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My name is Meryl LaTronica and I am the farm manager at Powisset Farm in Dover, Massachusetts.
Powisset Farm is located 25 minutes southwest of Boston and I run the CSA and vegetable
operation here. A CSA stands for community supported agriculture.
The community members are purchasing a share so they are paying a farmer up front for the
vegetables for the season. I live here on Powisset Farm. I got in the
habit of checking the fields in the middle of the night and getting in the car and chasing
deer around the field. There just became this really, really comfortable connection with
the fields. My name is Molly Dellaroman and I am the assistant
CSA manager at Powisset Farm. Due to what Meryl and I care about, we have become like
a big outdoor community center. We have a pick your own field for members, where members
are getting involved in their harvest. Their kids are getting out in the field picking;
they're tasting, they're touching. I'm Sarah Stuart, this is my 4th year as a
member of Powisset Farm. The thing that I really really cherish about Powisset is the
sense of community. So I love the people, I love Meryl, and her team and I love running
into friends and meeting new people and being part of this wonderful CSA community.
It's really amazing being this intimate with a piece of land. When an insect attacks one
of your crops, it feels like your baby. When the deer comes and eats your lettuce, which
we're experiencing now, you take that personally. You're out there to protect those vegetables,
it's hard to see people after your vegetables. Not people, predators.
The hardest part about being a farmer is that it is really tough on your body, and that's
challenging every day. After my first season I had back surgery,
so I created this environment here of team work around no one being a total hero, trying
to lift a 100 lb basket. We bought smaller harvest bins and have really sort of taken
steps to prevent future injuries. You're out in the heat, the rain, the humidity,
the dry. You're out there with the ticks and the dirt under your hands and everything.
It's funny. One of our coworkers was just crawling around on the ground the other day,
fiddling with a piece of remay that was going over some arugula and I had a moment where
I just kind of laughed about how we just crawl around in the dirt all day long, and it's
totally normal, and it's totally just the way we do things.
I think farming is traditionally really sexist and really all about the men are on the tractors
and they're out in the fields and women are making lunches.
There's just so much that goes on in agriculture that's besides the brute strength of farming.
It takes innovation, it takes finesse. I think women fall into that role very easily. It's
being a part of your community; it's being an educator. We run this workshop series,
which happens every year. We're just starting a 4H program this year.
If someone asks us, 'where did this head of lettuce come from? we can tell you exactly.
Well it was a seed in the greenhouse in March, we planted it in the field in April, we weeded
it, then we irrigated it at this time, we hoed it, we hand weeded it, and then we harvested
it today. And I washed it today and here it is, right there for you. Personal touch with
every vegetable that comes through this farm. It's just really cool to be that connected
to a place.