Every farmer has a favorite crop. Some are reluctant to name just one, like a mother who does not want to play favorites. Others, like Ethan Buchanan-Valenti, crop manager at the Grey Barn and Farm...

Lucy Leopold and Collins Heavener, year-round residents of Chappaquiddick, were married at Slip Away Farm, their home, on Saturday evening. The weather was perfect: the humidity that has hung over...

With the Agricultural Fair beginning on Thursday, it’s another busy week ahead for Island farmers. For growers and animal raisers, the Ag Fair is a chance to show off months of hard work. We...

The other day I called Julie Scott, the farm manager at Slough Farm in Edgartown, and caught her just as she was about to get into a truck with a sheep in the back of it. “Just as a disclaimer...

I opened my greenhouse door the other morning and discovered seven bobwhite quail scurrying around and under our seeding tables. These sweet little birds are named for their distinctive call. Once...

Every other morning, I begin my day harvesting flowers, working alongside my friend Lucy Leopold. We start early and pick quickly, trying to harvest all the blooms before the cool of the morning has...

A farmer’s entire success depends on many factors, but always starts with one thing: our dirt. The soil on the Island can vary dramatically. Many up-Island farmers struggle with heavy clay...

This is the time of year that the butterfly weed, an orange bloom in the milkweed family, really takes off on Chappy. It seems to be a particularly good year for it. The edges of our field at Wasque...

Farmers are eternal optimists. In the quiet months of winter, we think to ourselves, “This will be the year.” We reflect back to the summer months, when our fields were brimming with...

My 18-month-old daughter recently pointed at a freshly harvested green bundle sitting on our kitchen counter and correctly identified it as bok choy. She knows the difference between a daffodil and a...