Beetlebung Farm is expanding its farm’s activities with a six-acre lease on Nat’s Farm, a property in West Tisbury owned by Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation.
The foundation, which owns over 3,500 acres of land on the Island for conservation and public use purposes, currently leases some of the Nat’s Farm property to farms as pasture for horses and cattle. The latest 5-year lease to Beetlebung Farm will bring vegetables to the rich soils and allow Beetlebung to expand its production.
“We consider it a part of our mission to conserve the rural landscape of Martha’s Vineyard,” Adam Moore, president of Sheriff’s Meadow, told the Gazette. “We think farms are a critical part of that.”
The lease for the fields at the south pasture of the property will be free, allowing Beetlebung to grow more food without the burdensome overhead of purchasing land on-Island.
“There’s an issue of access to farmable land, with the prices of real estate,” said Amy Weinberg, co-owner of Beetlebung Farm. “The ability to lease land in cooperation with land conservation groups is such a beautiful thing.”
The public would still be able to use the trails that walk along the fields and connect to the nearby bike path.
Beetlebung’s goal in leasing the property is, first and foremost, to grow more food. The farm currently has about two acres of farmland in Chilmark, and sells most of the food it produces. A larger property would allow Beetlebung to grow more storage crops, perennials and vegetables for preservation and fermentation, extending the season into the winter to meet year-round demands for food.
A spring perennial crop such as asparagus or an overwintered crop such as winter cabbage are hard to plant on such a small property, when winter is often a necessary period to rest the soils. The new property will take some of the strain off of its current soils and allow for more long-term planning.
“That was always our goal, to be a four-season farm,” said Ms. Weinberg. “Now, we will be able to realize that for the first time.”
With the newly leased property, Beetlebung will continue with its same sustainable, regenerative farming practices of crop rotation, no-till, deep composting and human scale-agriculture, which means using minimal tractors and heavy machinery, according to Ms. Weinberg.
“It’s that beautiful West Tisbury soil that has so much potential,” she said. “I know that we will be incredibly responsible stewards of this soil.”
It may be a few years before Nat’s Farm vegetables start showing up in Beetlebung’s farmstand. The farm’s plan designates two years of cover cropping before planting, and then only intermittently with crop rotation and resting.
“We’re going to do it really carefully, slowly, patiently,” said Ms. Weinberg.
It is both Ms. Weinberg and Mr. Moore’s goal for their organizations to support the local food system, and to find models of land use that allow Island farms to thrive.
“Hopefully it becomes a model that can become replicated in other protected lands on the Island,” said Ms. Weinberg.
This article appears in May 29, 2026.
It is so nice to see land on the vineyard being conserved and farmed. It WOULD, however, be nice to see these opportunities go to people who actually need it. There a lot of small farms, owned by islanders, who need help and land access. Investing all that time in to cover cropping though, A+ = sounds like Beetlebung is doing the right thing here, setting up the land for years to come. Getting water there, if there isn’t access already, will be very expensive on it’s own. Should Beetlebung not re-new their lease come 5 years time, it would be a really excellent opportunity for Beetlebung/Sherriff’s Meadow to give back to our community by ensuring the worked land gets leased to a farmer who is struggling.