My Come to Farming Story
A look back on 15 years of farming and how I got here...
We are approaching the New Year and my official move date to the farm in Waldoboro, ME. The pending move brings me excitement and panic. Both feelings I have been processing during farewell hang outs with folks here in Massachusetts and future farm planning sessions in Maine. Outside of nerves and excitement, I don’t have many farm specific updates, so I figured I would take this opportunity to share my come to farming story.
Whenever I meet a new farmer, I always want to know how it started. For most, including myself, it feels like a calling or a missing piece to a puzzle. Farming is too hard to “do it for fun” and it certainly isn’t “for the money”. I consider myself lucky for finding my passion at a young age.
I have told iterations of this story many times over the years but not quite in depth with all the details that I recount here. I took the liberty to make this newsletter quite long to add sufficient context to what starting a farm really means to me and maybe to convince myself that I am worthy of the opportunity.
2010-2012 Volunteer
It all started the morning after prom during my sophomore year of high school. There was this older guy who I followed around like a puppy. Your mind is probably thinking that I liked him or something, but it was definitely not like that. In hindsight, I followed him around like a puppy because we were both queer but neither of us had come out or even acknowledged this to ourselves yet. However, he embraced his personality in a way that inspired me and was comfortable in his skin in a way I wanted to be.
On the morning after prom--make-up smeared, up-do still slightly intact and my dangling earrings on from the night before--my friend dragged me to Medway Community Farm for their volunteer day. We gathered around the farm manager, Brittany, who introduced us to the farm and gave us instructions. Brittany was sooo cool. She took charge of the group and spoke passionately. My friend and I proceeded to shovel MANURE into a compost pile for TWO hours. I was hooked.
Years later, I reflect on why shoveling poop was so glorious to me. I think I was lost back then. I was challenged in a traditional school setting because I had ADHD that would go another decade without a diagnosis. I always felt inadequate because I learned more slowly and differently compared to many of my peers despite working as hard or harder than them. It was confusing. But when I engaged in manual labor my usually busy chaotic mind was quiet and I felt productive.
So, I continued to volunteer here and there for a couple of years. My friend and I rented a 10x10 plot from the farm and grew our own garden. Between our plot and volunteering, I was at the farm a couple of times a week. Even when I was a junior in high school dealing with a stint of debilitating depression, the farm was one of the few things that would get me out of bed. When I had a bad day at school, I would walk through the woods to get to the farm and walk on the edges of the fields. The farm was a safe space for me.
2013-2020 Field Crew to Assistant Manager
The summer going into college I started officially working on the farm’s field crew. I worked under Brittany, who soon after became my mentor. The mentorship wasn’t official or sanctioned, but I continued to farm for Brittany for seven years first at Medway Community Farm and then at her own farm, Upswing Farm. She and her husband, Kevin, taught me how to seed, plant, cultivate, use a tractor, sell food, market, manage people, and more on the farm. Off the farm, they brought me to farmer meet-ups, taught me how to cook, showed me good music, and became my friends.
For the first four years of my farm career, I would farm summers in Massachusetts and shoulder seasons in North Carolina. While in North Carolina I complimented my work on farms with work for Feast Down East, a non-profit Food Hub and Food Access Program. It was there that I learned about food insecurity, social determinants of health, and various supply chain models. Food access would continue to be a part of my farm career in a big way later down the line. After earning a B.S in Environmental Science at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, I returned to Massachusetts to farm full-time, year-round for Brittany. Brittany managed with an intensity that was appealing to me. She had high expectations and was tough, but made me the exceptional farmer that I am today. Farming quickly went from being an interest and a job, to a community and a lifestyle.
Similar to my time in NC, I complimented my work on farms (a fancy way to say I got a second job), working for The New Garden Society. The organization grows food and flowers in on-site prison gardens that serve as therapeutic greenspaces and vocational horticulture classrooms. There, I spearheaded their development through grant writing and fundraising appeals, as well as taught horticulture in prison gardens. I honed in my educational pedagogies and training in trauma informed care. I continued to work and then volunteer for NGS for eight years on the side of farming. I love this organization and wish I could stay forever!
2021-2024 Manager
Brittany and Kevin are some of the best farmers I know. But after several years, it was time to part and explore other farm practices, business models, and friendships on other farms. It was in this next phase of my farm career that I really defined my own identity as a farmer. I went from being referred to as “Brittany’s protégé” to “Erin who does x, y, and z”. I took the intensity, commitment to efficiency, and communication skills I learned from Brittany, and complemented them with my love for training, logistics, and advocating for farmer well-being. I became a mentor to other beginning farmers and built a practice of consistent learning from workshops, books, conferences, and more.
I first went to Gaining Ground in Concord, MA where I held the role of Education and Distribution Manager. In this role I managed a volunteer program that hosted about 3,000 volunteers annually and I managed their produce distribution of 120,000 pounds annually to fourteen different food pantries weekly. Everything we grew was donated to people experiencing food insecurity. We grew all of this food using no-till practices, which is a topic that will have its own newsletter someday. But for now, understand that hand scale no-till farming is the most ecologically sound style of farming. My soul was fed by the value and importance of this work. I thrived in this position that included my two loves of education and distribution efficiency. But, even though I was making more money farming than I ever had, it still was not enough to make ends meet.
While at Upswing Farm, I lived with my mom and dad who did not make me pay rent, which allowed me use my money for other expenses like my car, food, and healthcare. Many young farmers start their careers by being ‘subsidized’ by their parents or partner. I truly would not have been able to farm had I not had free housing. It was a privilege I am deeply grateful for and a reality I am so saddened by. (Thanks mom and dad!).
Nevertheless, I was now living with my partner in the cheapest and smallest (500 square foot apartment) I could find and still not able to live stably. Despite asking Gaining Ground (who had a very large budget at the time, since they were funded by donations and not by selling vegetables) to pay me a living wage for the high quality, time consuming, and exhaustive management work I was doing, I was turned down. So, I left. But my leaving was not in vain. After a strongly worded letter to the Board and a very informative exit interview, the organization split my position into three positions the following year, all of which paid more than my one position. It was very sad and hard to leave a position that I genuinely loved, but I was happy that standing up for myself paved the way to better livelihoods for future farmers.
After leaving Gaining Ground, I quickly stepped into the role as Field Crops Manager at Chestnut Hill Farm in Southborough, MA, a vegetable and livestock farm owned by The Trustees of Reservations. I knew this role would be exceptionally challenging for two reasons. One, I would work for the big, bad Trustees of Reservations. You may be surprised to hear TTOR referred to with such disdain, but if you know anyone who has worked for them, then you likely have heard a few horror stories. I sure had. I took the job despite knowing at least 7 farmers who have been wronged by TTOR. But I took the job anyway, because I needed benefits. Two, it would be a challenging role because the farm the year prior was non-operational and sat fallow. So, in a lot of ways I was starting from scratch—hiring an all new field crew, asking former CSA members to return, and building a crop plan from scratch. But you know me, I LOVE a challenge.
Despite these challenges, we had a very successful season at Chestnut Hill. We received an abundance of positive feedback from customers who renewed their CSA memberships. However, the Trustees of Reservations were struggling financially and laid off a good chunk of their 400 person organization. Chestnut Hill Farm was one of three farms they closed. A month after the layoff of many very skilled farm managers, TTOR purchased a 113 acres historic farm down the road for passive recreation. There is more to the story and if you’re interested please read my partner’s footnote at the end of this newsletter.1
Even though I got laid off, I really loved my time at Chestnut Hill Farm. I had benefits for the first time ever!! I had autonomy and independence to manage freely (I don’t think the higher ups at TTOR even knew I existed, and I liked it that way). And I had kickass co-workers who held down the fort while I spent my dad’s final weeks with him.
Now-Forever?? Owner and Farmer
I want to be clear--I am not starting a farm out of spite. I am starting a farm because I love the community that a farm fosters, I love feeding people, I love helping other people learn more about where their food comes from, I love the beauty of the land, I love the science and technicality of it. Also, I am really good at farm management and the only way I am ever going to live up to my full potential as a farm manager is if I have the freedom to be creative.
Okay, that’s my story.. Despite navigating complicated bureaucracy at non-profit farms, frustrating working environments and low pay, I don't regret any part of my career. Each job served a purpose of getting me where I am today with the knowledge I have and the support of a passionate farming community. Each job really served a purpose of getting me where I am today with the knowledge I have. There is so much left to learn in this next phase. One of the many reasons I love being a farmer is I love to learn—farming keeps me humble.
Footnote from my partner, Kelsy:
The Trustees manage upwards of 120 properties in the state of MA, totaling over 27,000 acres of property. Most of this property they own, making them one of the largest landholders in the state. Despite the fact that much of this acreage was once farmland, the Trustees website only lists 8 of these properties as farms. Out of the 8 they market as farms, agricultural operations at three of them were terminated during the 2024 layoffs and one of them is a property in which the Trustees were forced to hand over all farming practices (other than farm education) to local farms due to what the town conservation committee called "strong disappointment with the Trustees Management". Out of 128 properties listed on their website, the Trustees currently have two working farms under their own management, yet they continue to buy large swaths of farmland in the state without any intent to farm the land. As the largest private holder of conservation restrictions in the state they are doing the work to keep land from being developed, but are actively taking working farmland out of the system and out of the hands of young farmers trying to feed their communities.
Erin, your newsletter was really enlightening and well communicated. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing your story and your finding your passion in farming! What a hard slog, but obviously rewarding even in spite of the under-valuing nature of the “industry”. Thank you for educating me! I am excited for your new venture! I pray that you would continue to be a pioneer, literally “in your field” and help increase the education of us non-farmers and keep before you meeting the needs of all the food-insecure. I am saddened to learn about the Trustees in MA not intentionally developing the land for and by more farmers. May God continue to unfold the path before you and greatly bless the work of your heart and hands.