Farm Visit: Sweet Acre Farm

image from sweetacrefarm.com

This afternoon I visited Sweet Acre Farm in Storrs, CT as part of the winter farm tour/potluck series hosted by the New CT Farmer Alliance.  The tours give new farmers in the state the opportunity to meet and learn from each other.

Charlotte and Jonathan have been running Sweet Acre Farm (named for the one acre plot surrounded by sugar maples) since earlier this year.  They found the property on Farmlink, a program run through the Department of Agriculture that (supposedly) matches farmers with farmland owners.  It was great to see an example of the success of the program, especially after using the program myself and feeling like there were very few viable farmland opportunities.

Sweet Acre Farm is a great example of what can be done with limited resources and limited land.  It was really impressive to see how many vegetables they were able to produce from their land.  It just felt...manageable.  And the farmers were happy, despite the challenges of planting late in the season and then having to deal with the wrath of hurricane Irene and the October Nor'easter.  They are proud to be running their own business, excited to improve, and set on not growing too quickly beyond their means.

The best part of the evening?  The potluck with friends.  I'm not often surrounded by "my people" - other young farmers doing their best to make a living off of the land.  It's one of the best parts of slowing down during the winter (despite the fact that I'm already growing weary of so much travel).  They are all wonderful farmers, incredible chefs, and just plain inspirational people.  Can't BEET that!  ;-)