About

We are an intergenerational family farm in Buckland, Massachusetts tucked into the hills next to the Clesson Brook, on the historic Robert Strong Woodward homesite. We farm four acres and are focused on regenerative ways of growing food and sustaining ourselves and our community. Our vision is to grow food in an agroecologically sound way with climate resiliency at the forefront of our relationship with the land and how we steward it. Building deep ties to our local community and ensuring our fresh produce is accessible to all members of our community is at the forefront of what we do.

Our farm is on unceded Pocumtuc/Nipmuc land that we tend with gratitude for all its past stewards. In our small attempt at reparations we donate 5% of the farm's profits to indigenous-led organizations, and we would encourage you to consider what reparations might look like in your life.

Our Practices

We are an agroforestry-based farm, practicing pesticide-free farming as well as low-till agriculture, transitioning to no-till. We are not certified organic, but consider ourselves to be beyond organic in how we farm and tend our land.

What is agroforestry? Agroforestry is the practice of integrating trees into annual crop and livestock production with the aim of capturing and utilizing the environmental and economic benefits that come from this integrated system. For us that looks like growing in an alley cropping system, with our annual crops in wide alleyways between rows of chestnut, peach, Asian pear, and quince trees, above understory plantings of rhubarb, honeyberry, black raspberry and asparagus. We like to think of it as a system that feeds people now, while investing in a more perennialized food system in the future.

At Fern Hill Farm we are committed to:

• Increasing access to healthy food.

• Farming in a way that not only feeds our community but also feeds the futures of our soil and our ecosystem.

• Not using chemicals and pesticides in our farming practices.

• Constantly striving to learn and humbly sharing what we know about growing food and stewarding land.

• Planting tree crops to feed a future beyond our own

• Fighting injustice through our farming, education, and activism.

• Donating 5% of our profits to Indigenous-led organizations and projects.

Meet the Farmer

Lindsay Allen is a farmer, mother, cook, activist, and artist. She has been farming for 14 years and brings a breadth of experience: production vegetable farming, permaculture design, agroforestry, and farm education. Before starting Fern Hill Farm, Lindsay started the ground-breaking rooftop farm at Boston Medical Center, where she grew food for hospital patients, and integrated the farm into the onsite food pantry and teaching kitchen. Lindsay currently works with Higher Ground Farm as a designer and consultant in rooftop farm design.

Although Lindsay loves farming on rooftops, she is thrilled to be back on the ground, remembering what it means to cultivate living soil and a long-term relationship with the land. She farms with the health of the environment and her community in mind, and hopes to create a farm that can reawaken all of our ancestral knowledge of growing food and being in relationship with those things that sustain us.

Lindsay holds a masters in Agroforestry from Mizzou and is excited to be integrating agroforestry practices into the DNA of Fern Hill Farm.