Edible Nutmeg

#whogrowsyourfood

• Photo by Anne Burmeister

  Stephanie Maynard and her sons Mark and Jackson attempt to make it to the barn for evening chores but are waylaid by a puddle. Like so many family farms, kids are a part of the fabric of the farm.

• Photo by Anne Burmeister

  Mark Maynard, Jr., awaits visitors at Ox Hollow Farm in Woodbury.

• Photo by Ashley Skatoff

  Fred and Barney are the oxen of Ox Hollow Farm. These retirees are dignified keepers of the farm's history, having been a part of the farm from some of its earliest days. (Ox Hollow Farm, Woodbury)

• Photo by Anne Burmeister

  There are no "off days" in farming, particularly livestock farming. Evening chores, after a full day of farmers' market and hay-cutting is a reminder of that. But even with dinner, bath-time for the boys and bookkeeping still ahead, Stephanie is positive. It seems there is an extra energy source somewhere on this farm. (Ox Hollow Farm, Woodbury)

• Photo by Anne Burmeister

  Mark helps his mom feed hay during evening chores. Like so many other kids we've met, he's been part of the fabric of the farm from his earliest days. (Ox Hollow Farm, Woodbury)

• Photo by Ashley Skatoff

  Stephanie and Mark Maynard. (Ox Hollow Farm, Woodbury)

• Photo by Ashley Skatoff

  Stephanie Maynard and son Mark. (Ox Hollow Farm, Woodbury)

• Photo by Ashley Skatoff

  We were invited to Riverbank on what was a “slow day.” Is there such a thing on a farm? Trucks were blowing up dust on the paths, farmers picking crops in the field, food being prepared in the kitchen, boxes of produce loading into trucks for markets. This nestled farm by the river was humming. (Riverbank Farm, Roxbury)

• Photo by Anne Burmeister

  David Blyn and his wife Laura founded a farm that reflects their unwavering idealism, coexisting with a realism born from experience. The result is both a profound reverence and an exuberant irreverence in the best ways; as if they somehow know just what bits of life actually need to be taken seriously…and then they have a bit of fun with the rest. (Riverbank Farm, Roxbury)

• Photo by Ashley Skatoff

  Laura McKinney (pictured) and David Blyn raised their family on this land. Laura and I connected as moms of seniors this year applying to college. Her daughter got in early to one of her top choices and my son was still waiting to hear. The first time I saw her at the market after months of winter, she paused from her obvious hustle and asked how it turned out for my son. She told me she had been thinking of him; I believe her. (Riverbank Farm, Roxbury)

• Photo by Ashley Skatoff

  Laura McKinney looks into the fields, laden with equipment and structures. (Riverbank Farm, Roxbury)

• Photo by Anne Burmeister

  Laura stops to pull a bunch of carrots from a row. She brushes off the dirt and breaks off a bite. It is the sweetest carrot I've ever eaten. Because it's in a valley, she explains, the air cools earlier in the season. The colder air drives the sugars down into the roots making the carrots sweeter. But that cold air may also kill the crop in early frost. In a way the farm's reliable water source also makes it tougher to survive. But when the frost alarm goes off in the middle of the night and they head out into the moonlight to save the crop, they turn on the irrigation systems and pull water from the same river to warm the crop just enough to save it. (Riverbank Farm, Roxbury)

• Photo by Anne Burmeister

  Tranquility reigns at Riverbank Farm in Roxbury.

• Photo by Anne Burmeister

  Goats disregard critical signage under an early spring sky at Riverbank Farm in Roxbury.

• Photo by Anne Burmeister

  Erica Teveris and her father, Peter, in the orchard at Woodland Farm in South Glastonbury with a morning's harvest of apples, peaches, and more. Erica earned a degree in plant pathology but, missing the challenge of farm work, left the lab and returned to working on the farm in 2011.

• Photo by Anne Burmeister

  Erica Teveris and her father, Peter, in the orchard at Woodland Farm in South Glastonbury.

• Photo by Anne Burmeister

  Erica Teveris prunes in the Woodland Farm orchard in South Glastonbury.

• Photo by Anne Burmeister

  Blue keeps an eye on fallen blossoms at Woodland Farm, South Glastonbury.

• Photo by Ashley Skatoff

  Woodlands Farm, South Glastonbury