We've begun! We are excited, exhausted, honored, and humbled by the experience of guiding the stewardship of the North Amherst Community Farm. By late Winter 2006, Simple Gifts Farm and the North Amherst Community Farm non-profit agreed to work together. From that moment on, we have all - SGF and NACF - stretched ourselves to understand how to forge a lease relationship that is practical and equitable for both parties, to pull off a 100-member CSA from scratch, to begin a new livestock operation, to move an existing vegetable farming operation 15 miles up the road, to begin to reclaim farm buildings, to produce a fantastic Harvest Festival, to begin to know a piece of land and the community that surrounds it.

Simple Gifts Farm leases the land from the North Amherst Community Farm, and runs the farm operation on the site. We offer the freshest seasonal organic produce through a Community-Supported-Agriculture program, through our on-site farmstand, and at the Amherst Farmer's Market. You can also find our heirloom tomatoes at the Whole Foods Market in Hadley, MA during tomato season.

Established in 1999, Simple Gifts Farm produces high-quality produce and meat for sale to the local community through our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), on-site farmstand, and the Amherst Farmers' Market.

Our Vision: we seek to make the North Amherst Community Farm property into a thriving farm business that is economically and ecologically sustainable, visually beautiful, and an asset to the North Amherst community. We envision a farm that benefits the local community by providing open space and by marketing its products through a CSA and an on-site farm stand. The farm will be managed as an ecological unit with two main production enterprises: vegetable crops and livestock.

The main economic engine will be the vegetable production, with the livestock serving a crucial supportive role in nutrient cycling, insect and weed control, and efficient use of otherwise unused resources. Both enterprises will serve to provide healthy food and to connect people to their food supply. We ultimately hope to develop a system that can thrive and grow beyond our lifetimes.

The North Amherst Community Farm is a non-profit organization and the proud owner (as of July 2006) of the ~36-acre farm in the midst of North Amherst. NACF is permanently protected farmland, thanks to phenomenal community support and support from the State of Massachusetts and Town of Amherst. In the middle of a densely populated neighborhood, it is an ideal site to build connections between people and their food supply.