For the season’s last Stearns Crew Spotlight, I had a chance to catch up with Assistant Manager Hannah Ladesic about her first year here at the farm and her plans for the winter months and beyond.
What’s been the most surprising thing about your first season at Stearns Farm?
I’ve been surprised just how much food can grow on a tiny farm- it’s pretty remarkable how much food we grow here! I’ve mostly worked on larger-scale farms before Stearns— places where it wasn’t as necessary to think so creatively about efficient use of space—and I’ve loved the creative problem solving involved in keeping the harvest flowing on this tiny and mighty farm.
What’s different about Stearns compared to other farms where you’ve worked?
Compared to the other farms where I’ve worked, Stearns practices the CSA (community supported agriculture) model most true to its origins— this farm would truly not be possible without the care, labor, and support of everyone involved. It’s been so special to get to know so many incredible people when they’ve come for work hours, joined the harvest crew as work for shares, pitched in to help change truck brakes or troubleshoot tractor problems— I’ve made so many friends and have learned something from everyone. This kind of genuine support and love for the land and community feels rare and particularly special—something I haven’t quite felt on any other farm. I hope you feel it, too!
I guess I’ll take this opportunity to extend a huge thanks to everyone— pavilion staffers, regular rock star weekly volunteers, work for shares, partners who pick up CSA leftovers for local food access donations, those who help send out this newsletter, maintain the website, keep the books, help us water on the weekends, support the farm through buying shares or plants from the plant sale— you all play a vital role in making this farm run. I’m being completely honest when I say we couldn’t do it without you! This farm is truly community run and community supported, and I think in this day and age that’s a really special and powerful thing, and something I hope that others can learn from Stearns and replicate elsewhere. I hope you’ve been enjoying your share as the fruits of your labor— I’ve thoroughly enjoyed sharing the harvest with each of you.
Any fun plans for the off-season?
I can’t wait to do lots of yoga, play lots of banjo, go on many winter hikes, get back into a rhythm with making sourdough bread, knit some hats, and make as much soup as I can. I’m planning to visit family and friends in the Midwest and on the West coast, and take a woodworking class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in western NC (where I lived and worked last year).
What are you most excited about for next season?
I’m currently trying to figure out what next season will look like for me— though a move is in store, which sadly will mean moving on from Stearns! I have hopes and dreams of starting my own farm in the next few years, and am planning to take the next couple seasons to hone in some particular farming skills and figure out where this seed of a farm might be located. Right now I’m thinking it may be western MA, though time will tell!
I’ve made so many kind friends here and will miss everyone and the farm very much. I’ll have to visit as often as I can! This place has become so dear to me even being here for just one season.
What’s your favorite veggie from the share and why?
Tough one! I’m really not good at “favorite” questions— I’m so indecisive! And am someone who gets very excited when each new crop is ready for picking throughout the season, everything feels as exciting as the next. I’ll beat around the bush and say that the fall carrots have been one of my standouts of the season. Carrots are a labor of love and I was really involved in this planting— I seeded them all mid summer, went through the field with a backpack flame weeder to kill weeds before the carrots germinated, many weeds inevitably germinated (as they do), then Ember, Kerry, myself and many volunteers rescued the tiny carrot seedlings from the the sea of weeds pulling them out by hand, I agonized for a while over how sparse they looked, and now we’ve been pulling some of the biggest, mostly blemish-free carrots I’ve ever seen out of the ground! Farming is certainly hard work, though it’s magical moments like these— listening to people gush over the giant carrots, kids munching on them as their parents pick up their share, and feeding the seconds to Freckles— that bring me great joy.