Our self-serve farmstand at 165 Chestnut Hill Road, Orange is open April to November, and we focus on greens and garlic. We are planning an expanded farmstand for 2021 so stay tuned! You can call 978-544-7564 for the farm too. Thank you for your patronage, it means a lot.
It is an honor to grow food in solidarity with small farmers around the world, and those everywhere helping to feed the people.
Seeds of Solidarity Farm was initiated in 1996, on land in the middle of the forest that had not been cultivated for many years, and the original inhabitants of the region being the Wampanoag, Nipmuc, and Pequoit people. A conservation restriction on our 30 acres ensures the land will always be used for agriculture, education, and wildlife habitat. With nature as teacher, the land has been transformed into fertile fields and hosts 5 solar hoophouses brimming with our signature greens, fruit and perennial crops, garlic and sacred, traditional crops such as Hopi blue and Narraganset flour corn. The tapestry of our site includes energy efficient and off the grid home, office, and farm outbuildings, including Solidarity Handworks, a solar powered farmstand, and celebration art and words of inspiration along the paths.
Our family farm is distinct from the non-profit organization, but serves as an educational space to share strategies for viable small scale intensive farming. After 25 years of marketing produce retail and wholesale, from farmers markets to restaurants, we now sell our produce exclusively at our farmstand and to our very local food coop. In addition, we cultivate over 14 varieties of garlic, sold at the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival.
With the growth in people wanting local food, we ask,
How can more people participate not only as consumers, but producers?
To build
local food self-reliance, we need accessible, affordable and yes, fun practices that
mimic nature, help decentralize food production and engage more people in cultivating
the earth in order to Grow Food Everywhere. We use
cardboard on marginal land
to foster worms, microbes and mychorrizal fungi that decompose the cardboard and build a
fertile soil ecosystem. In addition to an increase in worm castings (poop), using
cardboard as mulch helps balance moisture, keep weeds down, and create no-till carbon
sinks that retain rather than release CO2 into the atmosphere. Cardboard -- a waste
product available in most communities -– is key to growing gardens on lawns, lots,
school yards, municipal buildings for opening up and improving plots of land.
Seeds of Solidarity Farm emphasizes soil building and worm production through permanent no-till raised beds and fields. We use cardboard, mulch, and cover crops to nourish and open up land and nourish the life in the soil. We’ve had great success transforming forested, acid land marginal for growing vegetables into balanced and rich agricultural soil. Without a need to till, there is no need for machinery that uses fossil fuels and release carbon when tilling; we grow in solidarity with the 80% of the world’s farmers that cultivate the earth with their hands. We use solar hoophouses to grow vibrant salad greens, spinach, and Asian greens from February through December, as well as tomatoes, peppers, and other hot weather crops. Hoophouses extend the growing season and protect from pests and weather extremes increasingly wrought by climate change. Increasingly, we grow sacred crops such as traditional corns, wheat, and tobacco.
Visitors sometimes ask us if using less energy and/or energy from renewable sources is a sacrifice. We’ve thought about this, and realize that the word sacred and sacrifice have similar roots. Yes, we need to be conscious of our energy use, but that feels like a good and sacred thing, rarely a sacrifice, and empowering in the truest sense of the word.
Seeds of Solidarity is “off the grid.” Two modest solar electric systems provide for all of our electricity needs in our home, the farm and apprentice housing including lights, house well pump and farm irrigation, refrigeration, computers, power tools, washing machine and rock and roll. We also have a van with a mobile solar electric system, and our farmstand refrigeration is solar powered. Our solar electric systems includes photovoltaic panels, batteries for storage, inverters to convert DC current to AC. Our photovoltaic systems have been installed with the support and brilliance of Bob Higgins, Atlantic Alternative Power in Gill, MA. Homepower Magazine is an invaluable source of information on all aspects of renewable energy.
We’ve designed and built all of the structures on the Seeds of Solidarity land. We combine conventional building techniques with materials that are recycled or energy efficient. Our design ideas are influenced by local materials, such as cedar beams and railings, and a Middle Eastern aesthetic, including stucco, plaster and curved forms that we feel drawn to and is part of our heritage. Our buildings are not connected to the utility grid, but utilize renewable energy (and a small amount of LP gas for cooking and on-demand hot water heating). Because of the super-insulated construction we only burn one to one and a half cords of wood each year to keep our home warm. On a sunny winter day, we rarely need to make a fire.
The construction techniques, components and materials we use include:
We use biodiesel, a vegetable-based fuel in our family car ( a 2002 Volkswagon Gulf), a Ford F350 farm truck, and the SOL Patrol E350 van. We blend biodiesel with fossil fuel diesel, especially in the winter months and depending on the vehicle and it’s fuel system sensitivity. Imagine the 440,000 school buses across the nation running on biodiesel, reducing childhood asthma, exposure to carcinogens, and reliance on imported oil. See World Energy, Veggie Van, Biodiesel, or Yellow Biodiesel for more information about biodiesel. Vegetable-based engine oils and fuel conditioners can be purchased from Renewal Lube. Using SVO or straight vegetable oil for fuel is a great thing to do for those that drive regularly and requires a conversion kit. Our neighbor burns recycled vegetable oil in a waste oil furnace to heat his shop, which is great.