About Provider Farm
About Provider Farm
Provider Farm is located at the historic Woodbridge Farm property in Salem, Connecticut. We grow our vegetables chemical free on 14 beautiful acres of healthy, happy soil, and use our 20 acres of biodynamically managed pasture to raise our herd of heirloom cattle. The rock walls surrounding our fields remind us that there have been farmers feeding their community here at Provider Farm dating all the way back to the early 1800’s.
About your farmers
We are Max and Kerry Taylor, and we can’t wait to be your farmers! We have over 10 years combined experience growing healthy, whole, natural foods and are thrilled to be able to share our expertise with your family. We are the next generation of farmers at Woodbridge Farm and we look forward to growing for you!
Farmer Max
Max was born and raised outside of Chicago IL, a mighty long way from a biodynamic farm in Southern Connecticut. Despite that, his path to Provider Farm was pretty direct. Max attended Umass Amherst were he met, courted and married sustainable agriculture. Max worked on a few farms in western Mass before landing at Riverland Farm were he worked for three and a half years. It was through Riverland Farm that Max met Kerry and the rest is history as they say....
Farmer Kerry
Kerry comes to Provider Farm with five years experience growing at Brookfield Farm, a large vegetable CSA in Amherst, MA. She grew up in Providence, RI and spent her childhood attempting to grow plants in her beloved shady backyard, inspired by her grandfather's gardens. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College, she caught the farming bug when she worked at Pomykala Farm in South Hero, VT for a season. After completing her term in the Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa, she was inspired to pursue her love of farming and has never looked back.
Other folks you'll see on the farm...
Larry Manire has had the life long dream of having his own farm. He is also the father of Kerry and we are lucky to have him around. For the past five years, he has been working once a week at Brookfield Farm with Kerry and learning the ropes. He is the original do-it-yourselfer and is handy at just about any project. He is ready to roll up his sleeves and fix everything we break armed with his non-stop can-do attitude
Our farming philosophy
We believe in agriculture as a way of life and that good farming is a fundamental tenant of any society. As farmers it is our job to feed our community. We strive to produce the best possible products and the only way that we can achieve this is through good, ecologically based agricultural practices.
Soil is our most precious resource and the foundation of our farm. Healthy soil makes a healthy farm. Soil is a complex living organism that needs to be fed and cared for like any other living thing. That is why at Provider Farm we don't use any chemical fertilizers or pesticides. We have a compost based fertility system and practice crop rotations and cover cropping to ensure that our soil remains healthy and strong. At Provider Farm we practice biodynamic agriculture. A form of agriculture that goes beyond 'organics' and helps integrate ecology into agriculture.
For the time being we have elected not to certify our farm as organic through the USDA. We feel that the USDA organic standards have their place somewhere in the agricultural world but on our farm we do not feel that the certification process is appropriate. The certification process is expensive and somewhat arbitrary. We have signed the CTNOFA Farmer's Pledge and we strongly encourage our share holders to visit our farm and see our fields. We raise happy cows and healthy vegetables and we are happy to show you around!
