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.

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.

Celebrating their 75th year, E. Cecchi Farms remains a legacy in the Pioneer Valley and beyond as they provide fresh, local produce and plants to their neighbors and customers. The farm has been in the family for three generations, since 1946. They are most famous for their plants and hanging baskets; the array of colors and varieties draw customers from as far away as Vermont and Pennsylvania. During the spring and summer months, corn on the cob, tomatoes, strawberries, and asparagus are the most anticipated fruits and vegetables at their farm stand. When asked what customers demand the most of, Michael Cecchi shares that customers always ask “When are the strawberries going to be ready?”, and once summer is well under way, “Our corn; our customers love it; they swear it’s the best.”

The farm’s products are sold at their farm stand, where they have a wide variety of plants and seasonal produce. Customers come from the surrounding community, primarily in Hampden County. The stand has a great reputation, and most of their customers are returning customers. “Once they discover us, a lot of people come back. We have a good selection, lots of varieties, great quality, lots of colors,” says Michael of the farm stand. Some crops are only sold as retail, but E. Cecchi Farms does have a partnership with Big Y Foods, where they sell squash, beans, peppers, and tomatoes, among other items. They also have a partnership with Geissler’s Supermarket, a smaller, local supermarket chain in southern Massachusetts and Connecticut.

SNAP and HIP sales form a significant part of the farm’s customer base. Customers call all winter, asking when the farm stand will open for the spring and summer season. SNAP recipients in Massachusetts automatically have HIP, or the Healthy Incentives Program, which they can use to get an extra $40-$80 of free produce each month at participating locations. E. Cecchi Farms is one of these locations in Hampden County and provides a valuable access point for SNAP customers to get fresh, local fruits and vegetables.

Despite some of the challenges of farming, such as uncontrollable weather patterns like the drought in 2020, Michael focuses on the reward of being able to grow food for their stand. Customers have “pleasure and appreciation for the produce we offer them; they let us know how good their gardens do with the plants” that they buy from us.

The farm uses integrated pest management methods and focuses on techniques such as crop rotation and good stewardship of the soil, which is the farm’s most important asset. “After 75 years, our soils are still doing well for us because we’ve been taking care of them,” says Michael. The farm has been on this land for 75 years, feeding the community and neighborhood towns, and that’s their plan for the future.

Visit E. Cecchi Farms in Feeding Hills to pick up some plants for the spring, or try out their famous sweet corn in the summer. Click here for the farm’s most recent updates and to learn more.

The Brimfield Farmers’ Market opens for its 15^th season in 2021, serving a valuable role as a connecting point between the local community and local agriculture. In addition to providing fresh, local food for community members, the market functions as a fundraiser for Hitchcock Free Academy, a community center in Brimfield. The fees that vendors typically pay to set up a stand at the market go to the Academy to support free community programming for Brimfield families.

All of the vendors at the market are local, bringing produce, meat, dairy, and crafts from Brimfield and the surrounding towns. Everything that the vendors sell is either grown or made by their farmers and artisans. As a shopper at the Brimfield Farmers’ Market, you can expect to find locally raised meats such as beef, pork, and chicken, seasonal fruits and vegetables, herbs and edible plants, baked goods, honey, maple products, and eggs. Especially popular is Thompson’s Maple Farm, who brings ice cream to the market each week. Locally made crafts such as lavender soaps and sprays, quilted items, and other hand crafts can be purchased from the artisans and make great gift ideas. Plants, including flowering perennials, add a pop of color and round out the market.

The Brimfield Farmers’ Market plays a particularly important role in providing food access to the local community. Cindy Skowyra, the Executive Director of Hitchcock Free Academy, provides insight into why the farmers’ market is central to the town’s food system. The Town of Brimfield has limited access to fresh food, as there are no grocery stores within the town, so “you have to travel” to get to a grocery store. But, “six months out of the year, they can find some fresh, local produce” at the farmers’ market, within walking distance or a short drive away from their homes. For the six months that the farmers’ market is open, finding fresh food becomes a simpler task for the residents of Brimfield. Additionally, in the off-season when the market is closed, several vendors offer an informal pre-order and pick-up option at Hitchcock Academy to ensure that the local community can continue to get fresh food all year round.

For local community members looking for a place to use SNAP to buy fresh produce, two vendors at the market welcome SNAP customers. Both Hunt Berry Fruit Farm and Flourish Farm accept SNAP at their market booths. All SNAP customers also have HIP, the Healthy Incentives Program, which earns them an instant rebate on fresh fruits and vegetables purchased with SNAP at certain farmers’ markets and farm stands. Flourish Farm and Hunt Berry Farm can process HIP transactions, giving their SNAP customers an additional $40-$80 of fresh produce every month. For SNAP recipients in Brimfield, the farmers’ market is the only nearby location where they can earn HIP, increasing their grocery budget and their ability to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.

This year, the Brimfield Farmers’ Market opens on Saturday, April 17^th. The market runs every Saturday until October 30^th from 9am until 2pm. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, masks are required, and customers must keep a six-foot distance from one another. To learn more about the farmers’ market or to find the most current updates, visit their website.

I spoke to Keith Dufresne in early January, when post-solstice sun, lasting just a little bit longer in the day, was starting to make a change in daily rhythms—for myself, and for Keith. As the sky turned golden and then dark, I started by asking Keith how he ended up where he is now. “That’ll take at least forty-five minutes,” he said. It was incredible, though, how those minutes held the trials and joys of years, as Keith recounted the movement of the seasons and his family around the Pioneer Valley, revolving around maple syrup.

For four generations, starting with Keith’s great-grandfather Louis Dufresne, who emigrated from Quebec, the Dufresne family has been tapping trees, collecting sap, and boiling it down into syrup. In the early 80s, Keith took a walk on his property in Williamsburg and found himself surrounded by sugar maples. In 1983, he built a small sugarhouse up on a hillside. “I never worked so hard in my life,” Keith said of the first few years with his sugarhouse, “but it was awesome, beautiful syrup.” A few years later, determined to make life a bit easier, Keith put the sugarhouse on skids and towed it down the hill. Keith described the seasons flying by, as 1,100 taps grew to 10,000, with constant maintenance and technological advancements. There came a point, Keith said, when the sugarhouse was producing more syrup from 6,500 taps than 10,000, with the assistance of a vacuum system. Forty gallons of syrup produced per hour. Into the night, again and again, the sugarhouse has stayed awake, bubbling sap into syrup. “You walk out of the sugarhouse and see that orange ball crack the horizon and you say—here we go.” The cycle continues.

In all of this repletion, though, there has been such close attention. “After forty years, I can pretty much tell you about every year,” Keith tells me. “You live every year, every season.” Some years, Keith calls back to past seasons, imagining a repeat of ’89, ’00. It rarely happens as he expects, though—“Mother nature is in charge.” It’s alright though, he says, “I get bored easily.”

Some things stay the same—the sugarhouse still burns wood, and “syrup is still syrup.” What seems to also have stayed the same is that it’s difficult to fully understand the immense amount of work that goes into making maple syrup. The story Keith told me during our conversation was one of constant change, constant improvement, and constant care, living within the rhythms of season and syrup. As Keith said, he lived every season, and his pride for the syrup he produces is clear. Today, Dufresne’s Sugar House is one of the few syrup producers in the state to be Massachusetts Commonwealth Quality certified. Tucked away in the ‘About’ tab on the Dufresne’s website are testimonials of people across the country who have enjoyed Dufresne syrup—on pancakes, in baked goods, dinner dishes. Around the Pioneer Valley, Dufresne syrup can be found in several local beers, wines, and spirits. Contact Dufresne’s Sugar House for more information on where to find them. Someday soon, you may be able to enjoy their syrup in restaurants. You can also buy syrup, granulated maple sugar, block maple sugar, maple sugar candy, and maple cream directly from them online at berkshiremaple.com.

Every month or so, Keith and his wife Jacqueline post to a blog about the goings-on at the Sugar House. Every year, Keith says, he is sad to see the season end—whether it was a great year or a crummy year. Every year, the seasons continue, and syrup is syrup—and will be for a while.

Photos by Elizabeth Soloka

The Atherton Farm got its start in 2003, selling produce from the farm’s garden on a picnic table. In the seventeen years that followed, owner Sue Atherton has been constantly fine-tuning the farm’s workings—just a little bit at a time.

Sue at the farm stand in 2018. Photo by Scott Streble

When Sue was growing up, the farm, located in Buckland, was a dairy farm. Her family had a garden where they grew food for themselves, with a little bit left over to sell. She always loved the farm, and when she took over, she brought with her the appreciation she had for it growing up.

Since then, the farm has expanded slightly from the picnic table model, with a farm stand in the old dairy barn and two new greenhouses. Sue says her approach to growing and improving the farm has been conservative – a “dip your toe in the water” approach. Every year she works toward perfecting efficiency by trying a little bit of something new. Some of these new things have come from other farmers who have been perfecting their methods to deal with the constant hurdles in farming, especially one constant: change. Recently, Sue has been working with other farmers to try out irrigation techniques to deal with worsening droughts.

From the beginning, Sue has benefitted from the assistance of other farmers, and from the community that is built around local food. As the farm became established, Sue has followed in the footsteps of the farmers who helped her out. Currently, The Atherton Farm is leasing land to Lyonsville Farm, where farmer Maria Topitzer is further developing her farming practice. In the process of simplifying her farm as she gets older, Sue has collaborated with a neighboring farm, selling their eggs instead of raising her own laying flock. As well as drawing from the past, Sue is thinking about the future. She is making plans to pass the farm on to others who will continue the legacy of young farmers learning through doing.

As I talked to Sue about challenges faced by The Atherton Farm, our conversation turned to the ways that relationships to food and local food have been changed by the pandemic, and how the constraints and new rhythms of the pandemic have been shaped by local food and the community it creates. During the pandemic, Sue has noticed that attention has been focused closer to home – on beautifying houses with flower gardens, becoming more self sufficient with vegetable and herb gardens, and paying more attention to where food comes from. This is an area where it’s easy, and (deserved), to focus on the positive. Sue and I talked about how one of the few places people gather and socialize now is around food – at grocery stores, farm stands, a farmers’ market, an outdoor meal. In light of this, Sue has been glad to share not only products, but knowledge as well to help people get started with their own gardens, no matter what size. “If we’re here,” Sue says, “we’ll help!”

In summer, The Atherton Farm sells flower and vegetable plants, grown in their greenhouses, as well as vegetables and herbs. Now, as the holidays get closer, you can find a wide variety of custom-made fir decorations and a limited amount of Christmas trees at their stand. The wreaths and roping (available in multiple sizes), kissing balls, and planters that you can find at the farm are all made from Fraser fir, which holds needles well, and is fragrant.

The farm, located at 147 Ashfield Road in Buckland, is generally open Monday-Friday from 11am-4pm. When the weather is good, there will be wreaths outside. To order ahead, you can call (413) 625-2659 or email Sue at Sueatherton@comcast.net.

Faye Whitney’s experience of farming has been one steeped both in tradition and in learning new things.

n an eighth grade career choice questionnaire, Faye’s results told her she should be a farmer. Her teachers were sure the results were wrong—she couldn’t be a farmer, she was a girl. So she took the test again, and got farmer again. Faye is the fifth generation to live on her family farm, Whitney Acres, on Ashfield’s Main Street, but she has not done things exactly like the generations before her. Faye grew up with cows, but when she began farming herself, she went in a different direction—“With cows, you can’t go anywhere” she said. So she started looking into sheep.

From an article in Newsweek, she learned about endangered minor livestock, all breeds of livestock, not just sheep breeds, and it piqued her interest. When she was first looking, in the early 90s, there weren’t many heritage sheep in the United States. And she wasn’t a big fan of sheep. But upon her first visit to a farm with Shetland sheep, she was charmed by “strategically placed” lambs. In 1993, she purchased a few sheep. They were Shetland sheep, a breed she had chosen because of their soft wool and hardiness. These sheep are the smallest of the British sheep breeds, originating in the Shetland Islands. These islands are very rainy and windy, and to survive sheep need to withstand both the rough weather, and navigate scarce food sources. As a result, these sheep are good foragers, and can thrive without much additional food from farmers.

Today, Whitney Acres is home to 28 Shetland sheep. They rotate through paddocks on Whitney Acres’ sixty-five acres, sprawling behind the farmhouse on Main Street. Over the past twenty-seven years, Faye has not only grown her flock of Shetland sheep, but has also engaged closely with the small community of Shetland breeders, in the United States and beyond. She is now the Executive Secretary of the North American Shetland Sheep Association. Using knowledge she has gained from her sheep farmer mentors, she now mentors other new farmers. She even tells people who buy sheep from her, “You get me as well,” letting them know that she is always there to help others through a journey that was once new to her. The bloodlines of her flock of sheep have spread across the Northeast as well, with knowledge and relationships between Faye and other farmers certainly following.

The origins of the Shetland sheep breed date back over a thousand years, and the cultivation of the breed has created an intricate chain of knowledge and relationships. This cultivation and protection has continued, undoubtably, due to the efforts of innovative and brave farmers like Faye Whitney, who are willing to put in work to support not only animals, but farmers past, present, and future.

Whitney Acres is not only a sheep farm, though. Faye and her husband Phil also raise Jersey cows, Morgan horses, and heritage breed chickens. They make their own butter and yogurt, enjoying it mainly for themselves and sharing with family and friends. Whitney Acres has a thriving egg business, with some loyal customers having been buying from Faye for 15 years or more.  This, Faye says, is a nod to traditional farming practices, when family farms would grow and raise “a little bit of everything” for their own use as well as for commercial purposes.

Today, the hard work put into the flock of sheep—the oldest, and possibly the largest, flock of registered Shetland sheep in Massachusetts—at Whitney Acres allows Faye and her husband to produce quality products for purchase—you can get fleece and yarn, as well as breeding stock from the farm. They also offer stud services. Call (413) 628-3279 or email fwhitney@whitneyacres.com to check availability to inquire about making purchases.

Earlier this week, I spoke with Casey Steinberg, co-owner of Old Friends Farm. “I’ve always liked puzzles,” he said when I asked him how he got started farming, “and farming is like a complicated, multi-dimensional puzzle. You can make it as complex as you want.” The original goal going into this year, Casey told me, was to make the farm less complex. However, with COVID-19 arriving at the beginning of the growing season, in order to keep their full crew employed, and continue to provide accessibility to local food, complexity increased considerably.

At Old Friends Farm, taking care of the farm staff has always been the priority. Casey offered me an analogy—“In Europe, if you go to a restaurant your waiter or waitress will be a respected professional—it’s not a transitional job.” This, he explained, is what he hopes for the staff—for farm employees to feel valued and respected in the important work they are doing, to be able to support themselves and their families, and to be able to sustain and be sustained by farming as a profession and lifestyle. Employees at Old Friends Farm strive to work reasonable hours, and earn a good hourly wage. Many of their employees have been working at the farm for multiple years.

I asked Casey if the farm had any traditions for rest or celebration with the farm crew, and he was ready with an aptly-named answer—the farm crew has monthly “recharge” meetings. On these days, Missy Bahret (Co-Owner) and Casey cook a meal for the crew, and the group takes part in community building games and activities. Twice each year, the farm hosts a specialist in ergonomics to show the crew how to keep their bodies safe while working.

Casey says the farm has grown a lot since its beginning when he and Missy worked other off-farm jobs (for Casey, a job making and repairing concertinas, and working at Andrew’s Greenhouse for Missy) by day, and business planned by night. He says that he has enjoyed learning to empower, and step back so that other crew members can have their own areas of expertise on the farm.

Old Friends Farm works on and within a larger puzzle as well—the Pioneer Valley local food system. The web of relationships and collaborations they participate in is diverse and expansive. You can find Old Friends Farm ginger in Bart’s ice cream, Artisan Beverage Cooperative’s Cranberry Local Libation, and both their ginger and turmeric in Real Pickles’ Turmeric Kraut, Kimchi, and Ginger Carrots, among others. Recently, they mobilized their relationship with area farms and producers to help meet the needs of both farmers and the greater community during COVID-19. Casey was excited to tell me about the incredible program that they created—an online storefront where customers can order food (and some other special products) from both Old Friends Farm and other farms and producers around the valley and beyond.

The storefront offers an amazing variety of products—you can order flowers, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, bakery and pantry items, beverages, and even craft kits from local makers! The storefront allows customers to pre-order and pay online, and then pick up their groceries at three locations: Old Friends Farm, the Amherst Farmers’ Market, and Artifact Cider Project in Florence. See the online storefront (open year-round!) and more information about ordering deadlines here!

Among the products on the online storefront are Old Friends Farm’s Certified Organic specialties: triple-washed salad greens, fresh baby ginger (and turmeric coming soon), flowers, and seasonal veggies and fruits. The farm also sells its specialty products—which have been in development since the farm’s founding in 2003—made from their ginger and turmeric, including spice blends, loose leaf teas, and ginger and turmeric  honeys and syrups.

In the uncertainty of COVID-19, it seems that Old Friends Farm is a well-oiled machine—not one that operates alone, but one that fits and works well with those around it. It works well because of the care it takes of all of its moving parts.

Photos courtesy of Old Friends Farm.