Basket of Yearling yarn

The buy local movement in the Valley not only encompasses eating local, but also wearing local. If you’re a knitter or a crocheter like me, you may not have asked yourself, “Who grew my yarn?” However, this is the question that inspired Lisa Fortin to establish Bloom Woolen Yarns, a business dedicated to growing, dying, and selling yarn and other products right here in the Valley. Fortin is a slow fashion enthusiast, and she created Bloom Woolen Yarns to bring high-quality, hand–dyed yarn to our local economy while keeping a small environmental footprint. I spoke with Fortin to learn more about how Western Massachusetts fiber products are an integral part of the greater buy local movement.  

Bloom Woolen Yarns created their first product less than three years ago, in January of 2021. This first yarn, a worsted weight called Yearling, is now just one product among many that Fortin sells online, at regional festivals, and at various retail locations like Northampton Wools and Atlas Farm. Her products include yarn of all different colors, sizes, and textures, as well as wool sponges, knitting patterns, and even a yarn CSA. Fortin’s yarns attain rich, earthy colors from organic and natural dyes, which lend them more character than your average store bought yarn. She often sources natural dyes from her own garden.

Fortin’s favorite part about her job: “Being able to work with beautiful natural fibers, with my hands, and growing plants.” She also loves working outdoors on her homestead, visiting farms, and meeting people. As for her passions beyond her business, Fortin notes, “Free range kids, homeschooling, natural parenting, lactation work, local food, organic vegetables, natural medicines, and handcraft in general.” She credits her four kids, Clara, Lily, Willow, and Zinnia, for playing a big role in her homesteading and business. 

Fortin’s Sheep – Photo Credit Candace Hope

When I spoke with her at her studio in Ashfield, we were surrounded by gorgeous hanging fiber arts, newly dyed, vibrant yarns – and even a funky chainmail costume piece. When I complimented this piece, she smiled and said, “That’s my past life.” She explained that her work used to focus on costuming and jewelry making. Since then, Fortin has become an avid knitter. She cultivated her passion for natural fibers once she got her own flock of Shetland sheep, and began sending their wool to a local mill. This produced farm yarn, which Fortin used for her personal knitting projects. Fortin noted that she really got into her fiber endeavor once the pandemic struck in 2020. Not only did she think to herself, “I should just make more yarn”, she also asked herself, “As a knitter, what would I like to knit with?” From there, she was driven to create her own comprehensive line of yarns – sock yarn, DK (double-knit), worsted weight, and aran – so that whether you want to knit a sweater, or socks, or baby clothes, or outerwear, you could source that yarn locally. 

As the pandemic continued, Fortin spoke with local farmers and learned that a lot of wool was not being used in its usual ways: it was quite literally piling up. She saw her opportunity, took backstock wool off their hands, and started up her business. Her first yarn came from of sheep and alpaca wools. When thinking back on this moment, Fortin said, “I was thrilled.” 

Today, Fortin still sources wool from her own flock, and supplements with wool from Leyden Glen Farm in Leyden, Four Blessings Farm in Leverett, and various farms in the area that have extra wool. She explained that different wools lend to different kinds of yarn: when she can collect soft fleeces, she makes her DK weight yarn called Babe, and when she collects rougher fleeces that are too coarse for wool, she makes sponges and dish clothes. These rougher fleeces are called waste wool, because it’s wool that farmers often dump. However, Fortin enjoys giving purpose to wool that may not necessarily be right for clothes.  

This ties back to her general philosophy around the business: to have a small environmental footprint. Fortin emphasized that she was driven to create her business in order to work against the fast fashion industry, which produces enormous amounts of waste and is increasingly destructive to both the environment and the local clothing economy. She remarked, “We can literally grow some of our own clothing here. We can’t grow cotton here, we can’t exactly do linen yet or hemp on a large scale, but we do have wool. So, every time we knit a sweater — and a knitted sweater you can wear over and over and often for many years — it’s one less thing that we have to buy at a big store. That is really underneath everything that I do.” 

Lisa Fortin in her garden

In addition to handmade clothing, Fortin promotes thrifting and buying second hand. She added, “I do recognize that not everybody has the time or inclination or knowledge to make all of their things, but they can support people that are doing that work.” 

When you buy local yarn, you are often receiving a higher-quality, longer lasting product than your average store bought fibers. Just like when you buy local food, buying local fiber products helps to steward environmental health while supporting the local economy. You can find Bloom Woolen Yarn Products at Northampton Wools, Atlas Farm, regional festivals in season, and online at https://www.bloomwoolenyarns.com/ . 

The gorgeous gardens

If you are looking for sustainably grown nursery plants, gorgeous cut flowers, and thoughtful and personalized landscape design, Wilder Hill Gardens, run by Lilian Jackman, will check all your boxes in a beautifully and lovingly curated setting. Jackman began the business 30 years ago and has been tending the gardens at her current site on South Shirkshire Road in Conway for 21 years. I visited Jackman to talk about her growing practices and what she loves about what she does.

Jackman grows her nursery plants and flowers with sustainable methods and holds goals “to provide well grown nursery stock while using as little petroleum as possible.” To meet these goals, Jackman and her employees do not use heavy equipment, herbicides, or pesticides, and fertilizer is only used on shrubs that are grown in pots for an extended period of time. She also grows her flower and herb starts within passive solar-powered cold frames to keep them warm and safe when they are still tiny.

A cold frame full of starts

Additionally, Jackman minimizes waste in her operation by reusing and repurposing materials. She explains that, “If I’m digging up sod or raking up leaves, I just move it from place to place.” She has also taken care to use cover crops to build a thick layer of topsoil, which allows her plants to thrive from seed to adulthood. Jackman emphasizes the need to care for her plants during their entire life cycle, explaining that, “a lot of times people think buying the plant and putting it in the ground (is the entire process of nursery plants), and that’s just the very last part of it. So much of (growing healthy plants) is about soil.”

Lilacs in bloom

On top of providing locally grown nursery stock that is hardy to the weather conditions of New England, Jackman provides landscape design services for customers’ outdoor spaces and creates floral arrangements for weddings. She approaches landscape design as “an opportunity to create habitat” for pollinators and other wildlife, and explains that everyone can have an outdoor space that balances beauty, comfort, and ecological wellness. Some of the flowers grown at Wilder Hill Gardens are there for customers to cut and take home, and they also grow up to be the floral arrangements for weddings and other special events.

Wilder Hill Gardens is not only your one-stop shop for quality nursery stock, landscaping, and flowers, but it is also a beautiful place in itself for wandering and enjoying the gorgeousness. The thought and care that Jackman has invested into Wilder Hill is evident in the design of the gardens, and a visit to pick up some shrubs can easily turn into a stroll through the exquisite plant communities.

The printing studio

Jackman explains that the most rewarding part of her work is that “I get to live in a beautiful place,” and she wants to share that beauty with everyone who visits. Her intention with growing at Wilder Hill is “creating something that draws people,” and she loves the community that comes from customers visiting, enjoying the sense of place, and getting to know her and her team of employees and volunteers.

You can visit Wilder Hill Gardens any time and experience the peacefulness and contemplativeness of the space. As someone with diverse creative pursuits, Jackman also enjoys printmaking during the off-season, and she has a printing press and studio on the property. She is offering introductory printing classes in her studio for three days in the fall. For more information you can go to the printing press website, https://www.wilderhillpress.com/. For Wilder Hill Gardens information, you can visit the Garden website, https://www.wilderhillgardens.com/.

Wheelhouse Farm connects their guests with seasonal food from the Valley through custom menus that will please foodies and casual diners alike. Starting as a food truck and farm in 2014, Wheelhouse has transformed into a catering and events company with a permanent kitchen in Amherst that sources local food. They cater throughout the year, hold farm dinners during the warmer months, and supply the food served at Artifact Cider’s Cellar Taproom in Florence. I spoke with Jake Mazar and Will Van Heuvelen, co-founders of Wheelhouse and Business Director and Executive Chef, respectively. We discussed Wheelhouse’s local and regional sourcing and the workplace culture they have created through the years.

Part of Wheelhouse’s mission is to create seasonal menus from food grown and raised in western  Massachusetts for their events. That goal, in Van Heuvelen’s words, “provides strength” to the organization.“Our superpower is that we’re forcing ourselves to work with producers in this area,” as the foods grown in the Valley have the benefits of growing in wonderful soil and being tended by “incredible growers.” The co-founders and their staff love the challenge of creating menus that highlight what is in season for every event they cater.

Photo Credit: Stephanie Gibbs

Committing to local sourcing also helped Wheelhouse become part of the fabric of the food community in the Valley. Mazar says that “connection to food and the local community is at the heart of what we’re doing,” and Van Heuvelen explains that their food is “an opportunity to celebrate the cultural heritage of the Valley and all the things that contribute to the Valley’s sense of place.”

Mazar and Van Heuvelen both apprenticed at Brookfield Farm before starting Wheelhouse, and so have personal connections to many farms in the area now run by fellow apprentices from that same timeframe. These ties go beyond a transactional buyer-seller relationship as they help each other out throughout the season. Farmers will let Wheelhouse know when they have a surplus of one vegetable or another so that they can buy it in bulk, and Wheelhouse staff will help with tasks like planting garlic or skinning greenhouses for their partner farms. Wheelhouse deeply values its connections with the farms in the area and takes pride in helping to build a sense of community in the Valley.

Photo Credit: Stephanie Gibbs

On top of creating delicious food and fostering relationships with local farms, Wheelhouse sets itself apart by having a hard-working and creative team of people working for the business. Mazar and Van Heuvelen agreed that the greatest reward of running Wheelhouse is the people they work with. Mazar says that they “take a lot of pride in making a work environment and culture that people feel good about,” and both want to highlight that while “we had the seed for it, what it’s become is a really big, diverse, collective effort.” In particular, Stephanie Gibbs, General Manager, and Gabrielle Chapman, Executive Chef, have been at Wheelhouse for years, and Mazar says that they are the “lifeblood of the business.” As they have grown, the team has become more responsible for the day-to-day operations than ever before.

Photo Credit: Dakota Horton

Mazar and Van Heuvelen have been able to foster their team and keep people long-term by creating a supportive and welcoming workplace environment. Van Heuvelen says that we live in a culture in which “we pretend that there is this fictional ‘professional persona’ and this fictional ‘personal persona’ that you can leave at home or bring to work,” but at Wheelhouse they acknowledge that everyone is a whole person and this false dichotomy of work and personal personas is not realistic. Staff at Wheelhouse are supported through regular check-ins with Mazar and Van Heuvelen where they talk about how to make their workloads feel sustainable. Additionally, staff have clear boundaries of when work starts and ends, so no one is expected to be working after their hours end for the day.

Van Heuvelen also highlighted that “we are constantly investing in the people who work with us” by helping them grow and learn new skills. The co-founders treat gaps in knowledge as opportunities for growth and as a result do not expect every staff person they hire to know everything when they start at Wheelhouse. They are excited to help new staff learn and show that they care about staff as people, not just employees who produce for the company.

Photo Credit: Stephanie Gibbs

Van Huevelen summarizes their workplace culture philosophy as “it’s about investing in people, it’s about setting appropriate expectations, and it’s about treating people not as machines but as human beings who change and evolve with circumstances, and anticipating and welcoming that.”

By sourcing local food, fostering relationships with local farms, and supporting their staff, Wheelhouse seems to be fulfilling its goal of building community through its catering business. 2021-2022 is shaping up to be Wheelhouse’s biggest season for growth ever, with about 15 full-time and 50 part-time staff working at events throughout the year. Mazar says that they are currently “at the precipice of fulfilling this part of the vision” of making Wheelhouse an established catering resource in the Valley, and I am excited to see whatever Wheelhouse envisions for their future.

Information about Wheelhouse, including how to inquire about catering for your event and upcoming farm dinners (the next one is at Black Birch Vineyard in July) can be found on their website.

A place for community gathering, discussion, and celebration while also providing fresh, local food to everyone – that is the Holyoke Farmers’ Market. Starting as an unofficial gathering of farmers selling their goods in front of City Hall in 1913, the Holyoke Farmers’ Market became an official market in 1979 and has since become a vital resource in the community, providing both food and a place of belonging.

The market is run as a collaboration between the Holyoke Chamber of Commerce and the Holyoke Food and Equity Collective, with John “JR” Rivera of the latter serving as the market manager. Rivera grew up in Holyoke, but did not know the market existed until the pandemic prompted him to find new ways to serve his community. Once he discovered it, he got involved in any way he could, taking up the role of market manager midway through the summer season in July 2021. He continues to run the winter season now.

I spoke with Rivera about the market’s roles as a social hub and source of fresh food in Holyoke, along with his hopes for the future of the market. As he describes it, it’s  a “communal place of gathering” where everyone can “not only buy produce, but support local businesses, talk about local businesses, even talk about politics – local, national, whatever it might be.” With its longstanding history, the market is a dependable event in the community that residents can anticipate every week.

Atlas Farm Booth
Photo Credit: K Givner

Rivera explains that Holyoke is a “city of festivals” that celebrates the community throughout the year with events like Celebrate Holyoke, A Taste of South Holyoke, and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and the market has become one of these communal events. “The child in me is excited every week,” Rivera says, demonstrating that the market is a source of fun for all.

In addition to providing a gathering spot, the market is both the site of and result of community organization and collaboration. Rivera loves seeing that the people in power in the area, “whether that’s state representatives, city councilors, community leaders [come] together to utilize the market as a space of ‘what can we dream of within our community?’” And the dream of organizations from Holyoke and greater Hampden County collaborating for the market has become a reality. The Holyoke Chamber of Commerce and Holyoke Food and Equity Collective work together to run the market, but Rivera gladly points out how it’s supported by relationships with local businesses like Crave Food Truck (and now brick and mortar restaurant), food-related nonprofits, the city councilors of Holyoke, and other farmers’ markets. The entire community is rallying around the market to ensure that it reaches its potential.

Atlas Farm Booth
Photo Credit: K Givner

Of course, the market also  feeds the community and helps people build relationships with local farmers. Atlas Farm in South Deerfield and D&R Farm in Hampden have both been “anchor vendors” at the market for years, providing a consistent presence for customers to recognize. Atlas Farm always has new and exciting vegetables to try, and D&R farm has products like summer squash available all year thanks to their greenhouses. Farmers from Nuestras Raíces in Holyoke also sell at the market in the summer, bringing the produce needed to make sofrito and also selling jarred sofrito that Rivera says can easily be stored and frozen for months.

D & R Farm Booth
Photo credit: K Givner

Produce at the market is made more affordable thanks to the variety of nutrition assistance programs that can be used to pay for food at the market. The market accepts Senior and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) Farmers’ Market Coupons, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – formerly Food Stamps) benefits, and HIP (Healthy Incentives Program) benefits. Let’s Move Hampden County 5210, a health-focused organization originally based in Holyoke, is also providing $20 vouchers to use at the market for new customers.

Let’s Move Hampden County 5210 Table
Photo Credit: K Givner

What is extra accessible about the market is that the market itself is registered with the state as a HIP-eligible vendor, which means that customers can purchase fruits and vegetables from any farm at the market and use HIP money to pay for it. HIP is a program that provides $40-$80 per month in free extra SNAP money for SNAP recipients to spend on locally-grown fruits and vegetables.

The number of HIP-eligible locations in the state is limited, so having the entire market able to take HIP opens the door for more customers to access healthy local produce. Meanwhile, many farmers – for example, those from Nuestras Raíces – are not able to accept HIP on their own, so being at the market allows them to sell their produce to a customer base that would otherwise be inaccessible to them. This situation is a win-win-win for the farmer, the customer, and our food system. The farmers can sell more produce, the customers have access to more produce, and the money stays in the Pioneer Valley.

Rivera envisions a future where the market, along with other community organizations, can continue transforming the food landscape of Holyoke for the better. He wants to “make Holyoke a food oasis instead of a food desert” by providing fresh, local food for the entire Holyoke community at the market. With the support already here for the market from community leaders and organizations, it is not hard to imagine his dream becoming reality!

The Holyoke Winter Farmers’ Market is currently running on Saturdays, 10am-2pm inside the War Memorial Building on 310 Appleton Street in Holyoke. The remaining dates for the season are February 19th, March 5th, and March 19th.

Stillman Quality Meats, based in Hardwick, raises chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigs, cows, and lamb to produce delicious, local meat with a uniquely vertically integrated business model. Started in 2006 by Kate Stillman, who wanted to start a farm business that was different from her father’s vegetable farm and her grandparents’ dairy farm, Stillman Quality Meats has grown today to be a far more robust operation than Kate ever expected. The farm sells raw meat cuts along with a wide variety of value-added meat products like deli meats, bacon, meatballs, pot pies, and sausage (they make over 150 flavors!), and what makes them unique in the region is that they process all of their meat on-site thanks to their skilled butcher. I visited Stillman at the farmstead in Hardwick, and she told me all about the farm’s business model, growing practices, and upcoming projects on the farm.

The Stillman Quality Meats Sign

In New England, local meat producers can face challenges in their production due to a bottleneck in the availability of animal processing. While a farm can raise as many animals as they wish, when it comes time for them to be sent to the slaughterhouse and turned into cuts of meat, wait times can be interminable. At Adams Farm Slaughterhouse in Athol (where Stillman has her large animals slaughtered), their processing is booked out for the entirety of 2022. As she puts it, “What’s preventing local meat from growing is processing. Farms can’t get their stuff processed.”

Stillman Quality Meats has no such issue, however, because early on in the development of the business Stillman decided to take processing into her own hands. The farm has a poultry abattoir that allows them to slaughter and process their own poultry, and Stillman says “once the birds get here as day old chicks they never leave the farm until I put them in a customer’s bag.” The skilled butcher on site allows them to have their animals slaughtered at Adams Farm, take them back whole, and then complete the process of turning the animal into cuts of meat to be sold on their farmstead. The ability to cut their own animals has allowed them to keep up with demand and grow their business since it began.

Stillman also attributes her success to a diversified product line. She says, “my goal is not to raise more animals to make money. My goal is to make more money off of the per animal basis” by truly maximizing and utilizing every part of the animal. This goal has led the farm to developing a robust line of value-added products that are all prepared in the farm’s commercial kitchen. “My butcher is cutting meat as much as he is grinding meat to make meatballs,” which gives them appeal to a wide customer base that includes people who want raw cuts of meat and people who want easier-to-prepare products.

The Cows At Stillman Quality Meats

The animals on the farm are treated humanely and sustainably. All of the animals are put out on pasture so they have space to roam, and they are fed a custom mix from a nearby farmer. Stillman says her “feed was mixed and made an hour or 20 minutes before it gets here. That’s really fresh. And that matters to the animals. That is probably the single most important factor.” Stillman emphasizes how much she prioritizes treating the animals in such a way that they live high-quality lives that lead to high-quality meat, and she also manages them on the farm such that “we’re building and making a more sustainable farm here. They’re improving the pastures and the woods. We’re regenerating a farm.”

The farmstead building in Hardwick

Thanks to a devoted customer base and the rising local meat movement, the farm is working on projects to expand its public presence. Stillman is making the farmstead in Hardwick a retail location and destination where she hopes to hold butcher classes, informational sessions, tastings, and more events once the space is completed in late spring, 2022. Additionally, they are creating a brand-new website with a more robust e-commerce system that should be launching in January, 2022. The website launch will be celebrated with a few new flavors of meatballs, pot pies, and perhaps sausages, along with special promotions for delivery orders.

Right now, you can find Stillman at farmers’ markets in the Boston area and buy meat for delivery on their website here. It is not too late to place an order for your holiday meal! The butcher can trim and tie a roast for you, there are 12 flavors of bacon to choose from for a delicious breakfast, and their acclaimed Santa Sausage is a flavor available only at this time of year.

Astarte is the Phoenician Goddess of Fertility, and Astarte Farm in Hadley lives up to its namesake by nurturing the earth so that it will be fertile, thriving, and full of life for generations to come. Growing a wide range of vegetables with no-till, organic, sustainable practices, Astarte Farm seeks to create a healthy and resilient agricultural ecosystem that can stand the tests of time. Astarte also fosters a sustainable work environment by building relationships among all of the staff, past and present. The co-managers at Astarte Farm are retaining their crew members over the years and creating a new model of what the farm as a workplace can be by ensuring everyone can have a work-life balance and be their whole selves at work.

Historically a wholesale operation, Astarte launched its first-ever CSA share program for the 2021 growing season, and it was such a success that membership is almost doubling for 2022. I visited the farm and spoke with Ellen Drews and Amelia Mead, Co-Farm Managers who have been running the day-to-day at Astarte since January of 2020. We discussed the farm’s CSA program and the co-managers’ experience of being two young women farmers cultivating a spirit of positivity in their crew and learning from the older generation that started Astarte.

Drews and Mead were both drawn to the farm because of its sustainable practices and mission as well as the prospect of being able to work with one another. Mead’s father, Jim Mead, bought the farm in 2014 from founder Dan Pratt and helped spearhead the farm’s transition to no till. Mead was always interested in sustainable farming, and when she met Drews for the first time during the farm manager interview process, she decided to co-manage the farm so the two of them could work together.

Drews has a history of working on sustainable farms, including a 3-year period at nearby Brookfield Farm. During the 2018 season at Brookfield there were historic rains in the Valley, and Drews says “the crops really suffered.” That 2018 season led Drews to search for different strategies of farming in the face of climate change. She learned about no till from a friend and was fascinated by the philosophy. When the farm manager position at Astarte opened, Drews contacted Jim, and after seeing the farm and meeting Mead she knew it was the right time for her to start something new.

The crew planting garlic

Astarte Farm not only uses a wide variety of sustainable growing practices, but also prides itself on creating a work environment that’s sustainable for everyone who works there. They cultivate a workplace where everyone, as Drews says, can “show up as their whole self … [and] take care of themselves, and not just be expected to meet deliverables.” The co-managers are successfully creating this atmosphere; the farm boasts high staff retention and enthusiasm from the field crew because they feel welcomed and supported. The farm’s crew leader, Sadie Higgins, is returning to Astarte for her third year next year, and most of the farm crew is returning next year. This year Higgins ran the greenhouse, and each crew member will oversee their own specific project on the farm in 2022.

Creating a work-life balance is key in creating crew sustainability. The crew works almost entirely on a Monday through Friday schedule, with minimal weekend work. Astarte will also never produce winter greens so everyone can take winters off. The full-time crew in 2021 was completely composed of women, and they feel proud to bring the “divine femininity” of Astarte to the farm. The “opportunity to be a young female and run an operation like this is really awesome,” says Mead. Both co-managers are thrilled to be creating a new model of what farm managers and the farm as a workplace can be.

The farm’s work environment also benefits from knowledge of the previous generation. Dan Pratt sold the farm in 2014, but is still a farm employee and helps with various projects, from running the YouTube channel to writing grant applications to helping with garlic planting.

Drews says of Pratt’s role: “farms are figuring out how to pass the farm and the land on to the next generation, [which] can be a confusing, painful process. I think it’s pretty rad that Dan’s still connected to this land even if he’s not farming full time, and that we’re still drawing on all his hard-earned knowledge.”

Meanwhile, farm owner Jim Mead is a mentor to Mead and Drews who offers guidance when they ask for it and trusts them to run the day-to-day farm operations when they don’t. The younger Mead appreciates that her father stays in the background and lets her and Drews make most of the decisions on the farm, and says that, “what’s been really special about this opportunity is … Ellen (Drews) and I get to run this project together.” Drews has a similar sentiment, sharing, “He’s the perfect boss for me at this stage in my career because he is so supportive, trusts me so much, and is really only there when I need him. Otherwise he lets us do what we want to do and trusts us to be running this thing.”

In part to foster positive relationships with the local community in addition to within the farm, Astarte established a CSA program for the first time this year, where members receive shares via a contactless pickup each week. A typical share includes many different kinds of veggies, a “treat of the season” like winter squash, peppers, or asparagus, and access to a robust selection of pick-your-own produce like berries, herbs, cherry tomatoes, and beans. The CSA was so successful this year that Drews and Mead have decided to grow the program from 35 members in 2021 to 60 members in 2022. Pick-your-own strawberries and a full herb garden will be in the mix in 2022 as well.

The CSA also allows them to communicate the benefits of no till and Astarte’s other sustainable practices as they engage with members. Mead says that “as a wholesale grower we were kind of missing out on that opportunity to have that communal connection and to have that sphere to talk about this no-till stuff, which we’re so jazzed about,” but the CSA fills that void.

Basil available to CSA members

The farm also made it a priority to make the CSA accessible to all members of the community by enrolling themselves as a SNAP-eligible vendor. Zoey at CISA supported Astarte as they applied to become SNAP authorized and created a SNAP CSA with the MA Department of Transitional Assistance. Sign-ups for the 2022 CSA season are open now, and you can sign up HERE.

Astarte Farm proves that farming sustainably doesn’t mean just taking care of the land for future generations, but taking care of people, too. Supporting the farm crew who provide food for the community and fostering relationships with the people who eat that food are key to creating a farm that will thrive in the future. When the people who work at the farm feel supported and can maintain a good quality of life, they can be a crew that sustains into the future. Astarte Farm, along with other farms in the area, are figuring out what this new definition of a sustainable farm looks like, and they will be here growing vegetables and community for many years to come.

Resilient should be every farmer’s middle name, and this is especially true for the Jensen family of Mountain Orchard, in Granville, Massachusetts. Having been in operation for more than 100 years, they’ve experienced just about every good and bad thing that a family orchard can: storm damage, expansion, personal loss, market changes, and new opportunities. But they have remained resilient, nonetheless.

Anne Jensen and Christina Jensen Teter, mother and daughter, co-owners and operators, shared their story of the evolution of Mountain Orchard. Christina is now the third generation of Jensen’s to run the family business.

The roots of Mountain Orchard began with Christina’s grandparents and Anne’s in-laws, Edward Sr and Anna Jensen, who purchased the original orchard in Granville in 1919. Edward Sr established the orchard over the years and later his son, Edward Jr, became involved in the operation where he brought his curiosity and innovativeness to the operation.

Edward Jr’s wife, Anne, described that, “He liked to try new things and was inspired by some new concepts.” He integrated a controlled atmosphere storage room, a novel addition at the time, which improved their storage capacity and longevity, and provided them with an advantage to grow and establish new markets.

In the coming years the farm expanded when the Jensen family purchased a neighboring orchard. This expansion came to be their saving grace when a hailstorm in 1987 decimated their entire apple crop. With unbeatable losses, the Jensen family eventually sold the original property ten years later.

Christina and her family came back to the orchard in 1999 when she and her husband began to take the reins of the family business. But when Christina’s husband passed and later her father, she and her mother were left to continue the legacy of Mountain Orchard.

The two women have remained resilient despite their heavy losses and have continued to make an impact in the local food scene through their dedication and adaptability. Christina sees local food and their role within it as “a vital part of our community” and without it, it’d be “like losing your right arm” – nothing would ever be the same with the absence of it.

Anne reflects on this as she has seen the number of orchards in the area dwindle in the years they’ve been in the business, but states that, “We feel great to still be here and provide work for local people and a product that people are looking for.”

As wholesalers, Mountain Orchard helps maintain this vitality in their communities by supplementing other local farm stands and farmers’ markets with their products and selling to outlets like Big Y where their products can reach even more people.

Christina and Anne describe how market demands have changed since first opening the orchard over 100 years ago. Much of their orchard is cultivated with traditional apple varieties like Macintosh, which have decreased in popularity. But in adapting to these market changes, they realized that partnering with cidery’s would be a great outlet for their products. Christina explains that, “Mac’s are a really good base when you’re making hard cider, they’re also a nice semi-sweet, tart apple that can be used to help balance sweeter ciders.”

Another market avenue they have been exploring includes working with an entrepreneur who is looking to build a culinary line of traditional apple recipes, with some that date as far back as the Pilgrims. With Mountain Orchard’s traditional apple varieties, Christina sees this as a potentially exciting collaboration in the future.

Last year Mountain Orchard began doing pick-your-own apples, another service that they found benefitted their community, especially during COVID-19. Christina states that, “People wanted to get out and do something and this was one of the few things they could do.”

This fall Mountain Orchard will begin their second season of PYO apples that will run weekends throughout September and October. To learn more, check out their website Mountain Orchard – Granville Massachusetts.

A hub for good is the simplest way to describe The People’s Pint in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Now having been in the community for almost 25 years, the People’s Pint has proven to be a restaurant where you can find good food, good beers, good company, and good business practices.

Founder and owner, Alden Booth, opened The People’s Pint in 1997 with his previous business partner, Dan Young. Dan has since pursued his own business venture in Michigan, and Alden now co-owns the restaurant with his wife, Lissa Greenough. Since day one, they took an active approach in creating a closed-loop system that reduces waste and utilizes local resources. From lugging food scraps home to compost, to bringing tomatoes from their garden to feature on the menu, they did whatever they could when they first started.

As the business evolved, they’ve built other partnerships to maintain this regenerative and local cycle. They now partner with a farm in Gill that uses their brewing waste as livestock feed, Compost Cooperative for food waste, and numerous local farms like Atlas Farm and Jekanowski Farm to get the freshest products.

The overlap of Alden and Lissa’s lifestyle and their business model has been a seamless pairing. As gardeners, composters, bee and chicken keepers, and mushroom cultivators, the integration of these aspects into their business was undeniable. The idea behind The People’s Pint was aimed at working closely with the local community and harnessing what it has to offer. They have worked with and supported over 60 local farms and businesses in the region.

Alden explains that one of the wonders of buying locally is the ability to work with seasonal offerings. Seasonality provides them with an ever-changing menu and the creative opportunity to showcase seasonal staples in a variety of unique ways.

The local food scene has grown substantially since The People’s Pint first came into business and they certainly have grown with it. In the early days of the restaurant, Alden shares that he would ride his bike to nearby farms and establish first-hand partnerships with local farmers, some of which still hold strong today. While this approach isn’t always feasible with the scale of their current operation, they still uphold their partnerships with the same authenticity.

In the evolution of the local food movement in western Massachusetts, Alden and Lissa both expressed appreciation for the network and support CISA has been able to build, with Lissa stating that “it [CISA] really gave a huge impetus to the whole movement.” But as the old proverb goes, “it takes a village”, and it truly does. The work CISA does wouldn’t be possible without people like Alden, Lissa, and all the other amazing Local Heros.

Their sustainably minded approaches to business are part of what they hope attracts people to their establishment. During your next trip to The People’s Pint, you’ll notice some exciting changes like their addition of solar hot water and bi-fold windows in the front of the restaurant that creates a refreshing open-air concept.

But there is no denying that their menu and seasonal offerings are the star of the show. Come see for yourself and give your tastebuds a treat at The People’s Pint, located on Federal Street in downtown Greenfield.

When looking over the locally renowned Tuesday Market in Northampton, the founder and owner of Bueno Y Sano, Bob Lowry, reflects on the beauty of the local food movement here in the Pioneer Valley.  Beyond the vibrant spreads of fruits and vegetables, he sees the movement as an “incredible beehive of entrepreneurship” that brings empowerment and meaning to our communities. This type of empowerment, meaning, and community nourishment is exactly what Lowry has been able to cultivate in his own business.

The idea that grew into Bueno Y Sano began with a late-night burrito on Nantucket, a restaurant for sale in Amherst, and Lowry’s desire to be the kind of boss where people are positively reinforced and encouraged. As a UMass alum, he knew the attraction for food that downtown Amherst possessed. The pieces began to fall into place when he was reminded of that burrito on Nantucket and thought “I can do this”. After a little research and outreach, it was clear that burritos would do exceptionally well in the college town – and did they ever!  Within months, Bueno Y Sano transformed from a business plan on paper to a full-on brick and mortar restaurant, which has become a Fresh Mex gem in the Valley.

Since the first location opened in Amherst at the beginning of 1995, the company has expanded to five other locations across Massachusetts and one location in South Burlington, Vermont. Apart from establishing roots across locations, Bueno Y Sano has been able to develop roots that go much deeper. In the decades of operation, Bueno has remained a family business that now has employees who span generations. Alongside Lowry’s family, a family from El Salvador have been the primary people managing, staffing, and operating the company. One of the first employees was Florentina — she and her son, Rolando, are now part-owners of the company with Lowry. Bob reflects on this and how his family and the families of his employees have literally grown together over the years. Together they celebrate their children’s birthdays and other milestones, which has brought a whole new level of meaning and empowerment into the company and their lives.

The growth of Bueno Y Sano has been far-reaching in so many ways but especially in our communities. They are active in a variety of initiatives that range from support of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County to the purchasing of locally grown and made products. Lowry emphasizes the practicality of buying some of their staple ingredients locally when available. The simplicity and authenticity of their menu allows local ingredients like jalapeños, chili peppers, tomatoes, and kimchi from Hosta Hill to take center stage. They even take some production into their own hands by now producing house-made seitan.

The mental and physical nourishment of each other and the community is something that has long resonated within Bueno Y Sano, and you can feel it when you step inside. The atmosphere is always warm, welcoming, and easy, with a menu that can appease anyone’s tastebuds. In honor of Eat Local month, stop by one of Bueno Y Sano’s Local Hero locations in Amherst, Northampton, South Deerfield, or West Springfield to get your taste of Fresh Mex food with a local flair or order online at Bueno Y Sano | Fresh Mex Restaurant | Burritos.  You can also find Bueno Y Sano at the Transperformance Live Tribute Music Fundraiser at the Pines Theater in Look Park on August 17, 2021.

Photo by Candace Hope

“People know to look for organic when food shopping, but don’t often think that way about their flowers,” says Kel of Many Graces in Hadley. Their partner Rebecca, founder of Many Graces, points out that flowers, like food, can be sourced locally and sustainably. For Rebecca farming is about tapping into something beyond ourselves and listening to the rhythms of the farm. “I want people to feel the magic that got us started in the first place.”

Before starting Many Graces, Rebecca got her start growing flowers at Next Barn Over Farm in the summer of 2015 while getting her PhD in English literature. Over the next few years, Rebecca found the call of the farm and the flowers irresistible, returning to start a flower CSA through Next Barn Over. Little did she know she was incubating what would become Many Graces! In 2018, Rebecca decided the time was right to pursue her passion. “It was a scary decision,” Rebecca says of deciding to leave her PhD program to farm full-time. “But thanks to the support of Ray at Next Barn Over and the faith my friends and mentors had in me I was able to do it!” Rebecca officially started Many Graces in 2018.

For their part, Kel had been helping Rebecca get Many Graces established while managing a high-end interior design team, traveling to New York City every week from the Pioneer Valley. The COVID-19 pandemic suddenly made this untenable for Kel and caused them to revise their values. “It became abundantly clear that the work I was doing was not sustainable for a variety of reasons. I was deemed an ‘essential worker’ as a way to appease the ultra-wealthy so their interior design projects could be completed, all while they had effectively escaped Manhattan for their own safety. The pandemic served to reorient me and I decided to spend my time working for and with people who I can proudly stand behind, and I dove headfirst into helping Rebecca save the farm.”

Now in their fourth season, Kel and Rebecca bring the beauty of flowers to consumers in the Pioneer Valley and beyond. What began as a small flower CSA has blossomed into CSA subscriptions serving the Pioneer Valley and Boston, a burgeoning floral design studio, wholesaling throughout the Northeast, and one-time bouquet deliveries for western Massachusetts. Many Graces’ flowers can also be found at the Saturday Amherst Farmers’ Market and the Tuesday Market in Northampton. New this year, Kel and Rebecca have started a curated pick-your-own tour of the flowers at their main site in Hadley, which happens every Sunday until September 12th. Kel explains, “We want our community to know that you can grow mind-blowing flowers here in organic and thoughtful ways. We want to actively undermine the highly problematic global cut flower industry.”

For Rebecca, flowers are an expression of poetry. The name Many Graces itself acknowledges the poetry of the Earth. Care for the land is central to the couple’s philosophy; farming is as much about soil and water as it is about plants. They use a wide variety of sustainable methods to keep flowers and the land healthy: beneficial insects, companion planting, bait planting, compost teas, and much more. “This small corner of the world,” says Kel, “is our space to make a difference – to work with the Earth and to care for our flowers, the pollinators, and the land in a way that makes a positive impact.” Many Graces’ farmers truly see their farm as a living, breathing extension of the Earth and of the community. This means not only caring for the Earth but caring for people as well. “As queer people, we get to create a safe, intentional environment for people to work and share space on the small pieces of land that we are caretaking,” says Rebecca. “This is a work in progress to build community.”

Click here for more information on where to find their flowers, or to buy from their online shop. Tickets are available on their website for Frolic!, a pick-your-own event held every Sunday through September 12th at their main field at 15 Lawrence Plain Road in Hadley.

Local Hero Profile by Sarah Lucia, CISA TerraCorp Service Member
Published in CISA’s July 2021 enewsletter

If you are passing through Agawam and in need of fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, or plants, Granny’s Place is the place to be. Currently in their 13^th year as a farm, Granny’s Place provides fresh produce for Hampden County year-round. The farm is a family affair, operated by the Seldomridge family: Jody, Rick, and their children. The land was passed down from Jody’s grandmother, originally starting with only 18 acres where they would grow lettuce for farm shares. Now, they are farming 300 acres of land, scattered in plots across town. They are truly customer-oriented; their customers are their community.

Upon arriving at the farm stand, their greenhouses are immediately visible, filled to the brim with colorful flowers, hanging baskets, fig trees, and vegetable plants galore. During the winter, the greenhouses can be flipped and used to grow produce like tomatoes, even in the New England cold. Nestled into the suburban/urban atmosphere of Agawam lie multiple fields, spread out around town, where the family is able to grow their summer crops. These fields provide fresh produce in a town where produce can be challenging to find. The vegetables are grown as organically and naturally as possible, though Rick acknowledges that this can be challenging, as they face pests, poor weather, and other setbacks like the drought last year. Locally grown produce is better for the land and better for the community, carrying less traveled miles and less harsh chemicals and allowing the customers to meet the people growing the produce.

The Granny’s Place Farm Stand is two years old and a bustling connecting point for the community. Their stand is a blessing to the farm as it brings in valuable customers and allows them to carry refrigerated and chilled products. Their farm store has a wide variety of products, but some of the stars of the show are their heirloom tomatoes, corn, squash, and local eggs and honey. They carry culturally relevant foods as well, such as yams, plantains, yucca, and other difficult-to-find products for the local community.

Just as the farm gives to the community through good food, the community gives back to the farm and the family behind it. Jody recounted how the community rallied around the farm; their house, located right next to the farm stand, burned down, and the community surrounded them with help, supporting the farm, bringing things as simple as paper towels or anything that might be needed. In return, Jody, Rick, and their children “try to help a lot of people” by making their food accessible and affordable.

They welcome SNAP and HIP customers at their stand. Inside the farm store, signs clearly label products than can be purchased with HIP, allowing customers to make confident choices. HIP, or the Healthy Incentives Program, gives SNAP recipients an extra $40-$80 every month for fresh fruits and vegetables at certain local farmers’ markets and farm stands. Granny’s Place is one of the few HIP locations in this community, allowing SNAP recipients to get fresh produce year-round. During the winter, the farm store can see up to twenty to thirty people at a time using their EBT cards for fresh produce. This is just one way the farm is able to give back to the community. They also sell to local restaurants, and since the Veteran’s Cemetery is located right down the street, they frequently sell flower arrangements to help honor and decorate the graves of the fallen.

To learn more or partake in the abundance of summer produce, visit Granny’s Place at 844 Main Street in Agawam, or check out their website here.

“Local food is fantastic; the more local people can shop, the more small farms like ours can be supported and boost the local economy,” says Robin Creamer of Sweet Morning Farm, LLC. He believes that, “generally speaking, small farms are better protectors of the land, and environment,” and gives a glimpse into the mission and operation of Sweet Morning Farm, as well as some of the joys and challenges of farming. Laura Timmerman, Creamer’s mother, started Sweet Morning Farm about 10 years ago. Creamer dabbled in farming on the weekends, helping his mom, but the work of farming grew on him, and they moved the farm to full-time in 2017 and 2018. Sweet Morning Farm started as a very small CSA with vegetables and chickens, and Creamers’ interests in raising livestock, especially pigs and cows, led to an expansion of their farm. He has also been gradually expanding the variety of vegetables they are growing.

Part of the appeal of farming, Creamer explains, is figuring out how to do more with what they have, and the constant learning process that farming involves. Their wide variety of vegetables is grown on one acre of land and is influenced by what they personally like to eat, as well as what their customers enjoy. Their signature salad mix is popular, as the variety of greens changes seasonally and the mix often includes small edible flowers and flavorful herbs that make salads special. As for their livestock, Robin enjoys working with the animals they raise, and says that “people seem to appreciate the quality of our meats and come back for them.” They raise both pork and beef on the farm and continue to offer eggs as well.

Sweet Morning Farm’s products can be found at the Easthampton Farmers’ Market and the Tuesday Market in Northampton. The Easthampton Farmers’ Market is their home market, even though the farm is in Leyden. It’s a “great market with great people,” says Creamer, of the Easthampton Farmers’ Market. The Tuesday Market is a new market for the farm this year as they continue to grow and try new things. The farm stand in Leyden is well-stocked with fresh vegetables, meats, and eggs. Creamer said the farm is in the process of building a new farm stand that will enable them to sell produce from their farm in a bigger and better way. The 2021 season is the first season they are not offering a CSA, choosing instead to focus their energy on farmers’ markets and in expanding the farm stand. In the winter months, Sweet Morning Farm can also be found at winter farmers’ markets, such as the Easthampton, Northampton, and Greenfield winter farmers’ markets, with their salad mix, spinach, meats, and eggs bringing welcome freshness into the cold months.

Their customers at the markets are mainly local valley residents, and some do come up to the farm stand to visit and get fresh produce. Their farm stand is frequented by loyal locals from Leyden, Greenfield, and the surrounding area. SNAP customers can use both SNAP and HIP at the farm stand and at Sweet Morning Farm’s booth at the farmers’ markets. For those unfamiliar with HIP, the Healthy Incentives Program functions as extra SNAP money for fresh, local fruits and vegetables. HIP benefits give all SNAP recipients in Massachusetts an automatic rebate on fresh produce purchased from participating locations (to learn more about HIP, visit mass.gov/hip). Creamer is “really appreciate of [SNAP and HIP]” as it’s “good for everybody.” “It gets pretty busy at markets in particular; there’s always a steady customer base and repeat customers who use those programs,” he says of SNAP and HIP. Using benefits at the farmers’ market and farm stand to buy fresh vegetables from farms like Sweet Morning Farm gives community members access to fresh, local food and helps to make these markets more welcoming to everyone in the community.

For Creamer, getting to be outside working with the plants and animals in nature is the greatest reward of farming. He says that “it’s hard to do the indoor work like paperwork when the outdoor work is more fun and a pull,” which is one of the reasons he got into farming in the first place. He is passionate about working with nature rather than against nature and speaks highly of sustainable farming practices such as no-till farming and soil health. He implements organic practices, and mulches and composts heavily. The vegetables and livestock work together as the compost from the livestock allows the plants to produce an abundance of vegetables. “It’s magical how well it works,” says Creamer; “I just love how magical it is, what plants can do; we only do so much, really we’re a small part, and what they do, they’re incredible and produce huge quantities, and it’s such a great feeling to harvest and share crops with the community.” Promoting health of the soil through no-till, organic methods leads to healthy crops, which can feed a healthy community. Creamer is able to raise a wide variety of crops on an acre of land, and practice rotational grazing with their animals to maximize soil health and plant recovery time before they are grazed again. The beef is grass-fed, and all pigs are born and raised on the farm.

At Sweet Morning Farm, that truly is the heart of their farming philosophy: connecting with the earth, and with animals, and trying to understand them as best as possible in order to care for them, In turn, the animals and plants care for the farmers and their community. Sweet Morning Farm has an exciting future ahead as they plan to expand and try new things over the next few years. Robin’s wife is getting more involved and allowing the farm to go in some new directions, like growing medicinal herbs. They’re excited to keep moving forward and growing good food. To learn more about Sweet Morning Farm, LLC, visit them at one of their local markets, or visit https://www.facebook.com/SweetMorningFarm for their most recent updates.