In case you happened to miss the farmers’ market and are still craving fresh and local food, Whippoorwill Farm is offering a special sale on the alternating Saturdays opposite the farmers’ market dates.
The farm stand at Whippoorwill Farm is now open for business on Old County Road in West Tisbury.
It’s been nearly 15 years since farm owner Andrew Woodruff could say that. Between a booming CSA membership, a move to Thimble Farm in Oak Bluffs, and a move back again to Old County Road, the farm stand has been empty.
“It’s nice to see this farm get active again,” Mr. Woodruff said this week, his John Deere hat shading his face from the August sun.
Andrew Woodruff kicked at the dirt at Whippoorwill Farm on a recent afternoon. The soil felt familiar, but he stomped on it a few times to make sure it was good and grounded, twisting himself into place.
“Today is a beautiful day and spring is around the corner,” Mr. Woodruff, 50, said squinting into the sun. “It’s definitely a fresh start to a new beginning for Whippoorwill Farm.”
The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank announced Tuesday that it has signed an agreement to buy an agricultural preservation restriction to permanently conserve some four and a half acres of farmland at Whippoorwill farm off Old County Road in West Tisbury.
The owner of the farm is Andrew Woodruff. The price to be paid for the restriction is $43,000 per acre.
Community Supported Agriculture, the popular organic Island vegetable cooperative at Whippoorwill Farm, is on the rocks again, this time because of a business plan that has failed.
A newly-formed Island coalition is working on a possible deal to buy the former Thimble Farm property, take it out of private ownership and make it a nonprofit working farm with housing for farm workers.
Called the Martha’s Vineyard Farm Project, the group hopes to raise $2.5 million to buy the land and buildings at the farm in the Iron Hill area off the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road that is home to Whippoorwill Farm, a large community-supported agriculture operation.
Whippoorwill Farm, home of the first Community Supported Agriculture program on the Vineyard, will move its operation from Thimble Farm in Oak Bluffs back to Old County Road, farm owner Andrew Woodruff said this week.
