Denise Barstow Manz of Barstow’s Longview Farm, Diary Store, and Bakery in Hadley joins Phil, Monte, and Kaliis to talk about their farm and the significance of this moment for local farms around the region.

Barstow’s has your last minute holiday gift and goodie needs covered! See their bakery menu, store items, and more here.

Learning from the floods: To prepare for an unpredictable future, Valley farmers think big

By Jacob Nelson

“So much was just about to bloom,” says Suna Turgay of Flowerwork Farm in Northampton. “And then the flooding came.”

Warmer, wetter, and less predictable weather are all on the rise in New England as our climate changes. The idea of normal is constantly evolving, as each year seems to bring new challenges forcing local farmers to adapt.

Last summer’s persistent rainfall and catastrophic flooding left many farmers scrambling to keep their farms intact and businesses afloat. Dedicated farmers, individuals, community organizations, and public officials rallied in support in their hour of need. Now that waters have receded, many are reflecting on what lessons can be learned from last year’s ordeal.

Suna Turgay and Stacia Potter of Flowerwork Farm harvest bouquets at the end of a difficult season (Gazette photo/Carol Lollis)

It is worth noting that while flooding made the most headlines, local farmers contended with examples of extreme weather fueled by climate change on several fronts this year. Cold snaps in February and May destroyed peach buds and other fruit and berry blossoms, respectively. Meanwhile, many farms that were not flooded still faced low yields and rampant fungal disease caused by the rain.

However, the lessons learned from flooding raise ideas that are applicable to other challenges farmers face from extreme weather events.

With future growing conditions becoming both riskier and less predictable, building generalized resilience is becoming more important than ever. On the farm level, farmers are reassessing how they work with their land. At a community level, greater collaboration may help.

At a societal level, many are starting to question why farmers, who grow the food we need to survive, are not supported on par with other professionals who protect our basic needs and safety.

A flood in July?

The relatively new Flowerwork Farm sits on an eighth of an acre of leased land within the Northampton Community Farm run by Grow Food Northampton. There, next to the Mill River, Turgay and her farming partner Stacia Potter grow a mix of annuals, perennials, and herbs that become materials for floral arrangements sold locally or used in grand designs they create for weddings and other events.

Suna Turgay harvests flowers in October, which were replanted after flooding in July (Gazette photo/Carol Lollis)

“Stacia is more the artist, and I feel like a farmer growing the art supplies,” Turgay says. “We follow permaculture principles —  growing within nature’s patterns — and we don’t use any herbicides and barely any fertilizers, just compost.”

The farm’s layout is carefully designed to maximize yield in a small space while providing a welcoming habitat for wildlife and humans alike. With a differently abled child and a desire to welcome visitors to volunteer and learn, accessibility is central to Turgay’s vision.

The farmers knew flooding was a risk, but neither predicted anything like the events that unfolded on July 10. As Grow Food Northampton’s Michael Skillicorn describes, “When the Mill River jumped its banks that day, it flooded approximately 40 acres of our farm in just 20 minutes. Nine out of ten farmers on the land were affected, some with a complete crop loss and some with less. About three-quarters of the 320 community garden plots were also submerged.”

What was shocking about this flooding was the timing. In the Northeast, rivers and streams often swell past their banks in the spring when melting snow oversaturates the soil. The nutrients laid down by seasonal flooding of the Connecticut River and its tributaries are what make this region’s soils so coveted, and Indigenous and settler farmers have reaped the benefits of this fertility while accepting the somewhat predictable risks for thousands of years.

Yet as climate change shifts weather patterns, flooding is much less predictable. A warmer atmosphere is holding more moisture and letting loose more intense storms throughout the year. In fact, the Fifth National Climate Assessment just released by the federal government shows that days with 2-plus inches of rain have increased by almost 50% in the Northeast since the 1950s, while days with 5-plus inches of rain have doubled.

Now that this increased risk of flooding has gone from probability to reality, many local farmers have clearer ideas about how they can better prepare for the next one.

Farming smarter in a floodplain

“If I had gotten things in earlier, I would have had some harvest beforehand.”

That was Turgay’s first thought as she grappled with what the July 10 flood took from her. This past spring, she delayed planting until maintenance on the Northampton Community Farm’s water lines was complete, then rushed to plant everything right away, making up for lost time. As a result, many flowers were poised to bloom at the same time right before flooding destroyed them.

“It was a huge lesson in timing,’ she says. “Farmers are always thinking about succession planting (planting one crop after another in the same space to stagger the harvest) as a sales strategy, but reducing risk is a whole other reason to do it, and we learned that.”

Spreading out the harvest is one strategy that creates generalized resilience to any extreme conditions. Diversifying the kinds of crops planted is another. In a floodplain specifically, Turgay notes that perennial trees and shrubs with more established roots have a survival advantage, pointing to Smith College researcher Piyush Labhsetwar’s pawpaw orchard on the same community farmland, which mostly survived.

Piyush Labhsetwar speaks with lawmakers after flooding hit his research farm in July 2023. His pawpaw trees and perennial grains fared better than many neighboring farms’ veggie crops (Paul Shoul photo)

Another takeaway is that nonedible crops are a safer investment on flood-prone farmland. Since floodwaters are often contaminated by chemicals and pathogens, farmers cannot sell anything edible that gets submerged, and must wait weeks or months to replant, depending on the crop. Growing flowers, Turgay could use what survived and replant immediately.

Stepping back a bit, flooding has also highlighted equity ramifications of who farms where. As the Valley’s fertile river bottom land floods more often, less-resourced and historically marginalized farmers cultivating smaller areas are the least able to absorb losses. The footprint of a small farm might be entirely within a floodplain, while a larger farm has greater flood resilience simply because they spread across more land with differing levels of vulnerability.

It is much less likely that flooding completely wipes out a large farm, but smaller farms might lose everything. With less resources behind them, historically marginalized and smaller farm owners are also less able to move out of harm’s way.

Addressing these inequities is complicated, yet crucial to the pursuit of justice in our food system. Says Skillicorn, “As land stewards, we are grappling with the responsible and appropriate use of land, including which farms and people are using it. Ideally, the farmers working with flood-prone land should be able to better withstand the impacts of a flood.”

Thinking beyond the next flood

As climate change brings more risk of flooding, adapting farming strategies will be important. The same goes for addressing the disproportionate impact flooding has on the most vulnerable farmland — and the most vulnerable farmers. But flooding is just one concern of many.

Courtney Whitley of Ras Farm, located on the Northampton Community Farm, speaks to elected officials in front of his flooded fields (Paul Shoul photo)

“Next year we could have a late frost, or a drought,” Turgay says. “And farmers like me don’t have the resources to prepare for big disasters. Small disasters, maybe. But it’s hard when there’s so much to consider.”

And her comments are only about weather patterns. In recent years, economic volatility has also been a considerable burden on farmers, particularly rising costs for basic materials. From COVID-19 to avian flu, health emergencies added further complications. All these challenges were possible. None of them were forecast.

How do you prepare for a future you can’t predict? That is the core question in farmers’ efforts to persevere and keep feeding everyone.

“And it can’t be just a question for farmers to figure out,” says David Fisher, a farmer at Natural Roots in Conway. “We’re such a small, overworked, underpaid slice of the population. It has to be a question society answers as a whole.”

Natural Roots lost over 95% of their harvest last July when three floods swept through their cropland in the span of 12 days. Between efforts to keep the business afloat and to feed the farm’s community-supported agriculture members, Fisher has given this conundrum a lot of thought as well.

Leeks laid bare by floodwaters at Natural Roots (Paul Shoul photo)

Farming has always been uncertain, and with climate change the risk and probability of weather disasters is increasing. Plus, these impacts are global, wreaking havoc on farms everywhere. Importing more food grown elsewhere when local farms struggle is a less reliable strategy every passing year. Yet farming remains one of the most vulnerable jobs on the planet. As Fisher puts it, “We can’t back our work up to the cloud.”

This makes disaster relief a critical part of any strategy to ensure a reliable food supply in the age of climate change. In 2023, it’s unknown how many local farm businesses would have been pushed over the edge if not for incredible support from lawmakers and community members, particularly through the philanthropic Massachusetts Farm Resiliency Fund and the state-designated Natural Disaster Recovery Program for Agriculture. Together, both funds distributed over $23 million to embattled farmers, ensuring they could remain in business and keep feeding their communities.

“At the same time,” Fisher says, “disaster relief is like treating symptoms of an illness rather than working towards intrinsic health and resilience. What does an intrinsically healthy farm economy look like? I don’t know myself. But when I don’t have answers, I look to other models that seem to be working better.”

David Fisher of Natural Roots directs volunteers helping with flood clean up (Paul Shoul photo)

One familiar model Fisher points to is how communities support fire departments. Like farms, fire departments protect a basic human need, in this case shelter rather than food. But communities don’t invest in food security the same way they do public safety.

“My Conway Fire Department is funded by the community no question, no matter the circumstances,” he says. “Come hell or high water, they will be here to keep us safe. We don’t fund them based on how many fires they put out.”

Fisher and others acknowledge that these ideas might feel new, but they are not unprecedented. Many European countries provide farmers with far more assurance, funding resilience for farm businesses, the local food supply, and the environment. These policies are not aimed at enriching small and mid-size farmers. Instead, they provide a floor that prevents farmers from sinking into ruin.

“Eventually,” Fisher says, “I would like to see farmers and farmworkers financially supported so we can take care of the land, take care of ourselves, and feed our community without being squeezed for all we can sacrifice.”

In an age of big challenges, pursuing a brighter future might mean leaving behind some long-held strategies and ways of thinking and embracing new ideas. No one has it all figured out, but when it comes to the food system, local farmers have a ground-floor view of what might work.

Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about CISA’s work and ways to support local farms confronting the impacts of climate change, visit buylocalfood.org/climateaction.

Lenita Bober of Blossoming Acres Farm in Southwick talks with Jacob, Kaliis, and Monte about 

• Their farm (80 acres in Southwick) and farm stand (produce, local food, bakery, gifts and more!)
• Their market style CSA – essentially a discounted, prepaid charge card to use on anything they produce themselves. Join for 2024 now for early bird pricing! 
• Challenges this year, and what helped get them through

This weekend SANTA is coming to Blossoming Acres’ farm stand at 249 College Highway in Southwick, December 16th from 11-2 & 17th from 12-3 (see post here). The event is free, with donations of hygiene products to the Southwick food pantry strongly encouraged.

A New Winter Farmers’ Market Sets Up Shop

With considerable effort from organizers, a new winter farmers market is coming to Hadley this year. Located on the grounds of Wancyzk Nursery at 166 Russell St, it will run every Saturday from 10 – 2. The market will offer local farms and businesses a critical sales point during the colder months and provide shoppers with one more access point for enjoying local food.

The launch comes on the heels of the previous Winter Farmers Market at the Hampshire Mall’s decision not to continue this year. Knowing that, the same team that runs the longstanding Amherst Farmers Market all summer stepped in to fill the void. Their new venture aims to blend vendors and customers from both markets into something new, just in time for the holiday shopping season.

“Farmers markets are very social places,” says market manager David Machowski. “Some people are on a mission to buy and leave, but most people come to loiter. We’re hoping for a decent turnout that generates attention and good sales for the vendors, and for the nursery.”

Machowski has been managing farmers markets for a long time. He led the Amherst summer market from 1986 to 2002, then returned to the helm in 2017. During his tenure, that market has flourished.

“On a good Saturday we can get upwards of 4,200 people shopping at the summer market,” he shares. “Flatteringly, the town has told me we are the third-largest economic driver for town of Amherst.” The hope is to carry some of that momentum over to Hadley this winter.

The choice to hold the market at Wanczyk Nursery emerged from Machowski’s friendship with owner Mike Wanczyk. The location’s large parking lot and central location on route 9 also make it well equipped to handle visitors coming by car or public transportation.

At their first market last week, vendors were set up outside in a clear area that during warmer months is otherwise filled with trees and nursery plants. The familiar Amherst Farmers Market pop up tent marked the entrance to the market, in front of which pre-cut Christmas trees, outdoor holiday decorations, and a fire pit greeted visitors. The nursery’s main sales building and greenhouse of houseplants and poinsettias sits right beside. A similar arrangement is planned for today’s market.

In the coming weeks, they hope to move the market into one of the nursery’s other heated greenhouses. However, that hinges on permitting and approvals from the town of Hadley, followed by work to modify utilities in the space. While those plans are in motion, the outcome is not yet certain.

“Hopefully we’ll have about 30-35 vendors from the summer market following us over to the winter market,” Machowski says. Local produce farms will anchor this agrarian display, including Red Fire Farm from Montague and Granby, Quabbin Hill Farm from Pelham, and Carrot Corner Farm from Amherst. Locally raised meat, eggs and cheese will also be available, along with a variety of baked goods, value-added products, and clothing and household items crafted by local producers.

“Berkshire Mountain Bakery and Bread Euphoria will be there with baked goods,” says Machowski. “Park Hill Orchard from Colrain will be there with all their pies and jams. Chase Hill Farm from Warwick will be there with meats and cheeses along with maple syrup and products from Justamere Tree Farm in Worthington.”

Other producers will offer a range of items from skin care products to herb and tea mixes to clothing made from local alpaca fiber.

For many businesses who attend local farmers markets, selling directly to their customers is how they make ends meet. Selling direct, rather than wholesaling at a lower price to an intermediary retail business, means producers can charge retail prices themselves. That means more of customers’ dollars go straight back to them.

Direct sales also give business owners an opportunity to meet their customers face to face. This helps them understand who they’re reaching, learn what customers want, and gain a clearer sense of market potential. These interactions also build trust and personal connections between the maker and buyer, which can inspire coveted word-of-mouth marketing.

For these reasons and more, the chance to sell at farmers markets can be crucial to the success of a local farms and food business, particularly for smaller and beginning business owners who haven’t developed other sales channels yet or aren’t big enough to do so. For them, the strength and abundance of farmers markets in the Valley has been a real asset, championed by energized community members and organizations like Mass Farmers Markets and Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA). Indeed, there are several winter markets operating this year, up from a low point during the early days of COVID. At the same time, the fate of any market still matters a lot to its hopeful community of vendors, particularly in storied agricultural communities like Amherst and Hadley.

“I hope the community will stand with us as we get this market figured out. I hope they come out to support their neighbors and local producers,” says Machowski.

“This is their livelihood,” he continues. “Giving them a place to showcase themselves during the slower winter months is the biggest reason I took this on. I would have been perfectly happy laying on the couch watching Manchester United every Saturday morning. But this is important. So, we’ll be there with bells on and see what happens.”

Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA. To see what farmers markets are up and running near you any time of year, visit buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.

Dick Conner of Red Barn Honey Company joins Phil and Kaliis to talk about:

• What do bees do in the winter?
• Collaborating with local farms – bees do some pollinating, other farms sell Red Barn’s honey.
• Plus: becoming honey sommeliers! They taste different kinds of honey – a light and a dark.

See, where are you can find Red Barn Honey Company’s, honey, beeswax, candles, and other products at their website. (Hint: the Northampton Winter Farmers’ Market is the best place to start!)

By Jacob Nelson

More than most foods, the popular understanding of mushrooms tends to be shrouded in mystery. How do they grow? How do you cook with them? What medicinal effects might they have?

At Livingstone Mycology, scientists and farmers Hunter Linscott and Nich Livingstone are helping people approach mushrooms and the benefits they bring with more clarity and confidence.

Hunter Linscott holds up a lions mane mushroom growing on upcycled coffee grounds, brewers’ grains, and sawdust (PC Livingstone Mycology)

“We are a small gourmet mushroom business focusing on growing fresh mushrooms and making medicinal extracts using state-of-the-art techniques,” explains Linscott. They also upcycle food waste to grow their mushrooms and sell their wares at farmers markets across western Massachusetts.

Just like their mushrooms, Linscott and Livingstone’s farming careers were born from a lab. This one was at Connecticut Valley Biological, a now-defunct company that grew and sold living biological supplies for science classrooms. There Livingstone served as head of microbiology and Linscott as head of vertebrates and invertebrates, both applying their scientific training to optimizing the growth of tiny plants, animals, fungi and bacteria.

When COVID hit they were laid off and soon channeled energy into foraging, learning more about different mushroom species and their uses. When the lab closed for good, they used their savings to buy discounted lab equipment and repurposed it to begin Livingstone Mycology, pouring themselves into the business full time.

Mushrooms reproduce many different ways in the wild and in a controlled farming environment. Livingstone Mycology’s process starts with a liquid broth culture where tiny fragments of mushroom mycelium are suspended in a solution with the sugars and minerals they need to grow. From there, some strains are transferred to a Petri dish of gelatin to continue growing out. Then either the gelatin or liquid solution is used to inoculate a final growing medium.

Livingstone Mycology photo

“To make that growing medium we use spent coffee grounds and brewers’ grains, mixing them in specific ratios with water and sawdust from a local cabinet maker,” Livingstone explains. “We put that into smaller containers (usually plastic bags or buckets, though because of their shape most mushroom farmers refer to these growing units as blocks) and then pasteurize them.”

Pasteurization ensures no foreign fungi remain to outcompete the farmed mushrooms. Right now, they’re producing over a hundred pounds per week, including different kinds of oyster mushrooms, lion’s mane, shiitakes, reishi and chestnut mushrooms. Most of that is grown in just a ten-foot by ten-foot Mylar tent set up in a converted art studio.

“We have mushroom blocks stacked on shelves to take advantage of vertical space, a humidifier, and waterproof blue LED lights strung up around the shelves,” says Linscott. “Blue light helps mushroom caps grow larger than the stems.”

Livingstone Mycology sells a lot of their mushrooms fresh, doling out ideas for how to unlock their culinary potential.

Livingstone Mycology photo

“I often tell people to start by trying oyster mushrooms,” says Linscott. “I like to shred them and fry them up in butter until they’re crispy. I think a lot of people have issues with mushrooms because of texture, but if you just keep cooking them on low, these become crunchy, chewy and savory, like bacon. Lion’s mane on the other hand is great for making mushroom steaks or as a replacement in seafood dishes like crab cakes. You can also pull it apart like shredded chicken or bread it for a faux fried chicken sandwich.”

Other mushrooms are destined for medicinal tinctures and extracts. The key process here is called vacuum-assisted ultrasonic refluxing. This aims to pull the desired compounds out of mushroom tissue as efficiently as possible.

To start, mushrooms are put in a flask with an alcohol solvent and loaded into the machine. When the machine’s vacuum turns on it renders everything weightless. Then high-powered sound waves are used to cavitate and denature cell walls, releasing various compounds into the alcohol solution with ease.

“As far as we know, we’re the only mushroom company combining these techniques to create extracts,” says Livingstone. “It allows us to use fewer mushrooms to make a more potent tincture and limits needing to heat the solution, which causes as little denaturing as possible.”

Livingstone Mycology photo

From there the solution is filtered and, for tinctures, standardized at 40% alcohol content. Powdered and crystalized extracts have additional steps of evaporating off the alcohol solvent before final formulation into capsules.

“All of these extracts aim to be anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, antioxidant and anti-microbial,” Livingstone continues. “Lion’s mane is our most popular because it helps promote nerve growth factor associated with better memory, cognition, and focus, and has been studied for all sorts of mental illnesses and neurodegenerative diseases. Others like oyster, shiitake, maitake (hen of the woods) and cordyceps also lower blood pressure and cholesterol.” (None of these statements are FDA approved).

Adds Linscott, “We feel it’s helpful to hear not just that mushrooms are good for you, but why they’re good for you. What are the chemicals? How are they affecting neural pathways?”

These conversations are common with curious farmers’ market customers who are drawn to their table’s colorful display. This winter, Livingstone Mycology is selling at farmers markets in Greenfield and Forest Park in Springfield (both running December 9, then every other Saturday from 10 – 2) as well as Holyoke (running December 2, then every other Saturday from 10 – 2), the Center Fresh Market in Chicopee (running December 7, then every other Thursday from 3 – 6), and monthly Saturday markets in Pittsfield.

Nich Livingstone shows off a harvest of lion’s mane mushroom (Livingstone Mycology photo)

Livingstone Mycology mushrooms and supplements are now also for sale at the Urban Food Brood, a collaborative, food manufacturing and retail space in Springfield. Online sales may also begin soon. For updates on their product line and where things are sold, Instagram is the best place to follow them (@livingstonemycology).

Linscott and Livingstone have big ideas for their future. First up is making bigger batches of liquid mycelium culture (their first step mushroom cultivation) in large bioreactors. That would allow them to make tinctures and extracts directly from liquid culture, removing steps and increasing quality, and to expand their mushroom harvest ten-fold. Selling grow-your-own kits to home cooks is another possibility.

They are also excited to keep educating people about mushrooms and mushroom cultivation. In that vein, Linscott will speak on a panel following a public showing of the film “Fantastic Fungi” at Amherst Cinema on Tuesday December 5. Tickets are available here.

Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about local farms and where to find local food near you, visit buylocalfood.org.

Missy Leab from Ioka Valley Farm in Hancock joins Monte, Kaliis, and Jacob to talk about: 

• The magic that awaits families who visit to cut their own Christmas trees.
• How they evolved from a dairy farm in the 90s to a year-round destination for fun on the farm, from maple sugaring and pancake breakfasts to pick-your-own pumpkins. 
• Some of your burning questions about Christmas trees: different kinds, how they grow, and how to keep them fresh and happy in your home (we do some myth-busting too )

Ioka Valley Farm is open for cut-your-own trees weekends 9:30 – 4:30 until Christmas. Their gift shop is also open Fridays 12:00 – 4:00 with pre-cut trees available. This weekend, December 2nd & 3rd they’ll host a pancake breakfast from 8 – 12 with a special visitor: Santa!

By Jacob Nelson

In many ways, farming is an act of faith. Faith that nature will provide for a harvest, and a farmer’s faith in themselves to figure out whatever challenges arise. Some years bring bumper crops, others disappointment, but with climate change fueling more volatile and extreme weather, losses are becoming bigger, more common, and harder to predict.

Inflation, supply disruptions, and rising costs to access land don’t help. Many farmers are adapting well, yet many also say today’s safety nets don’t acknowledge how risky farming has become.

David Fisher speaks with legislators and reporters while volunteers clean up fields flooded during July 2023 rains (Paul Shoul photo)

After this year’s flooding, Massachusetts residents and lawmakers stepped up and set a new precedent for supporting farms in crises. Still, bureaucratic change moves slowly. When farmers need help in the moment, it’s often other farmers who rise to the occasion. After catastrophic flooding last July at Natural Roots, a farm in Conway, the support of fellow farmers saved their season – and maybe their farm.

Natural Roots is a small, diverse farm on the banks of the South River. They grow veggies, fruit, and herbs, raise chickens for eggs, and farm with horses instead of tractors. Through their CSA (community supported agriculture) program, they feed over 240 families who pay upfront for regular shares of the harvest throughout the season. A small on-site farm store open to the public also carries their produce and eggs, along with meat, bread, dairy and staples from other local farms.

Owner David Fisher always wanted to connect more deeply with nature and people while exploring how the two could exist in harmony.

“I’ve found some of that through farming,” he says, “and I want to share that. To invite people to the farm to connect with the earth and each other, and (through the CSA) to take some degree of responsibility for the farm.”

It’s been a hard but rewarding life. With a few longtime employees and a rotating cast of apprentices, they made it work. They survived serious flooding from Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. But even that didn’t compare to July 10, 2023.

Flooding and a flood of support

For days, persistent rain saturated the soil of the South River watershed. That day’s forecast didn’t call for much more precipitation, but the ground could not absorb it. Instead, it flowed into the river, which built into a raging torrent.

Plants of all kinds were flattened by the South River during July 2023 flooding at Natural Roots Farm in Conway (Paul Shoul photo)

“We didn’t realize how little rain it would take to dramatically flood,” Fisher says. “Before we knew what was happening, machinery was getting washed down the river. Chickens were floating by, and we were catching them and wading to higher ground, arms full of chickens. We just rescued anything we could.”

Thanks to a quick response by farmers and draft horses, most of their chickens and critical equipment were saved. Yet the receding water unveiled severe damage. Roads were washed out. Many plants were completely uprooted by floodwater blasting by. Anything edible left standing was ruled unsafe to sell or eat due to contaminants in the water — a devastating blow so close to harvest time. In all, Fisher estimates they lost over 95% of their crops.

Looking over a revised budget post-flooding, the outlook was grim. They had limited cash on hand and no vegetables to distribute. Anything they planted would not be ready for weeks. No veggies meant no CSA pickups, and a big drop in farm store sales.

Potatoes uprooted and contaminated by floodwaters (Paul Shoul photo)

“We were five weeks into a 22-week summer CSA,” Fisher says. “Our customers sign up to stick with us through thick and thin, but offering our customers nothing from then on would be extreme, and we weren’t in a position to refund everyone.”

“We weren’t expecting much,” he relates, “but we asked neighboring farms if anyone had extra produce we could glean from their fields to feed our customers. The response was … incredible.” They had more offers from neighboring farms than they could handle. As news spread, support poured in from farms as far away as Boston and the Hudson Valley.

“The generosity was staggering,” Fisher says. “And it was a little hard too, asking for help. Would we keep asking every week through November? Initially that felt uncomfortable. But over time, we realized many farmers seemed genuinely fulfilled to offer something. It was a positive experience for them, too.”

Rachel Foley and Isadora Harper, apprentices at Natural Roots Farm in Conway, harvest greens donated to their CSA from Hart Farm in Conway (Gazette photo/Carol Lollis)

One of those farmers was Ray Young, owner of Next Barn Over Farm in Hadley, who made produce available to Natural Roots Farm throughout the summer and fall.

Says Young, “Our season was challenging — we were mostly spared from flooding, but wetness led to disease that damaged several of our crops. That said, those that made it through were quite beautiful, and we were grateful to be able to pass on so much to Natural Roots as well as the organizations we typically donate to.”

Adds Fisher, “Max and Kerry Taylor at Brookfield Farm in Amherst also gave us so much. Gideon Porth and his crew at Atlas Farm in South Deerfield offered acres for gleaning. Old Friends Farm in Amherst gave us salad mix. Stone Soup Farm in Amherst, Riverland Farm and Kitchen Garden Farm in Sunderland, and Red Fire Farm in Montague and Granby have all helped us out, and so many others, too.”

The culture of farmers helping farmers is already strong in western Massachusetts. For example, some farmers share specialized equipment so neighboring farms don’t need to buy their own. Other farms share or lease land to each other in different configurations each season. Most are willing to share advice and techniques to help their neighbors succeed.

A chalkboard in Natural Roots’ CSA barn shares which farms donated produce for members; weekly shares (Gazette photo/Dan Little)

Farms in our region also benefit from longstanding community support. Those connections are another resource farmers can tap when things get tough. In Natural Roots’ case, press coverage and strong ties to their customers and community helped them fundraise almost $92,000 to rebuild.

“People have said and their actions have clearly shown that they want this farm to exist,” Fisher says. “But even with all this support, it’s still really hard to make it work.”

A piece of the puzzle

While their experience makes for a heartwarming story, as Fisher implies it’s not the whole solution. The support system woven by relationships between farmers and community members isn’t foolproof. There are holes, not everyone is connected equally, and there are limits to the kinds of help social networks and generosity can provide.

Farmers and farm support groups gathered in September 2023 to discuss present and future needs as extreme weather intensifies

After 26 years of farming in Conway, Fisher is well networked among his peers. “But when I went to the event CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) put on for farmers to talk about disaster relief,” he says, “I looked out and thought, I don’t know most of these people.”

Bringing together farmers and supporting groups to network and collaborate is one way CISA helps strengthen the local farm support system. Other organizations help farmers market products together or advocate collectively for policy change. At a very grassroots level, many local farmers connect with their peers through a farmers-only email listserv — the one Natural Roots used to coordinate gleaning and food donations.

These networking opportunities are helpful, but also limited by technological barriers and whether everyone feels welcome. For example, a seventh-generation dairy farmer might be more comfortable speaking their mind in a group than a recently resettled refugee. Both may have difficulty with listservs and video calls.

A farm’s business model also impacts its access to these relationship-based safety nets. “We are extremely privileged that our community feels so connected to us through our CSA,” Fisher says. “Farms that sell wholesale and don’t talk directly to customers are much more alone when they struggle. Not because they aren’t worthy, they just operate differently.”

The big picture

Neighborliness only goes so far, especially when extreme weather and other impacts of climate are increasing and becoming more widespread. Says Next Barn Over farmer Ray Young, “I’m a firm believer in mutual aid, but our local capacity is limited, especially since extreme weather tends to affect farms across entire regions. As we look forward facing climate change, we will need broader safety nets than our local networks.”

Elected leaders and MA Department of Ag officials survey flooding damage and discuss their response (Paul Shoul photo)

When individual action can’t support basic needs — like reliable access to food — that’s often when collective action and governments step in to uphold the public good. In Massachusetts, this is already starting to happen.

Last summer, local officials heard farmers’ need for grants to keep businesses afloat, not just loans options that would put them further into debt. Within weeks, the Natural Disaster Recovery Program for Agriculture was written into the state’s supplemental budget, making $20 million available to cover crop losses from both flooding and the freezes that decimated peaches in February and berries and early veggies in May.

Among those leading the charge were local politicians, Rep. Natalie Blais and Sen. Jo Comerford.

In contrast to Massachusetts’ quick response, efforts to strengthen federal support programs are moving slowly. Most of these are funded by the Farm Bill, a sprawling piece of legislation typically revised and renewed by Congress every five years. Amid congressional disarray, a new bill was not finished on schedule this fall. Instead, most 2018 Farm Bill programs were extended through September 2024 — a win for program continuity, but a missed opportunity to address new needs exposed by worsening climate change, COVID, and other recent events.

Tim McVaugh of Deerfield and his son Liam, 4, pick up produce from the Natural Roots CSA on Saturday in Conway (Gazette photo/Dan Little)

Advocates like the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, which represents mostly smaller and more diversified farms like those common in Massachusetts, are already lobbying for changes to the new bill. One change the coalition proposes is “fixing a flawed farm safety net and restoring fair competition” by reforming crop insurance programs to work better for new and smaller farms, not just large farms growing commodity crops. Other suggestions emphasize better support for farmers adapting growing practices for a changing climate.

Farming amid climate change and economic uncertainty is a tricky puzzle. At times, Fisher has felt quite alone trying to solve it.

“I used to think it was just me struggling, and I just needed to get smarter or work harder,” he says. “But I’m realizing that farmers are struggling all over the place. We’re facing some real challenges.”

While society organizes around big-picture solutions, local farmers have each other’s backs. By shopping locally, donating to relief funds, or with other acts of goodwill, the local community shows they stand beside them.

To learn more about supporting the local food system as it adapts to climate change, visit buylocalfood.org/climateaction.

Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). As a frontline supporter of local food and farms in western Massachusetts, CISA helps farmers get the help and funding they need to thrive, even amid challenges like climate change. Learn more at buylocalfood.org/climateaction.

Growing Christmas Cheer in the Valley

For many local farmers, cool weather means slowing down. Hardy greens are still growing in covered greenhouses, and plenty of things like meat, cheese, apples and storage crops can be kept and sold until the first warm days of spring, but the frantic pace of summer has finally calmed, sedated by the winter chill.

Except for cut-your-own Christmas tree farmers, that is. Their season just kicked off with a bang.

Like other local cut-your-own farms, Chestnut Mountain Tree Farm in Hatfield does more than just sell trees. Says farmer Bob Schrader, “We’re a place to begin the Christmas season, and we have a number of activities that help make it a full family event.”

Bob Schrader, farmer and owner of Chestnut Mountain Tree Farm (their photo)

Schrader was first drawn to farming as a dairy farmhand in his younger years. After a long career with UMass Extension, “I was looking to get back into farming for retirement, and it got out of control,” he chuckles. “I’ve never worked so hard in my life.”

When the 150-acre parcel of preserved farmland in Hatfield came up for sale not far from his Northampton home, Schrader jumped on it. “There were already Christmas trees there,” he continues, “so I said, ‘what the heck – let’s do this.’ They were overgrown at the time, but we cleared things up and went from there.”

Today about a third of that land is actively managed. Twenty-five acres are kept as hayfields and another thirty are home to 30,000 hopeful Christmas trees. Only a fraction of these are sold each year, the rest left to ensure income and Christmas cheer are in good supply for the future.

“We have increased our planting significantly in the past few years,” Schrader says, “but it takes about eight years for a tree to grow from the saplings we plant. So as a tree farmer, when you recognize the opportunity to expand, that reality is still eight years away.”

Planting is an early spring activity, as are fertilizing and knocking back weed growth by mowing and occasional spraying. As the weather warms, the evergreens have their annual growth spurt, putting on most of their new height and girth between late May and early July. After that it’s safe to start pruning.

Chestnut Mountain Tree Farm photo

The purpose of pruning is to train a single leader, or dominant stem, (no forked treetops allowed) and to encourage branches to fill out symmetrically, forming the classic Christmas tree shape. This work continues until opening day in late November, when the last-pruned bottom branches become material for handmade wreaths and swag.

As opening day approaches, Schrader also prepares the property for the throngs of visitors that descend during their short selling season. Like many local farms, Chestnut Mountain Tree Farm leans into agritourism, offering an immersive experience on top of their products in an attempt to bring in more money without expanding their farming operation. This is often a shrewd business move, though managing a retail business and public events on top of farming duties can be complex.

Selling Christmas trees, Schrader believes, “you really have to get the retail dollar to make a living. If you sell a tree wholesale, you only get about 60% of what a retail tree goes for and you still have to cut it, bale it, and ship it. This is better economically, and it’s also a fairly nice retail experience. People are very happy at Christmas.”

Chestnut Mountain Tree Farm photo

A visit to Chestnut Mountain Tree Farm is designed to maximize ease and smiles, Schrader says. “When you arrive, you get a tree cart with a saw, and you go out into the field and find your tree. You can cut the tree yourself, or we have helpers who will cut it for you. You bring it back to the sales area and we’ll trim the bottom and any branches you want, shake it out and bale it. You go into the shop to pay for it and buy anything else you like. Come back outside and your tree will be ready to go.”

Free hot chocolate and cookies provide a spark of warmth. Visitors can also purchase tree stands and other accessories, along with handmade decorations and locally crafted gifts. Among them are Chestnut Mountain’s own maple syrup, produced in small quantities each year and sold until it’s gone.

Chestnut Mountain Tree Farm grows three closely related varieties of fir trees: Fraser, Canaan, and Balsam. “Frasers are what people ask for the most,” says Schrader. “They have the strongest branch structure. Canaans have a lot of the same attributes. All the trees have a nice fragrance, but Balsams especially – a very traditional Christmas smell.”

Chestnut Mountain Tree Farm photo

A tree’s ability to hold its needles is more about freshness than variety. Properly watered, any fresh-cut local tree will probably outlast a pre-cut tree shipped from a wholesale farm out of state. Depending on its origin, that tree might have been cut as far back as late October – an unfortunate necessity given the sheer number of trees the largest farms cut and ship each season in North Carolina, Michigan, and other top Christmas tree-producing states.

All large trees at Chestnut Mountain Tree Farm are $75, while smaller tabletop trees up to 3.5 feet are $40. “We also have a lot of what we call Charlie Brown trees,” explains Schrader. “Imperfect trees that we can sell at a considerable discount. Everyone has a different need, and we try to meet those needs.”

Chestnut Mountain Tree farm is open Wednesday-Sunday, 9am to 4pm, now through December 17^th. Leashed dogs are welcome, and cash and credit are accepted. Horse-drawn or tractor wagon rides are planned for 10am to 3pm on weekends, weather permitting. Rides are $2 per person and free for children under 5.

Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about cut-your-own Christmas tree farms and other places to find a locally grown tree, visit buylocalfood.org.

Local Food a perfect pair with Share’s premium coffee

For many of us, coffee is more than a drink. It’s an experience, and often a ritual. And while it’s grown far away, it can elevate the enjoyment of many of our favorite foods grown close to home, and vice versa.

As Ken Majka, owner of Share Coffee Roasters, puts it, “you can’t serve a mediocre breakfast sandwich with the best cup of coffee you’ve ever had.”

Share Coffee Roasters photo

Whether it’s espresso, drip, or cold brew, coffee is queen at Share’s cafes located at 178 N Pleasant St. in Amherst and inside Thorne’s Marketplace in Northampton. A menu loaded of local ingredients helps their food rise to match the quality of what they’re pouring.

Majka’s first foray into the cafe business came as a head roaster and barista in the late 1990s. After a period spent away from that life, entrepreneurial friends encouraged him to get back in the game.

“When the Lady Killigrew Cafe in Montague came up for sale in 2006, I decided to buy that,” says Majka. “Then in 2010, my friend Bob Lowry, who founded Bueno Y Sano restaurants, convinced me to join him in buying Rao’s Cafe in Amherst.”

As part of the sale, they agreed to keep the Rao’s branding and, since the company continued roasting beans, to use their coffee through 2015. As the date approached, Majka founded Share Coffee Roasters, building a roastery in Hadley to sell directly to customers and supply the cafes. In 2016 the coffee switch was made, and both cafes were rebranded with the Share name.

A staff member at Share Coffee Roasters, prepares sandwiches and salads using lettuce mix from Old Friends Farm in Amherst for lunch customers (Paul Shoul photo)

That name actually comes from ‘farm share,’ paying homage to the rich culture of community supported agriculture (CSA) farms in the region and highlighting the similarity in their business models.

“I often have a CSA farm share,” Majka says, “and I love getting to hear what’s good this week and knowing where my food is coming from. At Share, we’ve offered weekly coffee subscriptions from the beginning, wanting to be a similar resource and offer that same feeling for your coffee.”

Share imports about half of their coffee beans directly from independent farmers. The rest they buy through trusted import companies working mainly with farmer cooperatives.

“Establishing relationships with farmers is our favorite way to buy coffee,” Majka says. “For example, this is our fourth year working with a farmer named William Martinez and his family in Columbia. He wanted to grow specialty coffee, and we’ve supported him on that quest.”

Share’s chia pudding topped with local milk, local apples and house made granola (Paul Shoul photo)

In year one, Martinez produced just two bags of coffee – a little over 300 pounds. Share bought it all and gave feedback on techniques to improve flavor.

“We paid him a dollar extra per pound to help build his capacity,” Majka continues. “The next year he installed drying racks, built raised beds, then helped his brother do the same. Now in year four, we just got 14 bags from them and it’s the highest quality yet.”

Majka’s coffee drink of choice is a pure, simple shot of espresso, fueling him as he jumps between cafe locations. On the food side of the menu, it’s those breakfast sandwiches he can’t stop talking about.

“I remember when we first started making them at our Amherst location in 2018 and we were only selling like two a day,” he says. “I was sitting there, eating the steak and egg sandwich with roasted shallots, going, ‘why aren’t these selling? They’re so good.’ Fast forward five years, I’m still eating them every day, and now we’re selling a lot of them.”

Paul Shoul photo

The eggs – fried to order – come from Hall Poultry Farm in Pelham, MA. Those are topped with melty Cabot cheddar and locally grown arugula and held together by a bagel or English muffin.

Share also uses gallons of rich Jersey cow milk from Mapleline Farm in Hadley each day in their espresso-based coffee drinks. Ginger syrup from Old Friends Farm in Amherst is a common addition to iced sparkling Italian sodas, while local honey or maple syrup from Snowshoe Farm add shots of sweetness to other drinks. Some of their bread is also from Rise Above Bakery in Greenfield, made with flour milled at Ground Up Grain in Holyoke using grains grown in New England.

Coffee shops, with their technical terms and various reputations, can feel like intimidating spaces. Staff at Share’s cafes help create a lively and inclusive atmosphere.

“We’re coffee aficionados, but you don’t have to be,” says Majka. “We’re not going to grill you about flavor notes you’re getting when we hand you a cup. We go out of our way to find people who work hard, but really are just genuinely kind, and customers do give us that feedback.”

Ultimately, Majka, and by extension Share, is motivated by a pursuit of quality that aligns with deeper values. From farmer to cafe customer, the aim is to treat everyone and every place with respect and kindness, acknowledging that life is more enjoyable when people support each other in community. It costs a little more to invest in those ideals, but to Majka, the value you get in return is clear.

Paul Shoul photo

“What we make is a little more expensive,” he acknowledges. “But we’re paying coffee farmers three to five times fair-trade rates, using a lot of local ingredients, offering good paying jobs, and there’s so much value in that. You’re investing in community, and you get what you pay for.”

Share Coffee Roasters’ Amherst and Northampton locations are open daily. The Hadley roastery is open 8-12 Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to pick up freshly roasted beans.

Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about restaurants near you using food from local farms, visit buylocalfood.org.

Stan and Joe McCoy of Sage Meadow Farm come talk to Phil, Kaliis and Monte about: 

• Life changing goat milk lotion (40% goats milk…customers have actually said “this changed my life”)
• Receiving and giving back as they chart the future of their business, collaborating with the LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce and others.
• Their close collaboration with Thomas Farm & Dairy in Sunderland – from sourcing milk to borrowing baby goats for…

BABY GOAT YOGA! Back next spring. 

You can find Sage Meadow Farm‘s soaps, lotions, and more at the Easthampton Winter Farmers’ Market, River Valley Coop, Big Y stores, and other locations across the region (click here to see more).

Swaz Potato Farms is the BIGGEST potato farm in the state, growing on over 2,000 acres and distributing potatoes grown by lots of other farms too. Many of their spuds end up on menus at our local restaurants, like Jake’s Restaurant and Local Burger.

In this Local Hero Spotlight, Diane Szawlowski Mullins joins Phil, Monte, and Kaliis to talk about how their business has grown over the years, bumps along the way, and some fun trivia about their preeminent potatoes.