Queen’s Greens is a certified organic vegetable farm in North Amherst, Massachusetts. We grow baby greens, herbs, tomatoes and select vegetables for wholesale customers. Queen’s Greens is known for providing high quality products to many of the most notable chefs and grocers in New England and New York. We grow a streamlined group of items on our farm, and focus on growing them as efficiently, as profitably and as beautifully as possible.
Farming is a team sport and we are seeking individuals with humor and flexibility to join the team! We love the challenge of farming and we work hard and smart to grow great food, and we expect all of our employees to do the same. It is a requirement for all positions to embrace the demands and rewards of working in a fast-paced and active environment. All candidates must be reliable, pay attention to detail and be athletic enough to work a full and active day.
Find descriptions of current open positions here.
We are always looking for talented farmers to join the team. Even if there are no specific job postings listed, please reach out to us at info@queensgreensfarm.com
WRSI, January 7, 2019. Paul Voiland of Red Fire North Farm Stand & Rustic Bakery tells some stories about his son Ryan starting Red Fire Farm and looks towards a future of growing nuts in the Pioneer Valley.
Here we are, in the brave new world of 2019. So far, it probably doesn’t feel that different from 2018 for most of us, except that the indulgence-heavy holidays are behind us and we’re staring at our list of resolutions wondering why we thought this was the year we were going to learn French and go to the gym every day. I imagine many of us have vowed to “eat better,” and are now finding that that is not quite as straightforward a task as it seemed when we wrote it down. There’s a lot of competing information out there, and there are a lot more supplement and detox products vying for our attention than there is science to prove they work.
An approach that works better for me is to focus on eating foods I know are nutritious and that I know how to make well. Sweet potatoes are one of my absolute favorites: they’re available locally all winter long; they’re a rich source of fiber, beta-carotene, manganese, and vitamins B5, B6, and C; and they’re a delicious addition to nearly any meal. Sweet potato and chorizo hash with eggs and greens is one of absolute favorite meals on a cold winter night.
Valley Bounty is written by Brian Snell of CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture)
Kitchen Garden Farm grows high-quality organic specialty vegetables in Sunderland, MA, for wholesale to stores and restaurants throughout the northeast region. We also produce award-winning sriracha and salsa from ingredients grown on the farm. We are looking for a few highly motivated individuals to fill remaining positions for 2019 including Harvest Crew, Production Crew, and Washroom Manager.
Please visit our website for detailed job descriptions: https://www.kitchengardenfarm.com/join-our-team
To apply, send a resume and cover letter to info@kitchengardenfarm.com.
Job Description: NOFA Summer Conference Food & Entertainment Coordinator position.
The NOFA Summer Conference is an annual two-day festival held in Massachusetts each August, which celebrates organic food and farming through educational workshops, interactive exhibits and entertaining events. The NOFA Summer Conference Entertainment Coordinator is a member of the Summer Conference Committee and employed by NOFA/Mass. This position is responsible for creating a lively and vibrant atmosphere at the conference to compliment the workshop/education program.
The Fair:
The fair takes place on Saturday afternoon. This event, along with dancing and other entertainment events at the conference, is intended to be a time for attendees to kick back and enjoy activities such as a parade, exhibits, a farmer’s market, games, a raffle and music. It is a time for families attending the conference to enjoy time together after being in separate workshop spaces throughout the weekend. The fair usually features games, demonstrations, crafting, and other fun activities. The event is free and open to the public, which makes it a wonderful way for people to first learn about NOFA.
Entertainment:
Includes a variety of entertainment options during the conference, including during the evenings on Friday and Saturday. This entertainment includes live music, meetups, mixers, film screenings, yoga and other activities.
Qualifications:
The successful coordinator will:
Responsibilities:
OTHER EXPECTATIONS: NOFA Summer Conference Committee members are required to attend two or three in-person meetings and four conference calls per year, and must be present at the Conference itself, August 10-11 2019. You must be able to arrive one day early, on August 9 to begin the work of setting up the conference. In-person meetings take place in July for a Hampshire College walk through, October for a wrap up session, and possibly one other meeting in-between. It is also expected that the Coordinator will provide their own computer and transportation (mileage is reimbursed) and have ready access to an internet connection in order to facilitate this work. As long as all deadlines are met appropriately, and meetings are attended reliably, the majority of the work for this position leading up to the Conference is done remotely and independently.
Phone meetings are scheduled almost quarterly.
NOFA Summer Conference committee members must be current members of NOFA/Mass.
COMPENSATION: The pay for this position is a stipend, budgeted for 120 Hours of work, with a pay rate starting at $13 per hour ($1,560). It includes free registration to the conference and free housing during the conference. Mileage reimbursement to meetings and other job-related travel (subject to approval by Conference Coordinator) is at $0.545 per mile. The Coordinator’s spouse receives half off registration. Coordinator’s children under age 18 receive free registration.
TO APPLY: Please email Jason Valcourt, NOFA Summer Conference Coordinator, if you are interested in this job. Send a resume, a letter of interest in the position, and a list of three job references to jason@nofamass.org. Use subject heading “Entertainment Coordinator Application.” Applications will be accepted until January 15 for a position starting February 1. Call with questions at (970) 275-1355.
NOFA/Mass is an equal opportunity employer who does not discriminate in employment and contracting practices based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability.
I think we can use bacon as an opportunity to examine some of the influences that shape our diets. The popularity of Google searches for “bacon” and “bacon recipe” trend steadily upwards over the last 15 years. Look in the right places and you can find bacon candy, bacon cocktails, bacon milkshakes—there are bacon festivals and bacon magazines. Why is bacon so popular?
The obvious answer, “because it tastes good!” is a clear factor—bacon offers a unique balance of fatty, salty, and sweet flavors that humans evolved to seek out. But bacon didn’t just recently become tasty, so why the sudden surge in popularity?
In part, I think it has to do with increased availability and decreased consumer cost of bacon—nationally, large-scale pork farms are producing and selling more bacon than ever before, and local farms often sell their bacon as quickly as they can produce it. A shift in popular nutrition away from stigmatizing dietary fats and the unique nature of the internet as a medium for popularizing recipes and ideas about food are, I believe, also major factors.
Given those factors, I imagine that bacon-mania is here to stay, and local bacon is often both tastier and more sustainably raised than its nationally-distributed equivalent. Be on the lookout for locally-produced bacon at winter farmers’ markets, at local retailers, or in meat CSAs.
Valley Bounty is written by Brian Snell of CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture)
The Recorder, January 1, 2019
What a delight to head into the new year able to comment on the good news that is the growth of Hawley’s Sidehill Farm. What an improbable success story: an organic yogurt maker in one of the state’s hilliest and tiniest towns.
Fourteen years ago, Amy Klippenstein and Paul Lacinski started producing organic milk with seven cows pastured on 23 acres of rented land. Their vision, intelligence and hard work paid off, as today they operate a 225-acre farm with a 30-cow herd and run a successful business making and selling Sidehill yogurt, sold in stores all over the state.
But Sidehill has expanded to the point that it’s really two businesses – a yogurt producer and the diary farm that supplies it – with Klippenstein and Lacinski willing and able to continue growing just one. Their answer: to continue nurturing the yogurt business, while arranging to sell the organic dairy farm to some other aspiring farmers who would rather be milking cows. The proposition makes great sense because the new farmers can lease the farm toward eventual purchase while getting a guaranteed good price for organic milk – and Sidehill maintains the trusted source of organic milk that has gone into its success all these years.
Lacinski and Klippenstein, who now do all the milking and caring for the herd, say they want to focus on yogurt making and marketing.
But “there are people out there who want to know about running an organic dairy. They want to milk, but can’t find the situation,” Lacinski told the Recorder as 2018 ended. They see the change as “creating an opportunity for someone. That’s really an exciting piece of the whole thing.”
What’s more, there would be two other stabilizing income sources for the buyer, from lease of the creamer, and from sale of products at the self-service farm shop on the farm, which now grosses about $160,000 a year selling the farm’s raw organic milk, yogurt and beef and pork, along with other products.
The couple listed the Forget Road farm, which won the state’s 2015 Green Pasture Award for dairy farm management, in mid-October and have heard from two potential buyers, so far.
Sidehill Yogurt, which claims to be the only yogurt made commercially in Massachusetts, is sold throughout the state, at Big Y, Whole Foods and Wild Oats supermarkets, and through farm stands, co-ops, cafes and other outlets.
The business, which provides jobs for eight yogurt-production employees, has seen an average 10 percent annual growth in sales, without much in the way of marketing in the past few years.
Sidehill goes into 2019 with a new federal certification to allow its yogurt to be sold out-of-state, and believe it may be time to begin looking at the Hartford, Conn., market, where there have been requests from Whole Foods.
Lacinski and Klippenstein may not have plans to become the next Dannon and may be content to keep their yogurt business in scale with their hilltown lifestyle, but we are glad to see they have found a way to grow the yogurt business while opening opportunities for other would-be farmers. This is the type of successful entrepreneurship that should make Franklin County proud – in any year.
Farm Apprentice – Full Season
Chestnut Hill Farm (Southborough, MA)
About the Organization:
The Trustees is an organization with a fascinating past and an exciting future. Our places are open to all and we thrive by involving as many people as possible in what we do. The organization was founded in 1891 by a group of visionary volunteers to protect special places across the state of Massachusetts and to preserve properties of exceptional scenic, historic, and ecological value for public use and enjoyment. We have helped protect more than 50,000 acres, including 25,000+ acres on more than 100 reservations that are all open to the public. We are a nonprofit conservation organization funded and supported entirely by our visitors, supporters, volunteers, and more than 40,000 members.
Chestnut Hill Farm features a 5th year CSA program on a beautiful myriad of crop fields, pastures, rolling hills and woods on 170 acres in Southborough, MA. We are located only a few minutes from the commuter rail which gets you to Boston in under an hour; Hopkinton State Park with its glorious lake; and all the hustle and bustle of the growing towns of Westborough, Northborough and Marlborough. As a farm, we are continuing to break new ground and develop new systems to support our active CSA and farm-store. Under the leadership of a dynamic and experienced grower, this season will provide a unique learning experience for apprentices, as you will be part of a growing farm operation still in its infancy. Our apprenticeship is a well-rounded experience for anyone interested in diverse farming opportunities.
Position Summary:
We are seeking people who are passionate about sustainable farming and eager to take on the wide-range of responsibilities associated with running a fast-paced, public, and busy production farm. This includes: crop production, greenhouse work, field preparations and tillage, hand and tractor cultivation, transplanting, harvest/distribution, livestock production, rotational grazing, and working with diverse volunteer groups. Apprentices typically participate in both vegetable and livestock production; roughly 15 acres of diversified crops for on-farm and delivered CSA shares, plus a mixed herd of 50 goats/sheep and about 400 broiler chickens. You will also be expected to help facilitate small and large events throughout the season from ‘Meet the Farmer’ to our annual ‘Harvest Festival!’
Chestnut Hill Farm is a young operation where apprentices are expected to further hone their skills and develop proficiency with specific systems. We are hiring for multiple positions and the responsibilities of the apprenticeship will vary depending on the expertise and experience that each applicant brings to the table. Ideally, you are responsible, flexible, personable, and happy working as an integral part of a small farm crew. We are looking for people who can take on the physically demanding schedule, tasks, pace and inevitable challenges of the farm season with consistency and good humor. We need people who are ready to learn, take and give direction, and are excited about working intensely with all types of people.
In addition to the above you must also:
Benefits and Salary:
Apprentices are paid hourly: $12/hr and should expect to work 40-50 hrs/week for the season (depending on start and end date). Apprentices also receive:
To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to ctrager@thetrustees.org.
Z Farms Organic is looking for a full time farmer with the good tractor skills (haying, mowing, fertilizing) to live and work full time at the certified organic farm in Dutchess county, NY. We are a small diversified operation including grass fed pasture raised cows, sheep, goats, and poultry. We sell directly to consumer at the farm stand and at the farmers markets. We offer free housing and utilities (3 bedroom) and 40,000$ salary a year. Please contact us if you are interested. 917-983-8728
For many of us, New Year’s Eve is the last in a string of celebrations from late November to early January often referred to simply as ‘the holidays.’ Maybe it’s a consequence of the sustained indulgence of the preceding weeks that we often think of New Year’s as an opportunity to resolve ourselves to better habits. Even though, statistically speaking, most of us will not follow through on most of the resolutions we make, I think there’s something really valuable even simply in the act of making them—it’s a chance to reacquaint ourselves with the vision we have of who we would like to be, and take stock of the habits and routines that are not moving us in that direction.
One resolution we can get a head start on is supporting local farms. It’s easy to fill your New Year’s Eve celebration with local favorites—here are just a few ideas to get you started:
Valley Bounty is written by Brian Snell of CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture)
The Recorder, December 29, 2018, by Richie Davis
The idea of starting a dairy farm now may seem even more improbable than it did 14 years ago, when Amy Klippenstein and Paul Lacinski started out in Ashfield with three Canadienne cows and four Normandes pastured on 23 acres of rented land.
But the couple, who built up their herd and their farm in pursuit of making and selling organic yogurt, is offering what’s now the 225-acre farm they moved Sidehill Farm to six years ago, along with what’s now a 30-cow herd and their farming equipment as part of what they say could be a solution to sustainable dairy farming.
“Certified organic grazing dairy for sale,” reads their $1.4 million offering, which comes with bonus beyond the “big sky country” of the former Donovan organic potato farm: a contract with Sidehill’s creamery, at a price that most dairy farmers might find hard to believe, let alone refuse.
“A light bulb went off in our heads,” Lacinski says, during the panel discussion the couple attended at Amherst Cinema after the 2016 showing of the documentary “Forgotten Farms” about the plight of New England dairy farmers, who for years have been receiving less than the cost of production for their milk.
“There are people who just want to milk cows and produce milk,” he remembers thinking. “They don’t want to have to deal with turning that into salable product. With dairy being in such a hard spot, we could be doing something useful if we could milk from other people.”
He and Klippenstein, who now do all the milking and caring for the herd, admit that they want to be able to focus on yogurt-making and marketing. Lacinski says, “Milking would be fine if we didn’t have other full-time jobs, so it becomes unsustainable doing both for years and years as well as want to (do it).”
But also, he added, it’s good knowing “there are people out there who want to know about running an organic dairy. They want to milk, but can’t find the situation. We see that as part of creating an opportunity for someone. That’s really an exciting piece of the whole thing.”
Milk prices have been stuck at below production-cost levels for a while, he said, with the price per 12-gallon hundredweight now under $16.50, say the couple, who have begun supplementing their milk supply with organic milk from Leahy Farm in Lee. But organic milk — which is also seeing a slump in prices because of competition from soy, almond and other plant-based products — brings in $35 to $40 per 100 pounds.
Sidehill is offering the farm buyer a contract at $48 per hundredweight — “a much better price than anybody’s accustomed to getting,” said Lacinski.
What’s more, there would be two other stabilizing income streams for the buyer, from the lease on the creamer, and from sale of products at the self-service farm shop on the farm, which now grosses about $160,000 a year selling the farm’s raw organic milk, yogurt and beef and pork, along with other products. There would also be income from the lease of the creamery.
To get around a key difficulty — making the purchase affordable to young dairy farmers starting out — Lacinski and Klippenstein have turned to Dirt Capital Partners, an agricultural conservation-minded investment firm that provides a vetting process to find qualified farmers who agree to lease a participating farm for 10 years, while they build up equity to purchase it at a pre-set price.
The couple listed the Forget Road farm, which won the state’s 2015 Green Pasture Award for dairy farm management, in mid-October and have heard from two potential buyers, so far.
“We’re not just selling to anybody,” Klippenstein said. “It’s a partnership, where we need to share our values and vision. We want someone who’s cautious and hesitant.”
Sidehill Yogurt, which claims to be the only yogurt made commercially in Massachusetts, is sold throughout the state, at Big Y, Whole Foods and Wild Oats supermarkets, as well as through farm stands, co-ops, cafes and other outlets, mostly through a couple of distributors. It’s sold in six-ounce and quart sizes in just three flavors — plain, vanilla and maple.
The business has seen an average 10 percent annual growth in sales, which now uses the milk of 70 cows.
Unlike the consumption of fluid milk, Klippenstein said, “It doesn’t seem the demand for yogurt is going down,” and the couple haven’t done any marketing for the past two or three years.
That’s something they would hope to do, at least to keep providing a livable income for their eight current yogurt-production employees. Klippenstein said they have a commitment to keeping the business local and using milk from local organic farms.
Still, they recently got federal certification to allow their yogurt to be sold out-of-state, and believe it may be time to begin looking at the Hartford, Conn. market, where there have been requests from Whole Foods.
“We’re not thinking that’s a primary thing, but if they want to distribute outside Massachusetts, we’d do that,” Klippenstein says.
For more information, visit: www.sidehillfarm.net/listing
The Recorder, December 28, 2018, by Richie Davis
Three Franklin County farms will share $39,000 in state “Agricultural Environmental Enhancement” grants for applying technologies that improves protection of water and air quality as part of their operations.
The grants, to Sidehill Farm in Hawley, Sunrise Farms in Colrain and Clarkdale Fruit Farm in Deerfield, are among 23 awarded as part of the Department of Agricultural Resources’ Agricultural Environmental Enhancement Program.
Colrain’s Sunrise Farm was awarded $25,000 for a “zero emissions electric evaporator,” which circulates pressurized steam through coils immersed in the sap, and all heat is self-contained, so that electricity is used only at the start of the boiling process.
Farmer Rockwell Lively said that because the grant is not yet in hand to purchase the equipment, it will not be available for the coming sugaring season, which could begin as soon as a couple of months from now.
Once the electric evaporator is in place, it should operate much more energy efficiently — and without emission of smoke from burning fuel for boiling down sap.
At Sidehill Farm, $10,000 was given to upgrade a bark-bed system, which farmer Paul Lacinski called “like a septic system-lite” for treating wastewater from the dairy farm’s creamery and milk room. The system, installed six years ago, hasn’t worked properly, so the improvements are designed to convert the anaerobic system into an aerobic system.
The retrofit uses fish tank “air stones” and a pair of continuous air pumps to bubble oxygen into the anaerobic system that had been overwhelmed by the amount of nutrients that were introduced with 300 gallons of wastewater a day.
Ideally, Lacinski was advised by retired regional health agent Glen Ayers, the system’s bacteria also work to rehabilitate the leach field.
Lacinski, who works to aerate bedding for Sidehill’s dairy cows over time to till it, dig it out, put it in windrows and eventually spreads it on the fields to essentially compost it, said, “We’re sort of big into aerobic. So I’m excited to be doing whole anaerobic thing with wastewater.”
Clarkdale was awarded $4,000 for improved pesticide storage by installing lockable cabinets.
The state program funds projects that improve water quality, promote water conservation, and/or improve air quality. Selected farmers are reimbursed for the approved costs of materials and labor up to $25,000.
State Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton said, “Farms across the Commonwealth work tirelessly to protect the state’s local food supply, and the funding awarded will ensure they are able to produce healthy, nutritious food while continuing efforts to protect our environment.”