A Year Ago Today....

One year ago today we woke up and our lives were changed. 

Farming has inherent risks and challenges that are all part and parcel when you follow a vocation to farm. It is still difficult to see photos of the fire that destroyed the barn, all of our farm equipment and, most devastating of all, our flock of laying hens early that morning.

We were incredibly fortunate that there was no further loss of life or injury. Despite the trauma and all that was lost, in short order, we were overwhelmed by the love and generosity of our community. With ashes still smoldering friends arrived with food and hugs and soothing voices. They brought the calm and kept us moving forward in those early days. 

Susan and Tony Wood of Flying Carrot Farm set up the first fundraiser and our entire community followed suit. We are eternally grateful to Farm & Coast Market, Little Moss Restaurant, Good Yoga, Peoples Pressed and Destination Soup for all that they did to raise awareness and funds to get us back on our feet. There are literally hundreds of businesses and people to recognize for the services and products that were donated, the money, gift cards and meals that helped us get back up and mostly the genuine care and understanding that our entire community gave to us. Every note, comment, and smile fueled us forward.

As Spring arrived and the growing season began we did our best to stay focused on rebuilding the farm business. There were more hiccups ahead. At the time of the fire, we were leasing the property where the barn was lost. It was not long before tensions grew with the property owners who were not fully insured for the cost to replace the barn. Spring turned to Summer and the writing was on the wall, we needed to relocate our home and farm. The property was being sold and the owners did not have the appetite to work with us to put it into conservation which was the only way we would have been able to possibly afford to purchase it ourselves. 

The Summer went by in a frenzy of nonstop work. In addition to rebuilding our tenuous farm business, we were taking on extra jobs to build up the funds we needed to move. Our goal was to put everything we had into purchasing a home with a little bit of land so that we would have a stable place to rebuild our business and our lives. Thankfully, after a LOT of hard negotiations, some VERY challenging timelines and a tremendous amount of support from Sarah’s parents we were able to land in a nearly perfect spot. We moved to 3 ½ acres with a home in Little Compton. The only downside is that we are further from our beloved South Dartmouth and Westport neighbors. 

We are committed to ensuring that our farm will continue. It is taking us much longer than we expected to build back to where we were, especially our egg business. We have not been able to supply any of our wholesale clients and for the first time since we started the farm, we have had zero eggs since November. We are rebuilding our flock and hope to be back in the egg game this spring. Our Mainland CSA and markets needed to downsize dramatically while we rebuilt. Our goal for 2020 is to grow our Island CSA and Market on Cuttyhunk, welcome a new farm stand at our property in Little Compton and return to all of our wholesale egg clients where they have room for us.

The road back has been long and winding with a lot of steep hills but we have not walked it alone. We are eternally grateful to each and every one of you who showed us so much love. We are tired and honestly still a little shaken but our hearts and souls are filled with the support and genuine caring that you all have given to us.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!

Sarah, Kate and Massimo