Our 80th @realfarmercare recipient - Maddie & Jess Cherry of Sweetwater Farm @sweet_water_farm in Petersham, MA.
Jess writes, “We are two mid-20s farmers with a nearly 2 year old child, and we originally began growing seed and food in a beautiful community in Southern Oregon. We moved to New England a couple of years ago and found a retiring farmer in Central Massachusetts who wanted to pass along her operation to young farmers and we are now moving into our second year on this land. We have a small CSA, attend local farmer's markets, have a few wholesale accounts, and we also grow organic seed for a few seed companies. And this year we will be selling seed packets in local stores under the name Quabbin Seed Exchange. Our main motivation for farming is climate resiliency and making a notable impact on the earth community. We realized pretty early on how challenging this work was and almost entirely dependent on our own resiliency (mental, physical, emotional, & spiritual), so in many ways it feels like we have been cultivating our own being as much as the soil/plants/animals we work with. Being kind to ourselves with our learning and continuing to push on have become calling cards for our farming practice. It is in this way that we are able to show up for our land and our community. . These uncertain times make imagining what the season will look like with our markets challenging. We will likely need to be supported even more by our CSA to create some greater stability as a result of losing our wholesale accounts and potentially farmer’s markets. We are still taking members for our CSA and offering deliveries to those who need. We also set up a Covid-19 relief fund for CSA members who want food from the farm, but are unable to pay at this time. We have boxes available as a result and would love to hear from folks in the area. We also launched our seed company @quabbinseed and though we are in the early stages, we hope that this time can be centered around planting seeds for the future. Know that we will move through this trying season and reap the many benefits of our social diligence in the seasons to come.”#realfarmercare #sweetwaterfarmma #quabbinseedexchange
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