Note from Barbara Zheutlin, executive director of Berkshire Grown: The Berkshires are much loved for the pastoral beauty of the region. This gorgeous landscape attracts visitors and development, producing a rich culture, while simultaneously raising the cost of land. The high cost of land is one of the many challenges facing farms, the farms that are at the heart of the beauty of the Berkshires. So a challenge to all who treasure the Berkshires is how to sustain the old and new farms of the region that make the Berkshires extraordinary. In this series you will “get to know your local farmers,” the individuals who grow the food you eat and care for the land you see.
Cheshire — Alongside busy Route 8 in Cheshire sits Whitney’s Farm Market & Garden Center. Berkshire residents in the area are likely familiar with the expansive garden center, full of everything from tomato starts to trees and shrubs. Next to the store sits the farm market, which features produce from the farm in season and a wide range of dry goods, produce and deli goods year-round. On a recent visit, the staff of Berkshire Grown got a behind-the-scenes look at the operations at Whitney’s Farm and the wide range of products, services and activities available at this local farm and garden business.
At the helm of the operation are Eric and Michelle Whitney. Eric took over the land from his father who, like his father, had operated a dairy farm on the family’s 400 acres. But Eric and his high-school sweetheart, Michelle, went to UMass’s Stockbridge School of Agriculture to study fruit and vegetable production and, when they began to take over the farm in the mid-1990s, they decided to phase out the dairy operation, citing the struggle to earn a living as a dairy farmer. They put up a greenhouse and a tent along Route 8, began growing bedding plants and produce, and Whitney’s Farm Market was born.
Fast-forward 20 years and their operation has grown massively and impressively. Eric and Michelle work alongside a handful of managers, his parents, and his aunt and uncle to oversee more than 40 staff and an astounding array of operations. Up a hill from the garden center sits a row of greenhouses and a perennial field; this is where many of the plants you buy in the garden center get their start in life, nursed until they’re ready to go home with customers as herb and vegetable starts for the garden or a hanging basket for the front porch. We take a ride to tour more of the property and drive through pick-your-own blueberry fields; across 40 acres of fields for crops such as sweet corn, squash, tomatoes and pumpkins, which will show up in the farm store later in the season; past giant piles of curing logs that feed one of the biggest firewood operations in the county; alongside some unusable land, which will soon be home to a solar array; beside giant piles of mulch and topsoil as we weave through the nursery where trees and shrubs are getting ready for new homes; and near the fields where locals can come for pick-your-own tomatoes and peppers in August and September. Our tour ends with an exploration of the petting zoo and playground that sit beside the farm store. All of this is nestled in amongst 400 acres of beautiful Berkshire views and the busy bustle of shoppers stopping in for their spring planting needs, for lunch or for whatever else they might need. This local market seems to have it all.
Whitney’s Farm Market & Garden Center is located at 1775 S. State Rd., Route 8, Cheshire, MA 01225. They are open seven days a week from April until Christmas.
