Here are the fabulous farm and farm product vendors we are excited to welcome for the 2023 Festival! You may find some of them at area farmers markets and other events, so do enjoy their websites and support local food and farms year-round. We’ve included some farms here that you’ll find in the food courts. There are some great videos here too!
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- Alhbin’s Homemade, Greenfield MA: Ahlbin’s Fire Cider is Kara’s tried-and-true take on this well-known traditional immunity booster, combining local raw apple cider vinegar with raw local honey, ginger, turmeric, garlic, herbs and more.
- American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation, Spencer, MA: Chestnut trees for sale! Lois & Denis are involved with hybrid chestnuts for food production and American chestnuts for forest reintroduction. These presentations will provide you with some American Chestnut History, a Description of a Local Restoration Project, and information about the Role of Chestnut Trees in Regenerative Agriculture.
- Balky Farm, Northfield MA: Frozen Lamb and Goat meat, wool blankets, yarn, fibers, hand made woolen items, quilts, sheep hides. Balky farm is a family run sheep & goat farm that was started in the 70’s as a 4-H youth project. In the early 80’s it became one of the first licensed market lamb farms in western Mass. and still is to this day.
- Birch Moon Farm/Farmshoes, Shutesbury MA: Herbal products and handmade farmshoes. Sarah is a farmer, herbalist, shoemaker, clothing maker, all around maker living her best life with her family and currently building a house with her daughter.
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- Bug Hill Farm, Ashfield MA: black currant cordial, fruit shrubs and fruit conserves using local produce (including their own black currants, aronia, raspberries, rhubarb and mint) and other, mostly organic fruit. Visit the sweet story of the organic fruit farm.
- The Farm at Cat’s Croft, Bernardston MA: garlic: seeds and culinary, pickled too! Shallots, pickled scapes, jams and marmalades, fruit butters and curds. Cat’s Croft is a woman owned, no-till small organic farm providing organically and sustainably grown specialty crops
- Clearview Compost, Orange: compost education and small bags of compost
- Clearview Farm Garlic, Garlic, featuring softneck garlic varieties. Donna and Bill produce certified organic grains, a mixed variety of fruits and vegetables and have been saving garlic seed for over twenty-five years.
- Coolidge Hill Farm, New Salem MA: fruits and veggies. Coolidge hill farm IPM practices producing fresh fruits and veggies for the local community for over 30 years.
- Diemand Farm, Wendell, is a food vendor, so find them in the food courts but we want you to Learn about this family farm from the family members.
- The Flavor Society made a 2022 guest appearance! Orange native and award winning chef Althea Potter (daughter of Lydia Grey, festival co-founder) won’t be making the 2023 festival but enjoy their website as they ship their crunchy garlic-chili condiments in exciting flavors to tantalize your tastebuds.
- Foxtrot Farm, Shelburne Falls MA: Dried herbs, teas, dried floral arrangements (including decorative *garlic braids*), fire cider kits, topical herbal products, seeds. Watch the story of this beginning farm — Breaking Ground.
- Fungially, Turners [Great] Falls, MA. fresh mushrooms, mushroom grow kits/spawn, mushroom events, mushroom supplements, dried mushrooms, mushroom seasoning w/garlic. Fungi Ally IS WILD about mushrooms. They help to connect people to the fascinating world of fungi by offering mushrooms and educational events.
- Grass Hill Alpacas, Haydenville MA: locally produced alpaca products. Grass Hill Alpacas is located in Williamsburg, MA on land that has been in the Nash family for more than 150 years. The farm is owned by the direct descendants of the Forster family that hosts the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival. The raising of alpacas started almost 20 years ago as a way to maintain the agricultural legacy of the farmland in Williamsburg. Watch the cute alpacas.
- Hettie Belle Farm, Warwick MA: grass-fed, organic meat and poultry CSA
- Kitchen Wizardry, Orange MA: Nalini creates organic spice blends and tisanes from around the world. She believes that cooking is alchemy, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary and spice blends are the easiest way to create exotic dishes with minimal effort.
- Little White Goat Dairy, Orange MA- are among the festival committee members. They don’t have a booth, but check their website for their 2023 offerings and to learn more about their farm!
- New Salem Preserves, New Salem MA: Apples, preserves, donuts, cider and hot sauce. Founder Carol Hillman welcomes you to her orchard and cider shop here.
- Niemi’s Apiary, Athol MA: Honey, beeswax candles, beekeeper’s handcream. This father and son team invites you to come say hello!
- Noel’s Farms, Petersham MA: a variety of global and ethnic crops grown by farmer Esther, a hard worker who strives to make sure all her plants are healthy.
- Real Pickles, Greenfield MA: Raw, naturally fermented products– 12 different varieties of Northeast grown krauts, kimchi, pickles and hot sauce, including Garlic Dills and Garlic Kraut! Real Pickles is a worker-owned cooperative producing award-winning fermented products that are raw, vinegar-free, 100% organic, regionally grown and solar-powered. Take a tour of their processing facility. Learn about their values.
- Round Table Farm, Hardwick MA: Local cheeses! Raw cows’ milk aged cheese–five kinds, including a garlic and herb jack. Round Table Farm is a community creamery and flower farm run by young farmers who are enthusiastic about building community and crafting products that are uniquely beautiful and delicious. They believe in working closely with the land and animals in a sustainable manner, and collaborating with other MA farmers and cheese makers.
- Seeds of Solidarity Farm, Orange MA: Festival co-founders! Assortment of garlic for planting and eating, garlic braids, fall veggies. Enjoy farmer Ricky Baruc’s webinar for the Northeast Organic Farmers Association on No-Till Gardening and Farming with Cardboard, Cover Crops, and Tarps. Deb Habib created Recipes for Wellness, a 40-page booklet with strategies for wellness, economical recipes, and gardening activities. Learn more about this farming couple through their recently published book, Making Love While Farming: A Field Guide to a Life of Passion and Purpose, which can be ordered from worker-owned Levellers Press. Garlic is also available at their farm stand along with greens, tomatoes, and handmade products. They’ll have yummy garlic bread too! Learn about the garlic harvest.
- Simple Gifts Farm, Amherst, They are in the food court where you can enjoy a organic produce and meat from sustainably farmed animals. Here’s how they got started. Watch skinning a greenhouse.
- Senny’s Sweets, Wendell MA: Maple caramel apples, maple caramels, maple lollipops and Freedom Farm maple syrup. Senny’s Sweets is a youth run business that makes handmade maple syrup caramel apples, maple syrup lollipops and maple caramels. All the maple syrup is made by Seneca’s family in the hills of Wendell.
- Song Sparrow Farm, Florence, MA: Salad mixes, variety of fall produce including spicy peppers, specialty sweet peppers, bunched herbs, Dry flowers, dry herbs, pickled veggies, salad dressings, tinctures. tea, dried and fresh flowers and herbs. The team at Song Sparrow Farm grows climate friendly nutrient dense food.
- Sweet Birch Herbals, Ashfield MA: herbal teas, tinctures, salves, creams, oils, elixirs and full moon ghee. Hannah Jacobson-Hardy is the founder and visionary of Sweet Birch Herbals and Full Moon Ghee. She is a practicing herbalist and has a school in Ashfield based in Five Element Chinese Medicine, Western Herbalism and sustainable wild crafting. Watch… Treating inflammation with herbal medicine.
- Variety Farm, Templeton MA: farm-made goat milk soap. Variety Farm is a small, queer and trans owned homestead in Templeton, MA focused on sustainability and permaculture.
- We Have Worms: Shutesbury, MA. Ben Goldberg returns with peecycling and worm composting info and education.
- White Buffalo Herbs, Warwick MA: Handmade organic herbals, teas, and aromatherapy products. Body care and love potions. Community Herbalist Carol Joyce raises and hand-makes 120+ Organic Herbals on her local Still Willin’ Organic Farm & Botanical Sanctuary. She also teaches about herbs, is a social worker, & loves to help people with their health & happiness. A – Z of Herbs.
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Check the schedule for featured workshops from these farmers such as: Growing Great Garlic with Seeds of Solidarity, Braiding garlic with Clearview Farm, roasting chestnuts with the American Chestnut Project, needle felting with Balky Farm, herbal tincture and oil making with White Buffalo Herbs, fire cider making with Sweet Birch Herbals, demos with Foxtrot Farm, Fungially, and even one strap sandal making with Birch Moon Farm.
Who domesticated whom? The Great Goat Taming.
