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Written by bob carroll
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Friday, 08 August 2008 18:32 |
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Chestnut Farms is a family farm that is an evolutionary process and the result of many years of work and caring for cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry. In 1997, Kim purchased a 106 acre abandoned dairy farm in the beautiful community of Hardwick, MA. She was a single mother with two young daughters and a lifelong dream of being a farmer. Literally, the day she closed on the property, an old but beautiful barn on the property collapsed. Fortunately, a young builder who specialized in quality crafted furniture from recycled wood (especially chestnut) was demonstrating his craft at the Big E that year and a local television station needed a place to interview him. Rich thought of the barn in his hometown and knew there was a new owner. He connected with Kim, the interview took place. The Big E ended, but Kim and Rich had just begun. They were married in the spring of 1998. For the following eight years, Rich undertook the huge task of cleaning up, rebuilding and re-seeding the land. He also attended to the vast majority of the animal husbandry as herds took shape and pigs farrowed. Family bonding occurred on weekends over the bed of a pickup truck as tons and tons of debris was hauled off the land by hand. Kim continued to work in education and together they raised two wonderful daughters and a son. They slowly built up herds of cattle from a single mothers’ day gift to Kim in 1999 to a hundred head today. Maggie, the original cow still lives a peaceful and happy life on the farm and continues to produce a calf each year. Sows were raised, piglets born and slowly a farm took shape. During this time, Kim and Rich took classes at the Small Farm Institute and worked with the Farm Viability Program from the MA Department of Food and Agriculture. Both were tremendously helpful. They began a process of planning and thinking about how to best structure a business that would fit their skills and talents. Both loved animals and strongly believed that all animals should have a great quality of life. They also realized how much they enjoyed connecting with other farmers and building community. In 2006, Kim was diagnosed with breast cancer. Within eight weeks she went from a routine mammogram to a full mastectomy. This proved to be the catalyst to jump start the business. Taking stock of their lives, both Kim and Rich knew they wanted to farm full time and both believed it could be done. Kim calculated they could probably go nearly seven years if they lived very frugally before they were bankrupt. The question become if not now, when? Chestnut Farms was launched. With the support of family, friends and the farming community, Kim and Rich began selling meat directly to consumers using the CSA model. As a former school teacher, Kim knew that it was always a great idea to borrow a good lesson plan and make it your own. The CSA model ensured a fairly steady flow of income which is essential in farming. No matter what the weather, the animals need to eat. The model has proven to be successful; Chestnut Farms is raising a full complement of cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry and shareholders are very happy with the quality of the meat shares. Kim and Rich remain fully convinced they have the absolute BEST farm shareholders in the Chestnut Farms Community. Today, the CSA is the core of the farm business. Kim and Rich believe strongly in connecting communities to traditional agricultural practices. Open barns held several times each year for shareholders and include farm tours and an opportunity to hold baby animals (usually pigs and lambs and chickens), hike through the pastures and play with the resident Saint Bernard’s. Additionally, on farm share distributions take place each month with time for shareholders to visit with the pigs, pat a cow or collect some eggs. Kim and Rich work to connect with non-shareholders as well. They offer farm tours to new and emerging farmers. They have spoken on various aspects of livestock farming, environmental issues and marketing in multiple venues, including the New England Marketing Conference, NOFA, MIT and the Fairmont Copley Plaza. They make themselves available for interviews and have been featured in the Springfield Republican, the Small Farm Quarterly, the Boston Globe, the Barre Gazette and Edible Boston. Last summer both Rich and the piglets were featured on the Fox New Morning Program. There is nothing like having the traffic reporter holding a six week old piglet! Future plans for Chestnut Farms include the construction of a fully self contained, 100% off the grid, barn to support community building and educational programming, a farm store and chef demonstrations. This barn was designed by Kim and Rich’s oldest daughter, Marlisa as her senior project in college (She is now in graduate school for architecture). . It is scheduled to begin construction in the winter of 2010. This will allow Chestnut Farms to continue to grow the dream of environmental sustainability and the responsible and humane raising of livestock.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 08 April 2010 14:06 |
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Chestnut Farms Connecting Communities !
On June 21, the principals at one of the Waltham, public schools kisses a pig!
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