The History of the Moose Hill Community Farm

Being a second year apprentice, I am, and have been, very fortunate to work with and learn from some wonderful people here at Moose Hill. Being able to work with shareholders in the field, and hearing feedback during distribution is what creates a genuine “communal” feel every work day.

Since I grew up in Sharon, I run into old classmates, or parents of classmates, almost every week. Thus, I’m often a bit nosey as to what they have been up to since graduating Sharon High. It’s fun getting to know several of you a bit more while working in the fields or during distribution and I am getting a better sense of how connected our CSA is with the beautiful town of Sharon and a number of surrounding communities. Did you know that we have shareholders from over 19 different communities – we think the furthest is Pocasset! Next time you are at distribution, see if you can find who comes from the furthest town.

Lately I have been asking some long time shareholders their thoughts and experiences about being a part of this CSA for so long. From everything I have heard, it certainly seems the CSA has grown quite a bit!

The CSA began in 2005 using a tent for distribution and lugging all the food up to the shop at the nature center on rainy days. After realizing that this probably wasn’t the most ideal setup, Moose Hill began a fundraising campaign, engaging shareholders and other friends of Moose Hill and the general public to raise the funds and build the new barn.The barn was constructed in 2010 (complete with a solar array to further lower the carbon footprint of Moose Hill, but that’s another blog posting in the future). The new barn changed the way we were able to manage the produce being harvested – no more tents blowing away!

Our modest tent from the beginning

Old style pickup

In the beginning, all of the harvesting was accomplished through shareholders, volunteers, the property manager and the sanctuary director. With one field to harvest and just over 100 shares to manage, this was hard, hard work, but doable. When the second field came in line, increasing the number of shareholders, the work increased! At this point there were over 300 shares being sold. This meant that a few very part-time farm workers, along with the shareholders and a few other volunteers, were needed to accomplish all of the work.

When Mathew Noiseux was hired in 2014 as both the Property Manager and CSA Manager, a few more changes began. As Moose Hill underwent the transition from one sanctuary director to the next, Mathew brought on more part-time paid help to get all the work done in the fields while still relying on the shareholders to guarantee harvesting and to run distribution. Without these changes, Mathew would have needed about 4 pairs of hands in order to instruct shareholders as they arrived to help harvest, plan the harvest lists, prepare for distribution, and work with Ward’s Berry farm to make sure all our vegetables were planted – not to mention working on the rest of the property.

In 2015, the shift to the current structure happened. Apprentices were hired who could help manage the harvest, run distribution, and answer various questions from shareholders. Along with a few Farm Hands, there is now a consistency to harvesting and attention to weeding and other farm chores allowing us to focus even more on the quality of the food we are growing. Mathew’s patience, desire to teach, to challenge, and to get the best out of his farm crew is what enables us to be successful.

Mathew hitching a ride

From what I have heard, there are two main reasons why several people have chosen to be shareholders for so long: fresh food and the direct involvement they have in the process of harvesting and distributing what we get to cook and enjoy!

A number of shareholders not only like to work in the fields with us, but if they have time and the opportunity, they go beyond their required commitment for work hours to give an extra hand. It certainly doesn’t go unnoticed and is appreciated even more than they may realize.

I’ve also noticed how many shareholders enjoy being obligated to cook new foods they aren’t accustomed to, which offers the chance for them to share  what they have learned with each other during distribution.

All of these things you simply can’t attain by going to the supermarket. One, we usually don’t know how exactly the veggies from market were grown, i.e. what pesticides or fertilizers were potentially used. Two, the word “organic” can be quite an ambiguous term. We usually don’t have any connection with those producing food at the market either, thus we aren’t aware of how the food has been stored while being driven or flown across the country, and sometimes the world. I’m sure many of us are aware of the carbon footprint caused by mass-producing/conventional agriculture, which is one of the reasons why we choose to be apart of the CSA model, and why we talk about these alternative modes of agriculture to friends and neighbors.

We are glad that our long-time shareholders and our newest shareholders are a part of the history and growth of our community. I look forward to sharing more stories with you all!

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