentive of $38.19 per household, according to data released by DTA.
“We know how critical the Healthy Incentives Program is to families and farmers in Massachusetts,” McCue said in a statement. “We are restructuring the program to ensure it can continue to operate year-round within the current funding level, to allow ongoing support for families and farmers to plan.”
State finance laws require DTA to work within the appropriated budget for the agency.
State Sen. Jo Comerford said the Legislature allocated $15 million to HIP with the intention of filing supplemental budgets in the winter or spring to ensure the program could operate through the end of fiscal year 2025, which ends on June 30, 2025.
“We believe $15 million will last us until at least March at the current levels,” the Northampton Democrat said, noting the Legislature has fully funded HIP since she first joined the Senate in 2019. “I’m in strong opposition to this decision. … This is a priority program of the Legislature and it’s specifically important to western Mass., and we will have many supplemental budgets between now and March.”
She noted supplemental budgets are how the program has remained fully funded in the past and she is unsure why the state is taking a different route this year.
“I wish the administration had checked in with the Legislature on our intentions. … Why was this a unilateral move for a program that is so beloved and effective?” Comerford said. “That kind of high-level conversation did not happen.”
A DTA spokesperson said the program changes were made to ensure the program could operate year-round.
“Gov. Maura Healey requested $25 million for the Healthy Incentives Program in her FY2025 budget proposal, which would have covered year-round HIP operations,” the spokesperson said. “DTA was appropriated $15 million for HIP in the final FY2025 Ways and Means budget. The changes made to HIP prioritize continuous, year-round access to the program for clients and vendors within the existing budget.”
Who will be affected?
Rebecca Miller, policy director of the statewide Massachusetts Food System Collaborative, which advocates for Massachusetts-grown food and creating economic opportunities in the agriculture industry, said the reduction to just $20 per month will severely impact people everywhere.
“It will hurt a lot of folks across the state,” Miller said. “We’re trying to make sure that folks that make decisions about the state budget understand the implication of this change. … We strongly urge the state administration and Legislature to close this $10 million gap.”
Miller said she’s disappointed that “we’re once again facing a scenario where HIP is threatened,” as the program has been entirely state-funded since 2018 and there hasn’t been a program freeze since 2020.
Broken down, about half of the households using HIP in September had an adult over the age of 60, one-third of households had someone with a disability and a quarter of households had children under 18 years old, according to data from DTA.
“That’s a pretty diverse bunch and it’s really, again, impacting folks at a time when we’re seeing high food insecurity rates,” Miller said, emphasizing that “the timing before the holidays is terrible.”
Miller, as well as Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) interim Executive Director Kelly Coleman, said these reductions will create what Miller called a “ripple effect” across the agricultural industry because customers, farmers, farm stores and other businesses will all be affected.
“We are hearing from farmers that their HIP sales range anywhere from 10% to 50% of their sales, depending on which market they’re accessing,” Coleman said, noting that about 25% of all HIP sales take place within the three counties of the Connecticut River Valley. “We’re hopeful the state will be able to allocate those funds as soon as possible.”
Comerford noted that food pantries “are going to have to adjust because people will need more support.”
The Massachusetts Food System Collaborative said the reduction will affect 285 Massachusetts farmers, as well as 38 farmers’ markets, 12 mobile markets that operate at 109 stops and 59 farmers that operate 66 farm stands that are open in December.
Atlas Farm Store owner and manager Kelly Hickey, pictured in the Deerfield store. PAUL FRANZ PHOTO
At the Atlas Farm Store, owner and manager Kelly Hickey echoed those thoughts, as several vendors working with the store are also HIP vendors and the reduction will affect them, as well as her own store.
“It’s a really big deal,” Hickey said at the Farm Store on Routes 5 and 10 in Deerfield. “We found out last Thursday and it was definitely jarring news to hear.”
She noted SNAP and HIP sales are combined when the store looks at its data, but Hickey said, anecdotally, “that the vast majority of our SNAP sales are HIP sales.”
“We do about $25,000 in SNAP sales a month, so that’s a lot of vegetables going out to people and it’s a lot of people taking advantage of the HIP program,” Hickey said. “It’s about 14% of our total sales for the year, so it affects us financially. Also, we worked really hard to make this a welcoming environment and a place where people from all parts of the community can shop and have access to fresh food, and having that be in jeopardy is another kind of loss.”
What’s next for HIP?
Organizations like the Massachusetts Food System Collaborative and CISA said they will continue to advocate for the return of the program to its current funding levels.
Hickey added a quick return to the current levels is especially important, as even one month of reduced benefits can make a huge impact.
“We’re hoping for, at worst, a month or two at the $20 and then a restoration to the full funding,” Hickey said, adding that uncertainty can cause businesses like the Atlas Farm Store to lose business. “Even this month, we have people calling before they come in to make sure that HIP is running.
“That much uncertainty can do so much damage to people’s trust that we’ve really built up over the years. They need to know that their trip is going to be worth it and they’re going to be able to get what they need,” Hickey continued. “Even one or two months of low funding with people with technological barriers, language barriers or any number of reasons that communication can be complicated, it’s going to be really hard to get the message across that it’s changed and then, ideally, it’s changed back.”
The Legislature, too, will continue to work to find funding, according to Comerford, who said she reached out to Senate leadership and acknowledged “that these are tough budget times.”
“This is really tough, but this is not the program to cut,” Comerford said. “This is a proven and effective anti-hunger, pro-farmer, pro-economic-development program.”
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.
Published October 24, 2024 by New England Public Media
Cuts ahead for program that helps low-income Massachusetts residents eat healthy local veggiesIt’s important that people get the daily nutrients they need from fresh vegetables and fruits.
One way local produce gets onto the table for many living in western Massachusetts is a state initiative called the Healthy Incentives Program, or HIP. That’s been a monthly stipend, amounting to up to $80, that comes in each month on top of regular Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
The money can be used exclusively to purchase from farmers at markets, farm stands and through CSA farm shares.
To learn more about this development, we checked in with Claire Morenon of Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, a food and agriculture nonprofit in western Mass.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: Starting December 1, that HIP allotment for all will be cut back to $20 across the board. The timing of this news for many could not be worse. What are you hearing and how did we get here?
Claire Morenon, CISA: So, the previous allotment for HIP depended on household size, and is up to $80 a month. And so, it means that there’s going to be a flat level for everybody who receives the program, which is everyone who receives SNAP benefits.
This is happening because the state budget allotted for $15 million for HIP this year, which is not enough to last throughout the entire fiscal year with the existing monthly cap. And so DTA (Department of Transitional Assistance) and MDAR (Department of Agricultural Resources) just announced that in December they’re going to be capping everybody at $20 a month to keep the program going throughout the entire year.
So, there’s a certain logic to it. The challenge is, as you alluded to, this is happening right before the holidays. So, for families who have come to rely on this benefit in order to feed themselves healthy, nutritious food, it’s going to be a serious reduction in their grocery dollars.
And it also means for farmers who are just wrapping up their growing seasons now, who have planted and harvested crops so that they can meet this market throughout the year, it will be a really steep reduction in the amount of money that they can earn as a result of participating in the program.
The current fiscal year budget, built by the governor, had funded this program at $25 million, and lawmakers trimmed that amount back by $10 million. Is there a chance that this was an oversight, and that funding could be built back into a supplemental budget at some point in the future?
Yes. Our hope is certainly that the state is going to correct this and make sure that the program is funded so that it can continue to run, as people have come to expect throughout the entire year.
We’re encouraging people to call the governor’s office, to call legislative leadership and to advocate for this program. And hopefully an additional $10 million can be included in a future supplemental budget so that either this reduction can be limited in terms of how long it runs for, or maybe even not happen at all.
Something that we’ve heard from many of the farms that we work with is that whenever there’s a change to a program like this, there is a huge knock to the amount of trust that people who use it have in the program. And getting people back into the habit and back into a feeling of security is a really, really slow process.
It’s been years that CISA, your organization, has been talking about HIP, trying to get people actively using it.
Yes. The program is really important to many people. And it’s also underutilized because a lot of people don’t even know that it exists. Anyone who gets SNAP on their EBT card automatically gets HIP, and it functions as an instant rebate when people use their card at participating local farms and farmers markets.
There are a lot of communication barriers in terms getting the message out about a program like this. And so, at CISA, we work with farms and farmers markets and CSAs to make sure that they can communicate clearly about the program. And we maintain up-to-date information for SNAP users so that they can find out where they can receive their benefit and make sure that people understand how it works.
I’m sure there’s also going to be confusion, too, with all of this talk about this future cut to HIP, because it actually hasn’t happened yet.
Yes, we definitely want SNAP users to know that this is coming so that they can plan. And we want vendors to know so that they can make their plans, too.
But it’s not scheduled to start until December. So, for the month of October and for the month of November, SNAP users can still receive their full benefit of up to $80 per month, depending on household size.
Disclosure: CISA is an underwriter on NEPM. That’s not a factor in how NEPM News covers the organization.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Anthony-Maloni_Rice-Fruit-Farm_NEPM-2024.mp3.
Monte, Kaliis, and Claire visit Rice Fruit Farm in Wilbraham. Owner Anthony Maloni bought and resurrected this farm stand a few years back. Since then it’s become a destination for a bite to eat and the freshest local produce in season.
Hear more about:
- Anthony learning to manage a farm business on the fly, and all the fruit they grow (apples, peaches, and more)
- How Rice Fruit Farm compliments The Apple Place (another farmstand he owns in Wilbraham with more activities but apple picking and a corn maze)
- And more!
Rice’s Fruit Farm is open every day, year-round from 6am – 7pm (and 8pm on Fri & Sat). Visit them at 757 Main St. in Wilbraham.
Image credit to Rice Fruit Farm
First Published by MassLive/The Republican on October 22, 2024
‘A huge blow’: Funds for low-income residents to buy local produce will be cut significantlyBy Greta Jochem | gjochem@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD — About a million Bay Staters soon will have less money to buy local fruits and vegetables.
Starting Dec. 1, the monthly household cap for the state’s Healthy Incentives Program — which gives recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, money to use at farmers markets, farm stands and farm shares — will be dropped to $20.
Currently, the monthly cap ranges from $40 to $80, depending on household size. Facing a $10 million shortfall, the Department of Transitional Assistance, which operates the program, cut the benefits to $20 per month to keep the program going year-round, according to a spokesperson. The department notified program participants and partners about the change late last week.
“We know how critical the Healthy Incentives Program is to families and farmers in Massachusetts,” department Commissioner Jeff McCue said in a statement. “We are restructuring the program to ensure it can continue to operate year-round within the current funding level, to allow ongoing support for families and farmers to plan.”
Gov. Maura Healey’s proposed budget for the current fiscal year originally included $25 million for the Healthy Incentives Program, but the state’s final budget cut the program to $15 million.
Advocates are asking the state fully fund the program and stay the cuts.
“I think it could have pretty tremendous impact on both farmers and SNAP clients,” said Kelly Coleman, interim executive director of Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, a nonprofit group that works to strengthen the local food system in the Pioneer Valley. “We are hearing from farms right now that anywhere from 10 to 50% of their sales are through HIP purchases.”
Farmers sell produce throughout the winter, too, like winter storage vegetables, she said.
“For SNAP clients, this cut will come right before the end-of-year holidays, and so it could have a big impact on their food purchasing in general at the end of the year,” Coleman said. “Overall, the cut from even $40 to $20 is significant enough that it will likely make it a lot more difficult for people to go out of their way to reach HIP vendors.”
Springfield food justice organization Gardening in the Community sells produce it grows in the city at the Walnut Street Farm Store. Many customers there use HIP benefits and rely on that money, said Christopher Gregoire, farm store manager.
“This is huge blow to them,” he said. “You’re harming already the most disadvantaged population in the state.”
To qualify for SNAP, a household of one needs to make $2,510 or less each month before taxes; the cap for a home of two is $3,407. Anyone in the program can use the extra HIP funds to purchase local produce, increasing their access to fresh local food and helping support the local economy.
About 85% of the Walnut Street Farm Store’s business is through SNAP and HIP, Gregoire said. The growing season is winding down for Gardening in the Community, and the farm store will have to re-assess what produce and products it buys from other vendors to stock the store in the winter months.
“That’s small potatoes in comparison to the customers that rely on it,” Gregoire said.
Gregoire hopes the state allocates funds to make up the shortfall.
“You’re telling me there’s no place else you can cut from?” he said. “It’s a really short-sighted and poor decision on the part of the state government.”
Fresh chicken Caesar salad, September 2024 MA Farm to School Terrific Tray winner
As National Farm to School Month unfolds during October, the Connecticut River Valley perfectly displays this idea in action. Nationally observed since 2010, the month highlights the collaboration between farms and local schools.
Simply feeding children is the root of the concept. According to Mass Legal Services, in 2024, the federal poverty level for a family of four is $31,200. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) reports that in the 2023-2024 school year, 42.2% of the state’s students live at or below the federal poverty line.
In Springfield, 85% of public-school students in the city live at or below the federal poverty line. This means that for many children, school meals are the only reliable source of food they have. During the pandemic, the Massachusetts state legislature approved emergency school meals to feed all children, and the Springfield school district delivered over ten million emergency meals. As emergency legislation ended in 2022, Governor Maura Healy signed the Universal School Meals legislation to continue feeding children at school, regardless of income.
Even before the pandemic, the cost and logistics of feeding almost 30,000 students at school daily was a massive financial and logistical undertaking for the Springfield school district. Economies of scale can result in the school meals many remember from childhood. Following contemporary business models, many public school systems across the country no longer cook food from scratch, but rather reassemble and reheat.
Springfield Public Schools chose to do something different by forging a partnership with Sodexo Food Services, under the name Home Grown Springfield. They began with breakfast in the classroom. In the 2015-2016 school year, Springfield had a 44% school breakfast participation rate, and breakfast in the classroom was a high priority.
Andrew Stratton, general manager for Home Grown Springfield, explains, “In 2019, Springfield Public Schools opened the Culinary Nutrition Center (CNC) on Cadwell Drive in Springfield.” He says, “We started out simply, just focusing on getting food to kids. Pretty quickly, we knew there was a better way to bring a nutritious breakfast to the students and started planning accordingly.”
Today, school breakfasts include over 26 varieties of whole grain muffins, egg and sausage calzones, and empanadas. As of September 2024, Springfield reached 85% of student participation in school breakfast across all grade levels.
Both breakfast and lunch menus incorporate fresh, local ingredients. Home Grown Springfield has built strong partnerships with local farms to ensure these ingredients are supplied each school year. Eliminating student hunger remains the district’s goal, and now Joe Czajkowski Farm, Atlas Farm, the Food Bank Farm, Marty’s Local and others are partners in that work.
Stratton explains, “In February, we provide the farmers with ballpark figures of what we plan to use. We plan for carrot sticks, cucumbers, squash (which we use throughout the year) and potatoes.” In many institutional settings, common foods like mashed potatoes are made with powdered instant mixes because they are inexpensive and quick.
Instead, at Home Grown Springfield, “we use Joe C’s potatoes for the entire district and make our own mashed potatoes fresh at the CNC,” Stratton continues. “We also prepare a roasted root vegetable blend of squash, carrots, potatoes, and turnip that each school roasts on site. Centralizing food preparation at the CNC has allowed us to
Farmer Joe Czajkowski checks out some carrots in his field.
commit to Joe Czajkowski Farm and the Food Bank Farm.”
Funding the mission of feeding kids and improving the quality of their food comes from a mixture of federal and state resources. For the 2023-2024 school year, the USDA funded the Northeast Food for Schools (NFS) grant – a new, one-time fund for schools to spend on locally sourced foods. Springfield received $100,000 as part of this grant.
The NFS grant stretched district food budgets and increased local sourcing from the Valley and from farms and producers across the state and New England. Stratton explains, “The grant expanded our purchasing of Mi Tierra Tortillas, made right here in Springfield using Hadley corn. It also allowed us to work towards our goal of a locally sourced pizza. We use One Might Mill in Lynn, for scratch-made pizza crusts and mozzarella from a creamery in Rhode Island. The pizza sauce is made in collaboration with Commonwealth Kitchen in Boston, using tomatoes from western Mass. Atlas Farm was one of the farms that supplied tomatoes this year.”
Tasting fresh, delicious food on a school lunch tray nourishes young minds and bodies, but the district takes the Farm to School concept further, with 35 school gardens in a variety of buildings from elementary through secondary grades. The district plans to have a garden in all of the 67 schools in their system eventually.
Atlas potato harvest. Pictured: Denzil Davies, Gideon Porth, Everald Forbes. PC: Jim Gipe/Pivot Media
Another way students immerse themselves in learning about their food is with field trips to Food Bank Farm. Andrew Morehouse, Executive Director of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, and Gideon Porth, owner of Atlas Farm, planned farm visits to bring
Springfield elementary school students visiting the Western MA Food Bank Farm, planting grape tomatoes that are grown and delivered to their schools
students to walk the land, see and harvest vegetables they eat, and meet their farmers. Stratton notes, “It’s nice to see students engaged with farmers and understanding where their food comes.”
As the team reaches its goals, they set new benchmarks. Stratton says Home Grown Springfield hopes to increase local sourcing to 25% this school year. “Our next step is to incorporate local beef into our meatballs, even if it’s 10%. We’d like to source fluid milk locally, but the packaging process is expensive.”
Stratton grew up in Springfield and attended school in the city, and this is true for many of the people on his team. “We are committed to excellence because we’re from here, and these are our schools. When I see students smiling and enjoying their meals, it’s worth it. Our team works hard because the students are worth it.”
Lisa Goodrich is a Communications Coordinator with Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA). To learn more about Home Grown Springfield, see their website at Home Grownspringfield.org.
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Ben and Meg’s Farm and Garden Store is new in South Hadley, and they have what you need for decorating your front porch or planting out your garden with natives and perennials (fall is a great time for that!) Thanks to Meg Haber, Cody Gauthier and Adrienne for chatting with us!
Visit Ben and Meg’s every day 9-6 (except Mondays 9-3) at 302 Newton St. in South Hadley for all your fall decor and garden needs.
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Claire takes Monte and Kaliis to meet Ava Blum-Carr of Preservation Orchard and Farm and her mom, Nicole Blum of Carr’s Ciderhouse, to talk about:
- Sharing land between their two businesses AND a third – Meadowfed Lamb
- Climate resilience by keeping it simple – growing what grows well naturally (like nut trees), or doesn’t care about crazy weather shifts (like hardy varieties of tomatoes, apples and more)
- The Carr’s Ciderhouse farm shop and cider garden at 295 River Dr. in Hadley, where you can buy the fruits of their labor and even enjoy a crisp local cider (and sometimes snacks) in this beautiful spot!
Visit the farm shop any day from 10-6, and the cider garden Fridays 3-7 and weekends 1-7.
School is back in session, with the emblematic apple in season at local orchards. The Shelburne Falls orchard grows fruit for sale at their farm store and is available as pick-your-own. Courtney Basil, co-owner of Apex Orchards, reports “Beautiful, bountiful peach and apple crops this season.”
Apex planted several new varieties in the last three years, and Basil anticipates crops from those trees soon. After losing Matsu apple trees, the farm replanted that variety, and Matsu apples will be in the farm store this year.
When farmers plant tree fruit, like apples and peaches, it can take several years for the trees to mature and for the first harvest to come in. This creates very different planning and cost cycles for orchardists compared to vegetable growers, who mostly plant and harvest their crops on an annual rhythm.
Newer varieties of popular Honeycrisp apples are invigorating grocery store produce aisles, and Apex has planted some of those hybrid varieties in their orchard. Basil explains that hybrids are developed to highlight flavor profiles while addressing challenges in growing.
The Honeycrisp varieties can be prone to storage rot and require special handling: they have to be at one temperature for a defined period, and then stored at a different temperature from the traditional varieties. In general, these varieties cost more because the trees themselves cost more, and then they require special handling and infrastructure to store them. For instance, Apex has a separate cold room just for Honeycrisp varieties.
The farm store offers peaches, plums, pears, and more apple varieties than what is available for picking by the public. Basil notes, “We grow an expansive variety of apples that aren’t available as pick-your-own, with ten additional varieties of apples in the farm store.” Apple cider is made by nearby Pine Hill Orchards, and mini cider doughnuts are made hot and fresh to order on weekends through October.
Currently, they have a large crop of late-season peaches, which are for sale until they sell out. Basil notes, “They are beautiful and delicious.” The Apex Farm store sells peaches and apples as seconds, which are great for baking, cooking, and preserving. They come in large quantities at about half the price. Seconds are pieces of fruit that have blemishes, bruises, or could be too large.
Apex Farm has a relationship with schools in Franklin and Hampshire counties. The farm sells to local colleges, including the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Mount Holyoke. The fruit is offered to students fresh in the dining hall or cooked into meals on the campuses. With a commitment to learning about the source of their food, students in the Sustainable Food and Farming program at UMass helped to plant 150 apple trees at Apex Farm.
Some of the local K-12 schools purchase fruit occasionally from Apex. The farm donates directly to teachers who want to offer healthy snacks to students who arrive at school without, and Apex donates to The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.
Apex offers events every weekend through October, and all highlight the fall harvest, small, hyperlocal businesses inspired by the season, and the bounty from nearby farms. “That connection to other farmers has grown and strengthened over the years. We only have our own fruit and local vegetables in our farm stand. We don’t buy them from anywhere else. Often, it’s literally products from right here in Shelburne, if not like the next town over. These local partnerships strengthen the farms and the local food system within our immediate community,” says Basil.
Food trucks, face painting, local beer or local coffee roasters, and music all add to the weekend festivities on the farm. Basil shares how this weekend’s Apples and Artisans festival inspired a local potter to launch her business. “It’s always great to watch small businesses grow,” says Basil.
While pick-your-own peaches and sunflowers just finished, Christmas trees will start in November. Apex will bring visitors to farthest reaches of the farm by wagon in search of their perfect holiday tree—including tall trees over seven feet up to fifteen feet tall.
Other seasonal festivities include Gathered Farms on Sunday, September 29th from 10am-3pm. Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) will offer their Making Food Fun family-friendly activities from 10am to noon. Other local farms participating include Our Family Farms and Davenport Maple.
In addition to the beauty and bounty of an orchard, Basil finds joy in the people who work at and visit Apex Orchards throughout the season. She says, “We have four people on the farm year-round, and we grow to 30 people in high season. I appreciate the new perspectives and fresh ideas our seasonal crews bring to the business. It re-energizes us for the next season.”
Visitors may come for events, but people come to celebrate the season, the harvest, and to relax. Basil notes, “Watching couples, families, and kids enjoying the trees, picking in the orchards, and enjoying the view is really what it’s all about.”
Apex Orchards is open for pick-your-own apples Thursdays through Sundays, 9am-4pm at 225 Peckville Road, in Shelburne Falls. On weekends, the farm offers samples of mini cider donuts and tractor rides from 10am-4pm to the pick-your-own area. Currently, Gala, Courtland, Honeycrisp, and Macintosh apples are ready. Macoun, Empire, Fuji, and Golden Delicious will follow soon.
Basil suggests wearing walking shoes and dressing for the outdoors. The landscape is very scenic, and many visitors snap photos while picking apples. No equipment is required for picking apples, and bags are purchased at the farm store. While dogs are not allowed in the orchard or farm store, well-behaved, leashed dogs are welcome in the grassy area next to the farm store.
Lisa Goodrich is a Communications Coordinator with Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA). You can find fall crops and more Fun on the Farm at buylocalfood.org. For information on Apex Orchards, see their website at apexorchards.com or their Facebook page for event updates.
Published September 21, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Farm risks rise with heatBy Jacob Nelson
Imagine this: It’s 10 a.m. and already near 90 degrees. The hot sun bakes the farm field where you and your coworkers are harvesting. With no clouds in sight or shade nearby, you wipe sweat from your brow and gulp down more water. It’s exhausting work, but someone has to do it, or this food will rot in the field, never feeding anyone.
With climate change causing more erratic temperatures and intense heat waves, brutally hot days are becoming more common around the world. While milder than some places, New England is no exception. In fact, the summer of 2024 was the fourth hottest ever recorded in western Massachusetts.
Often, conversations about how climate change impacts farming focus on how farm businesses can still thrive and what food they can grow in a warmer, wetter New England. Another important part of the conversation is how climate change affects people who farm. Society is fed through their sweat and effort. As temperatures climb, farmwork takes more of both.
In response, many farm owners and workers are ramping up efforts to keep people healthy and safe. Still, a highly physical, generally lower-paying job like farmwork will always come with risks, and the stakes are even higher for workers in more vulnerable positions in society. As critical a job as farming is, addressing this remains complicated.
Plainville Farm in Hadley is a third-generation business spanning 180 acres. Known for their asparagus and butternut squash, they grow a long list of vegetables sold to places including Big Y and UMass Amherst Dining. Several dozen people work on the farm, more or less depending on the season. Some come from the U.S, others from countries in Central America and the Caribbean. Among them, Lesvia Perez, originally from Chiapas in southern Mexico, has risen to a Swiss army knife-type role, trusted to do almost anything.
“I help however I can,” she says. “At the moment I’m helping pack squash in the back and training a new lady to help customers in the front. That was my job before. And sometimes I’m translating for people who don’t speak English.”
Perez came to Massachusetts in the early 2000s, speaking only Spanish. Greeted immediately by her first snowstorm, she started work at a plant nursery in Deerfield, using sign language to communicate with her Chinese- speaking coworkers. After three years of hard work, the farm owner paid for Perez’s English classes. Being bilingual and a good people manager opened the door for her promotion to crew leader, translating between languages and management levels. Five years later, she followed her husband to Plainville Farm, where she’s remained ever since.
Perez says heat doesn’t bother her as much as others, but she can tell summers have been getting warmer. And while hot days rarely prevent farmwork, they do make it more difficult. Workers continue weeding, picking, lifting, bending and moving things, sweat and energy draining ever faster as the temperature rises. Humidity makes it harder to cool off by sweating. Dry spells might mean crops need irrigating, which adds more work to the list.
As the exertion takes its toll, heat-related ailments set in including cramps, fainting, heat exhaustion, and even heatstroke, which can be deadly. While extreme cases are rare in Massachusetts, farmworkers nationwide are more likely to die of heat-related illness than workers in any other industry, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Their death rate is 35 times higher than the cross-industry average, and nearly three times higher than construction workers, the next most affected industry.
There’s a mental health impact too, says Alfonso Herrera Neal, a professor of Latinx studies and longtime labor advocate for farm and food workers. “Exposure to harsh working conditions has a huge impact on things like anxiety and depression,” he says. “This is a real emotional toll.”
The best safety precautions are often simple: lots of cold water and electrolytes, breaks, and moderating exertion. At Plainville Farm, Perez says, “mostly, when people get tired in the heat, they sit. For three minutes, five minutes — they drink a lot of water and they’re back to work. There’s a water cooler we bring out to the field so everybody can drink, and there’s a bathroom (porta potty) on a truck, too.”
The packing barn could theoretically provide shade for field workers too during breaks, but state regulations that strictly differentiate different kinds of farmwork based on where the work is done make that difficult.
While most local farms have a plan like this for hot days, specific health and safety regulations are sparse for most farmwork, including work in high heat. This summer, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed a rule on heat injury and illness prevention for many industries, including farming, requiring breaks and access to cool water and shade when temperatures hit certain marks.
While it exempts farms with fewer than 10 employees, it’s notable that farm workplaces are included at all. Historically, many U.S. labor laws have exempted farms altogether.
Why is that? “When you connect the dots, a lot of it has to do with race,” says Neal. “From the end of the Civil War to the New Deal era when many workplace protections were enacted, most farmworkers were Black. Excluding them from workplace rights was a way to maintain control over a workforce. Now our farm workforce is predominantly Latinx and Afro Caribbean, and now they are feeling the effects of that exclusion.”
No matter who you are, farming in extreme heat is difficult, and there are many reasons someone might feel compelled to push past safe limits. Maybe a farm owner who works a small parcel alone has orders to fill. The sun is scorching, but they can either fill them and get paid, or rest and risk angering customers. For farm employees, staying productive despite rough conditions is a ticket to job security.
Those with the most to lose, and thus the greatest incentive to avoid rest or asking for help, are people in marginalized and disempowered positions, particularly people of color or people who are undocumented.
According to federal data, 41% of people hired to work on farms in the U.S. are undocumented. Almost 70% of all hired farm employees identify as people of color, including, 63% identifying as Hispanic. Nationally, Hispanic farmworkers were 2.4 times as likely to die of heat-related illness than non-Hispanics.
While concrete data for Massachusetts is hard to find, sources point to a large portion of hired farmworkers being people of color. Census data suggests 13% aren’t U.S. citizens.
Many farm labor advocates are grateful for the new OSHA heat rule. Many also believe people working on farms are due stronger workplace protections across the board. Among them is Neal, who says individuals have some power to push for change.
“In Massachusetts, there are local and state initiatives we can support that require good working conditions,” he says. “Pioneer Valley Workers Center is a great organization to contact to learn more and support farmworkers tackling these systemic challenges, and the Food Chain Workers Alliance, too.”
Voting with your dollar is another avenue Neal mentions; buying from businesses with strong and transparent support for the well-being of people working there.
“You can even have conversations with farm owners and employees — at farmers markets or what have you — to learn how your food is grown,” he offers. “Asking questions is a powerful way of letting the community know that you care.”
Neal also points out that the modern environmental movement in the U.S. originated with farmworkers, kicked off by advocacy against harsh chemicals like DDT, which harmed both natural ecosystems and farmworkers. Today, with the essential work of farming made even harder by climate change, “you still can’t separate environmental and climate justice from farmworker justice,” he says. “These movements are intertwined. And without farmworkers, we have no food.”
Back at Plainville Farm, Perez says she has thought about finding easier work “a million times. But this job has been good. And someone has to farm.”
Someone has to farm. In that respect, protecting people who work on farms isn’t just being nice, it’s ensuring that everyone can still eat dinner, no matter what job they come home from.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more local farms and food grown near you, visit buylocalfood. org.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Climate-Chief-Melissa-Hoffer-at-Big-River-Chestnuts-NEPM-2024.mp3.
Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer from Governor Healy’s cabinet came to tour farms and talk about how farming can play a bigger role in the state’s climate plans. Farming can be a climate solution, using techniques that move greenhouse gases from the atmosphere to the soil and help the state reach it’s climate goals (“net zero” by 2050). But farmers need help adapting to climate impacts in order to provide that service and keep feeding us!
Monte and Kaliis jump on the tour at Big River Chestnuts in Sunderland, hearing from farmers there about growing cool perennial crops like chestnuts, elderberries, persimmons and more. They also talk to Stephen Taranto from CISA’s climate program and Climate Chief Hoffer herself!
Published September 17, 2024 in the Greenfield Recorder – see original article here
State climate chief hears from area farmers on putting climate-resilient methods into practiceBy Chris Larabee
SUNDERLAND — Two local farms opened their doors to Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer on Monday morning to talk about the challenges brought on by climate change, as well as opportunities for future investments in the industry.
The state’s first-ever climate chief toured Atlas Farm in Deerfield and Big River Chestnuts in Sunderland alongside legislators, Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources officials and representatives from Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), which coordinated the events for its third annual Climate Change and Farming Week.
Following the tour at Big River Chestnuts, which showed off the evolving chestnut tree farm and agroforestry operation taking place off River Road, Hoffer highlighted the growing business’ aspects of less reliance on fossil fuels, carbon sequestration and climate resilience as something that other farmers, as well as state officials, could look at and see if they could be adapted to their needs.
“A lot of the things I’m seeing in practice are things here that I’ve read about, so it’s really terrific to see that happening,” Hoffer said. “I think our thriving agricultural sector here in western Massachusetts can be a real example of that.”
CISA Climate Program Coordinator Stephen Taranto said Hoffer’s visit is a chance to show how western Massachusetts’ agriculture industry is adapting to climate change, which could help inspire future grants or programs geared toward helping farmers tackle these sometimes-expensive projects.
“This is just an opportunity for [Hoffer] to get out into the field and see these different techniques and practices being put in place, and hopefully it’ll start a dialogue,” Taranto said. “Our hope is that it could lead to additional grants and support, so that more and more farmers can implement these practices that we need so urgently.”
At Big River Chestnuts, Jono Neiger and his team are cultivating a farm intended to last for generations with Chinese chestnut trees planted alongside rows of companion crops — such as aronia, elderberries, and other flowers and bushes — in a practice called alley cropping.
With this fabric of trees and other crops, the farm is creating a web — “We tend to let things get a little wild here,” Neiger quipped — of plants that can sequester carbon, reduce moisture loss and control erosion, all while inviting pollinators in.
“Trees are just going to be, in a lot of cases, more resilient,” Neiger said, noting that while conditions got extremely dry amid the 2022 drought, the 5-year-old chestnut trees were able to get through without signs of stress. “The strategy here is to create a system resilient to droughts and floods that’s baked into the crops.”
While the trees grow, the alley crops provide additional production for the farm, as well as an opportunity for local sheep farmers to bring in their flocks to mow down alleys of plants, which reduces the need for fossil fuels and keeps roots in the soil, therefore keeping carbon sequestered. Integrating tree farming and grazing livestock operations on the same plot of land is called silvopasturing.
These sorts of climate-resilience projects and community partnerships, Hoffer said, are the key to meeting Massachusetts’ net-zero energy goals by 2050. She noted the Biden administration has set out estimates that every ton of carbon dioxide and methane does between $230 and $2,400 worth of damage, which means “morbidity and mortality, and also property loss.”
“As we take fossil fuels out of transportation, out of the power sector and out of the building sector, it never really gets to net-zero unless you have the carbon drawdown from our agriculture sector,” Hoffer said. “It’s very, very expensive to be spewing fossil fuels into the atmosphere and we should be compensating people, through a rational system that’s market-based, who are doing things to reduce that pollution and also taking measures to make our community more resilient.”
The farm tours came alongside the launch of CISA’s third annual Climate Change and Farming Week, which seeks to bring together farmers, community groups and nonprofits for workshops, tours and other opportunities to discuss the challenges presented by a changing climate. From Tuesday through the end of the week, CISA is hosting nine more events, including tours, webinars and panel discussions. Details can be found at bit.ly/3TrUrw0.
“Climate change brings a range of challenges to local farms and to our local food system, including increased precipitation, more frequent extreme weather events, hotter summers and less predictable growing seasons,” Taranto said. “Climate Change and Farming Week is an opportunity for farmers to share information with each other, for organizations and institutions to highlight their efforts to their communities and for any interested person to learn a little more about this vital issue.”
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.
Published September 14, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Grassroots Research and ResilienceHampshire College Farm harnesses student and community energy while adapting to climate changeBy Jacob Nelson
As college and university farms go, Hampshire College Farm is not a big one. What they do have in abundance is student energy, and true to the Hampshire philosophy, they’ve celebrated and empowered it.
So far, the results have been fruitful. And, because they produce similar things on a similar scale to other local farms, many lessons learned from their experimentation are immediately useful to their neighbors.
“This year,” explains farm manager Emily Landeck, “one of our big focuses is shifting towards raising food in more climate resilient ways.”
Hampshire College Farm sits on 80 acres visible from West Street in Amherst. Cows, pigs, sheep and chickens graze and forage through about 30 acres of pastures. Another four acres are in vegetable production, growing tens of thousands of pounds of produce each year. In the woods are stands of sugar maples, tapped each winter to make maple syrup.
Much of the produce and meat grown on the farm is sold through CSA farm shares. A lot of it also ends up on student’s plates at campus eateries, and some pastured meat is sold at the on-campus HampStore too.
While part of Hampshire College Farm’s value is its similarity to other local farms, it’s not a commercial farm, and that’s a big distinction. When the priority is student experience, not making money, things run differently.
For example, they don’t have a farm crew working the typical field season from April to November. Instead, Landeck, vegetable manager Rose Cherneff and livestock manager Charlotte Senders lead a group of six full-time student interns during the summer and a patchwork of work-study positions and volunteers during the school year.
“We’re hitting peak harvest time, and our main labor force just left to go back to school,” Landeck explains. “We’re not a “land grant” university (which would receive public funding for agricultural research and education) and we’re not a wealthy school, so we have to use our small staff and budget wisely.”
This is where leaning into student involvement is a win-win. It lets students dig deep into hands-on learning, and it allows Hampshire College Farm to continue thriving and evolving towards whatever those involved feel is important.
A great example of this is the visible legacy of student projects on the farm. “At any time in their studies, Hampshire students can create independent projects delving deep into some aspect of the farm,” Landeck explains. “They commit a certain amount of time, farm staff serve as their supervisors, and they get to lead.”
Today, Hampshire College Farm has breeding programs for both pigs and sheep, raising those animals from birth to slaughter. They also have a bustling 160-member CSA. All those programs began as final projects from students in the Division III stage of their Hampshire education.
While students might get excited about something specific, Landeck’s job is to see the big picture. With Sellers and Cherneff, she makes sure the farm runs smoothly and that both the food and research they produce are useful for the wider community. Recently, that’s meant experimenting with new farming strategies to help them and other farms adapt to the impacts of climate change.
One major experiment is shifting to “no-till” management for an entire acre of vegetable production. Not tilling the soil allows a more complex habitat of microbes, fungi and roots to form. This usually gives the soil more aeration, better drainage, and higher organic matter. Done well, it can improve productivity and make that soil more resilient to both droughts and flooding. It can also help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequester it in the soil, at least for some time.
“The area where we’re trying no-till has really suffered the last few years because it doesn’t drain after heavy rains,” says Landeck. “With standing water, we can’t get tractors in, and we’ve lost crops to weeds and flooding. We think shifting to no-till will help with that.”
The farm is also experimenting with planting cover crops of oats and clover underneath and between their popcorn, tomatoes and winter squash to act as a living mulch. This strategy has similar intentions to the no-till plot: improving drainage, protecting against soil erosion in heavy rains and evaporation in high heat, and maybe sequestering more carbon too.
For this living mulch experiment, Hampshire College Farm has partnered with Momentum Ag, a nonprofit founded by another local farmer, Lincoln Fishman of Sawyer Farm in Worthington. Momentum Ag’s mission is to speed up the adoption of climate-smart farming practices. They offer funding and advice to reduce farmers’ risk when experimenting with something new and create peer learning networks so that farmers can share what works and learn from the people they trust most – each other. Hampshire College Farm’s shared affinity for grassroots research makes them a natural partner.
As greenhouse gases continue to build up and trap heat in our atmosphere, predictions call for stronger rainstorms, hotter summers and more chaotic weather overall. Whether the new methods employed by Hampshire College Farm help them adapt to changing conditions or not, that’s useful information for other local farms.
“Through things like farmer-to-farm communication and hosting tours, we hope that information can spread quickly,” says Landeck, “exposing the farming world to research conducted with more of a small-town feel.”
That’s one reason Hampshire College Farm is hosting a public talk and tour this Thursday, September 19th at 4pm. Farm staff and students will be on hand to answer questions, and food provided. This event is part of a Climate Change and Farming Week organized by Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), where farms and other local organizations are inviting peers and the public to explore strategies for slowing climate change and adapting to its impacts. Details at buylocalfood.org/climateweek.
Hampshire College recently restructured to account for financial pressures like those facing many colleges and universities today. As a new chapter begins, Hampshire wants to reaffirm ties to their surrounding community. Landeck sees the farm as a great avenue for that.
“We want to open the farm’s doors more to the public,” she says. “The more our community can rally behind college and university farms, the better we can educate the next generation of farmers, but also eaters – teaching why and how we can support farms and keep farmers farming. Farming is not easy, and the more support we and our local farms can get, the more we all can thrive.”
Jacob Nelson is a communications coordinator at CISA. To learn more about local farms and where to find local food near you this harvest season, visit buylocalfood.org.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Kathy-Wicks-UMass-NEPM-9.9.24.mp3Stephen Taranto, CISA’s climate program manager, and Kathy Wicks, director of sustainability for UMass Amherst Dining and Auxiliary Services, join Monte and Kaliis to discuss:
- CISA’s Climate Change and Farming Week, with events promoting collaborations for climate solutions in our local food system running from September 15-22.
- UMass Amherst’s “Dining for a Cooler Planet” event and special meal on Wednesday Sep 18 as part of the week.
- The many other ways UMass does an amazing job pursuing sustainability and supporting our local food system.
Learn more about the farm tours, chef demos, film screenings and more happening during Climate Change and Farming Week at www.buylocalfood.org/climateweek.
Published September 7, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Climate Change at Home: Adapting TogetherLocal support and federal funding help farms respond to climate changeBy Jacob Nelson
Three people. Two businesses. One piece of farmland. Countless ways that climate change is making farming harder.
And yet plenty of hope, because these farmers have a plan. With support from peers, nonprofits, and even Uncle Sam, they’re building resilience to keep people fed, whatever happens next.
The three farmers are Brook Bullock, her partner John Collector, and Leila Rezvani. They met at a teaching farm in New Orleans, where Bullock was the executive director, Rezvani a lead farmer, and Collector a frequent volunteer. As they got closer, they talked about starting a commercial farm together. When Bullock and Collector were able to buy Stonebridge Farm in Chesterfield in 2022, they invited Rezvani and Rezvani’s partner to join them on the land. Soon, collaboration blossomed.
For various reasons, it made sense to create two separate businesses. Under the existing Stonebridge Farm name, Bullock and Collector today raise cattle for beef, sheep for lamb, chickens for eggs and meat, and rabbits along with several kinds of fruit. Still getting established, they sell eggs and a few other things at the Chesterfield General Store, Oliver’s Farm Stand in Goshen, and the Hilltown Mobile Market.
The other farm on the land is Keshtyar Seed, a hand-scale vegetable and seed farm run by Rezvani and Bullock. They grow a wide variety of produce sold in many of the same markets, as well as rare and threatened plants grown specifically for seed.
“These seed plants are mainly from the SWANA region (Southwest Asia and North Africa), where my father is from,” Rezvani explains. “We sell to two small seed companies – Experimental Farm Network and True Love Seeds – and a few other people.”
As these young farms get started, a big part of the farmers’ focus is on preparing for climate change and all its repercussions. Among them, the toll of increasingly extreme and erratic weather has already left an impression.
“I was responsible for a farm in a very vulnerable place in New Orleans,” recalls Bullock. “Hurricanes came, everyone I loved evacuated, and I had to stay for our animals.”
Rezvani is equally pensive, adding from her experience in the South, the Hudson Valley, and now Massachusetts, “It seems like we have to be prepared for anything at this point.”
In truth, they can’t prepare for every possibility. Instead, these farmers are focusing on practices that offer general resilience to many different impacts of climate change.
For Stonebridge, that starts with improving the health of their pasture soil and the mix of plant species that grow from it. “To do that we’re using rotational grazing,” says Bullock. “Basically, using livestock as a tool to grow strong, healthy soil and grasses.”
Rotational grazing involves moving groups of animals through a field one small section at a time. The animals eat everything down to a certain point before moving on, giving that area time to rejuvenate with the help of their manure. This mimics how herds of grazing animals naturally behave. Done well, rotational grazing decreases soil compaction and encourages more fertile soils, plant growth, and species diversity. All are good for livestock, pollinators, and overall ecosystem health.
Soil with more organic matter also drains after heavy rains and traps moisture longer, keeping pastures productive when it’s hot and dry. All of this is helpful as climate change spawns more heat waves and more intense and spottier rainstorms, both of which have been felt this summer already.
Keshtyar Seed’s operation also benefits from improving soil health, but their biggest concern is protecting their plants from extreme weather.
“If you get rain at the wrong time, you can ruin an entire seed crop by getting it wet,” says Rezvani. “Wind protection is important too – we get really strong winds here in the hills.”
Their main adaptation strategy is growing more plants under cover, whether that’s small “caterpillar tunnels” over single rows of plants or larger “high tunnels” covering a whole area.
For both farms, “Diversifying is also so important,” adds Bullock. “We might have a year where the sheep don’t do well, but we still have cows. If the blueberries fail, we still have pears, and our income doesn’t crash.”
Whether starting a new farm or retrofitting an old one, figuring out how to adapt to climate change is both costly and risky. New equipment, materials, and technical assistance all cost money. Trying new farming strategies takes time and effort too, and success isn’t guaranteed. Yet climate change is affecting farms around the globe, and to grow enough food to stay in business and feed everyone, many will have to adapt.
Given the stakes, most people would say these risks and costs are worth it. The question is, who takes on the risk and cost? Often, it’s farmers, but they as a group have little time or money to spare. Most would love some help.
Some nonprofits and mission-driven companies are standing with farmers, encouraging climate-smart farming practices with funding to defray costs and technical advice to guide the way. For example, Stonebridge Farm received funding from American Farmland Trust to buy fencing for rotational grazing. Meanwhile, Keshtyar Seed received one grant from Sky High Farm, a nonprofit supporting historically marginalized farmers, to build a future high tunnel, and another from Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) to pay longtime farmers at Crabapple Farm, also in Chesterfield, to help them learn the quirks of Hilltown farming.
“Coming from Louisiana where this kind of support wasn’t accessible, it felt like a fairytale,” says Bullock. “But now that I’m here starting a production farm, it feels absolutely critical.”
Critical, but maybe not enough. At least not for all farms.
So far, small grants are helping keep Stonebridge and Keshtyar above water, but the farmers started with a few uncommon advantages. They were already educated about climate change and motivated to design their farm around it, and all three have off-farm income allowing more financial flexibility. For farmers not in these positions, a handful of grants may not be enough to enable a similar transition, leaving them more vulnerable to climate change’s impacts.
“To encourage farmers to shift how they farm and basically do climate resilience research, there needs to be a higher payback,” says Bullock. “Farmers are risking their livelihoods to do this.”
Many farmers and supporters say that farmers provide a public service by feeding people and innovating to keep our food supply stable, and that service is worthy of more public financial support. Recently, lawmakers acknowledged this in a big way.
As directed by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, the US Department of Agriculture has invested over $3.1 billion in the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities. Much of that money will go directly to U.S. farmers, paying them to transition acreage into pre-identified climate-smart farming practices. Farmers will also be paid to collect data on how these practices influence carbon sequestration, soil health, and other indicators of climate resilience.
Locally, CISA is part of a team of organizations helping farms apply for funding. Stonebridge Farm is among the first local farms to do so, and CISA will work with dozens more in the coming years.
As climate change brings more extreme and unpredictable weather, new pests and diseases, and even makes some areas too risky to farm, undoubtedly farmers will still find a way to deliver. Policies that shift risk and expenses off farmers’ backs may help. So may steady patronage and advocacy from the local community.
As Congress renews the Farm Bill this year, many local farmers and advocates are lobbying in favor of programs like the Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities. Closer to home, many are taking part in a local Climate Change and Farming Week from September 15-22 organized by CISA. Public events range from farm tours to cooking demos and film screenings, all aiming to spark collaboration towards climate solutions within the local food system. Learn more at buylocalfood.org/climateweek.
“If we value farms growing food that’s good for people and good for our world, we need to invest in them,” says Bullock. “I really hope policy makers keep putting money towards local farms, not taking it away.”
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/compressed-NEPM-Fern-Valley-Farms.mp3This week on NEPM, CISA’s Communication Manager, Claire Morenon, launches her debut alongside Monte and Kaliis. This week, they spoke with Brooke Fernandes, of Fern Valley Farms.
Pick-your-own apples at Fern Valley Farms. Photo by Lizzy McEleney.
Now in its seventh year of operations, Fern Valley Farms in Wilbraham is a celebration of local food in a picturesque looking out on the entire Connecticut River Valley. With help from Dad, Bill Fernandes, Dan and Brooke Fernandes continue the legacy of the Rice Family, who established the orchard in 1894 in Wilbraham, where it served as a source of wholesale apples for many local grocery stores.
In 2016, Dan Fernandes and his father, Bill, took an interest in the orchard while traveling through to access the Wilbraham Nature Preserve to cut and bale hay. Father and son, along with help from hard-working friends, worked to clean up the overgrown orchard. In 2017 Dan purchased the orchard and opened it to public for pick-you-own. In the years since, the Fernandes family has worked tirelessly to beautify the orchard and create a gathering place in Western Massachusetts.
Brooke says, “We want to celebrate where our food comes from by showing people how the apples grow. We’re educating people about varieties of apples, how the weather impacts crops, and even pruning.” The orchard is open for pick-your-own apples for 2024. The farm has 15 varieties in total, stretching the season into October. This year’s apples are promising: big, beautiful fruit with all the juicy sweetness you’d expect from your favorite apple.
Events are how the farm welcomes community. They ran a summer concert series on weekends, and they have outdoor family movies, and more. The farm is available for
Ready for the concert! Image by Lizzy McEleney
weddings and private parties.
Fern Valley Farms is open for apple picking on weekends 10-6:30pm starting Labor Day weekend through the second week of October. See their website or Facebook page for event information, including the Family Fall Festival on September 29 and the Pancake Breakfast on October 20, 2024.
Published August 31, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
The Fruits of a Hot Summer“I know people that won’t even touch yellow tomatoes,” says Kate Miller Carl, the matriarch of Roundhill Orchards in Southampton. “To me, if there’s something novel, I want to try it just to see what it’s like.”
When Carl and her now late husband, Alfred R Carl Jr., first started Roundhill Orchards decades ago, the most novel fruit they grew was unusual varieties of apples. Today the orchard grows fruit in every color of the rainbow. Viewing change positively, Carl is open to trying something new. Could that help the orchard adapt to a changing climate? Maybe. At the very least, her enthusiasm for new tastes and experiences is a welcome sign for customers looking for the same.
Carol Lollis/ Daily Hampshire Gazette photo
Running the orchard is a family affair. Each of the two main operators, Kate Miller Carl and her son, Andrew Carl, live and farm on different parcels of land passed down through the family. Her daughter, Jenny Kapinos-Coleman, also helps when she can.
“Whimsical” is how Carl describes the main orchard property where she lives at 1 Douglas Rd, right off Rt 10 in Southampton. Rows of fruit trees and bushes bend along the edges of fields, and flowers are planted all over, splashing color in between the lines.
When Carl inherited her property, it was home to many old, full-sized apple trees, unkempt and no longer productive. She and her husband removed these and planted 600 new semi-dwarf apple trees in their place. With diligent pruning, the new ones stay a much more manageable 12 feet tall.
Those apple trees, now growing 26 varieties of apples, remain the core of the whole orchard business. Yet it wasn’t long before other fruit arrived on the scene. Blueberries and blackberries. Peaches and pears. And of course, raspberries: red ones, black ones, summer-bearing varieties and fall-bearing ones too.
Kate Carl, owner of Roundhill Orchards, picks fall Raspberries at the farm in Southampton. Carol Lollis/ Daily Hampshire Gazette photo
“The fall raspberries are beginning now,” says Carl. “Once they really start cranking, it’ll just be a wall of red.”
Fall raspberries and apples are the two crops that Roundhill Orchards offers for pick-your-own in Southampton. Raspberry picking won’t begin until mid-September, but apples are almost ready. The orchard maintains a limited online presence, but customers can check pick-your-own availability by calling the number listed on their Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) online guide listing (buylocalfood.org/farmguide).
Two newer fruits that Roundhill Orchard grows, both on the land managed by Carl’s son, are hardy kiwis and pawpaws.
“To me, growing new things is what makes farming interesting,” says Carl. “You can buy some fruit at the grocery store, but not things like this. Doesn’t that make you curious?”
Carol Lollis/ Daily Hampshire Gazette photo
Hardy kiwis are the size of a large grape with smooth green skin. On the inside, they look and taste very similar to the larger, more familiar fuzzy kiwifruit grown in warm climates. Pawpaws, which are indigenous to the Appalachians and Midwest, are quickly gaining a following among farmers and foodies.
“Pawpaws are sometimes called a custard apple, because they taste a little like a banana custard,” Carl explains. “Not everyone likes them, but the people that do love them. They’ll ask weeks in advance when the pawpaws will be ready.”
The harvest date of any of their crops is a moving target that depends a lot on the weather. “This year, everything feels so out of whack,” Carl says. “Things are a good ten days to two weeks earlier than usual.”
Carol Lollis/ Daily Hampshire Gazette photo
She thinks the main culprit is heat, and the data agrees we’ve had a sweltering summer. According to the National Weather Service, average daily temperatures near Southampton were three to four degrees above normal across May, June, and July, reaching above 85 degrees 27 times in that span. It’s not just western Massachusetts that’s feeling the heat either. Scientists just reported last July was the hottest month ever recorded. In fact, the last 14 months in a row have broken records for average high temperatures in each respective month.
Warmer temperatures and erratic weather patterns, fueled by climate change, pose real challenges for New England fruit growers. While last year’s cold snaps devastated many crops, this year’s relentless heat has shortened harvest seasons, increased pests, and made fieldwork more challenging.
“When I was little girl,” she says, “we’d have the Memorial Day parade at the cemetery in Southampton, where a huge hedge of purple lilacs was always in full, glorious bloom. Now, 60 years later, the blossoms are dead and brown by Memorial Day.”
Carol Lollis/ Daily Hampshire Gazette photo
“Some people don’t realize that things are really changing,” she continues. “If you’re not outside working in the middle of it, you might not see it. But for us it’s challenging.”
A chaotic climate is especially challenging for farms that grow just a few crops. Farms like Roundhill Orchard are more resilient because they don’t put all their eggs in one basket. If one crop struggles, others may do alright and keep income flowing.
Thankfully, this year has been a good year for most things. Apples, peaches, and fall raspberries are ready now. Pears are on the verge, and pawpaws and kiwis are still to come, leaving a lot to look forward to.
Roundhill Orchards sells a lot of fruit at their own farm stands, one at the Douglas Rd location and another at 115 Southampton Rd in Holyoke (the latter is closed when it rains). They attend the Florence Farmers Market too (every Wednesday from 2-6pm through October at the Florence Civic Center) and sell fruit to Small Oven Bakes in Easthampton.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA. To learn more about local farms near you and what they’re growing, visit buylocalfood.org.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/240827A-1-1.mp3A surprise parting gift: Monte and Kaliis did a whole show on how local agriculture has evolved in Phil’s 16 years at CISA!
Intro and Amherst Nurseries part one: 0:00 – 11:45
- Amherst Nurseries owner John Kinchla on regulations, climate impacts, and more
- Congressman Jim McGovern
Amherst Nurseries part two: 11:45 – 24:20
- MDAR Commissioner Ashley Randle
- The youngest arborist in MA
- “Poultry congress”
- Congressman McGovern on the Farm Bill and Phil’s Legacy
CISA’s past and present: 24:20 – 41:40
- Mike Wissemann and Kat Chang, CISA board members past and present
- How CISA “turned farmers kind of into rock stars” (Mike Wissemann)
- Favorite Phil stories
- Ideas that worked, ideas that didn’t, and ideas for things still to come
Reflections from Phil: 42:00 – end
- Growing community around growing food
Bill and Connie Gillen, co-owners of Sunset Farm in Amherst. Photo by Carol Lollis, Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Sunset Farm Grows Vegetables, Flowers, and CommunitySunset Farm in Amherst is a neighborhood farm that emphasizes the social aspects of farming in community. Owners Connie and Bill Gillen grow vegetables and flowers on ten acres, within walking and biking distance of the University of Massachusetts campus.
The couple waded into farming over fifty years ago, while they were still working in other professions. With early careers in Cambridge, Connie Gillen is a retired psychologist, and Bill Gillen is a retired architect.
Bill Gillen’s great grandfather and grandfather farmed in Brooklyn in the 1860’s. The octogenarian worked on farms there when he was young. The tractors at Sunset Farm are functional farming history that punctuate Gillen’s long view: the Ford 9N was built in 1937, the blue 8N in 1948, and the newest is from the mid-1950s.
The farm welcomes neighbors, students, and passing visitors throughout the growing season to visit and experience the farm. With an unconventional approach, all the crops at Sunset Farm are offered as pick-your-own.
Farmer Bill Gillen checks his crops. Photo by Carol Lollis, Daily Hampshire Gazette.
The farm has 100 rows of crops that are labeled, so visitors can find their chosen crop. The farmers use a golf cart to navigate sections of their farm. Gillen explains, “We mix the rows up and move them 12 feet apart, so there is room for the golf cart. We keep the aisles open so we can get to the crops.”
Gillen’s daily email missives from “The Gillen Collaborative” to over 130 people combine agriculture education with social updates. Part Farmer’s Almanac, the farmer shares what is in season and practical suggestions for the farm visit, inserting a bit of humor and wisdom in equal measure.
The farm grows 800-1,000 tomatoes in many varieties. Neighbors who wish to pick them can walk out to the correct rows on the far edge of the property—or they can purchase them in the farm stand already boxed. On August 5, Gillen wrote, “When you pick tomatoes, leave your water bottle behind: just pop a tomato when you need hydration. I do believe in climate change, but that doesn’t mean I need a water bottle with me in the field.”
Vegetables and flowers are the primary crops on their gently sloping landscape. Although Sunset Farms offers a wide variety of pick-your-own crops, they do not offer blueberries or other berries or fruits that are commonly sought after for pick-your-own.
A melon on the vine
Gillen says, “Watermelon and cantaloupe are the only fruits we offer currently.” The farm grows a small variety of watermelon, suitable for smaller households, and easier to manage at farmers’ markets.
Touring the farm on a golf cart with Gillen, he points at a small cantaloupe with a light green rind that is edible, with pink flesh inside. The innocuous melon shines a light on the diversity of friends and neighbors visiting Sunset Farm. Some of the pick-your-own customers say this variety of melon is from their home country of Korea, while others claim the melon comes from their home country of Armenia. Gillen smiles and says, “So our melons belong to everybody.”
Some people make an annual event out of visiting the farm, such as a group who visits for the chestnut harvest in the fall. Gillen notes, “You take a rake and poke the branches to get the chestnuts to fall. There’s a trick to it. The men will harvest while the women shuck the chestnuts, with tea going on the side.”
Gillen trusts that neighbors, students, and customers visit according to nature’s rhythms. He explains, “We don’t have a schedule. Nature has a schedule. Depending on nature and good luck, people show up when the crops are ready.” The social aspect of neighbors and community enjoying the bounty of the farm together makes Sunset Farm a vibrant place to gather.
With confidence in nature and the experience of watching the unfolding of seasons over 87 years, Gillen knows his market. He explains that excitement for crops is about timing. For instance, over-wintered spinach is their first crop of the year and the first leafy green at the farmers’ market. “The timing makes our spinach extremely popular,” he says.
Produce and flowers from the farm are available for sale at their own farm stand. Locals may recognize their bright yellow farm stand as the little building that once sat on the Amherst Town Common. While the farm stand is open daily 24/7, visitors are encouraged to enjoy the experience of pick-your-own as well.
Bill Gillen, co-owner of Sunset Farm carries a crate of tomatoes. Photo by Carol Lollis, Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Sunset Farm has a longstanding presence at the Amherst Farmers’ Market. “We have been selling at the Amherst farmers’ market for over fifty years,” says Gillen. In 2021, the couple received a special citation from the legislature for 50 years of service at the market.
Connie Gillen stands in front of her workspace where she prepares flower arrangements for a customer.
While Sunset Farm seems to place as much emphasis on the social aspects of the farm as the crops themselves, Bill and Connie Gillen cultivate intangibles like community, beauty, and fun with their farm. Gillen explains, “This is not a food community. This is a social thing. Customers retired here in Amherst because of the beauty here. People have fun coming together here. They enjoy talking to Connie while using their hands.”
Gillen concludes, “Between the farmers’ market and our farm stand, this small farm supplements local families’ diets with fresh food that is lovingly grown. More than anything, I hope to inspire and enhance joy for our customers and neighbors by sharing with them what it feels like to touch the soil, pick a vegetable, or arrange flowers.”
Lisa Goodrich is Communications Coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, (CISA). To learn more about Sunset Farm, check out their Facebook page or website at www.sunsetfarm.us.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Jens-Organics-NEPM-2024.mp3.
Kaliis, Monte, and Phil visit Jenell Smith, chef and owner of Jen’s Organics Restaurant in Springfield, to talk about:
- How Jen’s health journey inspired her delicious plant-based cooking, and how her meal prep service evolved into a full restaurant.
- Great local farms where Jen gets her “beautiful vegetables,” including Nordica Street Community Farm and Gardening the Community.
- The amazing variety of tasty plant based food out there. Jen’s Organics doesn’t use any highly processed meat substitutes, just plants and mushrooms with rich and filling flavors.
Jen’s Organics is open Weekdays 11-7 and Saturdays 10-3. Visit them on State St. in Mason Square.
First published August 20, 2024 in the Springfield Republican. See original article and images here.
Gleanings from my 16 years in the Western Mass local food movementBy Philip KormanAs I am poised to leave my job after 16 years as executive director of CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture), naturally, I’ve started to reflect. My takeaways so far are: local farms are still challenged to keep farming, maybe even more so; the local community is solidly behind farms and CISA, yet that support is more likely to appear in times of trouble; and the number of folks who care deeply about farms has grown along with the desire for a more just local food system.
When I took the helm at CISA, I didn’t come in with a deep background in agriculture. What I did know was how to grow an organization and create community. The timing was a bit scary because it was right when the 2008 recession began, and I spent many sleepless nights worrying that local farms would go out of business because consumers had less to spend and donors might have less resources to fund CISA’s support of farms in their time of need.
Thankfully, these concerns were unfounded. The recession resulted in residents buying more from local farms, and increasing their support of CISA, perhaps because people were looking to deepen their roots, keep farms farming and bring in fresher and healthier food for their families.
CISA Executive Director Philip Korman, right, with Emma Gwyther at a Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce event in 2020.(Ed Cohen photo)
This was not the last time we saw a surge of interest in buying local food during a challenging time. When the pandemic hit, many residents who did not feel safe shopping in big supermarkets turned to small farm stores and farmers’ markets. When the national food supply chain was disrupted, residents (re)discovered local meat, cheese and much more.
In both the 2008 recession and the 2020 onset of the pandemic, the community supported CISA in increasing its efforts to connect residents to farms and farms to residents.
The community has also shown up to help local farms directly as climate change has brought new challenges. In October 2011, in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene, the support of local residents and businesses enabled CISA to launch a new Emergency Farm Fund to provide no-interest loans to affected farms.
And in 2023, when hundreds of farms were severely hurt by the worst range of weather disasters in recent history, residents, local legislators and the governor rallied. Within a few months, over $3 million was raised through private donations and $20 million from public funds to help these farms survive the season.
While economic and climate conditions have continued to shift, there’s one factor that continues to put pressure on local farms and our local food system: the shrinking number of global companies that control a greater percentage of the national food and agriculture markets.
The top four corporations in many agricultural sectors, including meat processing, seeds, fertilizers, and retail grocery, control 60-90% of the national market.
Over my time at CISA, we have worked to understand more deeply how our local food system reflects the racial, gender and class inequities of our nation. The owners of farms across the country and state are still overwhelmingly white and male. Many people who work on farms are from other countries, here to build a better life for their families, doing the hard work that few others want to do.
And access to local food in our state is still difficult for folks without personal transportation and discretionary resources.
Against this backdrop, CISA has worked to lift our local food system as a place where we can make some movement on these issues through community engagement and serve as a model in the region and nation. Many vital partners who have emerged as the leaders in their communities have been our teachers and we, hopefully, their ally.
We can be proud that we are the only state in the nation with HIP, the Healthy Incentives Program, a state government program that provides fresh, local produce for families on SNAP, and a grant infrastructure farm program that invests needed millions to help local farms expand to feed their communities.
Our work has grown as our support from local businesses and residents has grown. CISA is equipped to creatively and strategically look ahead and take risks to face our current and future challenges.
And while I am sometimes still up in the middle of the night, concerned about how farms will weather climate change, a challenging economy and systemic inequities, I am confident that more people in our community understand more deeply that what they buy, how they vote, where they invest, and who they share a meal with is a daily practice of love, connection and change.
Philip Korman is the executive director of CISA, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture
Published August 17 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
More Than a Farm StandBringing local food and fun to GoshenBy Jacob Nelson
For people near Goshen, Oliver’s Farm Stand is bringing more local food within close reach. As they do, they’re bringing their neighbors closer together too.
Farm stands come in many shapes and sizes. Since 2017, Oliver’s has grown into a nearly full-service neighborhood store, explains Ruby Hutt, who owns and runs it.
“We carry almost 100% local and regional products,” she says. “All our fruit and veggies are hyper-local – most of it I go pick up myself – and along with that we try to have everything for a complete meal. We have local meat, cheeses, eggs, baked goods, and a whole range of specialty items.”
Located in the center of Goshen at 36 Main Street (Route 9), the farm store is open 24/7 using a self-serve honor system. They accept cash, check, credit, debit, Venmo and Apple Pay. Hutt is also in the process of getting approved to accept SNAP-EBT (formerly known as food stamps).
The history of Oliver’s Farm Stand starts with Hutt’s son, Oliver. Soon after he was born, Hutt and her husband Dan bought a house in Goshen and moved there from Hutt’s hometown of South Deerfield. In a new community, Hutt found herself craving another outlet compatible with full-time mom duties.
“People told me someone used to sell corn up here,” recalls Hutt. “I said, ‘gosh, I could do that. I grew up working on farms in the Valley. I know farmers.’ So, I put up a tent, went around buying vegetables, and it just took off.”
The first three years of sales were modest but proved the business had staying power. Then COVID hit in 2020, and everything changed. People scrambled for uncrowded grocery options that were closer to home but still had many essentials. Oliver’s Farm Stand’s self-serve model fit the bill, and with such a short and local supply chain they never faced shortages like the big grocery stores. That summer, sales quadrupled.
Since then, Hutt has only expanded, now carrying over 150 items from local farms and producers in western Massachusetts. A few of them deliver to the stand and Hutt also buys some items through Marty’s Local and Food Connects, local distributors that collect and sell food from producers across New England. For everything else, Hutt herself hits the road to bring it back to Goshen.
Among the “hyper-local” produce farms she buys from, Hutt names Lombrico Farm in West Whately and Paddy Flat Farm in Ashfield as “super small, but their quality is phenomenal.”
“I’ve also worked with Pause and Pivot Farm in Williamsburg since they started, and they’re great,” she says. “We get their microgreens and fresh baked goods. Their bars, cookies and scones are amazing.”
Recently, Hutt decided that while she’s out picking up food for Oliver’s – essentially becoming her own tiny local distribution company – she may as well bring back some of the Valley’s bounty for other local businesses too. Camp Howe, a youth summer camp in Goshen, and the Old Creamery Co-op in Cummington are two places she started delivering local produce to this summer. She hopes to add more partnerships soon.
With her small business on the rise, Hutt is excited that people seem to really want what she’s offering. That consistent support has given her the confidence to take the next step for the business: moving the farm store into a new, bigger, permanent building starting next year.
Until now the farm store has been a temporary structure. Every spring the Hutts move fridges, freezers, and shelves out of storage to reconstruct the stand. Each fall they tear it down again.
“It’s a lot of work, and in the end we’ve built a grocery store outside, which is just silly,” Hutt says. “Heat, humidity and critters can all damage products. Eventually we realized it would be easier and cheaper to get the bigger, climate-controlled building and move everything indoors.”
With the new building, Hutt also hopes they’ll be able to stay open for their customers year-round. “We’re spoiled with so much local food available all year,” she says. “If we can extend our season and give people access to it, why not?”
“Why not” seems like a typical response when Hutt sees an idea that’s in reach and could bring her neighbors more food or just a dose of fun. The Oliver’s and Friends Seasonal Celebration, which she dreamt up with Miana Hoyt Dawson of Pause and Pivot Farm, offers both.
Now in its third year, Hutt describes this free event as Goshen’s smaller answer to the likes of the Cummington Fair or the Ashfield Fall Festival. On Saturday September 14th from 11am to 4pm, food trucks, face painting, and a vendor lawn with local food and crafts will set up in front of the farm store, complete with live music and children’s activities throughout the day. Proceeds will benefit the Northampton Survival Center’s Hilltown Food Pantry located right next door.
“As a new small business, I can’t afford to give away money,” says Hutt. “But Miana and I can create a space to raise money with this super fun family event. Last year we had over 1,000 people, and this year will be even bigger.”
The value Oliver’s Farm Stand brings to the local economy cannot be overlooked. Their impact on the broader local community, including all the new events, relationships, and opportunities they’ve created, leaves an even bigger mark. That makes Hutt proud.
“Everything I do through Oliver’s is so personal,” she says. “It’s more than just a farm stand.”
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about local farms and where to buy or enjoy local food near you, visit buylocalfood.org.
Fitzwilly’s Serves Local Ingredients with a Side of Northampton History
Fitzwilly’s Restaurant offers seasonal, local food in an iconic downtown Northampton location. As summer explodes with local crops on the farm stands, Fitzwilly’s revised menu bursts with local tomatoes, corn, fruit, and much more.
Locals may be familiar with the history of the restaurant. As Fitzwilly’s celebrates their 50th anniversary this year, co-owner Fred Gohr recently talked about the history of the business. It started when Roger Kirwood, a small business owner from Springfield, visited Northampton in 1974.
He found much of the town boarded up and an old bar where Fitzwilly’s now resides. Gohr explains that Kirwood “fell in love with the bones of the place, bought it, and spent months doing the work himself to expose the brick that was covered over with plaster.” The building is the Classical Revival Masonic Block, built in 1898. It housed the law office of Coolidge and Hemenway from 1898 to 1918 — yes, that’s Calvin Coolidge, who would go on to become the 30th president of the United States.
Fitzwilly’s Restaurant was born, with Kirwood drawing the name from a 1967 madcap farce that featured Dick Van Dyke and Barbara Feldon. Kirwood hired Gohr in 1978 for another restaurant in New Haven, where Gohr was attending the University of New Haven after his training at Johnson and Wales Culinary Institute. One weekend in 1979, Kirwood asked Gohr to come to Northampton to help out during some renovations. Gohr quips, “I came up for the weekend and I’m still here.”
Gohr worked in many roles until becoming general manager in the early 1980s. In 1988 Gohr and eight original partners bought the restaurant from Kirwood; today four partners own Fitzwilly’s, but only Gohr is involved in the daily operation.
In 1988, Kirwood bought the space next door and opened Pop’s Package Store. After a series of businesses came and went in that space, Gohr and his partners opened the Toasted Owl next door to Fitzwilly’s in 2004. The Toasted Owl is a sports bar that features “solid local food, but a more limited menu.” As Fitzwilly’s celebrates 50 years, the Toasted Owl celebrates 20 years.
Aligning with the seasons and working with local farms inspires the Fitzwilly’s kitchen team. Gohr says, “We like to push the envelope a little bit. That’s where the local produce comes in. We look forward every year to spring and local asparagus. We center all of our specials for a month on asparagus. We offer asparagus grilled cheese, grilled asparagus, or even an asparagus pasta dish. We buy cases of asparagus from John Boisvert Farms in Hadley, and we go through four cases of asparagus a week as long as it’s around.”
Asparagus Grilled Cheese
Local diners can return to Fitzwilly’s often and enjoy specials that change with the seasons. Gohr notes, “Once asparagus fades, the strawberries really kick in. We make strawberry shortcakes, and strawberry salads, and then it’s summer and the produce really arrives.”
The summer menu features a number of local produce items, plus every weekend the restaurant offers new specials with local ingredients. Fans who enjoyed Fitzwilly’s Mexican Street Corn from a Taste of Northampton will recognize this crowd-pleasing appetizer on the summer menu. Gohr says, “People just love it. First of all, it’s fresh, local corn. We do it with cojita cheese, cilantro, jalapeño crema, with a little bit of lime juice. It’s really delicious.”
There is no one theme that defines the menus of the restaurant. Gohr notes, “Our kitchen staff loves to get in the kitchen, play around, and come up with stuff.” Gohr continues, “Fitzwilly’s has always been known for good, consistent, affordable food for everyone.”
“We use local produce wherever we can. We have a wild mushroom grilled cheese on the menu with mushrooms from Mycoterra Farm in South Deerfield. That’s year-round because they grow indoors,” says Gohr. They recently offered a grilled peach salad with peaches from Outlook Farm. Some farms deliver, and other times, someone on the Fitzwilly’s team picks up from farms. Everything is seasonal: the scallop and sweet corn risotto changes to a butternut squash risotto for the winter as the yield from the fields changes with the weather.
Other local ingredients you’ll find in Fitzwilly’s kitchen include potatoes from Swaz Potato Farms and blueberries from Sobieski’s River Valley Farm. Gohr notes, “This is the first time we ever had three vegetarian sandwiches on the permanent menu. We do a blueberry grilled cheese, where our chef cooks it down with balsamic vinegar and local goat cheese from Thomas Dairy.” For Gohr, running the business takes him away from experimenting with local ingredients in the kitchen, but “when I get back in the kitchen, it’s a lot of fun,” he says.
Both Fitzwilly’s and the Toasted Owl feature a number of local beers, hard ciders, and wines. Artifact Cider, Berkshire Brewing, and many more make the local lineup at the bar. Indigo Coffee has roasted and supplied coffee to the restaurant for 30 years. The bar menu at the Toasted Owl includes treats like a Caprese flatbread made with local tomatoes or hand-cut French fries made with Swaz potatoes.
Looking back Gohr says, “Our amazing staff brings me joy. We have a number of long-term employees that have been with us for years and years. Right alongside that, the satisfaction of our guests brings me joy. We call ourselves the Fitzwilly’s Family—and our guests are part of that.”
Lisa Goodrich is Communications Coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, (CISA). To learn more about Fitzwilly’s Restaurant, check out their social media or website at https://fitzwillys.com.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Debby-and-Gordie-Cook-Flayvors-of-Cook-Farm-NEPM-2024.mp3Debby and Godie Cook from Cook Farm and Flayvors of Cook Farm in Hadley join Phil, Kaliis, and Monte to talk about how their 115 year old dairy farm has evolved over the years. Did you know:
- Cook Farm’s dairy cows are kinda famous! And not just the two on the sign (which have their own ice cream flavors named after them). Their highly rated Holsteins and Jerseys have won dozens of awards and are highly sought after for breeding.
- In addition to selling ice cream, they also sell their own raw milk and richly marbled, Waygu beef at their farm store.
- There are new ice cream flavors all the time. Some seasonal (like sweet corn, peach, and mojito right now), and some stick around much longer.
Flayvors of Cook Farm is open every day from 12 – 9pm on South Maple Street in Hadley (as of summer 2024).
Published August 3, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette and Greenfield Recorder
Fresh Figs? In Massachusetts?Leyden Farm unlocks new flavors and farming possibilitiesBy Jacob Nelson
It’s rare to try an entirely new food as an adult. Rarer still to realize it was growing under your nose the whole time.
Before he started farming them in Leyden, Tom Ashley had never eaten a fig outside of a Fig Newton. Even the idea of fig trees thriving in New England was new to him. Now, he and his wife and farming partner, Trish Crapo, are helping others discover the joys of growing and eating their own fresh local figs.
Dancing Bear Farm has grown unique produce for over 40 years. At one point their fields spanned five acres, but now they’ve scaled back to focus on greenhouse crops, namely fresh figs and young fig trees.
“Everyone thinks what makes this farm unique is the figs,” says Crapo, “but I think it starts with Tom. Tom loves the challenge of an unusual crop. Thirty years ago, he was one of the first people to grow heirloom tomatoes around here. Then it was different kinds of garlic and specialty peppers. Whenever others try to copy him, he pivots and finds another niche. I think he’ll always be growing something interesting.”
Figs, in Ashely and Crapo’s eyes, are interesting for many reasons. They’re an ancient crop cultivated for thousands of years since being domesticated in western Asia. These storied roots, coupled with the novelty of finding them in New England, add to their mystic. For many people, figs also are a connection to family and home. For example, several of Dancing Bear Farm’s customers have shared stories about immigrant relatives carefully tending fig trees that made the transatlantic voyage with them, whose fruit flavored their childhood.
Figs themselves are also an enigma. Are they a fruit? A flower? Is there really a dead wasp inside every fig, as the rumor goes? The answers are yes, yes, and usually no. Figs are technically a collection of inverted flowers that bloom inside the fig pod and mature into a compound fruit. And while many wild figs rely on specific fig wasps to pollinate them, most commercially grown figs – including those grown at Dancing Bear Farm – are self-pollinating instead.
Ashely and Crapo’s fig journey began with a gift from a longtime customer they now call their “fig mother.”
“She brought us four dead-looking sticks,” says Ashley, “cuttings from her fig tree in Brooklyn. She said, ‘stick these in your greenhouse and see what happens.’ And I said, ‘yeah, sure Marie. Figs?’ I had never eaten one, and I didn’t know if they’d even grow.”
They humored her, planted the cuttings, and had a small harvest within a year. “I ate my first fresh fig, and it was great,” says Ashley. “Sweet but light – completely different than anything I’d tried before.”
Ashely and Crapo were sold on figs, but knew that full grown 20-foot fig trees wouldn’t fit inside their existing greenhouse. They pruned them heavily, planting any viable cuttings so that they might become new trees too. Soon their fig tree collection outgrew the greenhouse anyways, convincing them to tear it down and build a larger, glass-paneled structure they call their Figtorium. Today it houses seven mature in-ground fig trees, thriving in what Crapo calls “a slice of Mediterranean climate.”
Today, those seven fig trees can produce over 1,000 figs each year per tree, starting in August. That’s over 700 pounds of figs, most of which are sold to nearby restaurants and bakeries like Great Falls Harvest in Turners Falls, Hope & Olive restaurant and Rise Above bakery in Greenfield, and Sweet Lucy’s Bakeshop in Bernardston.
As Ashely explains, the main reason figs shipped in from far away can’t compare to local ones is that, unlike most fruit, figs don’t ripen after picking.
“To have any shelf life, most figs are picked under-ripe,” he says. “The best way to enjoy a fig is to pick it off your own tree or come to the farm and get one picked that day.”
Dancing Bear Farm does sell some figs directly from the farm. These days though, they mostly sell the fig trees themselves, which can supply customers with their own harvest of fresh figs for years to come.
The yearly care for a fig tree is not excessive, but figs do have different needs than most local fruit trees. For those interested, Ashely has three pieces of advice.
The first is to have a plan for the winter. Left outside and unprotected, the bitter New England cold will kill any fig tree. Instead, Ashely encourages people to plant them in large 15-gallon pots that can be moved indoors during winter and back outside when spring returns.
The other two tips are about pruning. Fig tree branches should be heavily pruned every fall once the tree has gone dormant and before moving it inside. He also suggests a heavy root pruning every three to five years. Both practices ensure the tree habituates to its potted life and continues producing a lot of figs.
To help customers learn, Dancing Bear Farm has a how-to video on root pruning on their website. For branch pruning advice, Ashley also invites customers to send him pictures of their trees via email and he will mark suggested cuts.
With rich and subtle flavors, figs are incredibly versatile in dishes ranging from sweet to savory and casual to fancy. Homemade fig jam goes great with soft cheeses or spread on toast. Figs added to red sauce thicken it and add a delightful sweetness. Among their business customers, Hope & Olive once made a fig cocktail with muddled figs and fig leaf simple syrup, while Sweet Lucy’s Bakeshop often makes a homemade Fig Newton-style fig bar of their own.
One of Ashley’s favorite fig recipes is a fig marsala reduction sauce. “After I cook a steak or pork chops in a skillet, I’ll remove the meat, add some wine to the pan, shallots, and figs,” he explains. “Smash it all up, let it reduce, and drizzle it over the meat.”
It sounds fancy and exotic, but it’s pretty straightforward and approachable. Just like growing figs in western Massachusetts, it turns out.
Dancing Bear Farm is now accepting inquiries about figs and fig trees. Contact information is listed on their website: dancingbearfarm.com. Text and email are best.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To explore more local food and farms in your neighborhood, visit buylocalfood.org.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Martin-and-Maritza-Alinas-Ristorante-NEPM-2024.mp3_
Maritza Amaya-Branche and chef Martin Amaya, who own Alina’s Ristorante in Hadley, chat with Jacob, Kaliis, and Monte about their long history of running this beloved restaurant and longer road to getting there. Our conversation covers:
- What set’s Alina’s apart? Mouthwatering sauces made from scratch, live piano music in the dining room, and an air of fanciness that still feels welcoming to all.
- Martin’s obsession with local sweet corn…and asparagus, and tomatoes, and…the list goes on.
- Martin and Maritza’s stories of immigrating to the U.S. and earning the chance to start their own restaurant through some serious hard work.
Alina’s is open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday, 5-9pm. Reservations can be made online or over the phone (413-584-8000).
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Jen-Krassler-Easthampton-FM-NEPM-2024-1.mp3Jen Krassler, manager of the Easthampton Farmers’ Market, gives Kaliis, Monte, and Phil one of the best pitches we’ve heard for why you should check out a farmers market. We also talk about bugs, cool things she grows at Flora and Fauna Farm (dragon fruit, anyone?), and all the ways farmers’ markets and state and federal programs make sure fresh produce is within everyone’s reach.
Easthampton Farmers’ Market happens every Sunday,10-2 at 50 Payson Avenue, now through October 13. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date.
Published July 27, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Valley Bounty: Williamsburg MarketFor some people, grocery shopping is just a chore. Maybe it sometimes feels like a race to fill a cart and get out before the fluorescent lights and dizzying array of choices become overwhelming. But not all shopping experiences are like that.
Especially in western Massachusetts, there are plenty of smaller shops, stands, and markets where grocery shopping can be a much more enjoyable experience. For many, that’s because it’s more personal. The cashier remembers you. Every July you can count on them having fresh berries from that farm nearby. They may not have eleven different brands of yogurt, but they have the one you like, that you eat with those berries every morning for breakfast. And if they don’t sell your favorite local granola that you sprinkle on top, you might be able to convince them to start carrying it.
That’s one reason Steve Smith, president of Williamsburg Market, offers for why people choose to shop at businesses like his. In a world that often feels corporate and impersonal, shopping local is one way to instead feel more connected to the community you care about.
Williamsburg Market is a small, independent, full-service grocery store in Williamsburg. Most of their customers come from the Hilltowns to the west. If not for this market, many would have to drive another 20 minutes round trip to Florence to the next nearest option.
As Smith explains, “we have all the departments of a typical grocery store, including meat, dairy, frozen foods, beer and wine, a bakery and a deli, and produce – including a lot of local produce, which our customers are most interested in.”
If Goldilocks bought groceries, she might love Williamsburg Market. It’s not too big, overwhelming shoppers with dozens of long aisles and thousands of choices. It’s also not too small, forcing people to find the rest of their essentials elsewhere. The Williamsburg Market is just the right size for a one-stop shopping experience on a more human scale.
Local produce is one of the market’s biggest selling points, Smith says. “When local corn arrives in the store, we can see the traffic increase immediately.”
Today that corn is coming from Carl Szawlowski Farm in Hatfield. Fresh local blueberries from Berniche Farm in Chesterfield are another current hit, and soon E & J Scott Orchards will start supplying them with peaches, other stone fruit, and eventually apples. Open Palm Farm in Deerfield, Paddy Flat Farm in Ashfield, Four Corners Farm in Worthington, Lombrico Farm in Whately, and a handful of smaller farms also sell them produce throughout the year. Meanwhile, all the milk they sell comes from either High Lawn Farm in Lee or Our Family Farms in Leyden.
The other big draw is their meat department. Williamsburg Market employs two full-time butchers carving up cuts of meat like local beef from Kinne Brook Farm in Worthington.
“They’re working right there in front of you,” Smith explains. “You can ask to have that steak cut a little thicker, or to get just half a pound of ground beef, whatever you need.”
Recently, prepared foods like cold salads, roast chicken, and whole take-and-bake meals have also become a bigger part of what they offer. This corresponds to a trend among grocery stores of all sizes, Smith explains. With inflation hitting restaurant prices the hardest, “people don’t want to go out to eat,” he says, “but they still don’t want to cook, so prepared foods to take home are the hot thing.”
Speaking of hot things, the Williamsburg Market also has hot lunches available every weekday and pre-made and custom sandwiches every day.
All of this and more fits into a cozy 3,000 square foot store, just a little bigger than a standard tennis court. Yet despite their small size, Williamsburg Market still covers all the traditional grocery categories.
“In our store, we might only have a few of each item on the shelf, but there’s a wide selection of things at your fingertips in that compact space,” says Smith. “One reason it’s a pleasure to shop here because you don’t have to walk a mile to find everything you need.”
It’s clear from talking to him that Smith runs a tight ship. Before buying Williamsburg Market four and a half years ago, he had mostly worked for large manufacturing companies either as an engineer or overseeing operations and sales. He enjoyed much of that work, but the tension of being responsible to both shareholders on Wall Street and customers in far flung corners of the globe often left him feeling incomplete.
In many ways, Smith chose to take over Williamsburg Market for the same reasons that many customers choose to shop there. He wanted to invest in a place and community that mattered to him personally, and a daily experience that felt fulfilling rather than draining.
“I wanted to work and serve people closer to home,” he says. “I’m a resident of Williamsburg, and I’m so happy that my customers are my neighbors.”
There are undeniable differences between running an international sales team and a neighborhood grocery store, and Smith acknowledges the learning curve. Hiring, training, and managing employees takes more time than he realized, for example. The grocery business also comes with notoriously thin budget margins and a constant flood of inventory moving in and out of the store. But where others might find that nerve-wracking, Smith has a more positive take.
“Selling groceries has its ups and downs,” he says, “but compared to other industries I’ve worked in, it’s quite steady and predictable. Everyone eats, and even if no one comes in on a terrible weather day, they’ll show up soon.”
And when they do show up, the hope is they leave Williamsburg Market with some great local food and a smile on their face.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about which stores, markets and farm stands are selling local food near you, visit buylocalfood.org
Peaches Return this SummerClarkdale Fruit Farm peach trees
After much anticipation, peaches are ripe and now available on farm stands and at farmers’ markets in the Valley. Ben Clark, fourth generation farmer and owner/operator of Clarkdale Fruit Farms, explains that western Massachusetts is generally the northern border of where peaches can be grown consistently.
One hundred years ago, Clarkdale Fruit Farms planted their first peach trees in their orchard in west Deerfield. Forty years ago, Clark’s father, Tom Clark, expanded the orchard to approximately 2,500 peach trees over nine acres.
For over thirty years, the Clarks farmed peaches reliably on their site, despite New England’s changeable weather. The strategic location of the peach orchard on top of a south facing drumlin offers a well-drained site with good airflow and full sun. “We definitely use our terrain to our advantage,” says Clark. In the spring, cold air settles below, giving the peach buds slightly warmer air on the hill.
With severe weather wrought by climate change, the farm lost their peach crop twice in the last seven years, in 2016 and 2023. Due to subzero temperatures in February last year, the entire crop was lost and there were no peaches at Clarkdale or throughout our region. Clark explains that compared to apples, “peaches and other stone fruits (nectarines, cherries, plums) are more sensitive to cold, and the wood of the trees is not as hardy.”
Clarkdale has frost sprinklers in the low-lying areas to protect the apple trees from late frosts once buds have formed. With support from last year’s Massachusetts Farm Resiliency Fund, Clarkdale Fruit Farms purchased a frost fan to help move air and regulate temperatures for the peach trees in the event of a late frost.
“Unfortunately, we must be proactive in protecting our crops. It’s something I wouldn’t normally have bought because it’s a capital purchase that I might use only once or
Fans used to keep warm air at peach trees during nights of expected late frosts.
twice a year, but if I use it and I can save my crop, it’s worth it,” says Clark.
Farming fruit takes the long view, but when it comes to peaches, the younger trees produce more fruit, with a twenty-year lifespan for production. Clarkdale replants 5% of peach trees annually, using bare root trees grown in a nursery. The farm grows the saplings for two years, then prunes them in the third year, when they begin fruiting. In total, it takes five years to bring the tree fully into production, and then fifteen years of strong fruit production is expected.
So far this year has begun with plentiful blooms, producing a heavy fruit set. Peach trees are limited in how much weight they can hold. If there is too much weight on the branch, it can snap. Clarkdale still thins peaches by hand, and the farm crew completes this in two passes, leaving six inches between fruit.
Careful attention to growing conditions and manual labor to enhance the fruit’s formation produces a superior tasting fruit that local devotees notice. “We want to grow the best quality, best tasting fruit.” says Clark. “Peaches are more work than apples. That’s why they are more expensive than apples.”
Peaches on a farm stand
While California growers pick fruit two weeks ahead of ripeness to allow for transport, New England growers pick ripe fruit off a tree, and return to do it again another time or two. Clark says, “We train our workers to pick within a day or two of peak ripeness. This means we generally pick every variety three times, where we pick apples once. It’s more labor intensive but produces the highest quality fruit.”
As the trees age in the presence of New England humidity, they become susceptible to diseases. Clarkdale Fruit Farms uses Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which Clark explains as “producing a high-quality crop while using the least toxic inputs for humans and climate.”
This translates as applying common sense to science. For example, the farm is licensed to use fungicides, and they choose the least toxic option. An onsite weather station links the farm in real time to Cornell University, so they can monitor temperature and precipitation, which then informs the timing of applications to be at an absolute minimum. Using this approach can reduce the overall number of sprays from an average of six per season to two.
Clark says, “I grew up here and my kids are here. We don’t bring in pollinators on our farm. Instead, we rely on the naturally existing pollinators for our land, and we don’t want to do any harm to them.” Where appropriate, the farm uses simple adaptations to protect stone fruit crops, including bird netting on cherry trees.
Care and concern for stewarding the land and feeding the community has been the mission of the Clark family for decades, with Ben Clark serving on CISA’s board from 2011-2020. Last year, Clarkdale Fruit Farms was awarded CISA’s Local Hero Award.
Orchard management and community engagement aside, sweet, juicy peaches keep generations of families visiting Clarkdale. The early varieties are clingstone, which are the peaches used for commercial canning, where the peach flesh sticks to the pit. These show up first at their farm stand through mid-August, then the freestone varieties become available. Freestone peaches release easily from the pit. Although both kinds are delicious for eating, Clark recommends waiting for the freestone peaches for home preservation, because they are easier to work with.
Fresh peaches in orchard crate
For home cooks who want to freeze peaches, allow the peaches to fully ripen, scald them for five seconds to remove the skin, then pit and slice them. Save the juice for smoothies or cooking. When making smoothies and jam, bag the peaches together. If separate slices of peaches are desired for a recipe, freeze them on a baking sheet before adding to a freezer bag. Clark notes that some bakers make their pie crust and put the peach slices in the crust, then freeze the whole pie until they are ready to finish it and bake it.
Peak season for peaches is August, and larger quantities for cooking and canning will be available in mid-August. Peaches are a highly perishable crop. First quality peaches are picture-perfect and ideal for eating as is. The farm offers utility grade fruit, which might have dents or bruises, but is half the price and are still delicious.
After last year, having peaches to offer and seeing customers again at their retail store is a joy for Clark. “Our family is very happy to have peaches, and our customers are just as enthralled. It’s wonderful that people appreciate the seasonality of where we live.” Clark concludes, “to have a fresh peach on a warm day in its perfect ripeness–that’s one of the joys of summer.”
Lisa Goodrich is Communications Coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, (CISA). To learn more about Clarkdale Fruit Farms, check out their social media or website at www.clarkdalefruitfarms.com. Peaches are available at their farm stand, which is open daily, from 9am-5pm.
Image credits: Blossoming peach trees and frost fan by Paul Shoul. Peach images CISA file photos.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Connie-Adams-and-John-Keilch-Yellow-Stonehouse-Farm-NEPM-7.17.24.mp3_
Owners Connie Adams and John Keilch tell Phil, Monte, and Kaliis all about Yellow Stonehouse Farm in Westfield. Did you know:
- They’re the only certified organic produce farm in Hampden County?
- They’re mostly a CSA farm, but they also have a farm market where anyone can come buy produce and other local food and staple groceries?
- You can buy their veggies with SNAP or HIP?
The farm market is open Wednesday to Friday from 10-6, and Saturday 9-4. Visit them at 354 Root Rd in Westfield, and look for the yellow house!
Published July 12, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Rising from the AshesOne year after a tragic fire, Amherst farm enters new chapter with community backingBy Jacob Nelson
For over two decades, J & J Farms stood alone as the last dairy farm in Amherst. Many other small New England dairies shuttered as the economy shifted even more in favor of mega-dairies, but the Waskiewicz family held on, milking cows while also growing vegetables on around 130 acres. It was an operation run with equal parts skill and optimism. In the end, only a natural disaster could derail it.
Last June, lightning struck the back corner of one of their barns, setting it alight. The fire spread quickly, engulfing two barns and shooting flames into the nearby home where 93-year-old patriarch Joseph Waskiewicz Sr. was resting. He made it safely across the street, but even as his children, neighbors, and first responders did their best, all he could do was watch as the blaze consumed the farm buildings. As they went up in smoke, so too did several lifetimes worth of memories and equipment that had been passed down for generations. None of them could truly be replaced.
J & J Farms’ popular roadside stand is still loaded with summer produce and flowers.
Luckily, no people or cows were lost that day, but life would be forever different for all of them. Within hours, other local dairy farmers had volunteered to rehome the entire herd, a move that soon became permanent. Meanwhile, Joseph’s sons, Joe Jr. and Mike, and daughter, Jane Suprenant, were left to ponder how their six-generation family farm would rebuild, if at all.
A year later, the siblings are still figuring out what the future of J & J Farms looks like, but one thing is certain: it will have a future. And despite the tragic events forcing them to reinvent the family business, they seem to approach this new chapter with both gratitude and positivity. Maybe that’s one reason their community has offered such tremendous support along the way.
Cut flowers may be a bigger part of J & J Farms’ business now that they’re no longer milking cows
That fateful fire tore at the very foundation of J & J Farms in many ways. For starters, milking cows had long been the heart of their daily routine. It had offered consistent income and a sense of identity and pride to care for Amherst’s last dairy herd. All of that was gone in an instant.
“Everything we did revolved around the cows and milking in the morning and evening,” says Joe Waskiewicz. “When they suddenly weren’t there, we didn’t know how to carry on our day.”
Adds Mike Waskiewicz, “That was also when the milk check stopped coming. The milk prices weren’t that great, but it was consistent pay every two weeks.”
“My dad always said, those cows are what held the farm together,” Suprenant recalls. Less than a month later, the man who spoke those words would pass away too. In Joe Waskiewicz’s words, “after seeing what happened, it seemed like he didn’t want to participate in life anymore. That was the most important loss. Our leader was gone.”
These mounting losses were undeniably crushing. Yet almost at once, acts of kindness began to pour in, offering relief, stability, and reassurance that their community cared and wanted them to succeed.
A new barn has already been built to replace some of the structures lost to the lightning strike fire of June 2023
By the next day, one of their customers started a GoFundMe page hoping to raise $50,000 to help them rebuild. Donations quickly surged past that goal and soon almost tripled it.
“That came as a shock,” says Suprenant. “We knew how much the community mattered to us, be we had no idea how much we mattered to them.”
Local businesses lent storage containers, machinery to clean up the debris, and even a porta-potty. Neighbors near and far dropped off hand tools, power tools, and other things they had lost.
“So many things just appeared here,” says Suprenant. “There’s been no way to really thank everyone, but we wish we could.”
J & J Farms’ ‘super sweet’ corn is a major draw for their farm stand
Meanwhile, several organizations that support local farms stepped in with resources, advice and referrals. Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, American Farmland Trust, New England Consulting Services and the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources continue to help J & J Farms chart their future today.
The GoFundMe money covered part of the cost of a new barn for housing farm equipment and processing vegetables, which is almost complete. Work continues to make the house livable again. While putting the physical pieces back together, the siblings are also working out how the farm business can continue to thrive without the dairy cows.
One answer might be raising beef cattle and selling beef straight to their loyal following of farm stand customers. Today, a small test herd can be seen lounging in the shadier parts of their pastures. Another might be expanding their cut flower business. Currently they sell stems to florists, bouquets at the farm stand, and Suprenant arranges flowers for special occasions like weddings and bridal showers. Another strategy might be selling more produce, planting more and extending their season by growing under hoop houses.
One thing that will be crucial to J & J Farms’ success is strong sales at their farm stand at 324 Meadow St. in Amherst. From May through November, they sell a wide range of produce from asparagus to zucchini. Now in July, their ‘super sweet’ corn is undeniably the best seller.
After such a personal and financial tragedy, maybe other farmers would have packed up their tools, sold what they could, and called it a day. But not the Waskiewiczs. What is it that drives them to persevere and see their farm reborn? Perhaps the truth is that, despite how much the fire took, it couldn’t shake their sense of purpose.
As Suprenant tells it, “I first thought farming was expected of us. Then I realized it was my choice. I just love working with the land. All of us have tried something different over the years, but we all returned to farming.”
Mike Waskiewicz is direct, saying simply, “this is what we do. We’re stewards of the land. We’re farmers, and we want to keep feeding people. So when people shop here and are loyal customers, that means a lot to us.”
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about what’s in season at local farm stands near you, visit buylocalfood.org
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Bob-Cecchi-E.-Cecchi-Farms-NEPM-2024.mp3Kaliis, Monte, and Phil visit with Bob Cecchi of E. Cecchi Farms in Agawam’s Feeding Hills. Hear all about:
- Their large farm store, where you can buy all kinds of produce they grow themselves or buy from other local farms
- Their legacy as a remaining large farm in Agawam
- The joys of local produce – how nothing tastes better, maybe because the season is fleeting
- Family recipes, memories, and more
Visit E. Cecchi’s farm store at 1131 Springfield St. daily from daily 9-5 (9-4 on Sundays).You can also find their produce at Big Y and other local retailers in Hampden County.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Emily-Endris-Birdhaven-Farm-NEPM-2024.mp3Emily Endris gives Jacob, Monte, and Kaliis a tour of their pick-you-own berry farm in Southampton. No longer just blueberries, BirdHaven Farm now has raspberries ready for picking too, and Asian pears, peaches, and apples coming soon! Hear about:
- All the different types and varieties they grow (we didn’t know raspberries came in that many colors!)
- The magical pick-your-own experience
- Animals enjoy berries too! Birds, bears, and everything in between. This is a wildlife-filled episode.
Birdhaven Farm is open for picking Wed-Sat from 8-6 and Sun 8-4. Check their Facebook page before heading out for weather notices and other updates.
Looking for PYO farms closer to you? Look no further! We’ve got a great list in CISA’s searchable online guide here (use the filter to sort for different kinds of berries and fruit).
Published July 6, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Blueberry Fields ForeverFamily farm in Heath cultivates connection to a special summer cropBy Jacob Nelson
“This is a farm, but it feels like a wild place,” says Meredith Wecker about The Benson Place. “That’s why I fell in love with it.”
The Benson Place is a diversified farm that Wecker runs with her husband, Andrew Kurowski, and is best known for their fifty acres of certified organic low-bush blueberries. Also called wild blueberries – which refers to the plant variety, not necessarily whether the berries were farmed or foraged – these dark blue gems of summer are almost ripe on their hilltop in Heath, just waiting to be picked.
Low-bush blueberries pack a lot of flavor for their small size (their photo)
Fifty acres produces a lot of berries. Enough to keep many local families in good supply throughout the year.
“I’d say 70% of our sales are people buying in bulk,” says Wecker. “We sell fresh berries in 10- or 20-pound boxes to store or make jam. You can pre-order these for pick-up at sites around the Valley. Another 20% of our crop goes to pick-your-own, and the rest is frozen and sold in local stores like Atlas Farm Store in Deerfield and Green Fields Market in Greenfield.”
Their land on Burnt Hill has a long history as a commercial blueberry farm dating to the 1950s, with some evidence suggesting the hilltop barren has been managed to encourage berry growth for generations beforehand. After working for the previous farm owners, Dave Gott & Ted Watt, Wecker and Kurowski took over the business in 2012 and began adding their own spin.
“I’ve always dreamed of having a farm with many things going on that all fit together,” Wecker explains. Part of wanting to diversify and connect different pieces of the farm comes from her study of permaculture, which she calls “a huge motivational force. It’s inspired how I want to live on the planet, and how I farm as well.”
Now, in addition to blueberries, they’re also growing some vegetables and have planted new groves of chestnuts and elderberries to eventually sell. Dairy goats also joined the farm a few years back.
Yearly controlled burns on a third of their acreage encourage The Benson Place’s blueberries to set lots of fruit (their photo)
Tying it all together, they recently started raising pastured meat chickens, which are fed organic grain and goats’ milk whey while foraging freely in the chestnut and elderberry orchard. This year they’re raising two batches of chickens ready for pick up in July and October. Pre-ordering information is available at bensonplace.org.
A permaculture approach also influences how The Benson Place manages their blueberries. Unlike their other crops, these were not planted by people, they were found already growing there. The farmers’ job is to help these native berries thrive and outcompete other plants.
The first task each year to care for the blueberries is a controlled burn of about a third of their bushes. Burning is the best way they’ve found to prune bushes back to the ground, which encourages vigorous growth and fruiting over the next few years.
After burning, blueberry bushes grow right back. Unfortunately, so do weeds. To manage the farm organically without pesticides, keeping them in check requires countless hours of hand-weeding. Luckily, the goal is not to eradicate everything that’s not a blueberry.
“We’ve learned that we farm within a larger ecosystem, and every plant has its purpose,” says Wecker. “For example, leaving some trees and woody species encourages more fungi to thrive in the soil, and that helps deter grass, which is a harder weed to manage.”
At The Benson Place, pick-your-own customers and farm crew pickers use the same equipment – blueberry rakes and wooden berry boxes and garden carts (their photo)
Come harvest time, picking low-bush blueberries looks completely different compared to their high-bush counterparts. For efficiency, most farms wait until an entire patch is ripe and pick everything at once using a special blueberry rake, which looks like a metal dustpan or scoop with high sides and long tines extending outwards. The picker slides the tines under the bush’s top branches and pulls up to dislodge berries, which are collected at the back of the scoop. After picking, sorting machines help pickers separate sticks, leaves and unripe berries until only the best remain.
Pick-your-own customers at The Benson Place get to experience this whole process, which is a rare opportunity in this part of New England. All equipment is provided, and the experience usually takes about two hours, depending on the number of helping hands and size of the harvest.
The season for low-bush blueberries is short, running from mid-July through the beginning of August. To keep things orderly, The Benson Place lets customers sign up to reserve pick-your-own slots ahead of time on some days. On other days it’s first come, first served with new groups setting out as soon as rakes and sorting machines become available. In case of a short wait, they encourage picnicking, enjoying the view and wandering their public hiking trails.
(The Benson Place photo)
For those who would rather skip picking and go right to eating, baking, or freezing, The Benson Place is also accepting pre-orders for bulk blueberries from this year’s crop on their website. Customers can also buy their wild blueberry syrup, which goes well with anything you’d use maple syrup for.
While small, low-bush blueberries are packed with punchy, concentrated flavor. Delicious on their own, they’re also great additions to both sweet and savory dishes.
“They make a great pie or cobbler, which is pretty obvious,” Wecker says. “They also pair really well with herbs like rosemary, thyme, and lavender. I’ve seen lavender in blueberry pie, or blueberry coffee cakes with rosemary and thyme. Blueberry chutneys are great too.”
Last year, there were hardly any blueberries. A late May frost decimated the crop as it was flowering. It could have brought the business to ruin, but it didn’t. Thanks to hard work and generous customers who contributed to their GoFundMe, the farm persisted. Now, this year’s crop looks better than ever.
Many customers say The Benson Place’s magic comes from the farm’s integration with a landscape that remains wild; where visitors step into a world in which humans are clearly one part of the whole. Hawks soar above views of Mount Greylock, pollinators buzz between wildflowers, and people enjoy one of the sweetest gifts that piece of land has grown for centuries. It’s an experience not to be missed.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). See where you can find local berries or pick-your-own farms near you at buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Benjamin-Bland-Springfield-Dept.-of-Health-and-Human-Services-NEPM-2024.mp3_
Benjamin Bland joins Phil, Monte, and Kaliis to talk about his efforts to make local, healthy food available to everyone in Springfield through the Mass in Motion program at the Springfield Department of Health and Human Services.
The extra barriers that always exist for People of Color and other disenfranchised groups make this work difficult. Political inertia too. But Benjamin and other food justice champions at places like the Springfield Food Policy Council and other local organizations are collaborating to make a real difference. And you can help! If you live in Springfield, lend your voice to the Mass in Motion Community Group. Click here to learn more and contact them.
Published June 22, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
A Farmer-Florist Grows Beautiful Local Blooms in Florence“In a different life, I think I would have been an artist from the beginning,” says Adrienne Bashista, owner of Passalongs Farm and Florist. “I wasn’t forbidden from a career in art, it just didn’t occur to me. But now in my fifties, I’ve realized what I want.”
As a flower farmer, floral designer and small business owner, Bashista is now surrounded by opportunities for art and creativity. Whether it’s one centerpiece arrangement or a wedding’s worth of floral touches, the results have been beautiful, and different every time.
Adrienne Ehlert Bashista, owner of Passalongs Farm in Northampton. Photo by Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette
Passalongs Farm covers about an acre of land in Florence, spanning Bashista’s home property and an area leased from the city. Flower beds have sprouted up seemingly everywhere, filled with hundreds of species and varieties whose blooms will become her art supplies. Roughly a third of the flowers she has planted are annuals, but most are perennials that come back every year.
On the floral design side, about half of Bashista’s income is from designing flowers for weddings. She also takes custom orders for special occasion and sympathy flowers, and offers weekly or monthly flower subscriptions for fresh seasonal arrangements. In all cases, both pick-up and delivery are offered.
Passalongs Farm also sells flowers at their self-serve farm stand on-site at 198 Sylvester Road in Florence. The stand is open daily, April through December, and customers can pay with cash, credit card, check or Venmo.
“Colorful” is the first word Bashista uses to describe her aesthetic. “I’m not a monotone person,” she says, “and I tend to be generous in my arrangements because I grow more than I can use. In florist-speak, my style is often called a wildflower look. That’s not connected to any kind of flowers, it just means using lots of smaller blooms and varied textures.”
While Bashista has always loved flowers, she spent the early part of her career as a librarian, arranging books instead. But when her younger son needed more care, she left behind that full-time job away from home to support him. Instead, she picked up part-time work managing a farmers market where they were living in North Carolina.
Photo by Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette
“Before I managed a farmers market, I had never been to one,” says Bashista. “But I loved it. I loved talking to the farmers and seeing how they had created their own businesses.”
That experience planted the idea that she too could indulge her entrepreneurial streak and support her family by growing and making things. That thought took root as she relocated with her family to western Massachusetts, and over the next few years it began to bloom.
“The reason I decided to grow flowers was simple,” she says. “I loved them the most. I planted out a quarter acre – more like a big garden than a farm – and started selling flowers at farmers markets in Easthampton and Westfield. At that point I was sort of funding my hobby. I wasn’t making much money yet.”
Her first job designing flowers for a wedding changed the equation immediately. It was a big job with a learning curve, but in the end her clients were thrilled. Meanwhile, she walked away earning triple compared to a weekend working farmers markets.
Megan Johnson and Nadia Kamel, employees of of Passalongs Farm, plant succulents. Photo by Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette
Fast forward to this year, and when the weather is nice Bashista will sometimes be working two or more weddings in a week. The standards for wedding flowers are high, aimed at absolute freshness and perfection. Detailed preparations with clients lead up to a head-spinning rush of harvesting, arranging and installing flowers in a very short amount of time. Yet within the many demands of this work, Bashista has found her stride.
Wedding flowers have one job: being beautiful in a way that represents the couple celebrating their love. As a result, most clients choose Passalongs because they like Bashista’s style. Still, many also recognize the benefits of working with a farmer-florist who sources locally and grows many things herself. The choice can align with someone’s values, like supporting local businesses and celebrating the local landscape they call home. Plus, from a quality standpoint, florists using local flowers often have an easier time providing both freshness and variety.
Bunches of flowers for sale at Passalongs Farm in Northampton. Photo by Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Says Bashista, “I am choosing the best of what’s in season based on what I’m seeing a few days before the event. With that, your bouquet is not going to look like everybody else’s, because I don’t have to just pick from whatever the flower wholesaler has. And if I need three stems of something, I can just go cut them, I don’t have to order whatever the minimum is a month ahead. That means I can offer tremendous variety.”
Bashista is constantly moving between the roles of farmer and florist. As a farmer, she plans ahead and grows more than she needs so that as a florist, her supplies can be plentiful even if some things don’t thrive in a particular year.
“If I don’t have something myself,” she says, “I’ll try to buy it from Old Friends Farm in Amherst, LaSalle Florists and Greenhouses in Whately, or other smaller growers. And then if I need to, I’ll have things shipped from larger wholesalers.”
In her years of running Passalongs, many of the skills Bashista has picked up are a blend of science and art. Some of these she passes on in workshops held in all seasons on the farm. Coming soon in July is a cut and design workshop, where attendees will get a tour of the farm and can harvest and arrange their own floral centerpiece with coaching. In the fall, she’ll host workshops on making dried flower art, and come winter a wreath-making workshop too. Registration is at their website: passalongs.com.
Food keeps us alive. Gorgeous things like flowers give us joy. Luckily, western Massachusetts has no shortage of farmers growing both, offering freshness and beauty that are hard to beat.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about local farms growing flowers – and food – near you, visit buylocalfood.org.
Sugar Snap Peas growing at Dave’s Natural Garden in Granby. Photo: Carol Lollis, Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Spring Crops Abound at Dave’s Natural Garden
After the cold of winter in New England, spring on our region’s farms is a treat for the senses. While locals may argue over whether asparagus or strawberries declare the arrival of spring, Meghan Hastings, owner and farm manager of Dave’s Natural Garden, votes for peas.
Meghan Hastings, co-owner and farm manager at Dave’s Natural Garden in Granby talks about the Sugar Snap Pea season in a field at the farm. Photo: Carol Lollis, Daily Hampshire Gazette.
As harvesting of the first sugar snap peas begins, asparagus and strawberries are already on the farm stands. “A good sugar snap pea is unbeatable. For a snack, peas are my hands-down favorite. I think of peas as the signature spring crop because we start the plants from seeds,” says Hastings.
The Valley’s beloved Hadley Grass, asparagus is a perennial planted years in advance, and strawberry plants are in the ground one to two years before harvesting berries. Hastings notes, “Peas are one of the first things you can seed and one of the earliest crops we get. It’s delightful.”
Peas get their start as seeds, and Dave’s Natural Garden purchases seeds through Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Maine. Out of concern for disease and efficiency, Hastings shares that growers producing food in a non-hobby setting rarely save seeds to plant the next season. For home gardeners, peas grow better from seeds than starts. She suggests that many peas benefit from growing on a trellis.
The crew at Dave’s plants their first crop of pea seeds in heated high tunnels in the last week of February. The tunnels are heated to a cool temperature to keep the ground a little warmer, offering an earlier start than nature gives. The farm grows sugar snap peas, snow peas, and shelling peas.
The last planting of peas is outside. Seeds go directly into the ground, no later than the first week in April. For home gardeners, Hastings shares that “the conventional wisdom is to plant seeds when the ground is workable and no later than the first week of a month that starts with ‘a.’” For spring pea crops, that translates into planting the first week of April, and planting the first week of August for fall, expecting a lower yield.
English shelling peas are the largest and latest planting of peas at Dave’s Natural Garden. They plant one crop per year. There is an old New England tradition to have shelling peas, or English peas, on the Fourth of July.
Around the end of June, the farm sells shelling peas by the half bushel for home cooks who want to freeze them. The cool weather crop freezes well: simply shell, blanch quickly, and bag for the freezer. To keep the peas separate instead of clumping, freeze on a cookie sheet and then move them to a bag. (This process works for berries too.) Frozen peas will keep all winter. The farm shares availability on their social media pages.
Peas are well suited to growing in our area, and peas are still following their traditional schedule for now. Climate warming may mean that peas will have an earlier season or grow during spring only in the future. The United States Department of Agriculture recently changed its growing zones, which suggests planting could be a week earlier. As climate change brings increased precipitation, Hastings and her team are figuring out how to adapt. While they are not at risk of river flooding, heavy rains can impact the crops grown on Dave’s hilly landscape.
Hastings explains the fervor some locals have for their favorite crops. She says, “For people in their 40’s and older, we did not grow up buying strawberries in a grocery store. When strawberries were ready, it was an event. We ate peaches or strawberries seasonally, and we did not eat those foods out of season – ever. For those who grew up attuned to the region’s growing seasons, crops can carry the same excitement as holidays.”
Sugar Snap Peas growing at Dave’s Natural Garden in Granby. Photo: Carol Lollis, Daily Hampshire Gazette.
The moment when the sugar snap peas, tomatoes, corn, or other favorites arrive on the farm stand is exciting. Hastings explains, “Local, fresh produce tastes better. It’s grown better. It’s grown differently. Even if it’s grown in a tunnel, it’s grown in dirt, not coconut fiber. The quality is higher.”
For people who love asparagus, strawberries, peas, or peaches, the first taste of the season tastes better than anything found in a grocery store. Occasionally parents call the farm stand, watching for certain crops because they are the only tomatoes or peas their children will eat.
Hastings continues, “Kids know food tastes better when it’s grown locally. They are sensitive enough to notice the difference. They might not understand all that happens to get produce into a grocery store, but kids know they just don’t like it as much.”
Hastings favors eating raw vegetables with her hands and finds that approach successful when introducing peas or other vegetables to children. The farm does not have pick-your-own peas, but they are growing purple and yellow sugar snap peas this season. With experience that comes from motherhood, Hastings notes that children love eating peas off the vine. She recommends cutting up snap peas into salads with greens and strawberries or adding to a pasta salad for a spring dish that is child friendly.
Sharing spring crops and growing food for our community is a joy for Hastings. She says, “This is what we love doing. In spring, everything is coming back to life: things are colorful, the days are longer, and everything smells better. I like talking to people and introducing them to new things. I like growing stuff and being outside. Farming is very satisfying.”
Hastings will offer a taste test of peas for children at CISA’s Making Food Fun, on Wednesday, June 19th at the South Hadley Farmers’ Market at Buttery Brook Park. This free family event features fun and education about local food and local farms. Children can try sprouts from Love Leaf Farm, strawberries from Sapowsky Farms, and meet tortoises Tortilla and Tortellini, ambassadors from Flora and Fauna Farm.
Lisa Goodrich is Communications Coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, (CISA). To learn more about Dave’s Natural Garden, check out their social media or website at www.davesnaturalgarden.com. For more information on Making Food Fun, see our event listing.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/240611A-mp3cut-mp3cut.net-3.mp3It’s strawberry season! Maybe the best in a long time, says farmer Joe Czajkowski who owns Lakeside Pick-Your-Own Strawberries in Hadley. Hear Joe’s take on:
- Taste testing different varieties, from lime-sized juicy berries to thumb-sized sweet ones.
- Selling to UMass and many nearby public schools, and how he’d “rather see the country run by 100 cafeteria ladies than the Senate we have now.”
- Aaaand… the continuing debate about how to pronounce “asparagus.” Maybe the Czajkowskis have it right?
You can pick your own strawberries or grab a fresh-picked quart every day from 7:30am to 7pm. Lakeside has two neighboring fields in Hadley at 326 River Drive and 403 River Drive – look for the cart and sign to see which one is picking today!
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/240604A-mp3cut.net-1.mp3.
Jacob (L) and Melissa Breor (R) from the Chicopee Chamber. Photo by Kaliis Smith, NEPM
Folks from the Center Fresh Farmers’ Market in Chicopee (market manager Erin Sewell and Melissa Breor, executive director of the Chicopee Chamber of Commerce) visit with Kaliis, Monte, and Jacob to dish on things new and old at the market this year, including:
- Their new location at Wisniowski Park in Chicopee center (click here to see)
- All the farm-fresh and locally made things you can find at the market (plus a playground, splash park, live music, and more)
- Erin’s own farm, Dusty Goat Farm Living Foods in East Longmeadow (the goats aren’t literally dusty. But they do eat poison ivy, which is handy).
Center Fresh Farmers’ Market happens every Thursday from 1-6 now through the end of October. Follow them on Facebook or Instagram for updates and to see what vendors are coming each week. Hope to see you there!
Published June 1, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
As June Arrives, Hadley Farm Stand a One-Stop-Shop for Local ProduceJackie Pliska, owner of Wanczyk Produce in Hadley, has dreams of keeping the farm stand business open year-round instead of 7 months each year. But first, she has to finish college.
Pliska started working at the family business when she was eleven. She swept floors. She learned to work the cash register. Then, when her grandfather fell ill and couldn’t run things, she stepped in to manage the stand.
“When he passed away, things were up in the air about who would run it,” recalls Pliska. “Eventually I decided to stick with it. I wanted to create a retail space where people could buy affordable, healthy produce grown by local farmers, and hopefully help boost the local economy.”
Since 2022, Wanczyk Produce has been Pliska’s show to run, even as she completes her degree at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst. Once she does, she plans to take classes at the university’s Stockbridge School of Agriculture too. Her grandmother, Janet Wanczyk, helps staff the stand on weekdays, and other family and friends help on weekends when things get busier.
Under Pliska’s care, the farm stand has stretched its season and expanded its offerings. If strawberries or corn are in season on Hadley farms, chances are they’ll be found on the stand as they always were. But now they’re selling new-for-them things like cut flowers, hanging baskets, salsa, jam and dairy products, all from local farms.
“I like to say we’re a one-stop farmers’ market,” she explains. “We work with over 40 different farms across Massachusetts and bring their harvest here, so you can come to one place for it. We try to cater to everyone and make it really simple for anyone who wants to shop here.”
Customer ease and accessibility is what Pliska says sets Wanczyk Produce apart from some other roadside farm stands. For payment they accept debit, credit, cash, Venmo and SNAP (formerly called food stamps). They’re also located right next to a PVTA bus stop, making things a bit easier for customers without cars.
Besides accepting SNAP, Pliska hopes they’ll soon be able to accept HIP (Healthy Inceptives Program) benefits too. HIP is a state-run program that offers SNAP customers an extra $40-80 per month, depending on their household size, to spend on locally grown fruits and veggies at approved vendors like farmers markets and farm stands. The program is not enrolling any new farm stands now, but once they are she plans to apply.
“We also have employees working at all times,” she says. “We can help you figure out paying in multiple ways, and we offer curbside service. People who have trouble walking or even mothers with children who don’t want to get out of the car can pull up to the stand, honk their horn and we’ll serve them right from their car.”
The reason many people shop for produce at local farm stands is for freshness and quality. Wanczyk Produce pays attention to both, following the mantra, “if we wouldn’t buy it, we won’t sell it.” New produce comes in daily, some of it hitting the stand within an hour of being harvested. Everything else is stored in a walk-in cooler when not on the stand, and inventory moves quickly.
Early in the season, Hadley asparagus from the nearby West Farm and Four Rex Farm were a big draw, along with crisp local rhubarb. All kinds of leafy greens are now available too, as well as the first tender root crops of the year like carrots and radishes. The season’s first strawberries are imminent, while hot house tomatoes, other berries and eventually sweet corn aren’t far behind.
Wanczyk Produce does grow some of their own crops – mostly peak summer produce like tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. Otherwise, what they sell is gathered from other local farms. In many cases Pliska or someone else is driving out to each farm to pick up orders, leaning into individual relationships with other farmers.
“Wally Czajkowski at Plainville Farm here in Hadley has a bunch of products we buy throughout the summer and fall,” Pliska says. “Over towards Amherst, we buy a lot from Old Friends Farm, and Kitchen Garden Farm up in Sunderland.”
Looking ahead, Pliska sees diversification as the key to unlocking Wanczyk Produce’s potential. That goes for business relationships, products they sell, and customers they serve.
“We want to expand the number of local farms that we work with,” she says. “We really want to be 12 months out of the year, which means working out some logistics and adding more year-round products, like baked goods and things. And I really want to get approved to accept HIP along with SNAP. HIP hasn’t been open to new businesses since I’ve owned the stand, but I know there are lots of people who would use HIP here if they could, so I’m hopeful.”
Wanczyk Produce is open seven days a week from 9am to 6pm at 180 Russell Street in Hadley. This year, they plan on staying open through Thanksgiving at least. After that, time will tell how the future unfolds.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about local farms and farm stands in your neck of the woods, visit buylocalfood.org.
Published May 25, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Independent Cafe Brings a Taste of Local to Turners FallsBy Jacob Nelson
The Upper Bend Cafe and Bruncheonette in Turners Falls aims to be reliably amazing. That means serving familiar breakfast and lunch favorites while unleashing their creativity, squeezing every drop of goodness from farm-fresh local food.
Says owner Billy McKerchie, “using as many seasonal and interesting ingredients as we can, we’re making things that people will recognize, but they’ll say, ‘I’ve never had it like this before.’”
Billy McKerchie, owner of the Upper Bend Cafe in Turners Falls. Gazette/Carol Lollis photo.
Their menu is approachable, omnivore and vegan friendly, and showcases a love of scratch cooking. They serve coffee, tea, and soft drinks, plus beer and wine. Most meals start under $10, and their whole food menu is always available, Wednesday through Sunday from 8 to 3.
The cafe’s interior, full of bright colors and warm wood finishing, is designed to welcome. “People come here for food,” says McKerchie, “but also for the ambiance and the community they find here.”
Hank Silver is the craftsman behind The Upper Bend’s woodwork. “He’s a friend and amazing carpenter from Montague,” McKerchie explains. “He’s actually working on the trusses at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris now, which is crazy.”
McKerchie has become a craftsman himself in the kitchen, but it took a while for him to realize his calling.
“I worked in restaurants since I got out of college,” he says. “At one point I went back to graduate school for food and farm policy, but when I didn’t find a job I liked right away, I went back to working in kitchens. Eventually it became obvious that I liked feeding people, I was good at it, and it was something I could offer the community.”
After this realization set in, McKerchie started planning to open his own restaurant. Eventually, he and co-owner Tamara McKerchie found their location on Avenue A in Turners Falls. After months of hard work, they opened The Upper Bend’s doors in fall 2019. Since then, they’ve endured the early pandemic selling takeout only, expanded into a neighboring storefront, and built a base of loyal customers.
Billy McKerchie in the kitchen. Gazette/Carol Lollis photo.
Two days a week, McKerchie is still wrist-deep in flour, baking biscuits, pastries and bread. He also still works the line sometimes during service. But thanks to a committed and skilled kitchen staff, he devotes more time to business tasks and working on the menu.
The Upper Bend’s menu is divided into four sections: sweet baked goods, savory sandwiches, a salad and veggies section, and a miscellaneous section for food that defies categories. These groups never change, and faithful standbys like an egg sandwich or grilled cheese are always there. Yet each new season brings a fresh look around the edges, thanks to the bounty of local farms.
“An egg and cheese sandwich ordered in February or August is the same basic sandwich,” McKerchie says. “But where we have fun with seasonality is switching the add-ons. Like for now, you can add fresh asparagus from Warner Farm in Sunderland.”
Asparagus pairs well with other add-ons, like oyster mushrooms from Mycoterra Farm in South Deerfield, or breakfast sausage made with local pork raised by Bostrom Farm in Greenfield.
Analee Wulfkuhle enjoys her breakfast at the Upper Bend Cafe in Turners Falls. Gazette/Carol Lollis photo.
The Upper Bend also uses fresh produce from Kitchen Garden Farm in Sunderland, Old Friends Farm in Amherst, and Bardwell Farm in Hatfield. Pause and Pivot Farm in Williamsburg, which grows hydroponically indoors, supplies greens year-round. Yogurt comes in from Sidehill Farm in Hawley, other dairy from High Lawn Farm in the Berkshires, and flour from Farmer Ground in New York, which sources grain from Northeast farmers.
Sometimes they order directly from these businesses, but most of these items are delivered by Marty’s Local. Marty’s Local is a distribution company that buys from dozens of local food businesses, which then allows places like The Upper Bend to buy all that local food with a single order.
Once ingredients are through the door, kitchen staff get to work cooking, baking, and in some cases fermenting or preserving local food to extend those flavors into the next season.
“Right now, our biscuits come with blackberry jam made last summer with berries from Nourse Farms in Whately,” McKerchie offers. “I’d put our biscuits up against anyone’s. The jam makes them better.”
Because they see local food as a valuable resource, very little goes to waste at The Upper Bend. Veggie scraps become stock. Stale ends become bread pudding. This frugality helps lower costs, since they don’t have to buy extra ingredients. It also inspires a new level of creativity, which is something diners get to enjoy.
Zoe Darrow enjoys her breakfast at the Upper Bend Cafe in Turners Falls. Gazette/Carol Lollis photo.
McKerchie’s favorite example starts with the whey left over from straining Sidehill Farm yogurt to make it thicker. “We make a great soda with whey and maple syrup,” he says. “We’ve also inoculated it with koji and made soy sauce. But we still had all this whey.”
“Then someone had the idea to steep seaweed in whey to make a dashi soup base,” he continues. “They added soba noodles, tofu, preserved lemon and mint, and that became the chilled soba dish on our menu now. It’s a refreshing dish for summer and it’s selling well, so we’ll keep going with it.”
A similar drive to capitalize on resources and opportunities encouraged McKerchie to open Avenue A Market right next door to the cafe in early May. The corner store sells produce, pantry items, beer, wine and household goods. “A little place for things you need,” he calls it. The market is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 to 6.
For McKerchie, cooking is an act of joy. Feeding people is an act of care. Ultimately, the work becomes worth it when people show it matters to them.
“What makes this meaningful is when I see the same customers coming back, and that we’re making them happy.” he says. “That’s why I keep doing it.”
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about restaurants near you using local food and seasonal produce, visit buylocalfood.org.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Jessica-Dizek-Jennifer-Zina-Mapleline-Farm-NEPM-2024.mp3This week, Kaliis, Monte, and Phil meet the cows and people behind Mapleline Farm, a 120 year old dairy farm that’s a pillar of our local food community. They learn about:
- Their adorable jersey cows who produce 1,000,000+ gallons of milk each year
- How Jersey cow milk is different – it’s “A2A2,” which is often more digestible
- Why the decision to bottle and market their own milk (rather than selling it to a distributor like Cabot or Agrimark) was difficult but well worth it.
Plus, MILK TASTING! They make a bunch of flavors. Coffee milk is our favorite. What do you think?
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/NEPM-Reed-Farm-5.16.24-1.mp3.
Kaliis, Monte, and Jacob visit Reed Farm in Sunderland, where farmers Kat Chang and Peter Laznicka teach them about:
- Their humane methods for raising and processing chickens (once the weather warms, the older ones go outside on pasture)
- Why their state (and soon federally) licensed poultry processing facility is so important. It’s the only one in the region! Because of them, it’s much easier for other local farms to raise chickens, ducks, and more to supply us with local meat.
- Closing the nutrient loop by composting bedding and processing waste on the farm. Compost hopefully for sale soon!
Published May 11, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette and Greenfield Recorder
Fibers for farmers: Western Massachusetts Fibershed turns local ‘throw away’ wool into fertilizer pelletsLocal wool for your wardrobe…and for your garden?
That’s the idea behind a new project from Western Massachusetts Fibershed, an organization working to strengthen our local fiber economy, right alongside our local food economy.
Peggy Hart is a core organizer for the group, and a weaver by trade. She owns Bedfellow Blankets in Shelburne Falls, where she uses industrial looms to create beautiful textiles, many of them made with wool from farms in the Northeast. Her work happens at the end of the supply chain, which gives her an intimate view of how the whole thing functions – or sometimes doesn’t.
Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette photo
Farms in the Valley and Berkshires still produce a fair amount of sheep’s wool – over 21,000 pounds per year, according to the most recent census of agriculture. Some of this wool is processed into ready-to-use yarn, fleece, roving, and other materials for crafters to knit, spin, or felt. But a lot of it, whether it’s just not quite high quality enough for artisanal purposes, or whether it’s a byproduct of meat production, doesn’t have much of a market. This means that a lot of locally produced wool is at risk of going to waste.
On top of that, commercial-scale infrastructure for cleaning and processing wool has become scarce. Wool mills in Putney, VT, (Green Mountain Spinnery) and one that recently opened in Easthampton (Alchemy Fiber Mill) are rare examples of local facilities, as is Hart’s weaving operation at Bedfellow Blankets. Wool can make the journey from fleece to fabric within the region, but the supply chain is small and fragile.
Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette photo.
That’s a shame, according to Hart, because when fabric performance and social and environmental costs are considered, wool has a lot going for it. “Wool is warmer than synthetics,” she says, “and it keeps you warm even if it’s wet. It’s durable. It wicks away moisture and sweat. It’s flame-resistant. And it’s biodegradable, which is a huge reason why it’s more sustainable. You can recycle wool responsibly, but not really a polyester fleece.”
With that in mind, Western Massachusetts Fibershed is trying to lay the groundwork for a textile economy that supports local farmers and makes wool and other local fibers a viable option for crafters and artisans. Part of that is expanding infrastructure and access to equipment, but at its core, their work is about connecting people.
Peggy Hart, receives wool from Barbara Goodchild of Barberic Farm in Shelburne. “I think it is a great project, otherwise the wool literally gets thrown away in the woods,” said Goodchild. Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette photo.
A watershed collects all the surface water in a particular region. Similarly, the national organization Fibershed, of which Western Massachusetts Fibershed is a chapter, collects and organizes farmers, business owners and community members who share their vision. Other organizations, like CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture), have supported this work too, but Western Mass Fibershed has been a leader, organizing locally and together with other Fibershed chapters.
One of Western Massachusetts Fibershed’s biggest current projects is buying wool from small farms, pooling it, and sending it through the local processing chain to make yarn and blankets. Hart first got involved with Fibershed when earlier organizers asked her to weave these blankets at her Shelburne Falls shop. Yarn and blankets are currently for sale at their website, westernmassfibershed.org.
Still, “there’s always some wool that’s too dirty, matted, or short to use for yarn or fabrics,” says Hart. “At the national level, one Fibershed working group has been discussing what we can do with this ‘waste’ wool. The idea that grabbed the most attention was making wool fertilizer pellets.”
Peggy Hart holds wool Pellets used for fertilization and water retention at her home in Shelburne. Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette photo.
This idea makes sense for a lot of reasons. For one, pelletizing wool is simple. It doesn’t need to be washed or sorted, just shredded and compressed into pellets. And while it’s not a lucrative business on its own, farmers can earn some extra cash from material they’d otherwise throw away.
Meanwhile, it turns out wool is great for garden soil. By weight it’s about half carbon and one-fifth nitrogen, making it a potent source of fertility that releases slowly as it breaks down. Mixing in pellets also aerates soil, and, thanks to wool’s ability to absorb water, helps it retain moisture longer in the root zone.
To put this idea into practice, Western Massachusetts Fibershed secured three grants to buy machinery. The organization will buy local wool to make and sell wool pellets, and they will custom-process wool for local farms to take back and sell themselves.
“We hope to be able to pay farmers a dollar per pound for their wool,” Hart says. “For most farms that will come close to covering the cost of shearing, depending on the size of their flock.”
Peggy Hart holding wool Pellets. Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette photo.
The group is still waiting on one piece of equipment, but hopes to start selling wool pellet fertilizer at the annual Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Festival, held Memorial Day weekend at the Cummington Fairgrounds. Hart will also be tabling for Fibershed at the Bridge of Flowers Plant Sale in Shelburne Falls on Saturday May 11, and encourages anyone interested in connecting with the group to visit her there or contact them via email at westernmassfibershed@gmail.com.
Western Massachusetts Fibershed is an all-volunteer run organization structured around quarterly meetings and working groups focused on specific tasks, like publicizing the organization, coordinating events, and special projects like the wool pelletizing idea. Quarterly meetings are held in-person at rotating locations and include updates and time for socializing and skill-sharing.
“Overall, we’re trying to create a sense of community,” says Hart, “because we know that’s what people want.”
Western Massachusetts has a vibrant local food economy, in large part because people make an effort to support it. Western Massachusetts Fibershed is betting that support will extend to the local fiber economy too. After all, local farms are at the root of both.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about local farms growing food, fiber, flowers and more, visit buylocalfood.org.
Photo by Sandra Thomas, Marty’s Local.
Nick Martinelli, CEO of Marty’s Local, began his career with a stint at the Farm School, in consideration of how he might participate in the local agricultural economy. While conducting market research in 2015, he recognized there was a lot of demand for local food, yet many farms were not equipped to distribute it themselves.
Martinelli recalls, “I saw farmers driving past each other to deliver to customers, and I thought a business dedicated to consolidation, marketing, and delivery could be more efficient. That kind of work requires a whole day’s effort and is hard to do on the margins of the day.”
In that realization, Marty’s Local was born. Strong relationships with over 100 farmers and food producers in Western Massachusetts, Vermont, the Hudson Valley of New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Maine are the foundation for the business. These supplier partnerships are located mostly on the same routes as their customers, allowing them to be nimble and maintain freshness.
The distributor connects farms to restaurants, small retailers, farm stands, and food co-ops in our region. As a small business themselves, Marty’s Local offers small buyers a lower minimum order than large distributors. Martinelli explains, “Our values align with the values of small buyers; yet working with larger buyers, like colleges, is an exciting opportunity to connect farms to a larger market.”
Leaning into relationships, instead of contracts, the Marty’s team talks with farmers in advance about what they’ll be able to supply, while they also talk with produce buyers and grocery buyers to ask about purchasing goals for the year. Martinelli says, “Then we do our best to meet these goals. We want the growers to set their pricing at a level that is going to earn them a living. We have to get it out to the market at a competitive price and make money, but our approach is different. The whole thing doesn’t work if our partners are going to be driven out of business.”
In 2019, Marty’s Local combined operations with Squash, Inc., adding more institutional customers, including local colleges
Driver Kevin Aloisi makes a delivery of local foods to Marty’s Local customer. Photo by Sandra Thomas.
and K-12 public schools, into the fold. Since that time, Marty’s has grown upon that foundation to serve over 30 schools and school districts in Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden, Worcester, and Berkshire counties.
Sandra Thomas, Director of Marketing & Customer Support for Marty’s Local, explains that the company began by attending workshops to learn the needs of school nutrition directors, then continued to grow those relationships. Thomas says, “The question is, ‘How can we support those relationships to get more local food onto student plates?’ We listen and are attentive to the requests of the schools.”
For Massachusetts public schools, ordering anything from pencils to pizza crust follows a procurement process. Thomas credits Massachusetts Farm to School for helping to connect farmers, distributors, and school nutrition staff to deliver local food to school meals. Thomas continues, “They’re a great organization in terms of navigating the path for getting more local food into the school cafeterias. When school districts were awarded funding to spend specifically on minimally processed local foods, they were instrumental in walking us through the process to become an approved vendor for the program.”
For the 2023-2024 school year, Massachusetts received $3.5 million for the Northeast Food for Schools program. This one-time, federal grant supports schools in starting or expanding purchase of local food for their cafeterias and directly expanded access for local farms to supply local schools. Martinelli notes, “K-12 is a very different animal, and food service directors have a very hard job. The Northeast Food for Schools grant program makes it exciting to think about what’s possible, but school budgets remain a big challenge.”
Through listening and being responsive, Marty’s supports school teams in navigating local food purchases. Thomas says, “We try to keep it realistic in terms of what a school might actually buy. We’ve learned that schools sometimes face challenges with staffing, and so we offer products that are local and are minimally processed. For example, we provide schools with apples from Pine Hill Orchards, diced butternut from Plainville Farm, and shredded carrots, carrot sticks and carrot coins from Joe Czajkowski Farm.”
Tacos for school lunch using Mi Tierra Tortillas delivered by Marty’s Local to the Greenfield Public Schools. Photo Credit: Greenfield Public Schools Food Service
Over time, the requests and challenges from schools have become more creative. Thomas continues, “If schools come to us with an idea, we can help source what they need. We are a one stop shop and can provide lettuce for the salad bar, along with carrots, tomatoes, cottage cheese, salad dressing, and more.”
School meals are very different from generations past, while there are still very specific nutrition guidelines in place. School nutrition directors across our region, from Greenfield to Northampton to Springfield incorporate food tastings into the rotation. These introduce students to seasonal produce, culinary treats from around the globe, and nutritious proteins. On occasion, schools may order products from Marty’s for these tastings. Those may range from snack-sized Cabot cheese and Sidehill Farm’s yogurt to kimchi from Real Pickles or Mi Tierra tortillas. Some of the items tested become staples in the cafeteria’s lineup.
For all the ways that Marty’s Local supports local farms, small food purveyors, retailers, restaurants, and markets, the company was a recipient of this year’s Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) Local Hero award. This award reflects how Marty’s Local has built a complex, technical, logistics business that also retains their commitment to deep relationships with serious heart.
Thomas concludes, “I enjoy the fact that students have the opportunity to learn that flavorful food is grown and made by people in their community. They have the chance to learn about what it takes to grow food, and that there is good food all around us year-round.”
Lisa Goodrich is Communications Coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, (CISA). To learn more about Marty’s Local, check out their website at www.martyslocal.com or for ordering information, email orders@martyslocal.com.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/NEPM-Kosinski-042424.mp3Sue and Elisa Kosinski from Kosinski Farms in Westfield visit Monte and Kaliis on this week’s Fabulous 413 on NEPM. Listen in on farming as a family, being a female trailblazer in local farming, and how being a teacher applies to farming. There’s more on Pick-Your-Own strawberries, fueling the farm with corn, Raven Hollow Winery, and C
SA options for this season. The farm stand is now open for mother’s day plants and starts, pies and donuts from the bakery, and more!
Published April 20, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
As garden season gets underway, Whately farm provides ‘black gold’ to many“Compost is not soil, but it makes your soil better,” says Mike Mahar, owner of Bear Path Compost in Whately. “It adds life to it. If you’re going to take something out of the soil by harvesting, you should put something back in, and compost is perfect for that.”
Bear Path Compost takes waste materials from other farms and turns them into compost that’s certified for organic use. They sell to local farmers and landscapers, but most of their customers are home gardeners looking to give their plants a nutrient boost.
Bear Path Compost owners Mark Melnik, from left, Mike Mahar and Peter Melnik. Gazette/Dan Little photo.
Mahar didn’t grow up in the compost business, but he did grow up next door to it. “Bill Obear, the previous owner of Bear Path Compost, was our neighbor,” he explains. “Since my brother Pete and I grew up on dairy farm, we knew how to operate farm equipment, so he used to pay us a little cash to come help out.”
When Obear wanted to get out of the business, Mahar was a natural successor. The two ran things together for a year, then Mahar took over. All the while, Mahar never stopped raising cows. He and his brother still run Poplar Hill Farm on his family’s land, where instead of a dairy herd, they now raise beef cattle. This year he’s also taken on new business partners for Bear Path: Peter and Mark Melnik, who also own and operate Bar-Way Farm, a dairy farm in Deerfield.
In the farm and garden world, compost is like WD40 or a flathead screwdriver – one simple tool that’s good for a lot of things. The main reason compost is so useful and versatile is its high amounts of organic matter, meaning materials that are or once were alive.
Windrows of compost at Bear Path Compost in Whately. Gazette/Dan Little photo.
Most organic matter in compost is already decomposing, gently releasing nutrients back into the soil. Usually, this infusion of fertility isn’t as potent as adding fertilizer, but the nutrients stay in the soil longer and are less likely to wash away.
Compost also supports a rich community of soil organisms, the benefits of which include better soil structure, nutrient cycling, and aeration, which allows plants to root deep and still give their roots access to oxygen. Adding compost also helps the soil absorb more water and release it more slowly. In dry years, this sponge effect helps farmers and gardeners water more efficiently. In wet years, more absorption capacity means less soil erosion or drowned roots.
As a soil amendment for farm and garden beds, Mahar suggests a baseline mix of 1 part compost to 3 parts soil. Compost can also be spread as topdressing on lawns or garden beds for an added nutrient boost, and it can even be used as mulch.
Mark Melnik adds a load of compost into a screening machine on at Bear Path Compost in Whately. Gazette/Dan Little photo
“Bark mulch is a better weed suppressor than compost, but as microbes break it down, they use up nitrogen,” Mahar explains. “Basically, bark mulch robs your garden of nutrients, whereas compost mulches and adds them back. We’ve started selling blends of bark mulch and compost, which allow you to have the best of both worlds.”
Mulch and compost mixes of 3:1 or 1:1 are available now. Starting soon, Bear Path Compost will also offer loam and compost blends in the same proportions.
At the most basic level, compost is made by mixing high nitrogen materials with high carbon materials and ensuring there’s enough moisture and oxygen for the composting process to occur. For high nitrogen ingredients, Bear Path mostly uses manure from the Melnik’s cows at Bar-Way Farm. For high carbon ingredients, they turn to spent shavings from horse shows at the Three County Fairgrounds in Northampton.
Mark Melnik delivers a load of compost into a customer’s truck bed. Gazette/Dan Little photo.
“Bar-Way manure is a natural fit (because of the Melnik’s involvement), and the fairgrounds generates a tremendous amount of bedding,” says Mahar. “Both work great for us because they’re very clean – hardly any trash or other contamination.”
Technically, it’s microbes that transform the mixture into finished compost. The farmer’s job is to create conditions where these microbes thrive. Getting the ratio of nitrogen to carbon is important, as is aerating piles, which they do by turning them by tractor every few weeks.
One sign of composting success is heat, generated by microbial activity, which speeds up decomposition and denatures most pathogens. As an added precaution, Bear Path also adds high carbon wood ash to bind and neutralize anything not denatured by the heat. After about nine months of turning, they’re ready to call it compost.
On average, Bear Path makes almost 3,000 cubic yards per year – about the volume of an Olympic sized swimming pool. They sell it by the cubic yard ($70 each) and other increments as small as a five-gallon bucket ($3.50 each).
From left, Mark Melnik, Mike Mahar and Peter Melnik. Gazette/Dan Little photo
“Since so many of our customers are home gardeners, we probably sell 100 to 150 yards through five-gallon buckets,” says Mahar. “That is a lot of five-gallon buckets.”
When buying compost, Mahar encourages customers to first use the calculator on their website, which shows how many cubic yards are needed for their project. From there, anyone buying smaller amounts can come fill their own buckets any time at Bear Path’s facility at 134 Webber Road in Whatley. From 9am to 12pm on Saturdays, anyone purchasing larger amounts can also have their trucks and trailers loaded up free of charge, or they can call to request another pick up time. Bear Path will also deliver any order, no matter how small. The delivery fee is hourly, based on travel time.
Bear Path Compost’s address, contact details, prices, and self-serve instructions are all available on their website: bearpathcompost.com. Their website also has a considerable amount of information on the science and uses of compost, in general and for their products specifically.
Typically, Bear Path runs out of finished compost by mid-June as most farmers and gardeners move from prep to plant care. Until then, they are a source of “black gold” for many a green thumb around the Valley.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). As the growing season begins, visit buylocalfood.org to learn more about local farms and garden centers near you.
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This week on the #LocalHeroSpotlight, Kaliis, Monte, and Phil visit The Zuzgos at Twenty Acres Farm and Greenhouses, a hidden gem of a farm stand on River Rd in Hadley. They raise tons of plants perfect for your flower or veggie garden. And they’ve been doing it a while, so they know a thing or two about quality!
Published Saturday April 13, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Gwydyr Farm turns grass into great local foodEvery piece of farmland has its strengths and weaknesses. Often, the most successful farmers are those that learn to see their land’s potential clearly and build a business around it.
Steven Cowley, owner of Gwydyr Farm in Southampton
Gwydyr Farm in Southampton doesn’t have the kind of fertile floodplain soil best for growing vegetables, but their land can grow one thing really well: grass.
“People can’t eat grass,” says Steven Cowley, one of Gwydyr’s current farmers, “but cows can, and people like to eat cows. And our locally raised meat complements all the produce other farms in the Valley can grow.”
Cowley has been farming for 10 years on his family’s land, which he recently bought from the elder generation. At the start, he was literally just farming grass, cutting and selling hay for livestock and horse farms. Then 3 years ago Gwydyr Farm started raising beef cattle, and now are adding pasture-raised lamb and chicken to what they sell.
The farm’s slow and steady expansion comes as Cowley and his farming partner Caroline Holladay experiment with new farming projects while maintaining the old. All the while, both are still working full-time off the farm at Libertas Academy Charter School in Springfield, where Cowley teaches history and Holladay teaches math.
“Every school break is farm time, and many nights and weekends too,” says Cowley. It’s a lot of work, but breaks in the academic calendar make it manageable. Meanwhile, teaching provides a stable income alongside the farm.
Says Holladay, “we realized that owning a livestock farm wasn’t something I could jump right into financially, so for a while teaching has helped pay the bills. But we’re both looking forward to expanding the farm until it isn’t just something we do for summers and breaks.”
Caroline Holladay of Gwydyr Farm with Luna, their Norwegian Fjord horse (Peter Camyre photo)
Gwydyr Farm was originally named by Cowley’s father, a large animal vet whose expertise still comes in handy. Gwydyr is a Welsh word meaning “wild land,” which Cowley thinks is a fitting description.
“We go from really heavy soils to lighter stony soils,” he says. Some pastures have remained open for years, others are in various stages of returning to forest.
As farming operations expand, some of the wilder areas are getting tamed. Cowley and Holladay are orchestrating it, the animals do most of the heavy lifting.
“They’re our own army of land clearing tools,” says Cowley, “and they love to eat.”
The beef cattle make the first pass, the farmers rotating them through the landscape using a mobile electric fence. They clear brush as they eat and fertilize the soil with their droppings, encouraging the grassland species that are best for grazing and haying to grow back stronger. This improves the productivity of the very land that feeds them and sustains the hay business.
Gwydyr Farm photo
Cowley started his herd with different breeds but has since fallen in love with Devon cattle, one of the original breeds introduced to North America by European settlers. They’re a hardy, dual purpose breed sometimes raised for meat or for milk, and they aren’t picky about what they eat.
“Often with newer breeds, people are trying to breed them back towards eating grass instead of grain,” he explains. “But Devons have always thrived on grass. And as a history teacher, having a breed used here back in the 1600s means a lot to me.”
After the cattle, chickens follow in mobile coops. Says Holladay, “chickens are omnivores, eating grass, bugs and grubs and turning that into a source of fertility with their manure. We use them to target areas that need more fertility while creating another delicious product for us to sell.”
Sheep recently joined the grazing rotation too, creating yet another source of income from their fields. They’ve been careful to only introduce animals who can graze on land less suitable for haying and who tend to eat different species. That protects their haying revenue and makes sure pastures don’t get depleted. Yet from a business standpoint, offering more variety is good for them and their customers, since fans of local grass-fed beef are often interested in other pasture-raised meat too.
Gwydyr Farm photo
“From my experience, raising animals on pasture really affects the quality and taste of the meat,” Cowley says. “Grass-fed beef cattle are raised longer than those in a feedlot, which means better marbling and richer color. And our beef is also vacuum-sealed and frozen immediately after it’s butchered, which is great for quality and convenience.”
Plus, as Holladay points out, “because we’re a small farm, we can really customize orders to exactly what people want. We can sell you the exact cut of lamb you want as the centerpiece for your fancy dinner party, or have your steaks cut a specific way.”
In the future, Cowley and Holladay hope to sell through local stores and farmers markets, but for now, all sales are straight from the farm. Pricing and availability are updated often on Gwydyr Farm’s Facebook page, and customers can contact them via the phone and email listed there.
Cuts of beef and lamb are available now, and whole chickens will be available again later this summer. Beef prices are set to encourage larger orders, including 20% off orders over $100 and an even bigger discount for buying over 10 pounds of ground beef.
Gwydyr Farm photo
Cowley and Holladay farm for a lot of reasons. On a day-to-day basis, they both love working with animals and seeing the tangible results of their work. On a deeper level, Cowley says Gwydyr Farm helps root him in this moment in time as well as the local history that precedes him.
“The way I farm, I’m not someone who buys all new equipment,” he says. “I love taking old farm equipment and making it work again. I love rehabilitating overgrown land and making it productive again. And I love restoring the connection between land, food and people.”
“The sense of community and meaning that comes from the Valley feeding itself are both valuable things,” he adds. “We had a stronger sense of community and more local food in the past, and I think both are something we’re trying to get back to.”
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about local farms and where to buy local food near you, visit buylocalfood.org.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Spencer-Gowan_Great-Falls-Aquaculture_NEPM_4.9.24.mp3General manager Spencer Gowan of Great Falls Aquaculture
This week, Jacob takes Monte and Kaliis to visit Great Falls Aquaculture and the 180,000 barramundi raised there. They talk with general manager Spencer Gowan and hatchery manager Walker Wright-Moore about:
- Barramundi: what they are and how to enjoy this subtle white fish (available at Green Fields Market, McCusker’s Market, and River Valley Co-op’s stores).
- Why their set up – raising fish indoors in a system that recirculates and filters water – makes sense from a sustainability and business perspective.
- Making fertilizer too that’s great for your garden! Available at Greenfield Farmers Co-op, and Amherst Farmers Supply.
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Diane and Robert Rollins of D & R Farm in Hampden join the crew to talk about the love they put into farming AND all the ways they make local food accessible in their community, including how:
- About 50% of D & R Farm’s sales go to folks using SNAP
- They’re an anchor farm vendor at several farmers’ markets in Hampden county (keeping the “farm” in “farmers’ market”)
- Their farm stand on Thresher road is open every day, and you can use your SNAP benefits there too!
In recognition of their achievements over the last two decades, CISA was excited to present them with a Local Hero award at our 2024 annual meeting!
Samaita (Sam) Newell is a first-generation immigrant from India. She met Jared Newell as a student in the five-college area. Following graduation and getting married, the young couple dreamed of buying a farm with a store.
Without collateral, their dreams of buying land pushed farming beyond their reach. Newell says, “We needed to buy a business with real estate attached to it, so we could collateralize it. We were in our mid-20s when we started looking at Fruit Fair. We didn’t have experience with commercial real estate and jumped in half blind.”
Fruit Fair opened as a family-owned farm store in Chicopee in 1936 that enjoyed a loyal following until the owner’s passing around the year 2000. An interim owner took over, running it on a convenience store model until the Newells bought it in late 2019.
The renovations were dramatic. Newell continues, “Only later, we realized how bad of shape the store was in. We figured out it needed a lot of updating and maintenance. Since then, we’ve been fixing and updating fixtures, appliances, and the building.”
The couple replaced the floors and repaired the roof of the store. They added new signs that evoke the original signs. They added to the store layout a hot food buffet and a cooler for beer and wine.
In 2019, Chicopee Center met the criteria of being a food desert, as defined through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This reflects an area with limited access to affordable and nutritious food for reasons like income and transportation.
The larger supermarkets in Chicopee are not a walkable distance, four miles away. Bus routes, timing, and policy regarding how shopping bags must fit on the passenger’s lap or under the seat can be a deterrent for grocery shopping by bus.
As the young couple added new, efficient refrigerator cases, they brought in produce from local farms and vastly increased the varieties and quantity of fresh fruits and vegetables available to people in the community.
In April 2020, the world shut down for COVID-19. Public transit stopped, and the supply chain came to a halt. She notes, “We asked ourselves, how do we manage this? We decided to fill the gaps in our supply chain locally.” Because the Newells had already begun sourcing from local businesses, the couple leaned into those relationships. They got creative and added sourcing local goods like paper goods and packaging, filling their store while the shelves of the big box stores were empty.
Newell adds, “We rented a U-Haul and picked up food and goods to sell in the store. We sourced paper towels and toilet paper from Mansfield Paper in West Springfield, and we got carbon neutral food packaging material from a company in Holyoke. We never imagined there was a local company for paper goods.”
The surreal time of COVID-19 inspired creativity and collaboration with other businesses. Newell says, “Businesses surfaced that we never knew for sourcing. People bought the local food and products we offered during COVID. We just rode that wave and never let it go. As bad as COVID was, it was a lifeline for Fruit Fair.”
Hyperlocal sourcing through Chicopee Provisions supplies the store for the local Polish community with Millie’s Pierogi, Blue Seal Kielbasa, and Domin’s horseradish. The store offers a large array of Spanish ingredients and products for the local Puerto Rican community as well. The store purchases from local bakeries, including Chmura’s Rye Bread from Indian Orchard, Bernadino’s rolls, and pastry from Koffee Kup Bakery, both in Chicopee.
During the year, Marty’s Local supplies Fruit Fair with local products. As the growing season unfolds, the store gets deliveries directly from farms on full pallets. The season starts with fiddleheads from Joe Czajkowski Farm and continues with microgreens from Dusty Goat Farm, corn from Sapowsky Farm, mushrooms from Mycoterra Farm, and many more.
The store accepts SNAP/EBT. The program has a monthly dollar limit to these benefits for each user. While working the register, Newell observed that customers would load up their shopping carts, but when the cost approached their limit, they would put back all the fresh produce and meat—the more expensive items on the belt—in favor of the cheaper packaged, canned, or boxed goods.
Newell and her husband asked, “What can we do so people eat healthier? They can get canned goods at a food pantry, but they can’t get fresh food.” She continues, “We started artificially subsidizing the produce, meat, and deli departments so people can afford to buy fresh food. We’ve seen sales of fresh food more than triple since we first started. The sales from grocery, frozen, beer and wine offset the labor-intensive fresh foods.”
Through Fruit Fair’s offerings, Chicopee Center is no longer labelled a food desert by the USDA, and Sam and Jared Newell intend to keep it that way. To further their mission, the couple is building greenhouses on top of their store. The site work and easement, solar study, and engineering is complete.
Two years ago, the couple applied for and received a Food Security Infrastructure Grant (FSIG) for the greenhouses; however, the price of steel has doubled since the project began. If needed, they will use beds on the roof this summer until they can fund the greenhouses they envision. They plan a dumbwaiter to move products from the roof to the store.
Motivation for growing food on the roof comes from expanding access to healthy food. Newell continues, “Our store has the highest percentage in Massachusetts of SNAP/EBT sales, at 34%. This reflects our artificially lowering the price of fresh food to make it affordable, but we could help customers stretch their food budgets if we could grow fresh produce and apply for and accept HIP, so the people worried about getting the tomato can buy it.”
The goal is to have at least two of the greenhouses up by winter, extending the growing season. They envision offering CSA-style boxes of local food, including local produce from their greenhouses, local farms, and local producers. Newell concludes, “What brings me satisfaction, is that people with no other option to buy fresh food, can come to our store and eat healthy.”
Lisa Goodrich is Communications Coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, (CISA). Fruit Fair is open daily, 7am to 9pm at 398 Front Street in Chicopee. To learn more about Fruit Fair including their weekly specials, check fruitfair.net, Facebook, and Instagram.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Naomi-Szymonik-Deere-Creek-Farm-NEPM-3.26.24.mp3.
This week on the Fabulous 413’s Local Hero Spotlight, Naomi Szymonik of Deere Creek Farm in Granby talks to Monte, Kaliis, and Phil about:
- Their decision to buy land and start farming the month the world shut down in March 2020 – and how it’s going since then.
- How are growing up with family and 4H encouraged a love for farm animals (like their sheep and cows), and knowing where food comes from.
- All the ways YOU can experience and enjoy Deere Creek Farm for yourself:
- Renting their event space
- Signing up for their flower CSA
- Enjoying a local roast or steak
And more!
Published March 23, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Fermentation meets cooperation: Real Pickles in Greenfield supports and supplies the regional food systemBy Jacob Nelson
A knock on the door interrupts the conversation. Someone is here to trade cheese for Real Pickles’ fermented veggies.
Kate Hunter, a marketing coordinator, assistant sales manager, and worker-owner at Real Pickles, gets up to confirm the terms. Out the door go cases of their Organic Sauerkraut, Organic Ginger Carrots, Organic Beets, and Organic Turmeric Kraut. The return? Several pounds of raw milk, 100% grass-fed cheese from Chase Hill Farm in Warwick to be shared among staff. It’s a moment that captures the essence of Real Pickles — a company committed to cooperation, keeping things local, and really good food.
Shane Carroll, Gillis MacDougall, Marie Maude Joseph, Victor Signore, Katie Desi, and Andy VanAssche, package Kimchi at Real Pickles in Greenfield. Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette photo.
“Real Pickles is a worker-owned co-op making pickles and ferments with produce that’s all organic and regionally grown,” Hunter explains. “A big part of our mission is supporting the regional food system, so we’ve committed to only purchasing veggies from farms in the Northeast (defined as New England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania) and only selling in that region too.”
The business began in 2001 when founder Dan Rosenberg made his first commercial batches of lacto-fermented pickles in the kitchen of a friend’s restaurant. The cucumbers were freshly picked from Chamutka Farm in Whately, which still supplies Real Pickles today.
Rosenberg was inspired by the health benefits of fermented vegetables and the idea that food businesses could invigorate the local food economy if they committed to buying and selling closer to home.
The next year, Real Pickles started working out of the Western Massachusetts Food Processing Center in Greenfield, run by the Franklin County CDC. By 2009 they outgrew the shared kitchen and moved into a newly purchased building across the street.
Kate Hunter, assistant manager in sales and marketing and a worker owner with Victor Signore, vegetable coordinator and worker owner, at Real Pickles in Greenfield. Carol Lollis-Daily Hampshire Gazette photo
Over the next four years business tripled, and in 2013 Rosenberg and his team made the big decision to restructure Real Pickles as a worker-owned cooperative. This democratized how the business was governed and allowed employees to literally buy into the business and its mission, earning dividends for their hard work.
Today Real Pickles employs 22 people. Fourteen are established worker owners, with two more on the way. They make a dozen different products, sell to over 700 stores, and this year aim to use almost a half a million pounds of produce.
The man whose job it is to secure all that produce is vegetable coordinator Victor Signore. Like Hunter, he is also a worker-owner and votes on the co-op’s board of directors.
Because Real Pickles always uses fresh produce grown nearby, “our production season runs with the growing season,” Signore says. “We process vegetables starting in June with cucumbers, mixing in carrots, beets and cabbage as the summer goes on, and continuing through fall and winter with storage crops.”
After being washed, diced, sliced, and spiced, veggies are packed into large food grade drums and sealed with an airlock to ferment. For most products, fermentation takes about three months. From there, ferments are packed into smaller containers for sale (usually 16-ounce glass jars that customers are encouraged to reuse) and shipped out to stores.
Packaging Kimchi at Real Pickles in Greenfield. Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette photo.
Production slows over the winter, stopping once all the produce in Real Pickles’ large storage area is used up. Then attention turns to packing products for sale and, for Signore, lining up where next year’s veggies will come from.
Because of how much produce they use and their commitment to buy from Northeast farms, Real Pickles can’t wait until harvest time to buy what they need. That would leave far too much to chance. Instead, they make agreements with farmers ahead of time to grow produce for them specifically.
This arrangement works for both sides, explains Signore. “For us, it gives the best guarantee of getting exactly what we need,” he says. “And farmers get financial security, knowing ahead of time that if they can grow it, we will buy it.”
To begin, Real Pickles determines their sales and production goals. Using those numbers, “I start contacting the roster of local farms we buy from,” says Signore. “I ask what amount of different crops they think they can grow, and what their harvest times might be. By March, after many back and forth discussions, the full picture is pretty much in place.”
When Signore started at Real Pickles in 2020, they worked with nine or 10 farms. This year, they have agreements with 15 farms. Some are longtime suppliers, like Red Fire Farm in Montague and Granby, Atlas Farm in Deerfield, and their original partner Chamutka Farm. Others are newer as Real Pickles increases production and diversifies who they work with, like Mountain View Farm in Easthampton, Lakeside Organics in Hadley, and more suppliers in Vermont and New York.
Buying produce from specific farms does increase the chance of a bad growing season disrupting Real Pickles’ plans. “We and the farms are taking a risk together,” Signore acknowledges, “and climate change is increasing that risk.”
To counteract this, Signore is always working on a plan B, checking in with other farms to see where excess produce might be bought in a pinch. “We’ve also diversified our farm partners geographically,” he says. “If carrots do poorly in the Valley for instance, we can get carrots from Vermont or New York.”
Kimchi at Real Pickles in Greenfield. Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette photo.
So far, Real Pickle’s business model has done well for farms they work with, for customers looking for organic ferments and to vote with their dollar for a strong regional food system, and for its worker-owners.
“Most of us gravitated to Real Pickles wanting to do something for our community,” says Signore. “We want to support local farmers, give people healthy, local organic products, and keep money, jobs, and food local.”
Adds Hunter, “It’s about healthy soil, healthy food, healthy people. Those goals are intertwined in our mission and support each other.”
It’s safe to say that Real Pickles is also deeply intertwined with other businesses in our local food community. Partnerships with local farms are one example. Their staff’s penchant for bartering is another — for cheese, sourdough bread from Rise Above Bakery in Greenfield, and food from other businesses too.
“It’s great to be friendly with Chase Hill Farm, and now they carry our ferments in their farm store,” says Hunter. “That’s the awesome part of Real Pickles — working with other local businesses and helping each other out.”
“That and working with a bunch of foodies,” she adds. “We make the best grilled cheese sandwich office lunches for days with a rainbow of ferments on top.”
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). For more stories and info about local farms and food businesses near you, visit buylocalfood.org.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Atkins-Farms-Country-Market-on-NEPM-3.18.24.mp3.
Phil, Monte, and Kaliis talk with marketing director Jen Adams, produce manager Andy Ladas, and co-owner Kelly Lannon from Atkins Farm Country Market about:
- The evolution of this well loved business
- Joining the Atkins family, and why they’ve all worked there for so many years
- …and “the power of cider donuts.” ? ? ?
Visit Atkins for everything you’d want at a grocery store, and plenty of local treats besides!
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Keith Bardwell of Brookledge Sugarhouse talks to Phil, Kaliis, and Monte about their process for making maple syrup, how this year is going, and this weekend’s Mass Maple Weekend (March 16-17).
Brookledge will be open to visitors on Saturday 3/16 from 9-3 with a boiling demonstration and free samples of syrup, their award-winning maple cream, and more! Learn more here.
They’re open other weekends too! Check their Facebook page for details.
Published March 16, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
The Sweetest Season Comes to Western MassIt turns out pancakes and hot air balloons have at least one thing in common: they both pair well with maple syrup.
“Flying over the woods is a good way to find maple trees,” offers Paul Sena, owner of both Worthington Ballooning and Hickory Hill Farm. “From 3,000 feet up, you can really tell by the color of the forest, especially in spring and fall.”
When the weather is nice enough, Sena pilots balloons over the Hilltowns, giving sightseers dramatic views of the landscape below. When the weather cools, his focus returns to the farm and making maple syrup. Not one for staying idle, he also helps run Sena Farm Brewery on his family’s land, whose taproom is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings at 151 Buffington Hill Road.
Paul Sena, owner of Hickory Hill Maple with his wife Judy Sena in Worthington.
By this point in mid-March, Hickory Hill has been collecting sap and boiling syrup for several weeks. Their sugarbushes (the stands of maple trees they collect from) are spread over four locations totaling about 200 acres. From 5,000 taps they hope to make about 1,500 gallons of syrup in an average year, 2,500 in a good year. Some they sell at the brewery, but most goes to local restaurants and grocery stores like River Valley Co-op.
Maple farming starts with taking care of trees, sculpting a landscape where sugar maples can thrive within a diverse forest.
“Ideally you want two-thirds sugar maples and one-third other species, because a monoculture attracts pests and disease,” explains Sena. ” Nut trees attract squirrels, which do more damage to our equipment than anything else, so we remove them and clear out the understory so hawks and owls can hunt them more easily.”
Paul Sena talks through the process of caring for his sugarbushes. Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette photo
Maples rule the highest canopy, their wide leaves catching as much sunlight as possible. The more maples photosynthesize, the higher the concentration of sugar they store in their sap. The sweeter the sap, the more syrup you can make from each gallon you collect, and the less time and energy it takes to turn it into syrup.
Most maple farmers are in the woods year-round, trimming trees and fixing equipment, but much of the work happens in late fall. “Once the leaves are off, we can really see what weather or animal damage we need to fix,” says Sena. “You want to get everything in tip-top shape before it snows and buries everything.”
Once tubing is set to collect sap, he waits for the right moment to finally tap the trees, drilling a new hole (or two, or three) in each and inserting a spout. The spout links the tree to the tubing network, which feeds sap downhill to collection tanks. Vacuum pumps gently increase the downward pull.
Paul Sena stands at one of the holding tanks that is connected to about 500 taps. Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette photo
Tap holes stay open for about eight weeks before the tree’s natural healing process slows the flow of sap. It’s up to the farmer each year to choose the right time to tap using weather predictions, observations, local knowledge, and any other information they can get their hands on.
Ideal conditions for sap flow are freezing nights dropping into the 20s, which trigger trees to recall sap into the roots, followed by sunny days in the high 30s that send the sap back towards the branches. Once it gets too warm the tree starts forming buds, which changes how the sap tastes and effectively ends the season.
“Sugaring season seems to be getting earlier each year because of the warming climate, especially in the last 10 years,” says Sena. “Here in Worthington, we used to not tap until mid-February and wouldn’t make much syrup before March 1st. Now we’re tapping in early January sometimes.
Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette photo
It’s not just the overall warming that affects maple season, but also how consistent weather patterns are in any year. Strings of days without a freeze can halt sap flow. Meanwhile, spikes into the upper 40s and 50s can trigger early budding. Snow cover can keep the ground and tree cooler, slowing that process, but we’re also seeing less snow than decades ago. Together, these changes tend to suggest earlier and shorter sugaring seasons, but every year is different.
Our changing climate is also shifting the makeup of forests, including sugarbushes, as species migrate to new areas over generations. For long-lived trees, these shifts can take decades or more. Quick-growing plants can transform the landscape much quicker.
“We’re seeing the health of wooded land declining, particularly because of invasive species,” says Sena. “If bittersweet and knotweed move in, they take over and you can’t even walk through the woods.”
Paul Sena tests whether the sap has reached the point of syrup. Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette photo.
Even quicker to spread are fungi and insects. “Ash trees face the emerald ash borer, Hemlocks the woolly adelgid, and the Asian longhorn beetle devastates maples,” he says. “If that comes into the area you’re basically out of business. They hit the Worcester area hard about 10 years ago. Luckily, it’s more contained now.”
Maple farmers can’t control the climate and have little control over migrating species. They can do everything possible to keep trees healthy while gathering as much sap as possible from their woods each year. In recent years, improving technology has helped them do both.
“With tubing and vacuum pumps, we get the same amount of sap from two holes in the tree as four spouts with buckets,” says Sena. “That’s less damage to the tree. Once we collect the sap, we bring it to the sugarhouse and run it through filters and a reverse osmosis machine to remove 75% of the water. Then we boil the concentrate to make syrup.”
Carol Lollis/Daily Hampshire Gazette photo.
Removing that water means they also use 75% less wood to fire their evaporator, making for quicker boils and more uniform caramelization. This reduces emissions, labor and costs, and improves the quality of the syrup.
From syrup, some maple producers make other things too, like maple candy or maple cream. Both require further heating and processing. Hickory Hill often makes maple candy around the holidays. They also bottle gift-sized jars of syrup for party or wedding favors. These have been a hit, validating Sena’s opinion that syrup makes the best gift.
“When we fly the hot air balloon, we often land it on other people’s fields,” he says. “We give the landowners a choice of champagne or maple syrup as a thank you gift. Almost always, they take maple syrup.”
Massachusetts Maple Weekend is happening now, March 16 – 17. To learn more about maple farms, sugar shack restaurants, and places where you can see syrup making in action, visit www.bit.ly/CISAsugarshacks.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture).
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Cindy-Normandin_The-Apple-Place_NEPM_9.2023.mp3Cindy Normandin, owner of The Apple Place in East Longmeadow, talks with Kaliis, Monte, and Phil about:
- Growing 50 kinds of apples, and all the things they become (the whole neighborhood smells like apples when they bake )
- Fun activities for adults and families, from corn maze to live music (they won best bakery, best live music, and best family destination this year from The Springfield Republican’s Reader Raves!)
- Carrying on the legacy of her family‘s farm, one of the last in East Longmeadow, and the hard work she’s devoted to it alongside support from CISA and others.
“(Though we might farm different things), farmers are farmers and we’re all in this together,” says Cindy. “Getting all those people together, and having CISA in in our corner, is a huge advantage (for farmers) in Massachusetts. I don’t think every state has that.”
Published September 2, 2023 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette At Upinngil Farm, a fruit-filled fall awaits “At this point, for us, advertising seems like a waste of time,” says Sorrel […]
Come on down for a pint:
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PeoplesPintsegment_NEPM_8.29.23.mp3Alden Booth, founder and owner of The People’s Pint in Greenfield, talks with Phil, Monte, and Kaliis about all the ways their restaurant lives its mission of sustainability, while helping the rest of us do that too. Including:
- Their local and seasonal menu, which Alden says is “pretty flexible”. Why not add some fresh local veg to your next quesadilla?
- Their bike for a gift card program: get a $25 gift certificate for first 100 miles you bike instead of using a car, and earn $1 for every 20 miles after that.
- Using less plastic and making more compost – a huge challenge for restaurants!
And of course, some chit-chat about their widely loved beer!
The abundance of August produce is a chef’s dream, especially in the Valley, where we are surrounded by hundreds of local farms.
Soon after chef Roberto Saravia of Masa Mexicano explains this, he’s interrupted by a delivery of fresh jalapenos from a Westhampton farmer, as if to prove the point.
Saravia opened Masa Mexicano in Florence on the cusp of the pandemic. Three years later, he and the restaurant are hitting their stride. They offer a short menu of popular tacos, tortas, other entrees, and rotating specials, keeping choices simple, and fresh ingredients cycling through the restaurant quickly. Most items are gluten-free, with several vegetarian and vegan options available as well.
"Having resilient farms – farms that are financially solvent and can deal with stresses like droughts and flooding – isn't just about infrastructure,” says Nate Frigard, farmer and owner of Crimson and Clover Farm in Florence. “It's also about consistent customer support throughout the year." In their case, the former – new infrastructure made possible by state grants – is paving the way for the latter. With a cozy new farm store and washroom, people can now come to Crimson and Clover Farm for locally grown food every month of the year.
The widespread flooding that hit our region in mid-July illuminates many truths: the vulnerability of many local farms, the hard reality of climate change, and the amazing response that is possible when the community, non-profit and foundation partners, and government all step up and work together...What is missing is money to cover all the other losses that farms have suffered, including the destruction of property and equipment. The new Massachusetts Farm Resiliency Fund can help fill this gap, and they’ve set an ambitious fundraising goal of $5 million to quickly get grants to farms.
Meghan Williams and Rachel Labrie of Atlas Farm‘s Mobile Market, as well as Justine Saabs from Holyoke Housing Authority (HHA), give Kaliis, Monte, and Jacob a tour of one of […]
August 08, 2023 Darryl C. Murphy Katelyn Harrop It’s been almost a month since parts of Western Massachusetts were hit hard by extreme weather and flooding. The state’s Department of Agricultural […]
Published: 8/2/2023 6:09:12 PM, By CHRIS LARABEE CONWAY — As farms around the region determine their plans going forward following unprecedented rainstorms, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey and several other state […]
Moments of real consequence are common on farms, and they have much to teach about how the world works and how we choose to show up for others and ourselves. As fewer kids grow up with a direct connection to farming, Red Gate Farm offers a link to valuable lessons and self-empowerment for a growing number of students each year.
The Recorder, July 25, 2023 GUEST COLUMN: Farms, floods, and climate change By CLAIRE MORENON, MARGARET CHRISTIE and PHIL KORMAN On July 10, heavy rains led to widespread flooding alongside […]
Published July 22, 2023 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette At Historic Chester Farm, A Berry Good Season By Jacob Nelson For the Gazette “This morning I was walking through the […]
Flooded farmers face $15 million in damages; Big E, CISA plan statewide relief effort Updated: Jul. 18, 2023, 6:48 p.m.| Published: Jul. 18, 2023, 6:22 p.m. Jim Kinney | jkinney@repub.com Ag boosters […]
WAMC Northeast Public Radio | By Paul Tuthill Published July 17, 2023 at 5:00 PM EDT Some individual farmers launch GoFundMe appeals Farmers in western Massachusetts are tallying their crop losses […]
“It seems pretty obvious that weather patterns have changed dramatically, and we don’t yet know what that new pattern is,” Korman said. “This seemed to come without warning. Farmers had no real opportunity to protect crops.”
He said state and federal governments must do more to help shore up farms, including launching a dedicated disaster relief fund to support them now and during future crises.
The forecast for the coming week in Western Massachusetts indicates more wet weather.
“The weather in the last 10 to 15 years seems like it’s getting worse and worse,” said Mike Antonellis, who farms in Deerfield and Adams. “There’s no happy medium anymore.”
Two members of the state’s Congressional delegation, US Senator Elizabeth Warren and US Representative Jim McGovern, visited his Ciesluk Farmstand in Deerfield Saturday to assess crop damage in western Massachusetts due to heavy rains and flooding over three days last week, from Sunday through Tuesday.
Last week western Massachusetts endured both hellish heat and high water. Luckily, Intervale Farm in Westhampton escaped the worst it. Their vegetables and cut flowers, which supply most of their income, were largely unscathed.
“The only thing to flood was our pasture beside the brook,” says farmer Maureen Dempsey. “We had some erosion but nothing serious, and all the sheep are safe.”
Dempsey has farmed alongside her husband Rick Tracy for decades, continuing the farming tradition on 200 acres of land that Tracy’s family purchased in 1936. Today they raise veggies and flowers on about 10 acres, bedding plants for home gardeners in three greenhouses, chickens for eggs, and a small flock of sheep.
Joe Calabrese of Calabrese Farms in Southwick talks with Phil, Monte, and Kaliis about: What’s in season: CORN 🌽 tomatoes, summer squash, and many more of you summer favorites. Adapting […]
In places where fresh food is expensive or hard to get to, mobile farmers markets are one way to break down barriers. For people without reliable transportation, mobile markets bring food to them instead. Plus, many in Massachusetts accept SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and HIP (Healthy Incentives Program) benefits, or other ways to pay besides cash. The Amherst Mobile Market does all of these things, but they're also dreaming bigger. By empowering people they serve to call the shots, they're helping form the relationships and resources their community needs as only they know how.
Few things are as heartwarming and delicious as a good slice of homemade pie.
“Pie holds a lot of memories for folks,” says Maura Glennon, owner of Florence Pie Bar, “many of them grounded in family, friends, and a feeling of life being a little simpler.”
That’s exactly the experience Florence Pie Bar aims for, capturing a slice of that nostalgia and the rich flavors of what’s in season on local farms.
It’s farmers’ market season! This week on the Fabulous 413’s Local Hero Spotlight on NEPM, Kaliis and Phil check in with Katie Bobbin, the new manager of the Belchertown Farmers […]
This Wednesday will be the third time local farmers, artisans and food trucks gather in Buttery Brook Park from 2-6pm for the South Hadley Farmers' Market, a family-friendly event that will continue weekly through mid-October. While an earlier iteration faded after 2018, this new market in a new location draws on considerable support from community members and businesses alike, who are excited to bring this hub of activity back to South Hadley. At the center of this joyful chaos is market manager Jen Krassler, who shares what market attendees can expect on their first visit.
On 👉🏼 THIS EPISODE 👈🏼 of Local Hero spotlight on The Fabulous 413, Jeremy Werther, chef and owner of Homestead. restaurant in Northampton talks with Kaliis, Monte, and Phil about: […]
Published May 26, 2023 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
A push to localize textiles‘Wouldn’t it be amazing if we employed more people making clothes and textiles right here in western Massachusetts?” asks Lisa Fortin, founder of Bloom Woolen Yarns in Ashfield. “Working on the land with animals, designing things in fiber mills – these are great occupations.”
Lisa Fortin (second from right), founder of Bloom Woolen Yarns, with her children well dressed in local wool (PC Candace Hope Photography)
Less than 4% of clothes bought in the U.S. are still made here, according to the American Apparel and Footwear Association. Similar stories affect other parts of our economy, as cheaper labor and materials lured manufacturing overseas. As costs dropped, social and environmental concerns mounted, and some began exploring more local alternatives.
Today, in western Massachusetts and across the country, people are organizing to increase demand and rebuild the relationships and infrastructure needed for local textiles. Bloom Woolen Yarns is showing one way to do that at a local level.
“Bloom Woolen Yarns is a small yarn company gathering wool from local farms, including from our own flock of sheep, making different kinds of yarn with local mills, and naturally dyeing them in small batches,” Fortin explains.
The idea rose from Fortin’s own passion for knitting and recognition of how much wool grown on local farms is otherwise discarded. Usually that happens when farms raise sheep for other reasons, like meat or pasture management, and don’t have enough wool or time to justify doing something with it themselves. Collecting this wool to make something useful was not a get-rich-quick scheme, but she had the right knowledge and connections to make it work.
“Living in the farm scene, I’ve always had my ears open for wool that’s available for one reason or another,” Fortin says. She visits farms herself, stuffing her car full of shorn fleeces. She brings them home for what’s called skirting – laying them out to remove larger debris by hand.
“From there, I know what yarn I want to make from it and which mill can do that best,” she says. “I work a lot with Green Mountain Spinners in Putney, Vermont, but I’ve also used Battenkill Fibers in Greenwich, New York, Bartlettyarns in Harmony, Maine, and Still River Fiber Mill in Eastford, Connecticut.”
Fortin works with these mills to design each batch of yarn using fleece from just one flock of sheep. Like a single varietal wine, this allows the unique qualities of that wool to shine through in the final product.
“The yarn I make with wool from Four Blessing Farm in Leverett – one customer told me it was almost as squishy as her newborn baby,” she says. “I also make a soft yarn with wool from the lambs at Leyden Glen Farm, while wool from York Farm in Shelburne makes a Cheviot yarn I call Hearth. That’s heavier weight and great for New England winters.”
For the final step of dyeing, “sometimes I use organic acid dyes, where you use vinegars to set the color,” says Fortin. “But my favorite dyes are the local and natural ones.”
Marigolds dye wool a rich gold
Marigolds make a warm golden yellow, madder root a fiery orange-red, and logwood a deep purple.
“Avocado pits and rinds also make a beautiful pink,” she says, “and I jokingly call those local because unless New Englanders stop making guacamole, that resource will always be here.”
Bloom Woolen Yarns also makes wool fill for cushions and felted wool dishcloths and sponges out of material that isn’t fit for yarn. Wool sponges are both compostable and tend to last longer than other common materials.
All these products are sold online on their website, bloomwoolenyarns.com. They also sell at local craft festivals and offer a yarn CSA, where subscribers receive a new kind of yarn and project instructions six times throughout the year.
“We sent out the Hearth wool for the mid-winter share,” says Fortin, “and this month we’ll have a lighter wool that you could use for a shawl for cool summer nights around the campfire, for example.”
Lisa hand dyeing skeins of wool
Fortin’s work is making local wool more accessible in her corner of the world and making better use of a valuable resource grown by local farmers. She’s also hitting roadblocks posed by economic realities far bigger than her small business. Other fiber farmers and business owners are too.
One obstacle is cost. In the fast fashion clothing industry, costs are kept low at the expense of environmental harm and unjust labor practices. In contrast, growing and making local textiles with more respect for fair wages and the environment costs a bit more, so the price of local textiles is often higher.
New England also lacks critical infrastructure for making textiles. For example, the first step at most fiber mills is scouring, which removes contaminants and excess oils. No mills in the northeast still have largescale equipment for this, and many do it slowly by hand. The result? Fortin often waits six to nine months between delivering wool and getting products back from a mill.
However, many are working to bring more efficiency, equipment and collaboration into the local fiber community. Western Mass Fibershed is one local leader in this movement. They collect wool from many small farms to send to mills and create blended yarns and more, and are also a collecting point for new ideas and projects. Those interested in getting involved can learn more at westernmassfibershed.org.
Kids learning to needle felt at Fiber Arts Camp
One project of theirs that Fortin is involved in is testing the marketability of pelletizing lower quality wool from farms that raise sheep for meat to use as a soil amendment.
“These pellets add nutrients, aerate the soil, and can deter some pests,” she says. “People can come learn about it at Atlas Farm Store in South Deerfield this Saturday, May 27, and we’ll have samples too.”
Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) has also hosted networking sessions for local fiber producers to find more opportunities for collaboration.
“What CISA does for local food is wonderful,” Fortin says. “Branching out to support local fiber is a great next step.”
Bloom Woolen Yarns also offers two week-long youth summer camps. In sewing camp, kids learn how to use a sewing machine to make an entire outfit. Fiber arts camp offers a different project and new skills each day, from embroidery to knitting, felting, and weaving. Fortin runs these through their sister business, Growing a Bunch Farm (growingabunchfarm.wixsite.com).
These camps are for fun. They’re also a way to encourage more people to love their local fiber.
“We have this amazing resource,” says Fortin. “I just want more people to be able to knit their own hats and cardigans if they want to.”
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA. To learn more about local fiber farms near you, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
Dave Wissemann of Millstone Farm Market (and Warner Farm!) in Sunderland talks with Monte, Kaliis, and Phil about:
- This gem of a year round store with so much to offer, including local produce and other fun products from local farms AND a full service butcher shop and deli.
- Their concerted effort to sell local food, and where that gets challenging
- Local strawberries are in! These are day-neutral berries that flower as long as it’s warm enough for the plants to grow. They don’t care how much sunlight they get, they just want to taste delicious for us – yay!
LISTEN HERE (Start at 23:30)
Published May 19, 2023 in the Daily Hampshire GazetteNew England Wild Edibles turned foraging into a businessBy JACOB NELSONFor the Gazette‘It grew out of walking in the woods and being hungry for knowledge – and also good things to eat.”
That’s how Paul Lagreze describes the birth of his business, New England Wild Edibles. Purveyors of wild plants and fungi from the fields and forests of western Massachusetts, they also cultivate mushrooms on a tract of land in Heath. They show that both local farming and foraging have a role in feeding people. And in some cases, the line between those things isn’t so clear.
Lagreze’s introduction to foraging came working as a young farm intern in Pennsylvania, gathering wild stinging nettles that were used to make biodynamic farming preparations.
“Later I was living near Ithaca, New York,” he says, “and I saw these beautiful mushrooms growing on the side of a tree. With a guidebook I identified them as oyster mushrooms, which I learned I could pick, cook and eat. Through experiences like this, I saw the possibilities as well as the dangers of foraging.”
Indeed, humans have fed themselves from wild landscapes for millennia, surviving with a healthy sense of caution and respect for sustainable harvest. The same lessons apply for modern foragers, lest they eat something harmful or overharvest, damaging the ecosystem and its ability to feed people in the future.
This time of year brings a resurgence of forageable food to local landscapes. Fiddleheads, the tender, curled up heads of some ferns, and ramps, a wild allium related to onions, are among the most well-known. Nutritious leafy greens like nettles and garlic mustard spring onto the scene too, as do the year’s first mushrooms.
Wild ramps growing in the forest
“Fiddlehead season is pretty much over,” says Lagreze, “though we’ll have ramps until warmer weather makes them die back. For mushrooms, morels are in season now, chanterelles usually appear in June, and then the floodgates open for a lot of species popping up, assuming we get regular rain.”
That assumption, though, is not a sure bet. As climate change fuels increasingly variable weather patterns, the steadier temperature and rainfall conditions that most wild fungi thrive in are interrupted by extremes.
“Fungi have been around for millions of years and are very adaptable,” says Lagreze, “but there’s no denying that the climate situation has affected them. When conditions aren’t right, they’ll just wait to fruit.”
While that’s a fine strategy for wild fungi, it’s difficult for a business that relies on selling mushrooms. That’s why several years ago New England Wild Edibles started farming shiitake mushrooms too.
The way they cultivate mushrooms is as much forestry as farming. Step one is collecting recently cut logs or woodchips. Lagreze grows shiitakes primarily on oak logs, or sometimes sugar maple. Other mushrooms prefer different species.
Logs are harvested in the late winter when the tree is dormant, then sit for a few weeks before mushroom inoculation. If inoculated too soon, the tree’s natural anti-fungal compounds may inhibit growth, too late, and other fungi may colonize the log and outcompete the shiitakes.
Logs inoculated with shiitake mushroom mycelium sprout begin to sprout mushrooms
“You inoculate the logs by drilling several holes and filling them with a mix of sawdust and shiitake mycelium,” describes Lagreze. “Once that’s done, you wax over the holes so other fungus and bacteria don’t get in.”
Fungal mycelia are networks of filaments and biomass that spread through whatever material they’re growing in, harvesting energy and nutrients through decomposition. If you’ve broken open a rotting log and seen white tendrils spreading through the wood, those are probably fungal mycelia. These tissues carry out most of the organism’s life processes, while the mushrooms we eat are merely the reproductive parts that emerge when conditions are right.
Lagreze usually inoculates logs in the spring, then waits about a year to force them to flush, or produce mushrooms. “You do that by soaking them in a tank of cool water for several hours,” he says. “After five days you’ll start seeing mushrooms, and they’ll be mature enough to harvest in another five days or so.”
Workshop participants learn how to inoculate logs to grow shiitake mushrooms
After harvesting, he rests a log for 6 to 8 weeks to regroup before forcing another flush. Most summers he can get three flushes per log, and most shiitake logs will stay in rotation for three years before production trails off.
This form of shiitake cultivation is one skill Lagreze teaches in hands-on workshops, in addition to other foraging and culinary topics. His next will be Saturday, June 3rd from 10 a.m. to noon. He also teaches foraging and mushroom cultivation classes at Greenfield Community College.
Lagreze now has about 1,000 shiitake logs in production, though he’s had as many as 5,000. While less hands-on than some crops, “there’s still a bunch of labor,” he says. “Moving logs, irrigating or covering them to keep them drier – never mind the drilling and filling to inoculate.”
In contrast to the tightly controlled indoor facilities that grow most commercial mushrooms, New England Wild Edibles grows outdoors, with stacks of inoculated logs sheltered under tree cover. This approach, which Lagreze describes as forest farming and likens to the philosophies of permaculture and organic farming, relies on natural systems to provide some of what crops need – in this case trees providing shade and moderating moisture and temperature – while acknowledging the risks and quirks of relinquishing some control.
New England Wild Edibles’ main sales outlet is the Northampton Tuesday Farmers Market, held every Tuesday from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the plaza behind Thorne’s Marketplace. Currently they’re selling their own shiitakes along with foraged varieties and cultivated mushrooms from Mycoterra Farm in South Deerfield, like lion’s mane and oyster mushrooms.
“We also have ramps, nettles, lots of wild greens like sorrels, dandelion and purslane, watercress and Japanese knotweed,” says Lagreze.
They also carry tinctures of medicinal mushrooms, and other wild foods that Lagreze sources from like-minded foragers.
“During good mushroom seasons, I’ll supply some stores and restaurants too,” he adds. Longtime buyers include the Gypsy Apple Bistro and Blue Rock Café, both in Shelburne Falls, The Dirty Truth in Northampton, Waxwing Cafe in Hatfield, and Franklin Community Co-op’s two stores: Green Fields Market in Greenfield and McCusker’s Market in Shelburne Falls.
“To me,” says Lagreze, “it’s so joyful to provide and teach people about the great edible things that grow right in front of us. For people that want to spend some time and do it sustainably, you can get delicious results.”
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more and find wild harvested local foods for sale near you, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
This week, Hunt Chase, director of community programs at the Hilltown CDC, tells Kaliis, Monte, and Phil the ins and outs of the Hilltown Mobile Market, a food access juggernaut for the region.
LISTEN HERE from the beginningHost Kaliis Smith (left) and Hunt Chase (right) Hilltown CDC’s director of community programs
You’ll learn about:
- Their take-what-you-need fridge and golden ticket programs, which make fresh local food available to folks who need it at no cost.
- The farms and businesses they source food from.
- Why a community development corporation (CDC) is so invested in food access, and how you can support their work.
From their website (hilltownmobilemarket.com): “The Hilltown Mobile Market was created to address the challenges of rural food access while developing the economic viability of our small farms. We manage an online food hub with 20 producers (and growing!) … We partner with local businesses, community centers, councils on aging, health centers and housing authorities to make this food available to anyone who wants it without the long trek to a grocery store or farmer’s market.”
This week on the Fabulous 413, a story of small dairy success. Phil, Monte, and Kaliis visit with Angie Facey of Bree-Z-Knoll Farm and Our Family Farms.
LISTEN HERE from the beginningYou’ll learn about
- How the federally controlled price of milk hurts many small farms
- How Our Family Farms is taking control back into their own hands by bottling their own milk
- The technology, policy, and funding this family is making the most of to help their farm thrive
And you’ll hear some faaaabulous quotes like:
- “We name all of our cows. Some of them love you, some of them run away from you. Most of them want to lick you to death.”
- “The robot will go take care of Camelot’s poop in a minute.”
And a LOT of dairy puns
This week, Phil, Monte, and Kaliis celebrate the beginning of spring garden season by speaking with Julia Lemieux of Windy Ridge Farm in Hawley. Their many crop is seedlings – fruit, veggies, herbs, and flowers – and they deliver to you throughout western MA!
LISTEN HERE (start at 16:15)
Published April 28, 2023 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Pioneering Amherst CSA farm is a produce powerhouseBy Jacob Nelson
This week at Brookfield Farm, a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm in Amherst, spring crops continue to take root in freshly tilled fields, gratefully soaking up last week’s rain. Just as they grow — slowly at first, then exploding with life as the weather warms — so too will social activity on the farm. It’s the case every year for a farm that puts as much emphasis on the “community” as it does the “agriculture.”
With the CSA business model, community members typically pay upfront for shares of the farm’s harvest, which is then distributed in regular allotments throughout the season. Now it’s a common strategy for farms looking to sell directly to their customers, but back in 1986, Brookfield Farm was one of the few local farms trying it.
Today, the farm feeds over 700 families in western Massachusetts and the Boston area through their CSA program and through donations. They do so while caring attentively for their land — using certified organic growing practices inspired by a biodynamic philosophy — and their longstanding community of CSA shareholders.
Kerry Taylor tends to some seedlings
For farms like them, the CSA model is proving fruitful. It wasn’t always this way, remembers Kerry Taylor, who co-manages Brookfield Farm alongside her husband, Max.
“When I first farmed in New England in 1994, things were different,” she says. “The CSA model hadn’t taken off yet, and the buy local sentiment was just starting to take hold. Farming wasn’t cool. It didn’t seem like a feasible career.”
Taylor left to work elsewhere — first in a municipal job in Washington, D.C., then a term in the Peace Corps. Yet as she returned to the Valley to visit family, she saw the local food movement gaining steam. Having already sworn off desk jobs, when she saw Brookfield Farm offering an apprenticeship, she decided to give farming another shot.
She ended up staying at Brookfield Farm for six years, three as an apprentice and three more as assistant manager. During that time she met Max Taylor, who was then working at Riverland Farm in Sunderland. The couple got married — at Brookfield Farm — before departing for Connecticut in 2011 to follow their own small farm dream.
Until, yet again, the Valley drew them back. In 2021 they landed once more at Brookfield Farm, this time managing the whole thing. At that point the farm fit like a familiar glove, which was welcome amid all the other newness in their lives.
Besides uprooting and moving, they would soon welcome a son into the world prematurely — a beautiful story with a happy ending, but more nerve-wracking than any parents would hope for. Taylor will share that story of trying to mother both a farm and a tiny new baby at Field Notes, a live storytelling event happening Sunday April 30th from 2-4 p.m. at the Academy of Music in Northampton. Tickets are available at buylocalfood.org/fieldnotes2023.
A typical weekly CSA share, with fall produce
The biggest constant remained the farm’s focus on its CSA program. Today, their summer CSA provides weekly distributions of fresh produce from June all the way through Thanksgiving, while their winter CSA provides monthly allotments for the remainder of the year. A standard share feeds two adults (or one who eats a lot of veggies) and any children in their household. Two households can also split a standard share, and they offer smaller senior shares to aging households eating less.
CSA shareholders who live in the Valley can pick up from the farm during one of three time slots each week. Upon arrival they can choose from the in-season produce laid out in the CSA barn up to their allotted amount. There’s also an option to purchase local eggs, meat, cheese, breads and other staples from nearby businesses as share add-ons.
Brookfield Farm also delivers around 125 shares weekly to six locations in the Boston area. These are pre-packed with all the same fresh produce.
All shareholders have access to pick-your-own berries, veggies, herbs, and flowers any day from dawn to dusk. Other perks include the chance to buy Brookfield Farm’s own beef and pork when available, as well as bulk produce at lower cost. They also receive the farm’s weekly newsletter updates, events and recipes.
In an economy where both farmers and eaters are struggling to make ends meet, Brookfield Farm does what they can to make their food accessible to everyone. Customers can pay for their CSA shares with SNAP and HIP benefits, and the farm itself also subsidizes costs for a handful of low-income shareholders.
“We also recognize that the CSA model doesn’t work for everyone,” Taylor says. “So last year we piloted a donor-funded program to seed, grow, harvest and distribute produce to people that need it, mostly to the Amherst Survival Center. That’s something we’d love to expand.”
Brookfield Farm has lofty goals for creating ripples of change in their community. Their nonprofit governance structure is one reason they’re able to aim so high. Since 1987, the farm and its assets have been held by the Biodynamic Farmland Conservation Trust. Farm managers like the Taylors oversee day-to-day operations, but big decisions are made by a board of directors.
This management system is more complex to navigate than a for-profit business model, but it creates pathways for enthusiastic community members to invest more than they otherwise could. Supporters can help by organizing events, donating, or volunteering their time and expertise on the farm or with big projects — like the recent fundraising campaign to purchase 100% of the farm’s land base, much of which had been rented.
Max Taylor (right) and Kerry Taylor (left)
All these community-driven efforts raise the bar for what Brookfield Farm can accomplish. And for many, the social and community benefits of engaging with a farm like this are just as much a reward as the fresh food. CSA pickups are always social affairs, and pick-your-own excursions have that potential.
They also host several shareholder events each season, this year’s first being a seedling sale in May, where dozens of varieties of organically grown herb, flower, and veggie seedlings will be available.
“I love that we’re a really open, welcoming, and intergenerational meeting place,” Taylor says. “It’s always been the case, but COVID really proved that the farm is a haven for people. We can fulfill that overwhelming desire for local food and connection. We hope people don’t forget that!”
Brookfield Farm is still accepting sign-ups for their 2023 CSA at brookfieldfarm.org.
To learn more about CSA farms and other local farms near you, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
How do federal policies about farming trickle down and affect states, towns, and the lives of farmers in our communities? Chelsea Gazillo, New England Policy Manager for American Farmland Trust, gives Monte, Kaliis, and Phil the scoop.
LISTEN HERE! (start at 13:30)Chelsea also gives a teaser of her story for Field Notes, CISA’s live storytelling event this Sunday, 2-4 PM at the Academy of Music in Northampton! (Tickets available here!) Hers is a tale of family misunderstandings, uncomfortable food choices, and healing broken hearts. Come here the full thing!
Published April 22, 2023 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Bernardston’s Couch Brook Farm offers fresh starts, organic and essentialBy Jacob Nelson
Vibrant yellow and purple pansies coloring local farm stands, their faces turned upward to greet the sun, are sure signs of warmth returning to New England.
“I already delivered some last week to Upinngil Farm in Gill and Atlas Farm Store in South Deerfield,” says Elaine Morley. After more than 40 years of farming and starting plants for others at Couch Brook Farm in Bernardston, she’s well accustomed to the rhythms of spring’s arrival.
Morley and her husband, Peter Cevasco, bought land and set down roots in Bernardston in 1981. Today their 17 acres are home to several farming projects, but as Morley explains, “our main crop is actually the plants.”
Elaine Morley with some of her pansies and violas – started from seed!
From flowers — both perennials and annuals — to herbs and vegetable starts, they grow with home gardeners’ desires in mind. Morley estimates half of what they sell is ornamental and half edible, but the diversity of choice among vegetable and herb varieties is vast. They offer lettuce in 14 varieties, 15 kinds of tomatoes, and dozens of different herbs. All of what they grow is certified organic.
Fruit is Morley and Cevaso’s other farming love. “We grow raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, peaches and apples,” Morley says. “We sell most of what we get to Sweet Lucy’s Bakeshop in Bernardston and Upinngil Farm in Gill. Upinngil sells fruit at their store, and both places freeze it and to use in their baked goods throughout the year.”
Come July, they’ll also open for pick-your-own blueberries — also certified organic.
Visitors at any time of year can also view and purchase Morley’s pottery, her other vocation.
“Once things wind down in the fall, that’s when I return to pottery,” she says. “I make bowls, plates, mugs, vases, bird feeders — all kinds of stuff. It’s stoneware pottery, so it can be used in the oven, microwave, and dishwasher.”
Growing plants organically, with careful attention to inputs and avoidance of harsh chemicals, is important to Morley. With that comes a focus on disease prevention and giving plants what they need to be as healthy as possible from the beginning, minimizing the challenges that chemicals might be called on to treat.
“We don’t buy cuttings or plants from anyone else,” Morley says. “We grow everything ourselves from seed, so we don’t inherit anyone else’s problems. And we mix our own potting soil from organic inputs. I think it grows healthier plants, and it’s the least expensive way to do it.”
Preparations for this season of seed starting began when most home gardeners were still harvesting last summer’s bounty.
“I order most of my seeds in the fall and collect them all by December,” she explains. “By the first week in January, I’m planting pansy seeds indoors.”
A few weeks later, the greenhouses open up. Couch Brook Farm has three heated greenhouses, all warmed by wood stoves with propane heaters as backups.
Then the seed planting begins in earnest. First come perennial flowers, herbs and anything that takes longer to establish. Then annual flowers, and then a succession of veggie seedlings, timed to be ready for their respective planting out dates.
“Last week I started tomato seeds,” Morley says. “That’s probably the last big seeding we’ll do for the year.”
Once seedlings are strong enough, they’re transplanted from trays into larger pots for selling, either plastic six-pack containers or 4-inch pots for individual plants. In addition to Upinngil Farm and Atlas Farm Store, people can also find their plants at the Brattleboro Food Co-op. Starting this Saturday, April 22, they’ll also begin selling straight from the farm at 184 Couch Brook Road. They plan to be open Thursdays through Sundays from 9 to 5 through June 4.
“People can come walk through the greenhouses and look at everything,” Morley says. “I update our website (couchbrookfarm.com) every week during the season with a list of plants and prices. My hope is that people find what they’re looking for and also discover some new plants they haven’t tried yet.”
Morley’s biggest advice when customers take her plants home is to lavish a little attention on them each day, as she has for the previous weeks and months. Giving them a drink of water and adjusting their position in the sunlight takes just a moment but makes for a much happier plant than one that’s accidentally neglected for a stretch of days.
Her other advice is to have clear-eyed expectations about the New England growing climate. Most varieties Couch Brook Farm grows are inherently well-adapted to the region, but some garden favorites are on the edge of their climatic preference.
“I love hot peppers,” Morley says, “and I grow and sell them, but you can’t plant until it’s plenty warm, and you may not get that many. And tomatoes don’t like nights below even 50 degrees. They’ll just get stunted — it’s not how they like it yet.”
The art and science of growing plants is certainly complicated. Even for Morley, who’s been growing for many decades, there is always more to learn. But everyone has to start somewhere, and the sweet rush of a homegrown cherry tomato bursting on your tongue is as good an incentive as any to give it a shot.
“Taking care of plants becomes easier the more you do it,” she offers. “You learn which plants like things which way, and what to expect. It’s just a matter of observation over the years. That makes you a better grower.”
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To find more local farms near you with seeds and plants for garden season, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
Trouble Mandeson, fill-in manager at the Greenfield Farmers’ Market joins Monte, Kaliis, and Jacob on NEPM’s Fabulous 413.
LISTEN HERE! They chat about:
- Summer farmers’ markets returning, including the Greenfield Farmers’ Market on Saturday 4/29!
- Check out their website to see vendors, musicians, and other events.
- Telling her story at CISA’s Field Notes, next Sunday April 30, 2-4 at the Academy of Music in Northampton.
- This live storytelling event that celebrates the many ways local food and farming leave their mark in our lives and our communities. Trouble will share her journey of stepping into her power and identity as a cook, caring for people through food. You don’t want to miss this! Get your tickets here.
Phil, Monte, and Kaliis visit the Holyoke mill building housing Valley Malt and their sister business Ground Up Grain.
They talk with founders Andrea and Christian Stanley about
- The science behind malting
- How both businesses grow the local grain economy
- How Ground Up’s flour takes TASTE to a new dimension (with special guest Deb Bernardini)
LISTEN HERE (start at 13:00)
Published April 8, 2023 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Baby Lambs Ring in Spring at Everyday FarmBy Jacob Nelson
Spring is springing up at Everyday Farm in Gill. Actually, it’s bouncing all over the place.
“We’ve had about a hundred lambs born so far this year,” says farmer Hannah Sol. Once all their mother ewes give birth, the number of bleating babies will more than double.
Hannah Sol holds a young lamb
In its sixth year as a commercial operation run by Sol and her partner Joseph Connelly, Everyday Farm is rounding into form. “We’re a small farm raising beef, lamb, pork and eggs on land in Gill, Bernardston and Leyden,” Sol explains. “We’re focused on grass-based meat and using regenerative farming techniques.”
This season, farm work will be all about their animals – 300 sheep, 300 laying hens, a dozen cows, and half that many pigs. But the farm didn’t start that way.
Both Sol and Connelly grew up living and breathing farm life, working on several area farms. Sol worked on the retail side of local food too in the produce department at Green Fields Market in Greenfield. In 2018 they decided to start growing food for themselves on Sol’s family’s land in Gill.
“Then,” Sol explains, “we started growing for other people through a vegetable CSA. Then we realized how much we liked raising livestock and started doing more of that. And then it just skyrocketed.”
Joe Connelly with a new farm dog in training
Soon the young farmers, running things themselves, wanted to simplify and create a more stable income. And growing veggies profitably was proving difficult, especially facing increasingly extreme weather conditions fueled by climate change.
“In the five years we ran a veggie CSA, we had three years of droughts,” says Sol. Keeping everything alive took much more time and energy. As she puts it, “when you’re paying yourself almost nothing, and you’re no longer enjoying it, what’s the point?”
So, the veggies faded while the animals ascended. Though droughts and poor conditions still affect the productivity of their pastures and animals, they’re better positioned to adapt to those challenges. High labor and irrigation costs didn’t fit their business plan, but when pastures are sparse, they know landowners with more space for their animals to graze.
In fact, collaboration with other nearby farmers and landowners has been central to Everyday Farm’s success.
“Ideally we’d own land all in one spot,” Sol says, “but our animals graze more than 100 acres, and that’s just not possible to afford in this area.” So, while their base of operations is still Sol’s family farmland in Gill, most of their pastures are scattered across Franklin County, leased from or shared with others. These arrangements benefit everyone. Animals get room to roam while Sol and Connelly improve the property, repairing barns, clearing brush, and increasing pasture fertility through managed grazing.
As a newer farm, they’ve benefited from the generosity of fellow farmers with more resources and experience. Over time, they’ll pass that on to others.
“Tyler Sage of Sage Farm, who raises pastured pork in Bernardston, lets us graze our sheep there, and for a long time we borrowed their livestock trailer before we had our own,” says Sol. “Leyden Glen Farm, where I used to work – we use their mobile sheep handling system. It’s basically a trailer that unfolds into a corral that funnels the sheep into it, and we couldn’t do without it.”
“There’s just things you can’t do or buy right away,” she continues. “Luckily there are people around to help.”
A little help and a lot of hard-earned experience allow them to raise, “the happiest, healthiest animals we can,” says Sol. “We feed organic grain to our chickens (which also graze their pastures) and non-GMO grain to our pigs. All our lamb is 100% grass-fed, which a lot of people specifically look for, and we move our animals to nice, fresh grass most days.”
Movable electric fencing divides previously grazed pasture from fresh grass
“We want to eat meat from animals that were well-raised and had great lives,” she adds,” and a lot of our customers feel the same.”
The main way customers can buy meat and eggs from Everyday Farm is through monthly online ordering with on-farm pick up at 469 Main Road in Gill. Sol compares the process to a community supported agriculture (CSA) subscription, but with key differences. Rather than paying up front for a predetermined box of food each month during the season, customers can place custom orders for lamb, beef, pork and chicken for monthly pick up right on their website at everydayfarmgill.com.
“Month by month ordering offers people more choice and flexibility,” says Sol. “Some people do order the same bundles each time, but a lot of people switch it up, and you can always skip a month.”
People can also sign up for the farm’s newsletter for ordering reminders and news from the farm. “Sometimes we offer deals just for people on that list, like a free bunch of garlic or a free dozen eggs,” she adds.
This arrangement also retains the social bond often sought between farmers and CSA customers. “We love getting to know people who want to support us and invest in our farm,” Sol says. She also notes their success engaging with their community through social media – particularly Instagram, where she posts frequent looks at daily life on the farm under the account @everydayfarmgill.
People can also find their eggs and lamb at Upinngil Farm‘s store in Gill, and lamb at western local stores like Atlas Farm Store, Mill Valley Market, and Manning Hill Farm just over the border in Winchester, NH. “We also sell through two home delivery services,” says Sol, “Mass Food Delivery and the Hilltown Mobile Market.”
Hannah with some of Everyday farm’s new additions
As this new season begins with the animals in full focus, “we finally feel like maybe we have a little bit of a handle on it,” Sol laughs, acknowledging that the farming learning curve is always steep.
Still, she’s excited for this year’s fresh grass and new opportunities. American Farmland Trust recently awarded them a $10,000 regenerative grazing grant, which will go towards better equipment for transporting animals between pastures, and warm evenings and bright green fields beckon.
“Working with the animals is just such a fun part of our lives,” she says. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about farms of all kinds raising food near you, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
First EVER female commissioner of the MA Department of Agricultural Resources, Ashley Randle, joins Phil, Kaliis, and Monte for a special episode of the Local Hero Spotlight on New England Public Media’s “Fabulous 413.”
She talks about her department’s upcoming priorities, and how they and organizations like CISA each play a role in supporting our local food community and the hardworking people within it.
LISTEN HERE! (Start at 29:20)Photo by New England Public Media
Young Donald D’Amour with father, Paul D’Amour, in the early 1950s
For Big Y, the commitment to serving neighbors food from local farms started at the beginning. In 1936, Paul D’Amour and his brother, Gerry D’Amour, used their family savings to o purchase the Y Cash Market. The market grew, and in the 1950s the brothers opened the first modern supermarket in Chicopee and named it Big Y Supermarket.
Adam Hession, Director of Produce and Floral at Big Y, notes the company’s history runs parallel to many of the farms and food businesses in our area. “Big Y is a family-owned business, like many of our local partners who are also family-owned businesses,” he says. That shared understanding of both business model and the challenges unique to family-owned businesses anchor an abiding commitment to local farms and food in the western Massachusetts region.
Hession continues, “The cool thing about our local program is that it originated with the owners of our company back in 1936. We still have some of our earliest local partners like Calabrese Farm in Southwick, who sold to Paul and Gerry D’Amour directly.”
Calabrese Farm started in 1950 by Joe and Eleanor Calabrese in Southwick. They attended the Springfield Farmers’ Market, which began on city property on Lyman Street in Springfield. It was a daily market that Paul and Gerry D’Amour attended, where they bought produce from Calabrese and the other farms in the market.
Tom and Donna Calabrese continue the family tradition of farming in Southwick. Tom Calabrese notes the advantages for farmers working with Big Y, “They are very fair people who try to help the farmer and pay a little better than the other chains.”
Donna Calabrese adds, “They know the value of locally-grown for their stores over chain distributors.” Hession explains the hyperlocal relationships between farm and store, “For example, if a farm in East Longmeadow services and provides food for our East Longmeadow store, that very much resonates with customers.” Produce managers take requests from shoppers seriously, and customers ask freely for favorite crops, like corn or apples from farms in their community.
There are advantages for the supermarket and the customer when Big Y sources produce locally. Tom Calabrese says, “If they buy locally, the produce is fresh. It’s often picked the day before or on the same day. If they buy it through the national or regional distributors, that produce might have been picked a week ago. Buying fresh, local produce gives Big Y two or three days of extra shelf life, compared to buying it from Florida.”
Hession says the current number of local farm partners is constantly growing. “We’re up to over 100 different local partners in the produce department and continuing to look for ways to grow the program and to bring more partners on board,” he notes.
Big Y connects with new farms and food producers in our region to arrive at an arrangement that serves both small farms and larger ones. The Big Y model adapts, so some farmers deliver directly to a couple of stores, while others bring tractor trailer trucks to the Big Y warehouse for all 72 locations.
Hession explains, “There’s a lot of different ways farms become Big Y suppliers. Sometimes one farmer talks about Big Y to another farmer. Other times, we rely upon the feedback from our store teams, who can start the process by approaching a local farm in western Massachusetts or Connecticut to see if there’s an interest in selling produce to Big Y.” There’s also a section on the Big Y website where a local farmer can approach the grocer directly.
Hession notes, “The sustainability of local produce not traveling too far to get into our stores is a way we can help to care for the environment within our community. Not only does our local sourcing program provide food for our community, but it also provides a revenue stream for our farm and small business partners.”
Occasionally Hession and his buyers visit local farms. “We have some very longstanding relationships with farms. It’s so much fun to visit a farmer on their land, walk their fields and listen to them talk about their business. We see their passion and their commitment to providing the best produce to our Big Y customers. It’s one of the best parts of our work,” he notes.
Another way Big Y ignites passion for local produce is to support the farmers of the future. There are only a couple of student farms in the country, and the UMass Student Farm partnership with Big Y is in its 10th season. Many graduates continue to work at local farms that sell to Big Y, while others have gone on to start farms of their own.
Jeff Vocatura, Big Y Local Sales Manager, comments, “The farm is all organic and consists of students picking and farming the three or four crops they desire from seed to harvest. Typically, they start in January, and we meet with the students to outline the year’s program. They grow a summer crop and a fall crop.”
Adam Hession & Tom Calabrese – photo taken Tuesday 3/21 at the Big Y Local Appreciation Luncheon.
The Amherst Big Y was the first store to offer UMass Student Farm produce. Today the farm sells to the Amherst, Northampton, Southampton, and Greenfield stores. Vocatura adds, “Three years ago, we started warehouse deliveries, so we can help the farm move through any excess product and to get their product into all of our stores.”
When asked about the joy of his work, Hession responds, “The most fun our store teams have is working with our business partners to find ways to better support our community. Selling the best quality produce to the customer while supporting local farms everyday meets our commitments.”
Lisa Goodrich is communications coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, (CISA). Learn more about local farms, food, and markets in our online guide at buylocalfood.org.
Bob Lowry, founder of Bueno Y Sano restaurants – now with locations around MA and VT! – joins Phil, Monte, and Kaliis to chat about:
- How the first restaurant came to be in 1995 in Amherst
- The magic of using Roaming Farm beef and Mi Tierra corn tortillas in some of their specials (and how CISA played matchmaker!)
- Their continued support of CISA ($2 donated with every doordash order in April 2023) and many other local organizations
LISTEN HERE from the beginning
Published March 25, 2023 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
By Jacob Nelson
Toni Hall is a farmer hoping to turn some heads. A diminutive plant known as spilanthes, with flowers called buzz buttons, is helping get people’s attention.
“When I give out samples at the farmers market, people make these crazy sounds and faces, and then others start to come over,” says Hall, owner of Song Sparrow Farm in Florence. “Who knew you could get a rush you’ve never had in your life, from a local farm that’s also addressing the climate crisis?”
The mouth-numbing experience of buzz buttons is the hook. The hope is that some tantalized tasters will stay to enjoy other food Song Sparrow Farm grows. And at a deeper level, Hall hopes that the farm’s success might demonstrate how small-scale farmers who don’t own land can still succeed, given the right kind of community support and determination.
Buzz Buttons, the flowers of the spilanthes plant
Song Sparrow Farm is a diversified produce farm occupying ¾ of an acre at the Grow Food Northampton Community Farm, located on Meadow Street. Hall took the farm’s reins of just a year ago, yet says, “I’ve known that growing plants was part of my path in life for a while.” After years of working as a farm and sustainability educator, the entrepreneurial challenge of managing a commercial farm felt right.
The initial plan was to grow a business up from garden-scale, focusing on just a few crops. Then Hall met Diego Irizarry-Gerould, the previous owner of Song Sparrow Farm who was selling the business, and it seemed a perfect opportunity to leapfrog past the startup stage.
“His planning and farming methods were so aligned with what I’d learned about and wanted to do,” explains Hall. “So, in 2022 Song Sparrow followed Diego’s formula while adapting a few things in different directions.”
A big part of that formula – climate-friendly farming – starts with lavishing love on their soil. They don’t till, which helps promote biodiversity, water retention, and carbon sequestration. They also use organic, non-petroleum-based products to fertilize and manage pests.
“We’re also making long-term decisions,” says Hall. “For example, I’m looking at how we reduce emissions from vehicles, transitioning away from gasoline, and maybe having chickens on site to generate natural fertilizer.”
Another part of the formula is maximizing their small growing area. Here two strategies are important: interplanting and succession planting.
Interplanting refers to multiple crops sharing space in a growing bed. Here, farmers look to pair plants with compatible growth and nutrient needs, like the indigenous farming technique of a three sisters garden, where tall corn, climbing beans, and squash grow together in harmony.
Succession planting, meanwhile, refers to multiple crops sharing a growing bed across time. When one crop is harvested, another is planted right on its heels.
Hall combines both strategies in a planting plan that plays out like a season-long game of Tetris. For example, “one bed might start off as just radishes for 3 weeks. When they’re finished, we’ll plant lettuce – but only on the outer edges, because down the middle we’ll plant tomatoes.”
As the buzz buttons suggest, Song Sparrow Farm’s crop choices emphasize the exciting. “This year we’re leaning into spicy peppers, lesser-known varieties of sweet peppers and fun, small-sized melons,” says Hall. “People really seem to want them, and it’s not what other farms are growing.”
They also have their staples, like their salad mix also sold at River Valley Coop stores in Northampton and Easthampton, Oliver’s Farmstand in Goshen, State Street Fruit Store in Northampton, and Cooper’s Corner right in Florence. These greens will arrive first this spring, followed soon by things like carrots, radishes, and salad turnips, and later cucumbers, summer squash, and vibrant cherry tomatoes.
A community supported agriculture (CSA) farm share, “is the best way to enjoy produce from Song Sparrow Farm,” says Hall. Community members buy shares up front, providing the farmer some financial assurance, and receive weekly boxes of fresh produce throughout the season. They offer large and small shares, opportunities to swap share contents for more favored items, and the option of signing up for the whole season June through October or for individual months.
Their produce will also be available at three farmers markets this summer: Easthampton on Sundays, Northampton on Tuesdays, and the new South Hadley market on Wednesdays. They will also sell at a roadside farm stand on Meadow Street and through the local farm-to-door delivery service Mass Food Delivery.
Looking back, year one of running Song Sparrow Farm brought its challenges. They weren’t what you might think.
“Housing in Northampton was my number one issue,” says Hall. “I almost failed because of the cost and lack of access to housing.”
Like 1 in 3 Massachusetts residents, Hall is a renter, not a homeowner. That’s a challenging position from which to grow a farm business. For starters, rent is expensive. Especially near Northampton, where the popular rental website Zillow currently puts the average price of a 2-bedroom unit above $2,400 per month.
In addition, having no property to use as collateral makes it much harder to get a loan for start-up costs. Some farmers inherit land or invest family resources to get their farms off the ground. Others don’t have that luxury.
“For a long time, I thought I could never be a farm owner,” says Hall. “It’s because a place like Grow Food Northampton’s Community Farm exists that I’m able to do this.”
This model, where farmland is owned by a community organization and made available to farmers and gardeners, lowers many barriers for prospective farm owners. In Grow Food Northampton’s case, they lease land at many scales, from small community garden plots to multi-acre farms, while supplying water and vehicle access.
The social resources farmers are connected to are often just as important. “In season when the weather’s good I have tons of conversations there,” says Hall. “Whether they’re our customers or our friends, we farmers thrive when surrounded by people who care about food.”
Hall also feels that communities thrive when surrounded by farmers care about our collective future. Leaning into the spirit of collective support, this year Song Sparrow Farm is offering multiple ways for the community to invest in their success, from their CSA to fundraising campaigns.
“My hope,” says Hall, “is that other people see you don’t need to have the same starting resources as some farm owners in order to better your position in society, or to become a farmer.”
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about CSA farms near you, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally
Phil, Monte, and Kaliis visit Thomas Farm and Dairy in Sunderland for a good old dose of happy baby goats (they’re even cute on radio).
LISTEN HERE from the beginning
Also discussed:
- Goats versus cows – what’s the difference? (For dairy farmers, the cheese they make, etc.)
- Laurie’s experience growing up on a farm, entering the corporate world, then returning to her roots.
- Why the cheesemakers are blessed, particularly in western Mass
Bob Bergeron, of Bergeron’s Sugar House in Leyden, has been sugaring for over fifty years. He first got hooked on maple during high school, at his grandparents’ sugarhouse in Whately and learned through experience. “While I try to make a few dollars, it’s about enjoying what I do. If you don’t like what you’re doing,
Bergeron Sugar House in Leyden, MA
it’s not worth doing,” says Bergeron.
Weather is a significant factor in how the maple sap flows, and the amount of sugar in the sap varies by year. Bergeron explains, “On average, the sap carries 2% sugar, which means it takes 45-46 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of syrup. It depends on the year and what the trees went through. You’re at the mercy of Mother Nature.” He adds, “Every year is different. A colder March is conducive to sap flow. We may have a good season yet.”
The farmer uses home cooking as an analogy of the process, “All you’re doing is removing the water from the sap, the same as if you took sugar and mixed it with water on the stove, where eventually, it would turn into syrup. You have to watch the temperatures. It’s sugar and you can burn it. You have to be careful with everything.”
Bergeron’s equipment is a mixture of automatic and simple tools that work. “We check everything with a hydrometer, to make sure the density of the syrup is correct,” he notes. “The density has to be correct to be called maple syrup.” All four grades of maple syrup have the same density, but the grade is determined by color. The color changes through the season, from lightest to darkest as the season continues. The intensity of flavor parallels the color, evolving from lightest flavor to strongest flavor.
Bergeron explains that making maple syrup, maple cream, and granulated maple sugar depends on the processes he uses to arrive at the desired consistency. Generally, “you heat it to the right temperature, then cool it down to the right temperature, and then it’s mixed,” the farmer adds.
Different temperatures and length of time help the various products take form. Bergeron fuels his evaporator with wood. He uses reverse osmosis to conserve energy and remove water from the sap before the evaporator removes the rest of the water, leaving pure maple syrup. The farmer cuts 8-10 cords of wood for fuel for the season instead of the 40-50 cords traditionally required. Swapping more modern equipment is cost-prohibitive for Bergeron. “I like boiling with wood and I’m going to keep going as long as I can,” he says.
To make granulated maple sugar, Bergeron heats maple sap to 265 degrees and takes almost two hours. Next it is cooled and mixed, then sifted. Bergeron notes, “It’s a lot of work, and everything is made with pure maple. To make a batch of granulated maple sugar is a long process that takes me five or six hours.”
Similarly, making maple cream requires careful attention to the details. Bergeron explains, “First I heat it to 232 to 234 degrees. Then the mixture has to be cooled down. I usually like to get it below 100 degrees and often let it sit overnight in a water bath with ice. Sometimes it gets so stiff, I can barely mix it. I have to add a little bit of water to thaw it, and then I put it on the machine.
Timing is a factor in the final texture. He adds, “You want it smooth and creamy, so you can’t disturb it very much from the time you start to cool it to the time you mix it, because it can set up a crystallization process in the maple cream that is a bit gritty. I might let it sit overnight covered, then put it on the machine. It can actually sit for a day or two as long as it’s cold. Then I portion it in containers and label them. It’s all very time-consuming.”
Bergeron built the sugar house as he prepared for retirement from a former career. He describes it as “a full-time job, year-round. It keeps me busy and keeps me healthy, too.” The joy of maple sugaring, for Bergeron, “is that I’m able to keep doing it. It’s a lifestyle—not just a job or farming. Production season can be really intense. You only get one shot ever year.” Bergeron Sugar House sells maple products to local markets, including Maple Farm Foods, Big E’s, Atkins Farms Country Market, Atlas Farm, and Simple Gifts Farm.
Bergeron will offer a maple sugar tasting at a free upcoming event for kids and families called Making Food Fun, held outdoors at the Green Fields Market a
lley in downtown Greenfield on Saturday, March 25 from 10am-noon. This will be a chance for kids to learn about where maple syrup comes from and taste all four grades of syrup and maple cream.
“Maple syrup attracts kids because of the taste. The more they learn about it, the more likely they will use it as adults,” says Bergeron. There are vitamins and minerals in maple syrup, making it a healthier sugar many people favor. He adds, “During the pandemic, sales were steady because more people were home cooking.”
Making Food Fun is produced by Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) and the Franklin Community Co-op (FCC). Kids will get to choose their favorite maple product to put on silver dollar pancakes provided by the Co-op.
Amy Britt, Communications Manager of the FCC, notes, “Any way we can help kids and families connect with our local farms, taste fresh food, share where food comes from and meet the people behind the products is important. Local farms are the lifeblood of our food system, nourishing our families who live here.”
Family-friendly highlig
hts include food sampling and demos, movement with the Franklin County YMCA, dairy fun with Our Family Farms and parent information about school nutrition and food access programs.
Lisa Goodrich is communications coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, (CISA). Learn more about our Making Food Fun event. See https://www.buylocalfood.org/events/ for details.
What’s happening on local farms in winter? What about places where it always feels like winter? Or winter never comes?
Hear Alice Colman’s tales from Antarctica, Hawaii, and Stony Hill Farm in Wilbraham Listen here from the beginning
Published March 11, 2023 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Westhampton dairy’s creamery expansion sweetens futureby Jacob Nelson
FOR THE GAZETTE
The Parsons family of Mayval Farm have stewarded their land in Westhampton for a long time.
“It was actually a grant from the king to Noah Parsons III,” says Margie Parsons. That would be King George III of England, back in 1778.
Currently Mayval Farm raises dairy and beef cows, makes maple syrup, and turns some of their milk into a variety of specialty dairy products in their on-site creamery. These are sold year-round at local markets and at their self-serve farm store.
As economic conditions have shifted, a lot has changed for dairy farmers in the last 10 years, let alone since Revolutionary War times. By investing in a creamery to make and sell value-added dairy products themselves, the Parsons have gained more control over their financial future.
Most things at Mayval Farm start with the cows. This year they’re raising about 30 beef cattle. Another 85 cows make up their dairy herd. Most of their dairy cows are Holsteins, but there are also a handful of brown Swiss and Jersey breeds.
“The Jerseys started as my daughter Kate’s 4H project when she was 8 years old,” Parsons says. “And the brown Swiss were my nephew’s 4H project.”
Kate Parsons making feta cheese in the creamery
Margie Parsons, her husband Henry and brother Ed are the primary farmers. “Henry and Ed feed, milk, and take care of the cows, with some hired help,” she explains. “Ed also does the haying and maple sugaring. He’s actually boiling right now; I can see the steam coming from the chimney.”
Parsons herself balances the farm’s books, manages the farm store, and is queen of the creamery. Among the next generation, her now-adult daughter Kate, along with her son Ethan and his wife, have helped write grants and guide the farm’s future. Kate is most involved, working around her full-time job with the Natural Resource Conservation Service to help with cow care and creamery work.
The reason many New England dairy farmers are in a financial bind has little to do with producing enough milk to sell. Even with a modest herd of 85, “our cows produced almost 2 million pounds of milk last year,” Parsons says. That’s 650 gallons each day.
The issue is receiving enough money for that milk to cover expenses and pay a decent wage. Most dairy farms are set up to sell milk wholesale to regional co-ops rather than straight to consumers. That is simpler, not requiring farms to build and operate their own inspected processing facilities. It also means they are beholden to sell their milk at whatever commodity price is set by the federal government, according to complex and opaque calculations.
Mayval Farm still sells most of their wholesale milk to the Agri-Mark dairy co-op. But with the help of a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture Farm Viability Program, in 2015 they opened their on-site creamery to create and sell their own value-added dairy products. This offered the farm more sustainable margins, and customers a host of new items to try.
First there’s plain old milk — and chocolate milk, too. These are pasteurized but not homogenized, meaning the cream still rises to the top of the bottle. They also make several kinds of cheese, including a salty feta, spreadable fromage-blanc, small camembert-style wheels, and different flavored cheese curds.
Then there’s plain and strawberry kefir, a probiotic drink similar to thin yogurt. And the star of the show: skyr.
“People love our skyr,” Parsons says. “That’s our biggest seller.” Hailing originally from Iceland and Scandinavia, skyr is technically a young cheese made with culture and rennet, but it’s eaten like a rich yogurt.
“Maple skyr is my favorite,” she offers. They flavor it with their own dark amber syrup, or with syrup from another local sugarhouse. Other varieties are plain and strawberry, flavored with a homemade low-sugar strawberry jam.
Mayval Farm skyr can be found at several stores around western Massachusetts, including Cooper’s Corner in Florence, State Street Fruit Store in Northampton, Atlas Farm Store in South Deerfield, and River Valley Co-op in Northampton and Easthampton. It’s also sold through Mass Food Delivery and the Hilltown Mobile Market, and as an add-on for members with CSA farm shares at Intervale Farm in Westhampton.
Mayval Farm will also be at the Easthampton Farmers Market this summer, selling skyr, cheeses, beef and more.
Most of what they make is also available year-round at their Westhampton farm store, open every day from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 137 Easthampton Road. They also carry seasonal produce from local farms, along with ice cream from two local producers, Mo’s Fudge from Shelburne, and Life-Booch Kombucha and Crooked Stick Pops just-fruit popsicles, both made in Easthampton.
A sampling of local dairy products and other things available at Mayval Farm’s store
Encouraged by an early COVID surge of farm store patronage, they purchased more freezers to offer take and bake dinner options too. Parsons explains that they work with a distributor who buys principally from New England to get products including frozen pizzas, falafel and dumplings.
In the coming years, they hope to expand their farm store and creamery even further while reducing the number of cows they keep. That would reduce workload, support the health of their business, and offer more local food directly to their customers.
A first expansion of the creamery is already underway, thanks to a state Food Security Infrastructure Grant for new equipment that will allow them to process even more of their own milk. These grants, first offered during early COVID, enable local businesses to build the infrastructure needed to ensure a resilient food supply for local communities.
To date, over $17 million has come to Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden counties, with CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) working directly alongside local businesses to secure $5.5 million of that. Once all announced funds are distributed, investments through the infrastructure program will total over $90 million across the state, and recently Gov. Maura Healey included permanent funding for the program in her budget recommendations.
Broadly, this public investment strengthens the local economy and improves equity and access to local food. It can also make a big difference for individual farms. Ultimately, Parsons hopes the new projects at Mayval Farm will shape the business into something the next generation wants to take over.
Or maybe one of their customers, someone just so enamored with skyr. “You will get hooked on it,” she warns.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA. To learn more about local farms and farm stores near you, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
Phil, Monte, and Kaliis get the backstage treatment at Maple Corner Farm in Granville, before the ceremonial first tree taping of Massachusetts Maple Month. Hear how they make syrup at their state-of-the art sugarhouse, and how the process has changed over the farm’s nearly 200 years (along with the climate). Then attend (vicariously) the joyous hoopla that is “the first tap of Maple Month!”
CLICK HERE and scroll to 15:00 to listen!
Published March 4, 2023 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
“We call it liquid gold,” Erik Lively says of maple syrup. This is his favorite time of year at Sunrise Farms in the hills of Colrain, when they reap the sweet, amber rewards of a year’s hard work.
Lively and his brother Jordan, who both work full-time on the farm, are the fifth generation of Livelys harvesting a living from Sunrise Farms’ pastures and woodlot, now totaling 480 acres. The farm’s identity has evolved since their great-great grandfather settled there in the 1880s, but maple sugaring has always been a steady throughline. Today they also raise grass-fed beef and harvest timber.
To carry the farm into the future, “we’re turning to modern innovations that make our operation cleaner and more efficient,” Lively says. “That’s better for us, the environment, and our kids – the next generation.”
Sap has been flowing from the farm’s 3,500 taps for weeks now, but the story of syrup begins years before with careful management of the forest itself. Sunrise Farms maintain a productive sugarbush of nearly 40 acres, selectively thinning some trees to give the healthiest sugar maples room to thrive while still maintaining a diverse ecosystem.
Practicing “safe tapping,” as Lively calls it, also promotes better yield and longevity. “We don’t tap trees less than 10 inches in diameter,” he says, “and only use two taps for trees bigger than 24 inches.”
Tapping itself doesn’t hurt the tree, but more tap holes mean more entry points for disease, and the scar tissue from healed tap sites will never be as productive again.
Each tap feeds into a network of plastic tubing that drains towards collection tanks at their pumphouse. When conditions are right, sap flows downhill towards the tanks like a spring rain, aided by a pressure gradient created by vacuum pumps.
“From the pumphouse sap is pumped up to holding tanks at the sugarhouse, and we try to boil when the sap is freshest for the best syrup quality,” says Lively. “We run it through filters and our reverse osmosis system removes some of the water. Then it goes into the evaporator where it’s boiled down, filtered again, graded, and finally stored in stainless steel kegs for bottling.”
Sunrise Farms’ maple syrup is Certified Organic, a distinction that requires forest management techniques that encourage tree health and biodiversity and restricts additives in the finished products. They sell wholesale by the keg, and directly to customer through an online store at sunrisefarmsmaple.com, with pick-up available at the farm in Colrain and in Greenfield. Shipping is an option if customers contact them directly.
“Sunrise Farms has also been at the Greenfield Farmers Market for close to 40 years now, and we love it,” says Lively. “It’s great to see customers, who really appreciate meeting the farmer who made what they’re enjoying.” They sell at the Northampton Tuesday Farmers Market too.
Over 140 years, each generation at Sunrise Farms has brought different sensibilities to sugaring. These days, efficiency is the name of the game as they lean into modern innovations.
“It’s just my brother and me doing everything on the farm,” says Lively, “so the more efficient and better the technology, the easier it is for us.”
Out in the woods, that starts with attaching vacuum pumps to their collection tubing. This system allows them to harvest more sap from less taps and prevents tap holes from sealing as quickly, potentially extending their season 1-2 weeks. Next in the sugarhouse, their reverse osmosis machine removes over 15% of the sap’s water content, reducing both time and energy needed for evaporation.
Then comes the efficiency game-changer: their new EcoVap electric evaporator. This machine heats sap in a sealed unit with electric heating elements, then collects and pressurizes the resulting steam to continue heating sap and evaporating water until it becomes syrup. It can produce 50-100 gallons of syrup in a 6-hour cycle using less than $50 of electricity, whereas wood or oil-fired evaporators might take double the time while consuming stacks of lumber or dozens of gallons of fuel.
This new technology was a big investment and learning curve, says Lively. “My father used a wood-fired evaporator, that’s what we learned on, and it’s pretty simple – just big wood fired stove.” In contrast, troubleshooting an electric evaporator requires some understanding of computers and electronics.
“We also had concerns about how much electricity we’d need to power it,” he adds.” But we had already installed a lot of solar to power the pumps, reverse osmosis system, and other equipment, so in the end, we decided it was a no-brainer to go fully electric.”
Now, there’s no need to split, move, and stack mountains of wood. “We just flip a breaker and press start,” says Lively. “That frees us up to be in the woods setting more taps, fixing lines, and fitting other things into our day.”
With each of these technologies, Lively recalls a ‘why didn’t we do this sooner’ moment, and so he’s excited to ease their adoption by others. “Every local syrup producer that comes up here to see things, I can see the gears turning, thinking, ‘this is doable,’” he says.
Sugaring season began early in 2023, across the Valley and Hilltowns. “I don’t want to jinx anything,” says Lively, “but we’ve made 805 gallons of syrup so far, so we’re off to a pretty good start.”
Yet like most farming endeavors, success hinges on favorable conditions – for maple, warm days with nights still below freezing. As climate change makes our weather more extreme and variable, predictions are harder than ever.
For the Livelys, that’s even more reason to invest in forest health and all their strategies for lengthening the season and maximizing production when the sap is flowing. Meanwhile, powering their operation with solar energy reduces greenhouse gas emissions, mitigating contributions to climate change at the source.
“There are trees here that my kids tapped, that their great-great-great grandfather tapped, and that’s because of how they were cared for,” he says. “We want to pass on the knowledge, but also the trees themselves.”
The goal of a net-zero emissions sugaring operation extends that care outward to the land and people past the boundaries of their farm. With skill and a bit of climate friendly innovation, they hope maple syrup will flow from the forests of Colrain for years to come.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about maple farms and sugarshack restaurants near you, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
Hosts Monte Belmonte and Kaliis Smith, along with CISA’s Phil Korman, get a VIP tour of Mi Tierra‘s Springfield tortilla factory from owners Michael Doctor and Jorge Sosa.
Did you know Mi Tierra makes almost a million tortillas each month with just salt, a little lime, and whole lot of local corn?
Or that some of their corn (or maize) comes from the corn maze “Mike’s Maze” in Sunderland? (A-maize-ing )
Listen in HERE (First 15 mins)
Published February 25 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
At Cooley Dickinson, food brings joy and helps healBy Jacob Nelson
FOR THE GAZETTE
As day breaks each morning, Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton is already a hive of activity. Doctors and nurses on overnight shifts trade places with daytime colleagues, procedures are prepped, and support staff arrive. They’re all there to help patients get better, and while medical support is primary, that’s not the only thing that matters.
“Food can be medicine too,” says Executive Chef Gary Weiss. “Not only in the literal sense, but also as a source of comfort. And that helps with healing.”
Gary Weiss, Executive Chef at Cooley Dickinson Hospital
Weiss and his team prepare three meals for upwards of 300 patients each day, plus another 250 diners in their onsite cafeteria. Large institutions like this are important players in any local food system, as their decisions about what to cook and where to buy it create ripples in the local economy much bigger than any one person or household. At Cooley Dickinson, a place where patient health and safety must come first, buying local is one of many factors they consider.
Recognizing food’s power to aid or hinder recovery, the hospital’s Food and Nutrition Services team consists of food service staff, registered dietitians, and nutrition assistants working together to keep patients well-fed.
“The opening cook arrives at 5 am” says Weiss. “Folks in the diet and nutrition office are in around 6, making sure menus are accurate and taking new patients’ orders, and most other staff are in by 7.”
Preparation for the patients’ breakfast at 7:30 is a team effort – double-checking dietary requirements, assembling meals, and delivering them. Then trays are retrieved, snacks are stocked, and they begin the cycle anew for lunch.
Prepping food for hospital patients is a little different than cooking for a dinner party or in a restaurant. Here, transparency, consistency and tracking all ingredients are central. “Everyone has to follow a standardized recipe,” Weiss says. “All the nutritional information for each dish is logged in the computer so we know the exact amounts of everything, and potential allergens are noted too.”
That attention to detail traces all the way back to food purchasing. Because patient menus are nutritionally exact “we can’t just substitute ingredients in a dish,” Weiss explains. “If we run out of something or can’t get it from our usual supplier, we have to find the same product elsewhere.”
Separate from patient food prep, requirements at the hospital’s cafeteria are less strict. Open from 6:30 am to 2:30 pm daily it serves mostly staff, but all visitors are welcome. “Here the cooks have a chance to play,” Weiss explains. It’s often a testing ground for new patient meals.
What’s on the menu at Cooley Dickinson Hospital? While chefs are often trying new dishes to keep things interesting, “comfort food is what patients in the hospital are looking for, we’ve found,” says Weiss, “so we do a lot of that.”
“We make our own meatballs for spaghetti and meatballs,” he continues. “All our soups for patients are homemade. Our beef marsala is one of the most popular dishes, interestingly. Folks tell us the flavor is excellent.”
When possible, excess food is donated to Rachel’s Table, a program of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts dedicated to alleviating hunger and reducing food waste. Meanwhile, pre- and post-meal food scraps are composted, along with compostable dishware from the cafeteria.
When it comes to sourcing food from within New England, Weiss says meat is the easiest to find. The supply is fairly consistent throughout the season and the hospital has good relationships with distributors, who act as middlemen between them and supplying farms.
“Arnold’s Meats is one of our main distributors,” Weiss says, “They do a custom grind for us where local ground beef is mixed with mushrooms. That’s one little thing we do to be a little greener and healthier.”
Much of their turkey comes from Misty Knoll Farms in Vermont. In the past, they’ve also ordered turkeys straight from Diemand Farm in Wendell for special Thanksgiving meals.
For produce, Cooley Dickinson again mainly buys through distributors. Some of these, like Black River Produce, can source fruits and veggies from New England farms when in season and elsewhere in colder months, swapping seamlessly so the hospital’s menus can remain consistent.
Across the board, distributors play a huge role in local and regional food systems. First, they support local farms that sell products wholesale. Then, they provide big food service operations like hospitals and schools a one-stop shop to buy big quantities of what they need with minimal hassle, freeing them up to focus on food prep rather than managing logistics with individual farms.
In addition to volume, consistency, and quality, cost margins are also an important factor in what food the hospital purchases. This is especially true as they aim to keep entrees in the cafeteria reasonably priced, where many staff eat daily.
They key to making the whole operation run smoothly is relationships – between Cooley Dickinson and the businesses they buy from, internally among staff, and within the Mass General Brigham network of hospitals, which Cooley Dickinson merged into in 2013 back when the parent company was called Partners HealthCare. Weiss says the merger has been positive for many reasons, especially during the early days of COVID.
“I don’t know what we would have done otherwise,” he says. “It wasn’t just monetary support, but expertise and access to supplies like protective equipment and packaging for meals that we might not have been able to get otherwise.”
Knowledge and expertise also flow between facilities in the network. For example, Cooley Dickinson’s composting program, launched in 2011 with the support of the Center for EcoTechnology, has become a model for other healthcare centers.
“All of us can learn from each other,” says Weiss, “and that’s a great help.”
It’s all for the mission of helping people feel better – through medicine, care, and however many square meals a day the doctor orders.
“Most people don’t enjoy procedures or getting shots or things like that,” Weiss says. “But food, that they can look forward to.”
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA. To learn more about other local institutions supporting the local food economy, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
Levi, Wesley, and JuJu Janssen Photo by Paul Shoul
At first glance, Charlemont may seem an unlikely place to open a restaurant that features New Orleans cooking. When the pandemic offered a chance to try something new, Wesley Janssen and family saw the opportunity for a homecoming.
The Northfield native moved to New Orleans (NOLA) in her early 20s and worked for the Brennan’s family of restaurants in New Orleans—the same which launched the careers of Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse. Janssen recounts, “The common thread with these great chefs starts with an unwavering commitment to using the best ingredients and making dishes that layer complementary flavors. They were all about regional American cuisine, using local ingredients, and adding Creole flavor. That’s the same approach we take in our restaurant.”
Wesley Janssen met her husband, Levi, while they both worked for the same restaurant group. Levi Janssen is a New Orleans native, and this is his first time living outside the Big Easy. Janssen explains that while visiting western Massachusetts, “We saw the commercial building for sale in Charlemont and jumped at the opportunity. With Berkshire East and all the outdoor activities that happen in and around Charlemont, it seemed like a good fit to add a specialty market and cafe.”
The proprietor explains the connection between food in western Massachusetts and food in New Orleans by sharing what they call their “golden thread approach” of using high quality products from small producers, while highlighting people who are doing things the small way. She continues, “We lean into New Orleans cooking in terms of flavor and technique because New Orleans has great food. It’s not about spice— it’s about depth of flavor—most of our food isn’t spicy at all.”
Janssen continues, “Although we use all those years of experience in Creole cooking, we’re not just a New Orleans restaurant. We’re a cafe that specializes in good food. We use local products as much as possible. Our traditional gumbo fits on our menu just as well as our winter solstice salad. One is very New Orleans; the other is very New England. And then we marry the two—like with our king cake, which is a staple NOLA dessert served during Carnival Season. We make ours topped with maple cream cheese frosting. You won’t find maple cream cheese on a standard king cake in Louisiana.”
Andouille sausage potato hash is a customer favorite.
Dishes favored by local customers and traveling visitors alike include Andouille Sausage Hash or Shrimp and Grits. Janssen explains, “Both start with exceptional quality products, including our own homemade and smoked andouille sausage with shiitake mushrooms and caramelized onions in the hash or wild caught Gulf shrimp and organic stone-ground grits,” served in a comforting bowl.
Knowing the pandemic was a challenging time to open a food service business, the Janssens knew they wanted to be rooted in community. The team set up the restaurant as counter service to encourage the same feeling of hospitality and leisure, whether the patron lingers over a single coffee or sits down to a full meal.
Janssen continues, “We wanted it to be a third place, that is, a place you feel comfortable hanging out that’s not home and not work. We spent a lot of time and energy to get the feel right. We have lots of natural light, plants, layers of texture and worked with the amazing local Hired Hand Signs to create one-of-a-kind menus and signage. All those details lead to people saying, ‘This place feels so good’ when they enter.”
Janssen explains the community piece naturally extends to sourcing. “We have the best local ingredients at our fingertips! We work with Marty’s Local for a lot of our sourcing. We use only local dairy from High Lawn Farm, we source our eggs through Cream of the Crop and also through Sweet Birch Herbals, who feed their birds with our compost. We use Winston’s Maple Syrup from Shelburne on our pancakes, in our Monte Cristo, and in our king cake.” Janssen continues, “People love our collard melt throughout the summer and fall. We source the collards for that melt through Good Bunch Farm in Charlemont.”
The couple features a list of local products in both their restaurant and their market that draw from Franklin County and beyond. Local products available in their specialty grocery shop run deep, including ghee from Full Moon Ghee and Katalyst Kombucha from Greenfield. They get coffee from Barrington Coffee Roasters and No. 6 Depot in Berkshire County. She says, “It just makes sense to support our local community. You get better food at a competitive price and your dollars are going to local people. “
From top left clockwise: Gumbo, Shrimp Po Boy, and Shrimp and Grits
Any family move and new business is stressful, but Janssen is enthusiastic and upbeat about her family’s new home and business. The couple’s children are growing up alongside their business. Janssen shares, “They all love food and are adventurous eaters. They’re also our toughest culinary critics. They won’t hesitate to tell us if the gumbo is even slightly not as good as yesterday’s!”
The Janssens relish bringing people joy through food. “We’ve been received with open arms by our community. We have many locals who are regulars. In fact, if we don’t see them for a couple days we worry.” Janssen continues, “Levi and I have been in the hospitality business for many years, and people go out of their way to share how much they love Wells Provisions.”
Wesley Janssen concludes, “We love sharing our passion for great food and hospitality. Almost every day feels like we’re throwing a party for happy guests.”
Wells Provisions is located at 159 Main Street in Charlemont. See their website, www.wellsprovisions.com, for hours of operation. While the bottle shop has a license to sell alcohol, they are not licensed to serve inside the market and restaurant and patrons are not allowed to bring their own bottle per state laws. Two Airbnb units are available above the market.
Lisa Goodrich is communications coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, (CISA). Look for more Local Hero restaurants in our three-county area in our online guide at buylocalfood.org/restaurants.
Published February 4, 2023 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Greenfield Grass Grows Good Food at Bostrom FarmBy Jacob Nelson
Talk to most farmers raising animals on pasture, and they’ll tell you the same thing – from a farming perspective, the animals are secondary.
“Our mantra is creating good food from grass,” says Kyle Bostrom of Bostrom Farm in Greenfield. “Basically, we farm our pastures, and we use livestock to turn it into something people can eat.”
In their case, it’s cows and pigs that transform plants into fresh and creative beef and pork products butchered and processed right there on the farm.
Bostrom raises about 20 beef cattle each year, rotationally grazing them through 25 acres of pasture. It’s a mix of calves raised from birth – which take almost two and a half years to mature on grass – and steers bought from other local farms in spring to be finished on grass over through the summer and fall.
Soon he’ll finish preparing another 15 acres for grazing, allowing him to move the pigs they buy and raise each summer onto pasture as well. Bostrom hopes this will benefit the land, the pigs, and his bottom line. Price increases have made animal feed quite expensive, but if you already own land, allowing pigs to forage can supplement their diet for free.
Today the grass at Bostrom Farm becomes meat, but for a long time it became creamy Jersey cow milk.
“From the early 2000s until 2017 we sold our milk to be bottled by Agri-Mark Dairy Cooperative,” explains Bostrom, “but eventually we were just too small for them to work with. Then for a few years we had our milk co-bottled by a dairy in South Hadley and sold half gallons of cream-on-top whole milk in local grocery stores. That worked well, until COVID hit and the logistics became egregious.”
Bostrom was loathe to give up the routine of dairying, which he enjoyed alongside his job teaching industrial arts at Greenfield High School. But his COVID pivot to raising pork and grass-fed beef allowed him to keep farming with animals, just for a different purpose.
“The game changer was receiving a grant to build a meat processing room in our barn,” he says. The grant in question was an APR Improvement Program grant from the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture. These are available to farmers who have already restricted their land for agricultural use through the state’s Agricultural Preservation Restriction, or APR, program, and are designed to help keep those farm businesses active and strong.
Adding the ability to butcher their own meat on-site is what sets them apart, says Bostrom. “There are only a few local slaughterhouses, so if everyone is sending their animals there and having them fully butchered and processed, they’re all ending up with really similar stuff.”
Instead, Bostrom’s cows and pigs are still slaughtered elsewhere, but they come back to the farm in large portions. From there, they can be custom cut and processed to Bostrom and his customers’ liking.
“Our whole goal is to offer people hyper-fresh meat, including sausages and other end products made without chemicals or preservatives,” he explains. “Anything we make is just our meat and a handful of ingredients and spices. For example, we cure our own maple pepper bacon, and the only things we add are maple syrup, pepper, and salt.”
“We make fresh ground beef,” he continues. “We make special sausages like apple kielbasa, cranberry sausage, or wild ramp sausage in the spring. For a while we were even making our own burgers with jalapenos and cheddar cheese.”
Most of their meat is sold straight from the farm at 701 Colrain Road just north of Greenfield, where retail hours are now Saturdays from 9-4. Visitors can check the farm’s Facebook page for weekly availability, order ahead in some cases, or stop by to see what’s there and watch them making it.
Bostrom Farm also offers a CSA, usually three times per year. Customers pay upfront for a mixed box of beef and pork products to be picked up monthly over the course of a season. Their 2023 winter CSA has begun, but spring and summer are still to come. In summers, they’ve often attended the Greenfield Farmers’ Market.
Many of the skills Bostrom honed as a dairy farmer still apply now, especially managing healthy pastures through rotational grazing. With this method, livestock are restricted to small sections of pasture, encouraging them to graze and deposit manure with even intensity, before moving on to let that area rejuvenate. This mimics the behavior of grazing herd animals in nature and encourages richer and more diverse pasture soils and plant life.
Kyle Bostrom with one of his cows
Bostrom has also started planting cold-hardy annual crops like tillage radish, clover, ryegrass and oats into fields in the summer to extend the grazing season. In the fall when perennial grasses start dying back, these plants provide additional forage and prolong the switch hay for winter feed.
Butchering, meanwhile, has been “an interesting learning curve,” says Bostrom, but one that’s in his blood. “My grandfather had a butcher shop in Connecticut in the 1940s and 1950s,” he says. He’s also learned from his brother, who also owns a retail butcher shop in New York, as well as friends and colleagues locally.
As winter turns to spring things will get busier, with plant starts for sale at the farm store, the arrival of new animals for summer grazing, and new projects like completing the organic certification process for more of their products. Bostrom still misses the dairy business, but for now, he’s found the next best thing.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about local farmers raising animals near you, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
Published January 21, 2023 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Hilltown traditions, with a modern twistBy Jacob Nelson
FOR THE GAZETTE
‘When people think about farming, a lot of specific imagery may come to mind,” says Miana Hoyt Dawson of Pause and Pivot Farm in Williamsburg. “We’re probably the opposite of that.”
For one, soil and sunlight have nothing to do with it, as their main crops of greens and salad veggies are grown hydroponically inside a large “container farm.” Her husband Terry Dawson’s woodworking space has the sensibilities and slick tools of an engineering shop. But despite the modern appearances, the couple’s desire is one shared by generations of hilltown farmers – to provide for their neighbors.
“We’ve been living in Williamsburg for over 10 years now,” says Hoyt Dawson, “and we’ve fallen in love with this community and the land we’re on – one of the original farms in town.”
Growing food there again had long been a dream, but for years it sat on the back burner. Their focus remained on other careers (Miana’s in corporate marketing and Terry’s in specialized engineering) and raising a family, which together consumed their time and energy.
For a while that formula worked, but as their family grew and work brought more travel and higher stakes, it became strained. They realized a desire for work with tangible outcomes, rooted in community. And then, the great pause set their pivot into motion.
“COVID happened, and we asked ourselves ‘why are we waiting?’” Hoyt Dawson explains. “We had to move a lot of things around in our lives, but we decided to act on that dream, and to show our kids, if something’s not working for you, you’re not resigned to it. Make a change.”
The next decision: what to grow? “We’re incredibly fortunate there are so many great farms in our area,” Hoyt Dawson observes. “So where are the gaps?”
They settled on growing greens indoors, year-round. Though more and more farms are harvesting greens throughout the winter, they felt the market was far from saturated, especially in their corner of the hilltowns. Plus, they had already grown lettuce hydroponically in their basement, feeling “the magic of having local lettuce in the deep winter,” as Hoyt Dawson puts it. They took that, and they built on it.
Growing hydroponically means growing without soil, and this takes many forms depending on the farmer’s goals and technology used. Sometimes plants’ roots are suspended in water, sometimes a sterile growing medium. Many systems are indoors. Some use specialized grow lights while others rely on natural sunlight.
By divorcing plants from the soil and other natural elements, farmers can gain more control over growing conditions, or grow in urban environments or places without good soil. But doing so puts them on the hook for providing services that the soil and mother nature would otherwise offer, like water, nutrients, and balancing pests and disease.
Pause and Pivot Farm’s hydroponic system spreads vertically across four walls inside their container. Each wall has many levels of shelving containing foam-lined channels with a sponge-like felt material running down the center. Veggie seeds are first planted into small plugs of coconut coir, a fibrous material that comes from a coconut’s outer husk. Once established, these plugs are planted into the rows of felt, where they’re fed precise amounts of nutrient-rich water on a drip.
Soil or no soil, it’s still farming. Even with a pre-built system and a co-farmer with engineering experience, they’ve learned to expect the unexpected. “We’ve probably gone through every man-made challenge we could’ve caused,” Hoyt Dawson laughs. “But we’ve really gotten to know the system and dialed in the process.”
They started by growing the basics, but now are exploring what their system can produce. For greens, “we grow head lettuce, salad mixes, spicy greens and cooking greens as well,” she says. Herbs too, and even breakfast radishes and other tender root veggies.
“My favorite are hakurei turnips, these small salad turnips,” she adds. “They’re so sweet – different from how they’d taste grown outdoors in the summertime, for some reason.”
This time of year, Pause and Pivot Farm sells everything through their online store at www.pausepivotfarm.com. Produce can be ordered a la carte or through two sizes of 12-week subscriptions, with on-farm pick up or delivery each week.
“The bulk of what we’re selling through the winter are those subscriptions,” Hoyt Dawson explains. Last summer they also sold to local chefs and partnered with the Hilltown Mobile Farmers Market to sell their greens on their weekly route. Their longest marketing partner has been Oliver’s Farm Stand in Goshen.
“The owner, Ruby Hutt, has really grown the business during COVID, and it’s become very important to our community in the hilltowns,” Hoyt Dawson says. “She was willing to buy some of the more off-beat vegetables we were growing, like microgreens or wasabi arugula, and give us feedback on what worked. For us as a new business, that was so helpful.”
Hoyt Dawson and Hutt also co-planned “Oliver and Friends’ Season Celebration” last September, bringing together hilltown farmers and makers for a day of community festivity. Events like these are where Terry Dawson sells most of his woodworking creations, though customers can also schedule shop visits and inquire about custom projects.
“This is the way we like to do business,” Hoyt Dawson says, “and you can only do it this personally working on a local scale.”
“Woodworking and growing food are two traditions that historically were cornerstones of small communities like ours,” she adds. “What we’re doing now uses modern technology, but our goal is to provide those same traditional services.”
To learn more about Pause and Pivot Farm, and other farms growing food all year round, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in sustaining Agriculture).
Published January 7, 2022 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Put the market where the people are Winter farmers market livens Hampshire Mall most Saturdays through March “I’m a junkie for rutabagas,” admits Cathleen O’Keefe. “I love their tanginess and making fries with them. And winter greens. Knowing what goes into growing them in New England in the winter – they’re amazing!”
O’Keefe has owned and managed the Winter Farmers Market at the Hampshire Mall (formerly the Amherst Winter Farmers Market) with her characteristic enthusiasm for 7 years now, and it’s easy to see how her excitement is fed by the atmosphere of the market and the community it inspires. Located in the mall’s Target hallway, it offers a social bright spot and a splash of local flavor most Saturdays, 10 – 2, through the end of March.
“Our primary focus is supporting local farmers,” explains O’Keefe, “but as a winter market we have space for artisans as well.”
Farm vendors offer everything from local veggies, meat, dairy, and eggs to tender greens and mushrooms. Others sell jam, wine, honey and freshly baked bread. A plethora of local crafters sell jewelry, ceramics, soaps, teas, herbs, fiber, clothing and artwork. And all this happy cacophony unfolds each weekend in the hallway of a major shopping center in Hadley.
Cathleen O’Keefe, pictured here telling her story at CISA’s Field Notes in 2021
O’Keefe’s experience farming, event planning, and working as a theatre stagehand suits her well for managing a business that’s as much about social connection as it is about food. Upon entering this new role, moving the market to the Hampshire Mall was her first big decision, and existing vendors and customers were in strong support. The idea was simple: if you want more people to come to market, put the market where the people are.
“It was a shock to some people,” she says. “It’s an unconventional space. But it means we’re constantly interacting with people who aren’t your typical farmers market goer. Every week I hear, ‘Wow! A farmers market!’”
“There’s work to be done to get those people to stay regular farmers market customers,” she adds, “but it’s exciting to have that new energy every week. And I think the juxtaposition of our location is sort of great. It’s a less privileged and exclusive-feeling space to be in, which ultimately is the experience we want to create.”
Besides improving market access by making their space feel inclusive, O’Keefe points out that they’re located directly on PVTA’s B43 bus route between Amherst and Northampton. Many farm vendors also take payment via SNAP and HIP (Healthy Incentives Program) benefits, lowering some financial barriers.
HIP is a Massachusetts program that offers an instant rebate of SNAP benefits spent on local produce bought directly from participating farms or at local stands and markets, from $40 to $80 per month depending on household size. People get fresh, healthy fruits and veggies at no cost, and local farms are able to sell their food to more people – a win-win.
Even 5 years after HIP launched as a statewide program, the percentage of SNAP households that take advantage of it remains in the single digits. Yet awareness is growing, thanks in part to farmers markets.
“HIP is such an amazing program,” says O’Keefe, “and every week I get to explain these benefits to people who are new to it. There are other grocery stores right down the street, but none of those places can accept the HIP rebate.”
Farmers markets come in many shapes and sizes. Some are run by non-profits, municipalities, or volunteers. Others are technically owned and operated as private businesses, as O’Keefe owns the Winter Market at the Hampshire Mall. No matter the legal distinction, the majority are a true labor of love – mission-based organizations with extremely slim margins.
Barbara and Eric Goodchild of Barberic Farm in Shelburne selling homemade preserves at the winter market this year (PC Meghan Murphy)
“I do have the support of the wonderful folks at CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture), who connected us with our biggest farm vendor for this season, Dave’s Natural Garden, for example,” says O’Keefe. “Then there’s Mass Farmers Markets, the Agriculture and Transitional Assistance Departments at the state and other market managers too. I’m thankful to have that network of people who are experiencing the same joys and struggles.”
On Saturday mornings, it’s mostly her joy that’s on display. And not just for rutabagas.
The breadth of local produce grown year-round by Massachusetts farmers “blows my mind,” O’Keefe says. “And you can’t beat local eggs, they’re so flavorful with bright orange yolks. I don’t buy all my groceries here, but I try to supplement what I’m eating with things from the market. And I think that’s something a lot of us can do.”
Beeswax candles from Buzz Off Bee co.
Over in the crafts section, “beeswax candles just have this smell of August!” she exclaims. “That’s what excites me about winter market – it keeps your senses alive during the darkest days of the year. That and seeing all these people in the middle of winter, coming together to celebrate what we have.”
“Job creation, income for these farmers and artisans, and making real connections with people – this is the real power and beauty of farmers markets,” she says. “And that’s why I run the market.”
The Winter Farmers Market at the Hampshire Mall happens every Saturday from 10 – 2 in the Target hallway, now through March 25th, except for January 14th and 28th (no market on those dates). To learn more about all 12 winter farmers markets operating in the Valley this winter, visit CISA’s online guide to local food and farms at buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
Jacob Nelson is Communications Coordinator for CISA.
Published on 01/3/23 in the Greenfield Recorder
By CHRIS LARABEE, Recorder Staff Writer
SOUTH DEERFIELD — With farms and other locally grown produce generating large amounts of revenue for the region, an $87,000 state grant awarded to Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) will ensure local producers can compete with larger chains.
The grant, provided by the Department of Agricultural Resources, will help CISA promote and market local farms in Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties with the familiar “Be a Local Hero, Buy Locally Grown” signs, along with social and traditional media outreach. CISA Executive Director Philip Korman said there are roughly 7,750 farms in the state that generate nearly $500 million in revenue each year, and this grant will go toward supporting those farms and the local economy.
“When you think about the marketing budget those national corporations have … it’s worthwhile that public policy in Massachusetts is supporting agriculture and local family farms to be seen and be visible for what they grow,” Korman said. “If we don’t do a great job, then we lose out to the Wal-Marts of the world.”
Korman said CISA’s broad goal is to “deepen our Locally Grown campaign” by increasing cash receipts at a minimum of 65 farms in the three counties; increasing consumers’ engagement with local agriculture; and providing direct assistance to farms to help them engage in better marketing tactics themselves.
These goals come at an important time, Korman said, as CISA has identified that consumer patterns are shifting to their pre-pandemic status, so the boost many farms and farmstands were seeing is now dropping.
“People felt safer going to farmstands and small farm stores over supermarkets in 2020. That actually shifted some of the consumer patterns, and as the pandemic has eased up, people have started going back to where they have traditionally shopped,” Korman said. “We want to try and help farms hold onto the new customers that came to them during the height of the pandemic.”
Korman added that CISA is trying to connect farms with consumers of all income brackets while also trying to increase the demand for local food, “thus increasing sales for local farms.”
Beyond its already established campaigns, Korman said CISA plans to “do a tremendous amount of media outreach” with the goal of gaining at least 400,000 impressions on social media and at least 100 stories from news outlets that mention local farms or CISA.
Korman said this grant is an important one for CISA and other agricultural organizations that focus on locally grown food around the state.
“We make the case to the legislators every year to please have this competitive grant process and we’ve been fortunate to have it in the state budget for over a decade,” Korman said, noting that CISA received this Department of Agricultural Resources grant for the first time in 2008.
State Rep. Natalie Blais, D-Deerfield, said in a statement that the state has heard CISA and other organizations’ call for continued funding. She added that supporting these programs benefits everyone.
“The local food system here in Massachusetts has the strong support of our Legislature,” Blais said. “We are grateful for the efforts of our Buy Local organizations in supporting farmers, educating consumers and increasing demand for healthy, local food.”
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.
Photos:
Philip Korman, at left, executive director of Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), speaks during a tour of Reed Farm in Sunderland in September 2021. An $87,000 state grant will help CISA promote and market local farms in Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties with the familiar “Be a Local Hero, Buy Locally Grown” signs, along with social and traditional media outreach. Recorder STAFF FILE PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ
Published December 27, 2022 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Many of us take a break from work and spend time gathering with loved ones at this time of year, providing an opportunity for reflection and contemplation alongside the merriment. As this year closes and we look ahead, we ask: What world will each of us work to create?
This past summer, local farms were again buffeted by extreme weather, one of the many challenging impacts of climate change in our region. After 2021’s record-setting rains, this past growing season brought months of drought conditions. Farmers in the Northeast are, of course, accustomed to variable weather, and they make their plans every year with a lot of uncertainty in mind. But climate change is bringing new and potentially devastating shifts, and farmers will need a lot of support to sustain their businesses in the face of it.
Climate scientists predict a range of interconnected changes to come to the Northeast. Rising temperatures, including more heatwaves, will stress the health of workers and livestock and reduce production of some heat-sensitive vegetable and fruit crops. We will see more precipitation, including more extreme rainfall events, resulting in sodden fields that can’t be worked, more localized flooding, more pests, more weed pressure, and more plant disease and rot. And more extreme temperature swings will damage crops in unpredictable ways. Some may remember 2016 as the year without peaches, when a cold snap destroyed early buds and decimated the crop throughout the Northeast. Similarly, temperature swings in the fall can affect fruit tree production the following year, while maple syrup production relies on a specific temperature pattern in the early spring.
It’s easy to feel like climate change is just too big a problem to even think about, and that there’s nothing any of us can do about it. And indeed, that list of challenges to local agriculture feels quite daunting. But we know two things: 1) local farmers are experts at resilience, and 2) they will need help, in the form of grants, expert advice, and community support.
Farmers are already adapting to the changing climate. They are expanding irrigation and drainage systems, adjusting crop plans, experimenting with no- and low-till growing practices, building greenhouses and high tunnels to protect plants, and some are even transitioning to new crops. If you want to read some of these stories, check out CISA’s recent special series with the Daily Hampshire Gazette and Greenfield Recorder at buylocalfood.org/climate-change-stories-2022).
At CISA, we are committed to supporting those efforts. In 2021, we added a full-time staff position dedicated to supporting farmers with climate change adaptation, and we recently expanded our Emergency Farm Fund loan program to be responsive to year-round weather-related losses. And we’re energized to be working with many peer organizations that are responding to climate change in varied ways.
Federal farm policy is the backdrop that shapes much of what individual farmers can do themselves and the support that small local nonprofits like CISA can offer. Next year, federal legislators will be renegotiating the Farm Bill, a huge piece of legislation that comes up for renewal every five years. This massive package is the primary force that shapes our nation’s food system. It addresses agricultural research, crop insurance, commodity payment programs, and federal nutrition programs (school lunch, SNAP and WIC, and other emergency food programs), among others.
The new Farm Bill is an opportunity for farmers and communities to demand the food system we want: one that is resilient, sustainable, inclusive, and just. CISA has endorsed the Farm Bill platform laid out by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), which places climate change resilience as one of its top three priorities for the 2023 Farm Bill, alongside investments in rural economic development and advancing racial equity in the food system. We need support for programs that help farmers adapt their operations to a changing climate, and for programs focused on identifying the ways that farmers can help mitigate the effects of climate change for us all. To stay in the loop and to take action, connect with CISA at buylocalfood.org/advocacy or find NSAC at sustainableagriculture.net.
And on a day-to-day basis, you can help farms stay afloat by choosing to buy local! Make a resolution to switch some of you purchases to locally grown, find a new farmers’ market or farm stand, and seek out restaurants or grocery stores that support local farms. You — and our local farmers — will be glad you did!
Many Chicopee families rely on school food to ensure their kids get enough to eat, and Chicopee Fresh has a mission to combat food insecurity while supporting the local economy. The program is making a difference, with grab-and-go breakfasts and/or breakfast in the classroom in all their schools, nutritious lunche,s and even in-classroom catering for special occasions.
Chicopee Fresh is the farm-to-school program of the Chicopee Public Schools. Almost eight years ago, the district got a grant from the Kendall Foundation to launch Chicopee Fresh, enabling Chicopee school cafeterias to connect with local farmers and food producers, set up systems that could be copied by other school districts, and develop school gardens. The dynamic initiative set strong roots to overhaul the school lunch program and introduce locally sourced ingredients.
Today, Director of Food Service Melanie Wilk and her team of 105 employees serve 5,500 lunches per day across 15 schools. Annually, Chicopee Fresh serves close to 900,000 meals, with a food budget around $3 million. Approximately 15% of that, or $450,000, is spent on locally sourced products.
Wilk attributes the strides Chicopee Fresh has made toward food security in the community to her employees. “We have a hardworking, flexible, open-minded team. Our longest-standing employee has been with us 38 years. Our staff is passionate about feeding kids and trying new programs to introduce healthy foods to students,” says Wilk.
Wilk notes, “We hope that exposing different foods from seed to tray at school and involving kids in the process will inspire students to take home what they’ve learned to their families. We hope to reach the whole family by sending home recipes, offering taste tests at school for the kids, and making a variety of dishes with local ingredients.”
Most of the feedback the Chicopee Fresh team receives is positive. “For the most part, the kids enjoy the food we’re serving,” says Wilk. “It’s about helping kids form a positive relationship with food, learning how food impacts the local economy, and recognizing how healthy food affects their bodies. We try to influence from an early age,” she adds. Some data suggests it takes eight to twelve tries of exposing a new food before a child likes—or even tries—that new food. “We just keep trying,” says Wilk, “and the kids really like things that adults might not expect a child to really like.”
The baking program sources local ingredients, varying fresh, homemade offerings weekly. A recent grant by the New England Dairy Council funds a smoothie program in both high schools as another way to incorporate fresh, local ingredients in the breakfast menu.
Chicopee is also one of the only local school districts with a full time Farm to School Program Coordinator, Brianna Jackson. In this role, Jackson manages the nine school gardens and farm-to-school activities, including planting and harvesting and developing new recipes to align with the Harvest of the Month program from the state.
When restrictions imposed by COVID-19 meant that parents could not bring food from home for classroom celebrations, the team launched classroom catering to offer fun, healthy treats for birthdays and celebrations at a low cost to parents. Because the catering is run through Chicopee Fresh, food delivered to classrooms is checked to accommodate student allergies.
When the pandemic closed schools, families who rely on school lunches each day to feed their children were strongly impacted. Between transportation and childcare during the lockdown, it was challenging for some parents to pick up meals from programs like Chicopee Fresh. “We saw an opportunity for us to bring food to families, instead of them coming to us,” Wilk says.
Before the pandemic, Chicopee Fresh staff had dreamed of ways to bring food to the families with a food truck. Wilk notes, “On a wing and a prayer, we applied for the Food Security Infrastructure Grant, and to our surprise we got it. We applied and received $153,000 to fund a food truck.”
With the truck last summer, Chicopee Fresh handed out meals at libraries, four parks and community centers, and increased the amount of summer meals they handed out by thousands. Wilk notes, “We were looking for parts of Chicopee we were missing.” Now the truck is used for after-school meal pickup at the Chicopee Library during the school year.
“I grew up in Chicopee and I feel passionate about this community,” says Wilk. “I’m also a parent, and I always saw myself combining nutrition and kids somehow, and I feel like this role is the perfect combination of these passions. I love to see our hard work on the tray, and I love sharing our program with others.”
Stay up to date with Chicopee Fresh by signing up for their newsletter on their website and following their social media: https://www.chicopeefresh.com/.
Lisa Goodrich is communications coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, (CISA). Shop locally this holiday season and visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally, where you’ll find everything you need to decorate, cook, and gift your way through the holidays.
Published December 10, 2022 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Seeding the FutureSunderland farm helps grow a collaborative new industry“Think about this – on a somewhat degraded hillside in the northeast, we could grow a staple carbohydrate to use like corn or wheat,” says Jono Neiger, owner of Big River Chestnuts. “And instead of importing it from the Midwest, farmers could capture those earnings locally.”
Chestnuts have captured Neiger’s imagination – for their ecological and farm income benefits as well as their culinary potential. Big River Chestnuts is out to prove perennial nut tree farming is viable, and to accelerate its adoption on local farms.
Big River Chestnuts grows several species of nut and fruit trees on around 7.5 acres in Sunderland. Chestnuts are the focus and the farm’s financial anchor, with elderberry and aronia shrubs and their medicinally potent berries as secondary cash crops. Using a strategy known as alley-cropping, different species are interplanted in parallel rows, with larger trees spaced to allow shorter plants to thrive between and beneath them. Some years they’ve also grazed chickens through the understory in mobile enclosures.
This “multi-layered farming system,” as he puts it, is informed by Neiger’s experience as both a farmer and an ecological designer. He also founded and currently serves as lead designer at Regenerative Design Group, which offers design and planning services to farmers and landowners throughout the region.
The regal American Chestnut was once a dominant species in northeast forests before a fungal blight decimated their population in the mid-1900s. While foresters are focused on their reintroduction, for agriculture farmers are turning to blight resistant varieties hybridized from North American and Asian species. These trees are smaller, mature quicker and yield more nuts.
Chestnut trees take several years to reach full production, but when they do, the benefits to farmers and the land are significant. “You don’t need to replant each year, which saves cost and labor,” says Neiger. “Then there’s great potential for planting on hillsides and farms with poorer soils, and still getting abundant harvest off that land.”
“Growing more chestnuts, which are a staple carbohydrate crop, could really decrease the amount of grain we import to the region,” he adds, noting that varieties can yield 2,000-3,000 pounds of nuts per acre. Perennial farming also doesn’t require tilling, which promotes soil health and might help sequester carbon in the soil, beyond what’s locked up in the trees.
Given this rosy picture, why aren’t more local farmers growing chestnuts? “One barrier is familiarity,” says Neiger. “It’s just different to farm trees, especially nut trees.” Tree farming also requires investments of time and money to get started – two things farmers have little of. Equipment to process nuts for sale and a stable market of hungry customers are also needed.
One solution for farmers is to start small, planting a few trees each year. There are also increasing opportunities for grant funding to defray costs, especially for farmers seeking technical and planning
advice. Nationally, the US Department of Agriculture and Natural Resource Conservation Service offer some support. Locally, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) is another source of funding and connections.
In his role at Regenerative Design Group, Neiger is often the technical advisor contracted to assist new nut farmers. With perspective from all sides of this nascent industry, he is molding Big River Chestnuts into a proof-of-concept farm.
“We’re bringing in farmers, extension agents and the public to show what this actually looks like,” he says. “It’s a real example on the ground – we’re not just talking about it.”
When it’s time to sell the harvest, Big River Chestnuts removes the spiky husk and sells chestnuts fresh. This requires minimal equipment, and so far they have plenty of customers clamoring for just the nuts themselves. Soon he’ll apply for grant funding for larger processing equipment to serve Big River Chestnuts and other local growers, positioning them as a natural hub for farmers to process and market their chestnuts collaboratively. He calls this piece of his vision the “Woodlanders Field and Forest Food Hub.”
Already, the small world of northeast nut farming is a collaborative place. “There’s a lot of excitement and sharing of resources and information,” Neiger says. “It’s a network that’s not competitive or secretive.”
Carr’s Ciderhouse in Hadley is one local collaborator experimenting with chestnuts. Another is Forestopia in Shutesbury, who themselves aggregate the harvest of several New England growers. Since Big River Chestnuts sold their whole harvest at their Chestnut Festival in October, Forestopia is supplying the nuts for Big River’s on-farm pop-up markets every Sunday in December at 195 River Road in Sunderland.
Neiger suggests enjoying chestnuts roasted, peeling off their deep brown skin to expose the surprisingly buttery nut within. Visitors can try freshly roasted nuts at their pop-up markets, and buy more to take and roast themselves.
“A lot of the chestnuts you buy in stores are imported from Europe with diminished quality,” Neiger says. “We’re trying to show people what high-quality local chestnuts taste like and how to use them, whether eaten straight or added to soups, stuffing, or other dishes.”
“The next steps in processing would be shelling, drying and milling them into flour,” he continues. That requires more machinery, which fewer farms have, but expands culinary possibilities to baked goods, pasta, and more – all gluten free.
“There’s an exciting relearning and experimentation process happening as chestnuts are more available to chefs, bakers, and home cooks,” Neiger says, noting the proliferation of chestnut cookbooks and resources online.
He’s also excited about the future of Big River Chestnuts, as they start negotiating long-term leases with other landowners and talking with investors about purchasing more land to grow on.
“As part of that, we’re hoping to create a mentoring system to teach folks that want to plant more perennial crops the needed skills,” Neiger says. “Maybe in the future they’ll take on managing some of the planting’s we’ve started.”
“My goal is not to farm a thousand acres of chestnuts,” he adds. Instead, he aims to seed the industry and pass the baton to others.
“We already have an amazing local food scene. I see perennial crops, especially nut crops like chestnuts, as the next step, and I think we’re just waking up to the potential.”
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/CISA-and-Lisa.mp3Lisa Fortin, founder of Bloom Woolen Yarns in Ashfield talks with Phil and Monte about:
- The parallels of food and fiber – twin products in our local food economy
- Gathering wool from farms through the western Mass “fibershed” to create yarn and other inventive wool products.
- What “fibershed” means anyways.
- And more!
Bloom Woolen Yarn’s wool sponges are just one of many amazing local farm products in CISA’s holiday tote bags on sale now! Support CISA, support local farms, and enjoy the best of what they grow and make – win-win-win. See them all a buylocalfood.org/giftbags.
“We live in a really interesting spot, where you can almost get all your food from within the region,” says Kelly Hickey, owner and general manager of Atlas Farm Store in South Deerfield. For those interested in putting more local food on their plate – even just for a special holiday meal – Atlas Farm Store is an ally.
Northampton Survival Center’s Executive Director, Heidi Nortonsmith and Pantry Manager, Alexander Léger-Small, talk with Phil and Monte about: New ways they’re serving the people of Hampshire County (like weekly deliveries!) How they work with local farms to give everyone access to fresh local food The symbiotic relationship between food pantries like them, and food banks […]
At 30Boltwood, a restaurant housed within the Inn on Boltwood in downtown Amherst, scratch-cooking using high quality and often local ingredients is the name of the game.
Franklin Community Co-op Outreach and Communications Manger Amy Britt talks with Phil and Monte about: All the ways their two stores (Green Fields Market in Greenfield, and McCusker’s Market in Shelburne Falls) are “more than just markets,” they’re community hubs. Ways the co-op makes food more accessible (lookin at you, Food For All and Working […]
… Derrick Turnbull, farmer and owner of Autumn Mist Farm in Feeding Hills talks to Phil and Monte about: Their newly opened farm-to-table restaurant and retail store Selling local beef to Big Y (a match made by COVID) Raising cows from 4H to now, and what they do different And more! Visit their restaurant and […]
Dan and Bonita Conlon began Warm Colors Apiary in South Deerfield around 2000, as Dan Conlon transitioned from a teaching career to full-time beekeeping. The couple strives for nonchemical beekeeping while they act as ambassadors for their craft. In their early years as Dan Conlon fostered his passion for beekeeping into a business, Bonita Conlon […]
Bella Foodie is "a personal chef and food educator making healthy food fun," for kids, families, and groups of all sizes.
Ashley Tresoline, the woman behind Bella Foodie, talks with Phil and Monte about what they do, how delicious healthy food can be, and CISA's Making Food Fun event for kids and families this Saturday at the Farmers' Market at Forest Park in Springfield!
Wheel-View Farm in Shelburne is named in homage to the farmers, the Wheelers, and the farm’s enviable vantage point. As Autumn splashes flaming reds and oranges across the landscape, the view from their pastures is hard to beat.
The Wheelers are proud of how they’ve cared for their land, and are excited to share its rich bounty with others – from the food their raise to the history they steward, and of course that grand view that greets every visitor.
Phil, Monte, and longtime farmer and business owner Michael Docter of Mi Tierra Tortillas talk about why the Work and Family Mobility Act — which can be upheld by voting YES on ballot question 4 — is so important, and why it matters to farmers. Learn more about the Work and Family Mobility Act and the […]
"Agriculture is going to have to look different,” says Lincoln Fishman of Sawyer Farm in Worthington, given the climate crisis. “And I'm just not interested in farming the old way.”
Well-read and well-spoken, Fishman has a keen ability to look beyond his own farm to see the trajectory of commercial farming as a whole, and to consider his role in shifting that. He sees climate change as a grave threat and is unabashed in his willingness to adapt dramatically and to help other farmers do the same.
Phil and Monte talk to Joshua Mason of Little Creek Farm in New Salem about how a trucker became a farmer raising Angus beef, local pork, chickens and turkeys. Visit their farm store for all of it, and message them on Facebook to inquire about Thanksgiving turkeys!
Deborah Christakos founded Pioneer Valley Food Tours in 2017 by transforming her passion for fresh, local food into walking and bicycling food tours. Christakos shares her inspiration: “My husband and I did a bicycle tour in Italy. Since I am not a cyclist, but a trained chef, I insisted there be great food on the […]
Published October 12, 2022, in the Daily Hampshire Gazette Bringing a little bit of island to the city Farmers who work Nuestras Raices’ community farm nurture Puerto Rican, Latin cultural connections HOLYOKE — Maiz (corn). Pimientos (peppers). Ajo (garlic). Berenjena (eggplant). Calabaza (squash). Gandules (pigeon peas). Habichuelas (beans). Tomate (tomatoes). These are just some of […]
The Work and Family Mobility Act, passed this summer by an overwhelming majority in the Massachusetts Legislature, was a common-sense move towards safer roads and transportation options for everyone. It enabled all qualified state residents, regardless of immigration status, to apply for a standard Massachusetts driver’s license, thereby ensuring safer roads and transportation options for all of us. Now, this new law is under threat — and you can help save it by voting “yes” on ballot question 4 on Nov. 8.
Jake Mazar from Artifact Cider talks with Jacob and Monte about: Cider’s place as a traditional and modern embodiment of New England An apple’s travels from the trees at Pinehill Orchards to your glass. A new series of Feels Like Home cider varieties (with a portion of sales donated to Kestrel Land Trust And more! […]
"Being a farmer and a pharmacist, I understand the symbiotic relationship of both,” says Hameed Bello, owner of Agric Organics, a new urban farm in Wilbraham. There, he and his wife Ayo are intent on building a farm that can be a multi-faceted resource for their community, supplying farm fresh food, health, and education while withstanding the challenges of climate change.
Meg and Steve Lanphear of Sentinel Farm in Belchertown talk with Phil and Monte about: Why the Apple crop struggled this year, but peaches thrived. Pressing your own cider! (“A messy operation kids love,” says Meg) The orchard as a learning lab for folks of all ages. Secret identity revealed! Meg is the mystery bagpiper […]
"What would happen if farmers adapted to climate change without relying so much on plastic and petroleum?” asks Abby Ferla. “One of our answers is, we'd probably grow different plants."
Ferla is the force behind Foxtrot Farm in Shelburne Falls, which grows what she terms “organic herbs and climate-resilient, high-nutrient foods,” now on almost 8 acres of Hilltown land.
Deb Habib of Seeds of Solidarity Farm and Education Center – and one of the longtime community organizers behind the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival – talks with Phil and Monte about the roots of the festival, what it means to the community, and all the fun things on tap in their 24th year. […]
WRSI, September 20, 2022. Courtney Basil and Tim Smith of Apex Orchards in Shelburne talk with Phil and Monte about this year's super-sweet crop of peaches and apples, the exciting "Evercrisp" apple variety, the excellent teamwork that Courtney and Tim share, and the glorious views at Apex Orchards. This is the perfect time of year to visit, see the view, and pick your own apples!
Scientists can give us a 30,000-foot view of how climate change is now impacting our planet. Bob Vollinger can tell you how that translates to daily life at Vollinger Farm in Florence. Some of the repercussions are unexpected.
“I've never seen it so dry,” he said last week, before the recent rain. "Right now, I'm having a hard time even keeping my cows inside the electric fence. There's not enough moisture in the soil for the grounding rod to work properly, so they push right through.”
WRSI, September 12, 2022. Matt Kushi, farmer and owner of Kushi Farm and The North Hadley Chili Pepper Company
CISA’s Margaret Christie chats with Buzz and Brian Adams about the current season on local farms, climate change, making local food affordable, and a whole lot more. Listen in here!
Phil and Monte discuss the challenges farmers are facing during this dry summer, how they (and CISA) are responding.
Marcy Gregoire, the “Queen of local, organic shaved ice,” chats with Phil and Monte about opening Nice Snack Parlor in the Nova Motorcycle shop in Great/Turner’s Falls, her love affair with shaved ice, and fun events for the whole family bringing together food, cars, bikes, and music. The next “Nice Rides” will be Sunday September […]
Kate Stillman’s farming roots are set in four generations of livestock, dairy, fruit, and vegetable farming. Stillman’s boots stepped onto the family’s path at age nine, starting by selling at farmers’ markets. Stillman narrates, “I grew up like a real, bona fide Massachusetts farm girl. We ate pork from pigs my grandfather raised and smoked. […]
“It was a literal watershed moment,” says James Fitzgerald, of his Melissa Stetson’s decision to open the Watershed Restaurant together earlier this year. “The moment when things change in a positive direction.” “Upscale American comfort food” is what they’re serving in a beautiful location at the Montague Bookmill overlooking the Sawmill River, with many dishes […]
"It's basically like a landslide,” Amelia Mead says of tilling the soil. It resets the soil ecosystem to a state of just-post-disaster – a blank canvas on which crops and weeds fight for control. Meanwhile underground, dazed soil organisms begin rebuilding their complex habitat that was just shaken like an Etch-a-Sketch.
"By not tilling,” she continues, “we're trying to create something like a forest soil, more layered and diverse. We'll never fully achieve that while growing annual veggies, but we can get closer."
“These apples have soul,” claims Alan Suprenant, owner of Brook Farm Orchard. Rooted, appropriately, on Apple Valley Road in Ashfield, the orchard grows nearly 60 varieties of apples, peaches, pears, plums and other fruit too.
Suprenant established the orchard in 1990 and currently runs it with his partner Hana Martin, who’s also an assistant manager at Old Friends Farm in Amherst. "There are 125 trees here, producing 400 bushels of fruit per year," he explains. Apples are primary, with 45 varieties that ripen on a staggered schedule from now through the first hard frosts of November.
Fingers sticky with barbecue sauce. Belly full. Smoky, spicy flavors lingering on your tongue as you lean back and sigh, the light fading on the fields around you. It’s a recipe for a summer night done right at Bub’s Bar-B-Q in Sunderland.
This summer Bub’s is transitioning as Andrea and Chris Moroney, owners since 2011, pass the reins to longtime chef and restauranteur Andrew Garlo. Brimming with enthusiasm, Garlo hopes to put a locally influenced style of barbecue on the map, all while honoring the traditions and legacy of this community favorite.
Published July 30, 2022 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette By Lisa Goodrich Farming is not for the faint of heart, so who better to cultivate 125 acres into organic farmland than a cardiologist? Dr. James Arcoleo may be better known in the community as a doctor and practice manager of Hampden & Franklin County Cardiovascular […]
This week, Jackie Lapinski of Gooseberry Farms, joins Phil and Monte for a chat about the last Centennial Farm in West Springfield. The farm celebrates 101 years in operation this year.
What does the Old Creamery Co-op in Cummington have in common with Preservation Hall, a celebrated jazz venue in New Orleans? More than you might think.
Jim and Jan Golonka of Golonka Farm and Farm Stand in Whately join Phil and Monte to talk about: * Corn is in! What's the best way to eat it? Listen to find out. * Just how fresh all their produce is (grown steps from the stand) * How climate change :( and CISA :) are impacting them and other local farmers * And more!
Published July 16th 2022 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette By Jacob Nelson Meghan Hastings has a secret to share about sweet corn. “The variety really doesn’t matter,” she says. “What makes corn taste great is that it’s picked fresh every single day.” At Dave’s Natural Garden, that’s what she and her partner Dave Kaskeski do for their […]
"Berry season is a wild ride,” says Rachel Monette, a longtime employee of Nourse Farms in Whately. Every summer it hits with intensity, like a sweet red raspberry bursting on your tongue. Then, too soon, it fades, leaving memories like blueberry-stained fingers and cheeks still puckering at the thought of tart currants popping in the back of your mouth.
Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, currants – local farmers grow dozens of varieties of berries like this, offering an amazing diversity of taste, color, size, and availability throughout the summer. Many of these berry plants began life at Nourse Farms, which, since owner Tim Nourse moved the farm to Whately in 1968, has grown into an unassuming giant in the berry business.
Leslie Harris of Quonquont Farm in Whately joined Phil and Monte to talk about: Pick-your-own season (blueberries and flowers now, peaches and apples to come) The farm’s history (involving “dry cleaning barons” and vaccinated cows) Hosting events at their beautiful hilltop location in Whately? Taxidermy bobcats? Trust us…just listen. PYO and the Quonquont Farm store […]
Phil and Monte talk with Lucy Damkoehler, chef-owner of Sweet Lucy’s Bakeshop in Bernardston, about: Twice-baked croissants (the MOST delicious solution to day-old pastries you’ve ever heard of) Her boomerang path working as a chef before returning to her hometown to open a bakery Their new classroom space for cooking and baking classes — breaking […]
“They're not part of the Valley. They're not covered by the Berkshires. The Hilltowns really are their own thing,” observes Seva Water, who coordinates the Hilltown Mobile Market for the Hilltown Community Development Corporation. Run out of a van, this farmers market drives everywhere so farmers and Hilltown residents don’t have to. They’ve grown each year, and in 2022, they hope moving to online ordering can help them expand service even more.
As we move into the height of the harvest season, farmers are making hard decisions about how much to raise their prices to cover their costs, while still keeping the food they harvest affordable to as many customers as possible.
Imagine holding the relaxation of a beautiful summer day in the palm of your hand. If you’re lucky enough to live in the Pioneer Valley, you get to taste that moment with a trip to The Brewery at Four Star Farms in Northfield.
“How many people get a chance where someone walks up to you and says, 'do you want your dream?'" asks Laura Wells-Tolley. In 2017, she and her partner Ben were offered that chance when they took over Chase Hill Farm in Warwick from the Fellows family, who founded it back in the 1950s.
"It was always my dream to own a bakery,” Brian Meunier says. A bakery with a café that evoked warmth and familiarity. Somewhere to enjoy handmade bread and pastries – somehow both simple and indulgent – made with ingredients from people you might know. That dream coalesced as Rise Above Bakery, which opened its doors at 282 Main Street in Greenfield in the spring of 2019.
Rise Above is best known for their scratch-made sourdough loaves and flakey croissants and breakfast pastries. Their repertoire also includes other breads like baguettes, ciabatta, bagels, and Khorasan loaves, as well as pretzels, tarts, and other desserts as holidays and seasonal local ingredients tempt their creativity. Everything is made in-house, most of it with flour milled locally by Ground Up Grain in Holyoke.
“It comes out to $22 a week for all these veggies,” says Ray Young, owner of Next Barn Over Farm in Hadley, describing their small CSA share sized to feed a couple. “Nowadays with inflation, I don't know what you can buy from the grocery store for $22 a week."
Next Barn Over is a 50-acre certified organic vegetable farm that they (Young uses they/them pronouns) founded in 2009. Shoppers can find them at the Amherst Farmers Market on Saturdays, and find their produce at the River Valley Coop, in Real Pickles products, or in other local stores. But the core of their farm is their CSA (community supported agriculture) program, which feeds locals near Hadley and Springfield and even Bostonians via delivery boxes.
WRSI, May 23, 2022. Maureen Dempsey chair of the market committee for the Florence Farmers' Market stops by to talk about what is available at the market this week.
When Ricky Baruc and Deb Habib set an intention to “awaken the power to grow food everywhere, to transform hunger to health and to create resilient communities,” Seeds of Solidarity was born. The family farm’s specialties are greens, traditional corns for cornmeal, and garlic. The couple’s vision evolved to include the Seeds of Solidarity Education […]
WRSI, May 16, 2022. Janet Egelston, founder and owner of Northampton Brewery joins Monte. This year is the Brewery's 35th anniversary.
A farmer and a carpenter walk into Shelburne Farm and Garden. They get to know the owner, take stock of the inventory and records, do some deep thinking and soul searching, and they buy it.
That’s no joke. For farmers, gardeners, and pet-owners alike anywhere near Shelburne, that’s real, exciting news.
In late March, Maria Topitzer, who also runs Lyonsville Farm in Buckland, and her partner Justin Lively, who runs Heathan Carpentry in Shelburne Falls, bought the well-known local business from previous owner Patricia Schmidt. Schmidt had managed the store, which sells farm, garden, landscape, livestock, and pet supplies, since 1991.
WRSI, May 9, 2022. Rose Cherneff, Farm Manager, and Yanni Kounellis, volunteer, of Abundance Farm in Northampton, join Monte to talk about education, community building, and food justice at the farm.
Each spring like clockwork, Eastern bluebirds magically return to nesting boxes alongside valley fields. These sightings and other signs of the changing seasons coax many local gardeners out of their winter burrows with visions of prolific flower beds or fresh, fragrant produce. Given variability in weather, soil, and growing conditions across our region, it helps for plants to have a strong start.
Anna Maunz and Chris Reid, co-owners at Bare Roots Farm, raise “useful, organic plants,” including food, medicinal plants, and pollinating flowers.
The Recorder, May 4, 2022. Letter to the Editor: This Thursday, every state senator in Massachusetts will have the opportunity to say yes to public safety, fairness, and dignity by voting in favor of the Work and Family Mobility Act. By voting “yes,” the Senate will move us one step closer to joining 16 states […]
Lilian Jackman, grower, designer, and owner of Wilder Hill Gardens in Conway talks to Phil and Monte about growing and designing beautiful natural landscapes, and exploring greater meaning in her theology studies. More similar than you might think! Learn more about Wilder Hill gardens plants and services — and their annual Spring Dig Sale this […]
Spring has sprung, with green grass and vibrant flowers bursting forth across the Valley and hilltowns. Some wild edibles, like nettles, garlic mustard, and fiddleheads, have already begun their season. Meanwhile on local farms, the first spring field crop is about to come into force.
"There's some starting to poke up several inches right now, but we need warm weather in the mid-60s and 70s before they'll really start to push," says Dan Smiarowski of D. A. Smiarowski Farms in Sunderland.
In our farms, forests, yards, and everything in between, we say we grow things. Plants, animals, and fungi mostly. But do we grow them, or do they grow themselves?
People help of course, by putting pieces in the right places, and creating nurturing relationships between the different parts of nature’s whole. That’s part of Sara-Evelyn Lane’s philosophy.
Lane is the owner of Broadfork Permaculture, based in Greenfield
"I got my first team of oxen when I was 8 years old,” says Josh Porter of Porter Family Farm in Ashfield. “I’d get one team, train them up, show them in fairs, sell them, and buy another pair. That was really the start of me getting into the cattle business.”
Porter’s appreciation of oxen hasn’t wavered since, but today they’re not the only animals he and his family are raising. “We have a self-serve farm store where we sell beef, pork, lamb, chicken, eggs, and we recently added goat too,” says Porter. “Most everything is raised on the farm, with a few things from other local farmers."
Ayla Gavins, head of development and storytelling at The Farm School in Athol talks to Phil and Monte about their farm, hands-on educational programs for kids, and the value of lessons learned by “getting your hands dirty, planting seeds, caring for animals, and connecting to the land and life in general.”
“I wanted to be an archeologist when I was growing up,” says Karina Laurenitis of Laurenitis Farm in Sunderland. “This is a different version of playing in the dirt. Karina talks to Phil and Monte about what they grow, from traditional veggies and flower starts to heirlooms, native perennials to support pollinators, and garden supplies […]
Flexibility is a critical skill in farming. Physical flexibility for sure – any farmer who’s contorted themselves to pull hard to reach weeds, prune a fruit tree, or service a tractor will tell you that. But as Kathy Smedberg of Green Acres Fruit Farm in Wilbraham explains, the soft skill of responding flexibly to what the world throws at you is even more important.
Rachel Scherer, the woman behind The Little White Goat Dairy at Heritage Fields in Orange talks with Phil and Monte about: The differences between cow and goat dairies How Rachel is putting her own happiness — and that of her goats — at the center of her business And of course, why the cheesemakers are […]
Published March 26th, 2022 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
By Jacob Nelson
The ground is thawing. Days are more light than dark now. Songbirds call it out – spring is here.
“This is my 20th year farming,” says Meryl LaTronica, “and even though we’re working pretty much year-round, I still get that feeling like, ‘ok, it’s go-time!'”
For the last few years, LaTronica has been Director of Farm Operations for the non-profit Just Roots, based in Greenfield. The farm at Just Roots, sometimes called the Greenfield Community Farm, is the anchor for the organization’s efforts to create equitable access to local food in the surrounding communities.
“We lease 60 acres from the city of Greenfield, which used to be the Greenfield Town Poor Farm,” says LaTronica. She explains that, before government safety net programs like Social Security, towns often set aside ‘poor farms’ to provide shelter, land, and work for people who didn’t have other means of supporting themselves – often people who were differently-abled, elderly, or without family. “Honestly, I’m not sure where on the spectrum from care to exploitation many of these farms operated,” she says.
The poor farm has been gone for decades, but the land remains in farming. In 2009 Just Roots took over and began writing a new chapter. “The old dormitory building now houses Just Roots’ offices, and we also lease the old poor farm barn,” says LaTronica.
Their farm, now entering its 10th year, has seven acres of vegetable fields alongside two heated greenhouses and two unheated hoop houses used to extend the growing season. They also sublease land to four other groups. Sage Farm raises pastured pork there, and the Greenfield Tree Committee, Blue Crow Botanicals herbalism company, and The Compost Cooperative, who offers curbside food waste pick-up, are all tenants. Yet another section of land is devoted to a community garden with 65 growing plots.
On the main farm, the 2022 growing season is underway. “On March 1st we planted our first onions, spinach, and lettuce in the brand-new greenhouse we put up in December,” she says. But for them and many local farms, spring is less a beginning and more a transition to a new chapter.
“Our programs never really stop,” she says, pointing to their 275-member community supported agriculture (CSA) program that distributes most of what they grow to members throughout the year. “Next week we’ll give away the rest of last year’s garlic, and with any luck we’ll see the sprouts of this year’s garlic coming up (overwintered from planting in the fall). It’ll be a cool overlap.”
Describing a CSA, LaTronica says “basically, it’s a subscription to vegetables.” Rather than a newspaper or streaming service, members sign up for regular distributions of farm-grown food. CSA programs can sometimes feel unfamiliar or exclusive. Just Roots tries to make theirs very accessible financially, culturally, and transportation-wise.
“If you’ve never done this before, I think we’re a good beginner CSA,” she continues. “Our goal is to be ‘farm-to-every-table.’”
Just Roots offers weekly CSA distributions from June to October, then monthly from November to May. In the summer and fall they give mostly fresh produce grown themselves. When that runs low, they bring in produce they preserved, like bottled tomatoes and frozen veggies, and items from other local farms, like greens from Wellspring Harvest in Springfield, root veggies from Winter Moon Roots in Hadley for root veggies, and other things from the distributor Marty’s Local.
For full-pay CSA members, they offer sliding-scale pricing and the option to pay by the month (the historic CSA model asks members to pay upfront). “We also offer a subsidy for some members,” LaTronica explains. “They pay a much lower price, and Just Roots finds business sponsors and donors to cover the rest. About 100 of our members do this, but publicly no one knows who paid what. You just pay what you can and participate with everyone else.”
Members can pick up their food on the farm, where they have free choice of what to take, or grab a pre-packed box of food brought to downtown Greenfield. “We set up on the sidewalk one afternoon each week for folks who don’t have transportation to the farm,” says LaTronica. “We also deliver to people that truly can’t make either option work.”
Culturally, “we try to make our CSA as inclusive as possible,” she continues. “We do lots of food demos, give out easy recipes, and stick more to produce that people are already familiar with. If something’s new, we do a lot of education talking about what it is.”
One of the reasons Just Roots can prioritize “farm-to-every-table” is their non-profit business model. They fund their work with farm revenue, but also grants and other income. This allows them flexibility to create value for their neighbors and community, not just their bottom line.
For example, LaTronica says, “we just hired a community-engagement coordinator to network with schools and other groups to bring people to the farm. That’s a gift, which we likely could not afford if we were strictly a for-profit farm.”
They encourage anyone to visit their land and get involved in what they do, whether it’s attending workshops, volunteering, applying for a community garden plot, or just walking around the farm, which is open to the public.
“There’s a lot of social interaction here, which isn’t how it is on all farms,” shares LaTronica. “We host school groups often and farm volunteers many Saturdays during the growing season. And if community organizations want to have an event or a class here, we also serve as a venue for little to no money.”
For LaTronica, that blend of people and plants is a sweet spot. “I still think farming is the best job in the world,” she says. “I love building, making, and producing something tangible. And farms – especially these types of community-centered farms – have, for me, been an amazing tool for connection and healing. For literal and emotional growth.”
Jacob Nelson is Communications Coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To get involved with local food and farms in your neck of the woods, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/CISA-Prospect-Meadow.mp3 Prospect Meadow Farm in Hatfield, run by human services agency ServiceNet, provides meaningful employment to people with developmental disabilities. Farm Director Shawn Robinson and Operations Manager Dave Jackson talk with Phil and Monte about:
- The significance of the farm in people’s lives
- Shawn’s journey to managing the farm
- Dave’s thoughts on how this kind of farming is more about teaching.
- Their wonderful and affordable CSA program for seniors
- And more!
“It all started with a llama and eavesdropping.” (Monte Belmote)
Originally Published in the Greenfield Recorder March 21st, 2022
By Cris Carl
If sheer cuteness and personality were the only factors, we might all have goats in our life.
If you are thinking you might want to have some goats and possibly make cheese, Laurie Cuevas of Thomas Farm & Dairy in Sunderland has some good suggestions. Cuevas’s husband, Jim Thomas, started the micro dairy farm and farm stand about 20 years ago, and the couple started to make cheeses six years ago. The couple has roughly 100 goats they raise, milk, breed or sell. They also grow feed for the goats, and vegetables to sell at the farm stand. In addition, they have fresh eggs for sale. The farm has about 80 goats in milk production right now and babies (there are a lot) are bottle fed.
Getting started with goats
“The number one thing you need to do is be sure you are approved by your town to have livestock,” said Cuevas, adding that the amount of space you have per animal factors into most approvals.
Cuevas said one also needs to ask whether they want to have goats for pets or for milk production. “What is your goal?” Cuevas said if one just wants goats as pets, castrated males are the best choice.
“They are very sweet and calm,” she said.
Next, she said it’s important to look for a reputable breeder. Local farm supply stores are a good place to start looking for references.
“Ask a lot of questions. Don’t be afraid to ask too many questions,” she said.
It is good to ask to see the mother and the father as well, if possible, to get an idea of the health and eventual appearance of the kid, Cuevas said.
“For reasons I don’t understand, a lot of people ask for spotted kids,” Cuevas said. “Jim and I always tell them ‘spots don’t make milk.’”
Cuevas said you need to have a shed or small barn to house the goats as one of the most important factors is having a draft-free space for the goats.
“They like to sleep on top of each other in a pile. You can’t have just one goat. They are very social animals,” she said.
She also said it’s not a good idea to get a male and female only. They will produce kids and then they will need to be separated as the kids will be too young to breed.
“Two or more females are good, and then just bring in a buck for breeding,” she said.
In terms of food, Cuevas said “there is a myth that goats will eat anything. Actually, they are pretty picky.”
She emphasized their hay needs to be good quality with no mold or dust. If one really gets into milking, adding a small amount of grain to their diet is a good thing to do, she said. Goats also can be fed vegetables, bananas, crackers and peanuts in the shell, she said.
“You need to be careful about toxic plants. For example, azalea and rhododendrons are deadly to goats; potatoes, too,” she added.
Any animal one raises is going to need to be cleaned up after. For goats, they are especially prone to parasites, so a very clean environment is important, Cuevas said. If goats are thin or have a dull coat, that might indicate parasites. It’s also good to check their eyelids to make sure they are bright pink; otherwise that might also be an indicator of anemia, which can be caused by parasites, she said.
“You really want to have a veterinarian to connect with on all that. It’s best if you can bring them fecal samples to determine the type of worm and prescribe the appropriate wormer. Raising goats is not for the faint of heart,” she said with a laugh.
There are a number of breeds that can be chosen for their milk output and the general fat content, if one wants to make cheeses. Cheeses are essentially milk curds separated by a chemical trigger (calcium chloride, rennet, lemon juice, vinegar, etc.) from whey. The curds are hung in cloth bags or placed in molds to drain until the cheese has solidified. A common breed for milking is Nubians. There are also Swiss breeds such as the Saanen and Nigerian Dwarfs, for example. If goats breed, they have a five-month gestation period. Cuevas and her husband breed their goats in November to have spring kids.
“And it’s to the day. If we breed them Nov. 1, they are born March 1,” she said.
Milking, cheese making and more
Cuevas reiterated the importance of a clean operation for milking goats or making cheeses.
“Bacteria really factors into not just food safety, but the intensity of the goaty flavor in the milk or cheese,” she said.
Cuevas said one can expect to milk twice a day and each goat will produce a little less than a gallon of milk per day.
“You have to wash the teats (and often the goat) and make sure all of your materials are very clean,” she said.
Naturally, learning how to milk a goat may also be necessary. Cuevas highly recommends the New England Cheese Making Supply Company (cheesemaking.com) for resources, help and all of the materials one needs. The company had been located in South Deerfield, but has very recently moved to Conz Street in Northampton. They even have a cheesemaking club they promote. Generally, a milking “stand” is needed for the goat to place its head through to munch some feed during milking. Once milk is collected, refrigerate it right away.
“Cheesemaking has a glamorous image, but know that it’s a lot of hurry up and wait,” she said, wryly adding “the whole goal is to get curds.”
Cuevas said making cheeses was a lot of trial and error, but she and her husband have won a number of awards for their cheeses including second place in an annual cheesemaking competition held by The American Dairy Goat Association. When making cheese, it’s also necessary to figure out what to do with all the whey. Cuevas said whey can be used in many ways, to make ricotta, feed chickens or fertilize your garden. She also suggested making yogurt with the milk.
“Just put some heated milk in a jar, add culture and keep it in a warm place overnight,” she said. Lastly, if you are interested in making soaps or lotions, she said very little goat milk is used in those products so you won’t use much of your volume.
Thomas Farm & Dairy is located at 67 Hadley Road in Sunderland. They can be reached at 413-896-4268.
Cris Carl is an avid local gardener, licensed therapist and certified herbalist. She is an experienced journalist who has written for the Recorder for many years. You can reach her at cstormfox57@gmail.com.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/CISA-Cornucopia-2022.mp3 Nate Clifford, co-owner of Cornucopia Natural Wellness Market in Thorne’s Marketplace in Northampton, talks to Phil and Monte about the history of the natural foods movement, taking over a small business just before the pandemic, and how they do more than their part to support other local businesses in the Valley through CISA’s Local Hero Program.
Since its inception, the CISA fund has loaned out nearly $500,000 Listen to the full story here.
Zero-interest loans have been awarded to help several farms in western Massachusetts impacted by last summer’s extreme weather.
A total of $110,000 is being loaned to seven farms from an emergency fund administered by Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture.
Phil Korman, executive director of the South Deerfield-based organization spoke with WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill.
Hear more at: https://bit.ly/3JmKicI
Published March 19th, 2022 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
By Jacob Nelson
Here’s a surprise: one of the biggest animal farms in western Massachusetts is in Turners Falls. Perhaps also a surprise – they raise fish.
“Our facility has been a fish farm since the 90’s,” says Spencer Gowan, general manager at Great Falls Aquaculture. “We’re an indoor aquaculture farm raising a species of southeast Asian sea bass called Barramundi.”
The name, ownership, and species grown at the farm have changed over the decades. Barramundi have been raised there since 2004 and Great Falls Aquaculture has been the managing company since 2018, but some of the farm’s staff go way back.
“I’ve worked here on and off since 2009,” shares Gowan, “but our facilities manager, Rocky Perham, was involved in building the first tank, so he’s been here over 30 years.”
How do they farm fish indoors? The method, Gowan explains, is to build a recirculating aquaculture system, which continually recycles water and filters waste while maintaining conditions for the fish to thrive.
Great Falls Aquaculture’s system holds up to three million gallons of water which cycles every hour. As it leaves the fish tanks, step one in the filtration process is removing solid waste with filters. Step two is to convert or remove the excess nutrients dissolved in the water.
“For that we use biological filters – big beds of fluidized sand that, as the water flows through, various bacteria, amoebas, a whole ecosystem of microbes really, feeds off all these nutrients and even destroys pathogens. When that ecosystem is nice and strong, you have crystal clear water coming out.” From there the water is reoxygenated and returned to the fish tanks.
Whether it’s Barramundi or hydroponic tomatoes, this kind of indoor farming – where plants or animals are separated from the broader ecosystem – comes with tradeoffs. The upside is increased control. For example, Gowan says, they can keep Barramundi healthier this way. They don’t have to deal with pests from the fish’s natural environment, can vaccinate them to reduce the need for antibiotics, and fish can’t escape and become an invasive species – no Finding Nemo reenactments here.
The downside is that farmers become fully responsible for giving their crops and animals every resource they need to thrive – food, water, waste management, climate control – that nature might otherwise provide freely.
Plus, control is different than understanding. “If you don’t know how you want conditions set, control doesn’t do you any good,” says Gowan. “We’re always learning. But the most important thing is keeping the fish as healthy as possible, and that we do understand quite well.”
Healthy fish grow fast, and Great Falls Aquaculture grows a lot of them. “Our main business is actually selling live fish,” he says, “mostly to specialty markets in Boston, New York City, Toronto and Vancouver, averaging around 20,000 pounds a week.”
Yet recently they’ve started selling some things locally, to diversify the business and build stronger connections with the local community, not just as an employer but as a food producer too.
“For a long time, people would ask me, ‘where can I buy your fish?’ and I’d have to say, ‘you can’t.’ But we don’t want to be that building on the hill that no one knows about. As much as there’s local demand for our fish, we’ll try to meet it.”
Locally sold products include their Barramundi, as well as Rainbow and Brook Trout raised by their sister company, Blue Stream Aquaculture. Fish and pre-cut filets are sold fresh, frozen, and smoked. Today, “River Valley Co-op and Green Fields Market carry our fish,” he says. “Atlas Farm Store in South Deerfield and Great Falls Harvest right here in Turners Falls carry some things too.” They also sell online via their website, and at the Greenfield and Turners Falls Farmers’ Markets most weeks over the summer.
“Barramundi is a fairly mild white fish,” says Gowan. “If you’re not usually a fish eater, this is a great place to start.” It has higher levels of fatty acids than most white fish, so it doesn’t dry out, and it takes on other flavors very well, making it a great foundation for all kinds of cuisines and cooking methods.
Gowan’s favorite is frying up crispy skin-on filets with a bit of seasoning. “Staff here fight over that when we have taste tests,” he says.
According to the USDA, Americans continue to eat more and more fish and shellfish. Yet depending on who you ask, 65% to 90% of that is imported. Comparing the sustainability of different fisheries is hazy at best, but even though there’s room for improvement, Gowan feels that well-managed recirculating aquaculture provides environmental and social benefits that other fisheries can’t offer.
“I see all the sustainability problems,” says Gowan, “because it’s my job to fix them. But as I learn more about the industrial food system, I think we’re doing a pretty good job.”
“I think about electric cars as a comparison,” he continues. “The technology is there, but there’s still problematic things to address. With electric cars, it’s mining rare earth minerals for batteries. For us, it’s feed and electricity – the more we can dial in our use, the more sustainable we can be.”
Great Falls Aquaculture uses a custom feed blend that avoids a classic pitfall of catching wild fish to feed farmed fish. Instead, they use byproducts of fish already being processed for human consumption, along with non-GMO grains and other ingredients.
On the electricity side, “this still requires more power than farming fish in the ocean,” Gowan acknowledges. “But we plan to put in anaerobic digesters that would take in food waste and produce electricity and heat for our buildings.”
Turning waste into valuable resources and building stronger connections with neighboring businesses are big goals Gowan has for Great Falls Aquaculture’s future. Anaerobic digesters are one example. Another is repurposing some of their own waste as fertilizer for local farms. He thinks their Fish Brew fertilizer will be more widely available soon.
“We’re different from most local farms,” says Gowan, “but we still want to be part of the local food community.”
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about farms of all kinds and where to buy local food near you, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/CISA-HART-FARM-2022.mp3 It’s CSA season! Anna Meyer, farm owner and manager at Hart Farm in Conway, talks to Phil and Monte about their highly flexible “farm-to-door” delivered CSA, how a degree in comparative religion is useful in farming, and why investing in your farm share now is sooo helpful for local farmers as they start planting for this year’s growing season.
WWLP
by: Sy Becker
Posted: Mar 6, 2022 / 07:21 PM EST
Updated: Mar 6, 2022 / 07:21 PM EST
Published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette March 5, 2022
By JACOB NELSON
“A breath of spring.” That’s how Luke Longstreeth, owner of Mountainside Maple Farm in Hatfield, describes the recent arrival of maple sugaring season to the Valley. The first local crop of the agricultural new year.
“It’s such a finite season where local sugar-makers make enough syrup to supply our community throughout the year,” he reminds us.
Ever drawn to physical work outdoors, Longstreeth first trained as an arborist, then found sugaring a perfect complement given his seasonal schedule and forestry knowledge. As he tells the story, “It started with an ad on Craigslist. Someone was selling an 8×8 plywood shed with a little evaporator. Me and some buddies bought it and decided to tap some maple trees and see what it was all about. It just blossomed from there.”
Every year the “sugar shed” set up in his driveway grew, more trees were tapped, and more equipment was added. Finally for the 2019 season, he built a permanent post and beam sugarhouse from trees he felled and milled himself.
Longstreeth led that project – and has always been sole owner of the business – but stresses his gratitude for support from friends, family, and his Hatfield community in the sugarhouse raising and all of Mountainside Maple’s success. “It’s really humbling to see that people are always asking for ways to help, without expecting anything in return,” he says. “People just like seeing others do well in this area.”
Their first syrup of 2022 was pulled off the evaporator last week, but preparations started months ago.
“Throughout the summer and fall we’re maintaining lines, fixing leaks, adjusting things,” Longstreeth says. When conditions are right, taps are installed and sap begins flowing down the network of tubing that crisscrosses the forested tracks that he leases, collecting in tanks at the low points.
Warm days above 40 degrees and cooler nights in the 20s create the pressure difference in the tree that allows the sap to flow. Adding vacuum pumps to each system of lines increases that differential, collecting more sap in less time without stressing the trees.
When collection tanks are full, the sap is trucked to the sugarhouse and fed through a reverse-osmosis system to remove much of the water. This can reduce 5,000 gallons of sap to about 800 gallons of an intermediate product called concentrate, which takes much less time and energy to boil down in the evaporator.
The evaporator consists of a series of chambers. As concentrate is heated it loses more water, becomes denser, and is pushed into the next chamber per the machine’s design. All the while, Longstreeth is constantly adjusting things since everything from humidity to barometric pressure can affect the rate of evaporation.
Once the concentrate reaches the right sugar content, it’s officially syrup. “Then it’s slowly drawn off the evaporator, through a filter press to make it crystal clear, and store in stainless steel food grade drums before bottling,” he says.
The hand-crafted syrup made at Mountainside Maple and other local sugarhouses is very different than syrup made by large operations elsewhere. The latter tend to blend everything to create consistency, while local farmers produce syrups with flavors unique to their sap, methods, and even time of year. Lighter, milder syrups come first, then rich amber syrups in later weeks – like a microbrewery brewing limited releases rather than a brand-name IPA.
Mountainside Maple also makes several specialty products, from maple cream, candy, and sugar to Longstreeth’s personal favorite, infused syrups. “We do one with cinnamon and vanilla, another with smoked serrano chilies, and we aged some syrup in a bourbon barrel from a distillery in Kentucky,” he says. “Silver Bear Distillery in Dalton also makes a maple liqueur with our syrup.”
Longstreeth finds the growing market for local maple syrup encouraging. “Being part of CISA’s Local Hero program and brand has been a great tool,” he says. “And people are realizing maple syrup goes far beyond pancakes and waffles. It’s a healthy sweetener for lots of things. Put it on yogurt or in your morning coffee, use it in barbecue sauces and marinades – even in cocktails.”
Strong demand gives local sugar-makers even more reason to collaborate instead of competing. “Everyone that I’ve met in the local sugaring world is absolutely fantastic, and willing to share their knowledge, successes, and mistakes,” he says. “We’re a very tight-knit group.”
A changing climate will probably reduce the number and health of sugar maples in western Massachusetts, and the length of the sugaring season from first thaw to first budding will certainly shrink. Yet Longstreeth personally feels local maple farmers will be able to adapt – at least for the next 25 years or so.
“We will see more variability,” he says. “But if we have to tap more trees to make the same amount of syrup in a shorter season, that’s what we’ll do. There’s plenty of trees still untapped.”
With measured optimism, Longstreeth hopes to carry the torch of local maple sugaring into the future. This year he set 2,000 taps, hoping for 30,000 gallons of sap and nearly 600 gallons of syrup. In three years, he aim to set 5,000 taps – still a small operation but growing.
“I’m waiting my turn,” he says. “As older sugar-makers slow down more markets will become available. It’s not a fulltime job now, but maybe someday.”
For the next several weeks, Mountainside Maple’s sugarhouse at 67 West St. in Hatfield will be open to the public on Saturday and Sunday, 10-4. “We love giving people tours and letting them see the process,” Longstreeth says. Syrup and other products bought there, picked up at 152 Pantry Rd. in Hatfield (contact them via phone, website, or social media to arrange), and soon on their webstore at mountainsidemaplefarm.com.
On March 19th and 20th, Mountainside Maple will also join the many local sugarhouses participating in Mass Maple Weekend, when “people come out, bring their kids, try some samples, and see the differences at each sugar house,” Longstreeth says. “It’s such an interesting part of local agriculture, and every sugar-maker I know loves to talk and tell their story.”
To learn more about local sugarhouses and sugar shack restaurants open in your area, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
Jacob Nelson is Communications Coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA).
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Black.Birch.2.25.22.mp3 WRSI, February 25, 2022. Ian Modestow, Director of Wine Growing at Black Birch Vineyards, Hatfield, talks about farming and growing grapes and how the weather and climate affects their wine.
Published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, February 26, 2022
For Krunal Patel, owner of Keystone Market in Shelburne Falls, selling local food is his form of civic engagement. “I want to be part of this community I live in,” he says, “and here in western Massachusetts, local farms are a big part of it. I want to be the person in the middle, where farmers can bring me what they grow, and I can pass it on to customers.”
Keystone Market is a full-service grocery store with a storied history. “It used to be called the Freezer Locker,” Patel explains. “Before people had home refrigeration, you could rent a locker to keep your food cold. We still have the old sign, and some of the old walk-in coolers.”
These days, Patel shares, “we sell produce, dairy, and fresh meat. We have a deli with hot lunches, deli salads, and desserts all made from scratch at the store.”
Patel took over this longstanding local business in 2015, buying it from a family friend and moving up from New Jersey with his wife and children. “I had never heard of Shelburne Falls, but when we came to see the place before we bought it, it took us literally 10 minutes to fall in love,” he says. “First with the business and the town, then with the people.”
“My wife and I were standing at the register, and customers passing by wanted to know our names,” shares Patel. “Growing up in New Jersey, my neighbor’s house was 6 feet from ours, and I still don’t know their name.” They bought the store and moved two weeks later, and his parents soon followed.
Today, Keystone Market is open seven days a week, 7am – 7pm Monday through Saturday and 10am – 6pm on Sundays. Patel is there every minute of it, often joined by his wife, who oversees the deli, his parents, and around a dozen employees, many of whom have worked there longer than he has.
Lots of local food finds its way to Keystone’s shelves throughout the year. Maple syrup, honey, ferments from Real Pickles in Greenfield, coffee from Shelburne Falls Coffee Roasters (which they also brew and sell by the cup), and eggs from a handful of local farms – these can almost always be found.
“Pine Hill Orchards – any product they have, any season, we’ll carry it,” says Patel. “We have apples and cider now. When they have peaches or other fruit, I’ll get that too. And yogurt from Sidehill Farm in Hawley is something we’ve carried since I started.”
These relatively shelf-stable items are simpler to stock because there’s less pressure to get the quantity and timing of his ordering just right. With perishable items like produce, it becomes it bit trickier, Patel says. When he buys produce wholesale – whether directly from farmers or from food distributors – what he’s looking for is someone who can supply 1) proper volume, 2) consistent availability, and 3) simple logistics.
Volume and consistency are important because Patel wants customers to know they can rely on Keystone Market to have particular items. For example, they can expect to find berries from Nourse Farms in Whately every summer. “I carry a ton of their strawberries when they’re in season,” he says, “because they can bring 120 containers of strawberries every other day.”
“Customers want local produce,” he continues. “If I can get any, it will sell out. But I can’t have it once and not a second time.”
If local sellers can’t provide enough volume consistently, Patel has to fill in the gaps, and that can become complex very quickly. When one local farm can’t come through, he might turn to the distribution company he uses for other grocery items. “But they have ordering deadlines on Saturday night for Monday deliveries,” he explains. “If I’ve already missed that deadline, I won’t have what I need. There will be lost business and upset customers.”
One the flipside, if he orders something from his distributor just in case and the local farmer brings some too, “now I have two different types,” he continues. “And trust me, one of them will go bad.” Either way, he would have lost money and gained a headache.
Complexity, both in the ordering process and number of people he orders from, is something Patel tries to avoid. As a small business owner, he already has so much on his plate. He doesn’t have department managers to delegate to. If an employee calls out of a shift, it falls to him to cover.
“I cannot work with so many different local farmers to get my produce,” he says. “I want to, but it makes much more work and I have many other things to focus on.”
The point isn’t that it’s always too complicated for small local grocery stores to carry large amounts of local produce. There are some challenges to realizing this vision, but Patel is still trying. He wants to buy and sell local food to be part of his community, support other small businesses in the local economy, and offer customers the best quality food he can – produce or otherwise.
In the end it comes back to people. “I love being on the register talking to customers,” says Patel. “Every day at least two or three people say thank you for being here. That appreciation from the community – that keeps me going.”
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about independent grocery stores selling food grown right here in the Valley, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally
Three women loving life on the land as Worthington maple farm owners
Kim Trust, Deb Rocque and Kelly Auer, the three owners of Justamere Tree Farm in Worthington, boil sap to make maple syrup Friday afternoon. PHOTO BY CAROL LOLLIS
By Bera Dunau
WORTHINGTON — Taking over a farm during a global pandemic may not be for everyone, but that’s exactly what spouses Kelly Auer and Deb Rocque did, alongside their friend Kim Trust, when they purchased Justamere Tree Farm in 2020.
Since then, the three owners have taken advantage of the turnkey nature of the decades-old Worthington maple farm to continue to produce maple syrup and other maple products, and they have big plans for the operation going forward.
“We’ve always talked about owning a farm,” Trust said. “It happened way earlier than any of us thought it would.”
Trust said she has been friends with Auer and Rocque since 2004, when she met the couple while all three of them were living in Alaska. In 2019, the future farmers watched the film “The Biggest Little Farm,” and Auer and Rocque were inspired to look for farms in the area.
They saw that Justamere was for sale and fell in love with it, causing Trust to fly out from Portland, Oregon, to take a look at the place. Trust also fell for Justamere and the three of them purchased the Patterson Road business in the spring of 2020.
“I love it. I absolutely love it,” said Auer, on being a farmer.
Justamere was previously owned by J.P. and Marian Welch, who founded the farm and sold it after more than 38 years of owning and operating it.
Auer and Rocque met in 1994 when Auer was a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which she attended from 1989 to 1994. The couple subsequently moved to the Pioneer Valley in 2012.
Trust, meanwhile, moved to the area from Portland to farm Justamere with Auer and Rocque, taking early retirement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to do so.
Trust said that 5,000 maple trees are tapped at Justamere yearly, which translates into about 2,000 gallons of maple syrup a year, although last year was a slow year for the maple business as a whole, with the farm producing only about 1,500 gallons. This year promises to be more productive, Trust said, with sugaring production off to a strong start with a “really nice early run.”
The farm started tapping trees Feb. 1, and the sap produced is run through a reverse osmosis machine that removes about 90% of the water from the sap, creating a concentrate. The farm then uses a massive evaporator to produce maple syrup from the concentrate, with the machine regularly fueled by wood thrown into the blazing fire that powers it.
The maple syrup produced at Justamere isn’t just sold as syrup. The farm has a commercial kitchen on site, where products that include granola, maple seasoning, pancake mix, maple hot cocoa mix, maple sugar, maple cream and maple candy are all produced. The maple syrup and the other maple products are sold by Justamere online as well as at local farmers markets.
“I think the farm’s doing great,” said Rocque.
She also spoke about the farm allowing the owners to work outside, and that even though the work is physically demanding “we’re taking this on and making it work.”
Additionally, Rocque said that she likes being a part of the small farm and small business community.
One of the workers on the farm is Jacob McCowan, who recently graduated with a degree in agriculture from Berea College in Kentucky. This is also his first time in the Northeast.
“It’s really amazing,” McCowan said, of the area.
McCowan learned about the farm from Abby Brownell, who is in her third season of working at Justamere, having done her first season when the Welches owned the farm.
“(The) transition was awesome,” Brownell said, who noted that she got to meet the new owners when they were in the process of buying the farm.
For the future, Trust said that they’re interested in expanding the number of trees that they tap and bringing farm animals back onto the land.
Auer said that none of the three owners have children, and she said they are interested in turning the land over to people of color when they retire from the business. Auer also spoke about transforming the farm into a nonprofit to bring people of color into agriculture.
Rocque noted that she’s had a career in conservation work, and spoke to the importance of getting people out on the land. She also said that a big issue for farmers starting out, particularly from underrepresented groups, is getting land to farm, and that when a nonprofit is set up, non-maple farming might also be brought to Justamere. However, she said that the nonprofit is still years away.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.
Published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette February 22nd, 2022
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CISA-Davenport-Maple-1.mp3 Owner Lisa Davenport and restaurant Manger Michelle Olanyk talk about the magic of maple syrup season, and what awaits you at Davenport Maple Farm and Restaurant in Shelburne. Open Sat-Sun 8-3 starting February 26th!
“You’ll turn off Route 2 and head up into the hills,” says Lisa. “You’ll see the farm ahead of you, steam coming out the top of the restaurant building, and smell the aroma of maple syrup cooking which is unique to the Northeast. And the view is beautiful.”
“Walking into the restaurant and your greeted like family, and seated like family.” Pancakes, french toast with homemade cinnamon swirl bread (both have gluten free options), waffles, and more. “If you have to wait you can walk over to the evaporator room and see us making syrup. See the sap come in and see us draw off the finished product.”
Plus you get to hunt for gnomes! There are over 40 gnomes in the evaporator room. Few have found them all. Can you?
Learn about other sugar shack restaurants near you at bit.ly/CISAsugarshacks
Published February 19th in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
By Jacob Nelson
Restaurants feed us. And when they use locally grown food, they feed our community in more ways than one. That’s something special – at least for longtime local chef Laurie Bernier, co-owner with her husband Barry of Something Special Cafe and Catering in Granby.
When Something Special Cafe opened in May of 2021 in a bright yellow farmhouse on Route 202, it wasn’t the first time Something Special came to Granby. In the 1980s and 90s, Barry and later both Berniers ran two different iterations of Something Special Restaurant. Then in 1995 they bought their current building and narrowed their focus to catering.
“We specialized in weddings for over 30 years with a lot of success, and really enjoyed it,” says Laurie Bernier. “But our plan was always to re-open a cafe. We liked the idea of cooking for our neighbors.”
The pandemic has been anything but kind to most local restaurants, yet interestingly, it did beget the new Something Special Cafe. “We were so busy with catering,” says Bernier, “but when COVID-19 hit of course all the parties stopped. So we moved forward with the cafe.”
“It was a risky thing to do,” she acknowledges, “but a good thing too, and we finally had time for it. We still offer catering, but now it’s just hot and ready trays people can pick up, and people can rent the cafe space outside our usual business hours.”
Opening a full year into the pandemic gave the Berniers the opportunity to plan Something Special Cafe around our new reality. Though arrangements for takeout ordering and outdoor seating were in place from the beginning, “we still wanted to create an intimate dining experience in this farmhouse, which was built in the early 1900s,” says Bernier.
Walking in, “first there’s our grab-and-go counter with pastries, coffee, ice cream, and where you can pick up food to go.” People can also sit down in their warmly furnished dining room, which fills the main part of the house. “And in warmer months of course we have outdoor dining on a spacious patio,” Bernier finishes.
When it came to creating a menu, “our main focus was on using local food,” she says. “With the pandemic, there was just more awareness of why local businesses supporting each other was important. It helps them, it makes a strong local economy, and you form personal connections.”
Bernier also sees a trend in more and more restaurants using and talking about local food, and feels that “local food is usually fresher, healthier, and more delicious.”
“The Valley just has so much to offer for local food,” she continues. They try to make the most of it, using, for example, maple syrup from North Hadley Sugar Shack; bread from Ludlow Central Bakery; and coffee from Esselon Coffee Roasting in Hadley. “Double C Ranch here in Granby also sells us beef from Texas Longhorn cows, which is special.”
Bernier would like to expand their list of local ingredients, but it isn’t as simple as swapping things out. Take eggs for example. “I’d like to use fresh local eggs,” she says, “but I’ve got to find a supplier who can fully service us. I mean, we go through six cases of eggs a week.”
That’s over 1,000 eggs each week, and well over 50,000 each year. If one hen lays 250 eggs each year, Something Special Cafe on their own could keep at least 200 hens – and the local farmers raising them – in good business. The struggle is finding local farms big enough to produce that many eggs, consistently, at an affordable price. Plus, buying from many individual farms is more complex than ordering many ingredients from one food distributor, which most restaurants already do for staple items.
From a restaurant’s perspective, it would be easier to buy more local items if distributors carried them. “When we talk to our distributors,” says Bernier, “we always ask them what’s most local and try to use that. But often, local farms can’t provide enough volume for distributors to carry what they grow.”
To overcome this challenge, some distributors or food hubs aggregate items from multiple farms to offer more volume. Then a restaurant could place one weekly order for eggs, but the eggs might come from four different farms. This often works but can be logistically challenging for the distributor.
Another solution would be for more farms to scale up to a size that can serve restaurants like Something Special Cafe directly. Yet scaling up brings risk, and restaurants’ needs are different than other wholesale customers. They are large buyers, but not typically as large or stable as grocery stores and schools, and usually have less storage space too, meaning more deliveries. For many reasons, it can be trickier for farmers to build long-term business plans around restaurant accounts.
Whatever the case, community demand for local food is one big thing that reduces uncertainty and emboldens restaurants, distributors, and farmers alike to overcome these obstacles. It gives them reassurance that their efforts will pay off. This is especially important to locally owned restaurants, most of whom operate on very thin margins. Bernier says they’ve dodged the supply chain challenges others are facing so far, but they can’t avoid the rising cost of ingredients.
For Bernier, the focus on keeping things local is also very much about human connection. They both employ and provide a gathering place for people in their community. “There’s not a lot of other restaurants in our area,” she says, “so it makes our town a little better.”
It’s also a culmination of their lifelong joy of cooking for their community. “I’ve been a chef in this area for over 35 years and Barry 45,” reflects Bernier. “We asked ourselves the other day, ‘What would we do if it wasn’t this?’ Really we don’t know! We just love feeding people.”
Something Special Cafe is open Wednesday through Sunday, 7am-2pm, serving breakfast all day, lunch, and daily specials. To learn about them and find more restaurants serving up local food in your neighborhood, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA).
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/small-CISA-Lady-K-2022.mp3 Phil and Monte talk to Ken Majka, owner of the Lady Killigrew Cafe about his roundabout path to owning a restaurant, whether doing so amid a pandemic qualifies as an Olympic sport, and other quirks of the “iconic Lady K.”
What do local restaurants need to survive these Olympic trials? “Honestly,” says Ken, “We just need you to order stuff.” Your delicious and completely unselfish act of eating out supports them, their staff, and all the local farms and businesses they source from, including:
- Artifact Cider
- Katalyst Kombucha
- Mapleline Farm (“We’ve gotten milk from them since the 90s”)
- Rise Above Bakery (“They’ve taken over making our sandwich bread, and they use local grain from Valley Malt.”)
- Marty’s Local (“We get all of our produce from them.”)
- Queens Greens
- Kitchen Garden Farm
- Real Pickles
- And more!
Whether you dine inside or outside on their amazing patio, you can’t beat their gorgeous location on the Sawmill River at the Montague Bookmill.
Find more restaurants cooking up local food near you with CISA’s online guide!
Supporting local farms might involve choosing to eat local, but what about dressing local? After all, farms grow more than food.
Choosing locally grown fiber and fabrics benefits local farmers, business owners, and landscapes, and can achieve many of the same social and environmental benefits as choosing local food. Yet the support and rhetoric behind a movement for local fiber isn’t as well established – yet. Marti Ferguson of Walking Cloud Farm in Buckland has thoughts on how that can change.
Ferguson was born in New England, spending several years in Minnesota before returning to western Massachusetts. After a career in the medical world alongside other farming projects, she and her husband bought 9 acres in Buckland, and she welcomed her first sheep to the land in 2016. “I wanted to do something entirely my own,” she says, “where I could call the shots.”
Marti Ferguson of Walking Cloud Farm with some of her purebred Finnsheep
Sheep are the heartbeat of the farm and co-stewards of Ferguson’s rolling hills. “I’m running a flock of purebred Finnsheep,” she explains, “a dual-purpose breed used for meat and fiber. Right now I have 22 animals, but come lambing season we might have more than 50.”
Ferguson grazes the flock on the land around their home and at a second parcel nearby. In both locations, she and the sheep are rebuilding the land’s fertility through a strategy called rotational grazing. Constraining their access to small sections of pasture at a time encourages the sheep to mow down everything rather than being picky. Over time, this encourages quick-growing grasses that sheep like best to take over, fertilized by regular additions of manure.
“It’s like magic,” Ferguson says. “When livestock work the land like this, the land improves and adapts for the livestock. Done right it’s such a beautiful relationship. My sheep aren’t pets, but they’re also not just products. We’re collaborators.”
Ferguson is motivated by the puzzle of making it all work – balancing the needs of her flock and land and juggling the many tasks of being a small farm owner. “There’s lots of challenges,” she says. “They’re really interesting to learn about and test – it’s humbling and exciting at the same time.”
Moving back to western Massachusetts, Ferguson was pleasantly surprised to find a welcoming community of fiber farmers and enthusiasts. “If you scratch the surface, every single hilltown has a couple of fiber groups, and people came out of the woodwork offering support,” she says. “One of the first things I did was take an all-day workshop with Jill and Jim Horton-Lyons at Winterberry Farm in Colrain about all things sheep, and they’ve been mentors and friends since.”
Ferguson also points out the unique number of resources available locally to animal and fiber farms. “The Mass Sheep and Woolcraft Fair happens every year just 20 minutes away in Cummington,” she says. “We have Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) promoting local farms. We have a fantastic source for farming supplies with the Greenfield Farmers Cooperative Exchange. And many sheep farmers across the country can’t get a large animal vet, but we have one right here in Buckland.”
It may seem like the foundation to produce more fiber and textiles locally is set. But still, something is missing. “There’s this wonderful web of informal connections,” says Ferguson, “but it’s not doing the heavy lifting to build the public awareness and local infrastructure that could support a bigger local fiber economy.”
On the infrastructure side, “farmers like me just need affordable local places to clean and process raw wool,” she says. “So much wool gets composted because there’s no time or money to send it far away for that.”
Meanwhile, awareness of the global textile industry’s impacts and the benefits of local alternatives pales in comparison to other things we consume, like food. “We get dressed every day just like we eat every day,” Ferguson reminds. “But we’re very unthinking about those choices.”
Today, “so much of our fabric is made with fossil fuel-based synthetic fibers and harsh chemicals, and end up shedding microplastics,” says Ferguson. “Then there’s social justice implications – who is making all these things, where, in what conditions, and for what pay?”
The global food and fiber economies are shaped by wildly different factors, so any re-localization would look different for each. But for building awareness about local fiber, Ferguson looks to the local food movement as a model. “There’s a great deal of support for the local food economy out here,” she says. “We need to have local fiber recognized in the same way.”
Two groups already working on this are CISA – which promotes all local farm products, and recently held a networking event specifically for local fiber farmers and processors – and Western Mass Fibershed.
“Fibershed is a national organization with many local chapters,” explains Ferguson. “Their focus is to raise awareness among everyone and connect producers – whether it’s fiber farmers, weavers, designers – to find opportunities to grow this economy.”
And while working towards change, local farmers still need to earn enough to keep the lights on. “My fleeces – I’m going to keep selling them mostly to artists and hand-spinners,” she says, “because that’s where the premium is.”
Ferguson acknowledges that all these issues are complex. “I can’t fault anyone for not having the time to learn about them,” she says. “Plus, there are real economic barriers to affording local fiber, and the current system is convenient.”
Walking Cloud Farm sells their fiber products straight off the farm, including fleeces, washed locks, roving (straightened coils often used for spinning), and now yarn. They also sell sheep for pets or breeding stock, sheepskin pelts, cuts of lamb, and eggs. Ferguson also plans to be a vendor at the Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Fair, scheduled for Memorial Day weekend at the Cummington Fairgrounds.
For those who want to help the local fiber economy grow, supporting groups like those mentioned above is one tactic. Another, if affordable, is to buy things made with local fiber. That isn’t just an investment in quality clothing and fabric, says Ferguson. Supporting these local farms now is an investment in the grander vision of local fiber too.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA). To learn more about local fiber farms and artisans near you, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CISA-Wild-Bramble-Farm-Tulips-FULL.mp3 Yes it’s winter, but local farms already have fresh-cut flowers to brighten your day. At Wild Bramble Farm in Northfield, Shannon Goddard is growing 8,000 tulips to bloom now! How? You gotta listen!
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, you can enjoy or gift a beautiful locally-grown bouquet.
“We’re doing a 4-week and a 6-week tulip CSA, starting in mid-February,” says Shannon. “Each Saturday you can pick up a bouquet of fresh-cut tulips here at the farm, and it’ll open up on your kitchen table and be beautiful.” More details at wild-bramble-farm.com
Or come grab a bouquet at their farm stand at 570 Millers Falls Road in Northfield, Saturdays and Sundays 9-2, or at Sweet Lucy’s Bakeshop in Bernardston.
Published February 2nd, 2022 on Masslive.com
Many Graces Flower Shop opening at Thorne’s Marketplace in Northampton, all products grown on Hadley farms
By Cassie McGrath
Many Graces, a flower shop that grows its products on Hadley farmland, is opening on the first floor of Thornes Marketplace.
The shop will host a soft opening from Feb. 1 to Feb. 14 and a grand opening on March 1.
“We can grow so many things that you could never find in traditional retail stores,” Rebecca Maillet, who founded the shop in 2018 said. “I’m looking forward to letting people see the real wealth of beauty that is possible to generate from our landscape.”
Many Graces will offer a year-round flower subscriptions, botanical décor, cut flowers, houseplants, dried flowers, centerpieces, dahlia tubers that can be planted by local gardeners and dried-flower terrariums. They also do wedding and event design consultation.
“We are looking forward to connecting to the community in a way that we have yet to have the opportunity to do. We’re looking forward to having a daily face in the community and being able to talk to people about what is involved in our work and showcase how abundant our products are,” Kel Komenda, managing director for Many Graces said.
The shop, which previously only operated as an online store, offers over 250 varieties of specialty cut flowers.
“We planted 12,000 specialty tulips in the fall, so people should be getting excited about that,” Komenda said. “I didn’t really think a tulip was an interesting flower, but the kind that Rebecca grows are mind-blowing and can get to three feet tall.
Products are grown on eight and a half acres of land in Hadley. The owner prides the store on farming according to organic certification practices. This means they rotate where they plant on different fields to restore them before they plant again.
Maillet’s love for flowers also a personal connection.
When she was a child, Maillet and her mother ventured into the woods to find unique plants, crafting them into centerpieces. This passion continued while she was serving as the primary caregiver for a friend with cancer.
“Flowers really were a balm to the difficulties of that time,” Maillet said. “They were the little beings that gave us beauty and hope and joy in what was an inherently difficult time. After Ruth passed away, I found myself gravitating toward flowers to stay close to her.”
Maillet expects to employ a team of 10-12 staff members this season for jobs including farming, retail and events like weddings. Komenda specifically noted they hope to communicate what it means to be a small business with young staff and continue to support the local economy. Those interested in employment can learn more on their website.
“Our success so far is reflective of all the hearts — mine and Kel’s and our staff members’ — and also, perhaps most importantly, the enthusiasm and support of the community,” Maillet said. “We’re really excited to be in Thornes because we’ll get more facetime with the community that has already lifted us up so much in the last four years. We’re excited to be more present.”
Published on MassLive, Feburary 1, 2022
By Benjamin Kail | bkail@masslive.com
The push to expand access to driver’s licenses to qualified immigrants without legal status continues to gain momentum as public health professionals, business leaders, advocates and lawmakers this session hope to make Massachusetts the 17th state with such a law in the books after years of debate.
Backed by majorities in the Massachusetts House and Senate, the Work & Family Mobility Act was reported favorably out of the Joint Committee on Transportation last session but did not come to a final vote, with uncertain support from leadership and Gov. Charlie Baker previously expressing opposition.
The bill now has more co-sponsors than previous versions, as well as strong support from law enforcement agencies and hundreds of health care workers, according to a coalition of labor, business and public health leaders who held a virtual news conference Tuesday.
The group said the proposal would improve public health, equity and road safety — ensuring tens of thousands more drivers are road-tested and commuting to work, school and doctors’ visits safely, legally and without fear of arrest over their status. Several health care providers and advocates said the move would also help address longstanding logistical challenges and inequities faced by the state’s essential workers and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID strikes, the national food supply chain is rattled, and we momentarily wake up in our state and declare farm workers are sometimes essential when we need the fruits of their labor,” Philip Korman, executive director of the nonprofit Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, said Tuesday. “We cant keep telling them they’re essential … and at the same time deny them the right to drive.”
Korman added that farm workers without licenses are at higher risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19, as they often must share vehicles or ask for rides over 20- to 30-minute commutes in rural areas where bus routes are slow and infrequent. Farm owners, he said, have long relied on “the worst of Band-Aid solutions” — off-the-record agreements with local police chiefs to help prevent their workers from being pulled over.
Larry Fish, chairman of the Board of Directors for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and former CEO of Citizens Bank, noted that the immigrant and undocumented community “is being pushed away” from places near economic opportunities “as a result of the extremely high cost of housing.”
Essential workers have served “in critical and heroic front-line conditions during this terrible pandemic,” but have been left out to dry when it comes to their commutes, argued Fish, who also spoke as chairman of the Fish Family Foundation, which works with dozens of immigrant-facing nonprofits across the U.S.
“Leaving the moral and philanthropic cases aside, I want to speak as a businessman,” Fish added. “We have an urgent need for labor in this state. Just look at the hiring signs and the ads. We urgently need to have [undocumented immigrants] drive legally, safely, insured and registered.”
If it becomes law, Massachusetts would join Washington, D.C., and 16 states, including neighboring New York and Connecticut, with similar laws, which have been considered in Massachusetts for nearly two decades — a period that’s seen significant updates in standards for identification required for licenses. Several police chiefs, sheriffs and Attorney General Maura Healey support the proposal.
The bill calls for striking language in state law that blocks residents who do “not have lawful presence in the United States” from obtaining a “license of any type” in Massachusetts.
It also bars officials at the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles from asking about, or creating a record of, an applicant’s citizenship or immigration status, and enables those without proof of lawful presence, including residents ineligible for social security numbers, to be eligible for a license “if they meet all other qualifications for licensure and provide satisfactory proof to the registrar of identity, date of birth and Massachusetts residency.”
MassBudget estimated in a March 2020 report that the law could help between 41,000 and 78,000 people get a state license in the first three years after passage.
The measure is due for a new report from the Joint Committee on Transportation by March 4.
Baker still opposes the proposal.
“Governor Baker supports existing laws in Massachusetts, enacted on a bipartisan basis, that ensure Massachusetts’ compliance with federal REAL ID requirements and enable those who demonstrate lawful presence in the United States to obtain a license,” Terry MacCormack, a spokesman for the governor, told MassLive on Tuesday.
The governor’s office noted in the summer of 2016 that state lawmakers ultimately adopted legislation that included Baker’s bipartisan amendment “to make explicit that both a REAL ID-compliant license and a Massachusetts license will only be issued to individuals with proof of lawful presence, ensuring undocumented immigrants do not obtain either type of license under the new system.”
Chelsea Police Chief Brian Kyes, president of the Major City Chiefs of Police Association, said last year that the bill would “promote trust between law enforcement and all the communities we serve and protect,” according to GBH.
“In order for our state’s police officers to best do their jobs and remain safe while doing so, they need to be able to identify who’s behind the wheel,” he added. “All Massachusetts families need peace of mind knowing that the drivers on our highways and city streets have passed the same driving test and know the rules of our roads.”
Jeneczka Roman, advocacy and coalition manager at the Massachusetts Public Health Association, described the bill as a “key tool for a healthier and more just commonwealth.”
While advocates continually push for accessible, affordable public transit across the board, “we know this just isn’t true everywhere or for everyone,” creating gaps that require many undocumented immigrants to get on the roads for work or to help their families, she said.
“Driving is not a luxury,” Roman said. “It’s a critical tool of mobility in Massachusetts. And by barring residents without status from accessing driver’s licenses, the commonwealth is creating barriers to full inclusion, economic stability and better health.”
Roman, and Dr. Beth Eagleson of Baystate Health in Springfield, said current fears of getting pulled over, arrested or discriminated against leads to public health and educational hurdles, as some workers avoid or delay doctor’s appointments, COVID-19 testing, getting vaccinated or attending parent-teacher conferences.
Eagleson, who noted that “licensed drivers are safer drivers,” called decisions to limit time on the road “heartbreaking,” as they impact not only personal health but public health.
“Like driver safety, it impacts all of us,” she said. She also argued that blocking the undocumented from obtaining licenses represents a “forced lack of engagement that further cements inequality in our society.”
Roberta Fitzpatrick, Arbella Insurance’s managing attorney, noted that in the first four years after Connecticut passed its driver’s license bill in 2015, more than 50,000 undocumented immigrants have taken driving tests. The state has also seen a reduction in hit-and-run crashes and a “steep decline in people found guilty of unlicensed driving,” she said.
Providing licenses to “qualified applicants, regardless of immigration status” would ensure “more drivers are tested, that they know the rules of the road and comply with mandatory insurance laws,” while also serving as a step toward racial equity, Fitzpatrick added.
“The sad thing is, we want members of our community who are essential workers to be there when we need them, but we’re perpetuating an obstacle to their ability to drive to work legally by not passing this law,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s really just not right.”
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/CISA-Tanstaafl-Farm-FULL.mp3 Denise Leonard of Tanstaafl Farm in Greenfield talks to Monte and Phil about the menagerie they raise for meat, wool, eggs, and breeding stock, and their team of herding dogs.
Phil asks nerdy and important questions about land conservation and the difference between lamb and mutton.
Monte remains fascinated with the movie “Babe” (talking farm animals and pigs herding sheep).
See a full list of what Tanstaafl raises for sale in their CISA online guide listing, and call Denise at (413) 695-3101 with any questions or to place an order.
Published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, January 22nd, 2022
Every farm looks a bit different. Some have fields full of plants rooted in the earth, while for others, their “fields” are soil-filled trays, set indoors under lights, bursting with little green shoots. At Quabbin Hill Farms, where four young farmers are making their mark in Pelham, it’s a bit of both.
“We’re a diversified farm growing all kinds of local produce on our 17 acres, but the crux of our business is our greens,” explains business manager and co-founder Sadie Trombetta. “Especially our microgreens that we grow indoors all year round. We also raise hens and sell eggs, and a few years ago we got into hemp production and making CBD products.”
Quabbin Hill Farms was founded in 2017 by Michael Vilcans and his partner Molly Crookes, who were quickly joined by Trombetta and her partner Jason Awerman. Yet the idea was seeded years before.
“Michael and I started growing microgreens in our basement 8 or 9 years ago when we lived near Boston,” explains Crookes, who now serves as farm manager.
When the farm first took root, microgreens became their foundation. “There’s a lot of local food around here in the winter, but less fresh green stuff,” says Trombetta, “so microgreens seemed like a great niche.”
What are microgreens? It’s not a dumb question, stress Crookes and Trombetta. The two women enjoy unveiling the mystery for customers at local farmers’ markets, where they make most of the farm’s sales.
“Microgreens are what they sound like,” says Trombetta. “They’re small versions of many kinds of produce you know and love, from kale and arugula to less expected things like broccoli and carrots.
“They’re different than sprouts, which grow in a dark, wet environment,” adds Crookes. “We grow microgreens in small trays of soil under 24-hour light, adding a little water and nutrients.” With the right conditions, a batch of microgreens grows from seed to selling size in just 10 days.
How do you eat these nutrient-rich shoots? “Our nickname for them is vegetable confetti,” says Trombetta, “because you can throw them on anything. They’re a great way to experiment with different flavors, colors, and textures in things you’re already eating.” She also mentions sneaking them into dishes is easy – a healthy boost that picky eaters may not mind as much.
During warmer months microgreens and other salad greens they grow indoors are about a third of their sales. This time of year, it’s more like 70%, says Trombetta. “It really is our bread and butter, while our CBD is up and coming.”
Quabbin Hill Farms started growing hemp and making CBD products in 2019. Says Crookes, “my partner Michael – and Jason too – have such a good sense for growing hemp, figuring out what will grow well here and what strains have the cannabinoids we’re looking for.”
“Cannabinoids” refers to all the various compounds found in the cannabis plant. These include the better-known THC, with its psychoactive properties, and CBD, known for therapeutic qualities like reducing inflammation and calming feelings of anxiety – but there are hundreds of others as well.
Quabbin Hill Farms only grows hemp, meaning cannabis varieties with a full spectrum of CBD and related cannabinoids but hardly any THC. To isolate these, they first harvest and dry the hemp plants’ flowers, then extract these compounds into a carrier oil.
“Then I use that oil to make all our products,” explains Crookes. “Salves, roll-on oils, lip balms, and other things too. The whole process happens on our farm, so we’re really bringing you a product that’s seed-to-shelf.”
These products aren’t food, but Trombetta emphasizes how they’re an equally important part of the local farm economy. “Buying local is important not just for what you put into your body, but also what you put on your body.”
Trombetta and Crookes say farmers’ markets have been wonderful places to sell and meet customers, and also to talk shop and find support from other local farmers. Says Trombetta, “It feels like we can compete with these folks and still help each other out. In other industries that hasn’t been the same.” She and Crookes list Ziomek Farm in Hadley, G.O. Farm in Hatfield, and Stoneybrook Cider in South Hadley as just some of the farms they’ve leaned on.
This support is especially helpful as the four Quabbin Hill farmers look to grow into farming fulltime. Since they started, most of them have kept working off-farm jobs too. Trombetta also works in publishing. Crookes has long worked for a well-known cafe chain. Part of the reason they grow microgreens, raise chickens, and make CBD products is because they can do these things outside of mainstream work hours.
Says Trombetta, “our goal in the next 3-5 years is to become financially sustainable so we can walk away from our other jobs, focus on the farm, and to expand our crew – hiring people and contributing to our community in that way.”
Crookes also envisions an expansion of their CBD production and on-site farm stand, and hopefully licensure for growing cannabis beyond hemp.
Quabbin Hill Farms and the people who run it don’t quite fit many of the region’s farming stereotypes. They see that. They’re happy with it.
Says Trombetta, “I think a lot of millennials have a certain image of farming, and don’t think it’s the most ‘respectable’ job. But in reality, it’s incredibly challenging and rewarding – growing food and connecting with our community in ways that matter to people.”
“We’re a small farm,” adds Crookes, “but we have plenty of customers that keep coming back, and that feels like success.”
Quabbin Hill Farms sells at the Winter Farmers’ Market at the Hampshire Mall in Hadley, Saturday’s 10 – 2, some local retailers, and via their online farm store where pick-up or local delivery are available. They also have summer and winter CSA shares of greens, eggs, and produce, and can be found at the Amherst Farmers’ Market during the summer.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To explore more local food and farms in your neck of the woods, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/CISA-Queens-Greens-2022.mp3 Danya Teitelbaum of Queen’s Greens in Amherst talks about how they’re able to grow such a hefty haul of local greens in western Mass throughout the winter – 3,000 pounds per week!
Queen’s Greens used to sell year-round, but this year found their niche as a winter-only grower. The demand is there, says Danya. “People are super excited to eat fresh spinach and salad greens this time of year.” Plus it fits her and her partner Matt’s parenting schedule, and they’re darn good at winter farming.
Their greens are all grown in passive high tunnel greenhouses, “in natural soil, off-grid, with no heating or grow lights,” Danya shares. When the sun shines, it can be 50 degrees under there – a positive example of the greenhouse effect. Meanwhile, compared to some forms of winter growing, their low-energy operation contributes much less to the big bad greenhouse effect driving climate change.
Picked one day, brightening your winter plate the next. Find Queen’s Greens spinach and more in stores near you, many local restaurants, and on the salad bar at Smith College, Mt. Holyoke College, and UMass Amherst.
CISA’s Emergency Farm Fund accepting applications through February 7th.
Hear the full story from WAMC here.
“Financial help is being offered to farmers in western Massachusetts who had losses due to last summer’s record-setting rains.
Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) is making no-interest loans of up to $20,000 available to farmers in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties who are struggling to meet their immediate financial needs.
WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill spoke with CISA Executive Director Phil Korman.”
Farmers can learn more and apply for emergency assistance here.
“Like an artist’s artwork is their core creation for this world, a farmer has the food they grow. But if that food isn’t sold, they can’t stay in business,” says Phil Korman, CISA’s Executive Director.
CISA helps local farmers and food business owners to sell their creations so they CAN stay in business.
That’s the short story. The longer story involves confronting inequality, climate change and extreme weather, political dynamics, and a little thing call COVID, to name a few.
Hear how CISA helps local farms in this conversation with Tara Brewster of The Western Mass Business Show on WHMP.
https://whmp.com/podcasts/shows/taking-care-of-business
Farmers’ markets. There’s more to them than meets the eye. They’re places to buy your favorite locally grown food, and handmade treats and crafts. For socialization and entertainment. Even places for fighting hunger.
Thanks to the hard work of market organizers, elected officials, and other supporters, farmers’ markets are woven into the very center of civic life in many communities. Organizers like Jodi-Lyn Manning, owner and manager of the Farmers’ Market at Forest Park in Springfield, are working to draw more people towards that center to experience the benefits these markets have to offer.
Between summer and winter markets, the Farmers’ Market at Forest Park runs 11 months out of the year. Even in the winter, a diversity of local food abounds, says Manning, from “eggs, to cheese, milk, honey, maple syrup, mushrooms, chicken and duck, so much produce, and treats like wonderful German pastries too.”
And for produce, “it’s not just turnips and potatoes,” she says. Though there are plenty of the traditional winter staples, each produce vendor grows something year-round. “There’s always fresh lettuce, spinach, microgreens, broccoli – things like that.”
“Most of our vendors have been here at least 10 years, some 20,” says Manning who herself has moved back into the Forest Park neighborhood she grew up in. “There’s definitely loyalty, camaraderie, and respect, and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know and work with them.”
Manning started managing the Farmers’ Market at Forest Park last May, taking the reins from Belle Rita Novak who founded it in 1989. Before doing so, she says, “I never realized the magnitude of this industry. Managing a farmers’ market isn’t just setting up vendors in a parking lot. I’ve had a huge learning curve, while also educating the public on what an essential resource we are.”
Essential resource, critical infrastructure – whatever you want to call them, farmers’ markets earn the title by being incredibly strong, broad, and direct links between local farmers and a truly diverse cross-section of the community. Explaining how markets like Manning’s in Forest Park work to combat hunger is a great way to show this.
Hunger in western Massachusetts has skyrocketed during the pandemic, as Manning shares in a sobering statistic: “just in our zip code, 01108, between August 2020 and August 2021, the number of people on SNAP (the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) doubled.”
Luckily, mutual aid and several state-funded programs already exist to supplement SNAP and support people who’ve been financially squeezed by the broader economy. HIP, the Healthy Incentives Program, gives all MA residents with SNAP an extra $40 to $80 each month to spend on fresh produce grown by local farms. Meanwhile during the summer, Senior Farmers’ Market coupons provide eligible residents 60 and older $25 a year for use at certain farm stands and farmers’ markets, and those who qualify for WIC (the Women, Infants, and Children program) are mailed an extra $30 a year to spend specifically at farmers’ markets. These much be spent by October.
All three programs recognize the opportunity to improve hunger, public health, and the local economy simultaneously – hence the stipulation of spending these benefits on fresh produce directly from local farms.
Farmers’ markets are already meeting places where local farmers and shoppers gather. When their vendors are set up to accept payment via SNAP, HIP, WIC, or Senior Farmers’ Market coupons, markets become powerful focal points for realizing these synergistic benefits. The Farmers’ Market at Forest Park accepts all of these programs – and people are using them.
“We have one of the highest rates of return of Senior Farmers’ Market Coupons of any region in the state,” says Manning, meaning more coupons distributed in Springfield (by senior centers and service agencies) are actually being used at the Farmers’ Market at Forest Park than compared to other regions and farmers’ markets in Massachusetts.
Still, there are many more who could use these programs but don’t, leaving money on the table. “The number of people on SNAP who understand and use HIP is still very limited,” Manning says. State data puts the rate of Hampden County SNAP recipients using HIP last November at 6%.
It turns out if you build it, but not enough people know about it, they won’t come. To that end, “when I took official ownership of the market in August,” explains Manning, “our goal was to become a non-profit with a much larger outreach and education component.”
In November, with help from local politicians, the Farmers’ Market at Forest Park secured $75,000 in state funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to support just that. “We’re looking to partner with other agencies, and also to hire someone,” adds Manning, who is also putting together an advisory committee of vendors and community representatives to guide the market and how this money is spent.
In many ways the market is a community endeavor, and Manning is glad to collaborate and receive help from others. “I would not be here without CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture),” she says. “Most times when I’m stressed about something – whether it’s a legal question or a grant application – I call and they say ‘oh, we can help you with that.’ Between CISA and Mass Farmers’ Markets especially, I have good support.”
In the future, Manning also hopes to give the market a more consistent home, so people will always know where and when to come. “Going into our 24th year, I’m advocating for a permanent, year-round pavilion, hopefully still in Forest Park,” she says.
“I think we have tremendous possibility to be a much larger, more vibrant market, and I’m excited to see what the next five years looks like for us.”
The Winter Farmers’ Market at Forest Park runs every 2nd and 4th Saturday, January 8th through March, from 10 – 2 in the Shea Building accessed from Sumner Ave. Masks are required and physical distancing is observed.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about winter farmers’ markets near you, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally
https://www.buylocalfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/CISA-The-Farmer-and-The-Cheese.mp3 From CISA’s Local Hero Spotlight on WRSI, some real talk from farmer, dynamo, and master cheese-maker Shannon Rice-Nichols, owner of The Farmer and The Cheese.
Shannon’s tale is vast, spanning farmer collaborations to COVID chaos and tragedy to “a rather epic goat milk feta” and teaching Gordon Ramsey how to make pulled-curd mozzarella. Listen here, and don’t forget to visit their new creamery opening in March for ice cream, cheese, and so much more!
There’s a lot of moving pieces to Shannon’s operation, including…
The farm: among other things, they offer box membership shares and supply eggs and produce to the Go Fresh Mobile Farmers’ Market in Springfield. At the beginning of COVID, they also began diverting food that couldn’t be sold to restaurants to community members that needed it.
The Farmshop and Cafe: offering “seasonal farm produce, items made from our own and regional farm products, grab and go meals, and a café with a simple seasonal menu.” Online ordering too!
And now the creamery! (opening in March): house-made ice cream, yogurt, kefir, and of course cheese. Shannon is an official master cheese-maker with serious chops. Expect to find all kinds of cheese here, including “goat-cow milk Romano”…”mozzarella and cheddar cheese curds”…and Latin American cheeses inspired by local interest.
Where’s the name from? “Just before I moved here, my friend shared a dream that she read a book I wrote – a memoir called ‘The Farmer and The Cheese,” says Shannon, and she ran with it!
In this episode of “Food for Life”, Claire Morenon talks to Ashely Tresoline of Bella Foodie about how CISA supports local farms and helps everyone afford, find, and use the incredible array of delicious, locally grown food that surrounds us here in western Massachusetts.
Click here to watch it all!
Also in this episode:
- Fun ways you can get involved and enjoy local food
- Making local food more affordable
- How much local food is available throughout the winter
- How creative local farms and businesses have kept us well fed throughout the pandemic
- What the future holds
And more!