Valley Bounty: Hillside Farm

Published November 23, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette

‘If you need something, come on over’: Hillside Farm’s selection is just about as fresh as you can get

By Jacob Nelson

In South Deerfield, the North Main Street bridge over the railroad tracks has been closed for repairs since May. “I was joking that we’re probably the only ones on this street happy about the detour,” laughs Kelly Kicza.

That’s because cars have been diverted around the construction onto North Hillside Road, right past Hillside Farm, which Kicza owns and operates with her husband Tim. The new route adds a few minutes to every drive, but it’s created countless happy new customers for their roadside farm store.

As cars climb the hill, views of the valley below expand, and soon the blue-grey farm store is in sight, with space for several cars to park alongside it. Inside, the year-old store still smells of fresh cut pine boards. Bright lights illuminate gleaming fridges and freezers packed with eggs, beef, pork, lamb, and even goat and rabbit. Most of that food they raised themselves. The rest they get from other local farms.

“Local is the name of our game,” Kelly explains. “If we don’t have something in-house, we’ll get it from other local farmers. What better way to lift up this community than having farmers supporting other farmers?”

Gazing out towards the barns and pastures, one might catch a glimpse of cows, sheep, goats, and pigs in the field, chickens in their coop, and hutches for rabbits. They also have the smallest of barn cats and a few astoundingly big oxen, which Tim Kicza raises for pulling competitions.

Hillside Farm hasn’t always raised enough animals to be a zoo. It started with just chickens.

“Kelly had about 450 laying hens where we lived in Hadley, before we moved to this land two years ago,” Tim explains. “She had a contract with Atkins Farms Country Market and sold all the eggs there. She got out of it when the market for eggs fell off a little, but when we bought this place, it was the first thing we got back into.”

Today they have 250 hens, with plans to double that come spring. Atkins still orders 100 dozen Hillside Farm eggs each week and roadside customers buy the rest.

After that, it didn’t take long for other animals to join the menagerie. Kelly had experience raising beef cattle from growing up on a farm in Gill, and Tim had raised cows and pigs with his family in Conway. With those upbringings and skills under their belts, a life raising animals seemed natural and doable, even as Tim kept working full-time running his own plumbing and heating business.

“When you’re already doing farm chores,” says Kelly, “you think ‘how hard could it be to raise something else too?’ And now we’re up to three hours of chores at both ends of the day plus all the other work in between.”

The couple jokes about their tendency to take on “just one more thing,” but in truth, Hillside Farm’s expansion has been a calculated process. It relates to something Tim and Kelly talk a lot about: walking the financial tightrope between keeping prices reasonable for their customers and still turning a profit for their hard work. That balance isn’t easy, especially in a world where input costs keep rising, and smaller farms often have a harder time absorbing these costs. So far, they’ve done well by leaning into variety and economies of scale.

Make no mistake, compared to enormous livestock farms elsewhere in the country raising tens of thousands of animals, Hillside Farm is tiny. The Kiczas do most of the work themselves and can keep a personal eye on each animal’s wellbeing. However, they produce enough food that they can keep the price markup on each item lower, counting on the sheer number of sales they make to add up over time.

“For example,” says Tim, “We keep saying we really should change from five to six dollars a dozen for eggs. Everyone else is at six, or even seven or eight, but we want to stay reasonable. Part of that is trusting that a lot of pennies stacks up faster than a handful of quarters.”

By selling mostly through their own farm store, they keep steps between farmer and customer to a minimum. That also helps lower prices and brings more money from each sale back to the farmer. Plus, it keeps their inventory as fresh as possible.

“Most eggs in our store are coming out of the coop that day,” says Tim, “and when we send an animal to the slaughterhouse it hangs, gets butchered, flash frozen and sent right back here. There aren’t a bunch of trucks and warehouses or time in between, and the price isn’t going up because of middlemen taking their piece.”

Besides the variety that’s in their farm store every day, Hillside Farm offers variety bundles with many types and cuts of meat at a discounted price. They also offer discounts for buying in bulk and can often accommodate orders for custom bundles or special cuts. Those interested can reach out on their Facebook page or website (hillsidefarmdeerfield.com).

“The farm store is open every day from at least 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.,” explains Kelly. “Weekends, holidays, Christmas Eve even – it doesn’t matter, if you need something, come on over.”

As time goes on and word spreads about this farm up the hill, more and more people are taking her up on that offer.

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