next barn over farm

Next Barn Over Farm is located in the heart of the Connecticut River Valley, in Hadley, Massachusetts, off of a main route between Amherst and Northampton. Situated at the foot of the Holyoke Range and near the confluence of the Fort and Connecticut Rivers, the Farm consists of a total of twenty acres of prime vegetable growing land.

Once the rich bottomland of ancient Lake Hitchcock, archeological research suggests that this fertile valley has been farmed for several thousand years. In addition to the corn-beans-and-squash that was grown here for millennia by Native Americans prior to the arrival of European immigrants, the last several hundred years have seen a variety of uses including dairy, hay, tobacco, and mixed-vegetable production. Hadley loam, Hadley asparagus, and Hadley corn are some of the delights that have distinguished this otherwise quiet New England town.

Because of its rich soil and strong agricultural industry, Hadley has the most farmland in Agricultural Protection Restriction (APR) in the state of Massachusetts, with over 2,400 acres protected from development. The APR program has helped farming remain viable and new farms like ours possible. Almost all of the land that we farm is preserved for agricultural use forever.



We come to this work with a deep love of this land, hard work, and sharing vegetables. We believe everyone should have access to healthy, local, sustainably-grown food and we envision our farm as part of a greater movement for food justice and security. We think the CSA model is a great way to provide nourishing food, support local farming, steward the land, and act as a gathering place for vibrant community.

Ray Young

In 2005, Ray Young traded in stage life for the glamorous work of crawling through manure. And although it wasn’t the romantic pastoral work of Ray’s imagination, it is, as you might imagine, a sticky profession and Ray has been gratefully knee-deep in it ever since. Ray spent three seasons as both an apprentice and manager at the Food Bank Farm, and worked as an assistant farm manager in 2008 at Casey Farm - a twelve-acre organic vegetable and livestock operation in Rhode Island. Prior to pursuing a path in farming, Ray co-founded and worked with the political theater troupe Liberty Cabbage Theater Revival and on many grassroots community justice projects in Western Massachusetts. Ray is grateful for the mentorship of Michael Docter, for the connection to a vibrant and supportive community, and for the opportunity to do meaningful and joyful work.

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Tory Field

Tory is thrilled to be working with people she loves in the Hadley sunshine. She worked as an apprentice at Food Bank Farm in 2006 and 2007. Her longest passion is community organizing and justice work. In addition to Next Barn Over she works for Other Worlds, an organization that creates multi-media materials documenting inspiring alternative economic and social models around the world. She has big love and dedication to Arise for Social Justice, a community organization in Springfield, MA, and is working towards becoming a trainer with the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond anti-racism trainings.

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Jasper Gardner

For Jasper, working outdoors has always been one of The Good Life's prerequisites- right up there with swimming holes and good books. So for the past few years Jasper has worked either on farms or as a field biology technician, choosing locations largely based on their proximity to good swimming holes and mind-blowing novels. Jasper first farmed in earnest at Food Bank Farm in 2005, and is happy to be returning to the Pioneer Valley to work alongside old friends, and for reasons mentioned above.

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Sara McFadden

Sara started farming by mistake when the Farm Teacher job she held at Casey Farm in Rhode Island ended and a job as a farm hand on the crew at the same farm became available. It didn't take long for her to realize that she preferred the company of cauliflowers to that of adolescent children and gave up on pursuing a career as a social studies teacher to play in the dirt full time. Both jobs get messy at times, but you can't eat children and vegetables don't talk back. Sara spent last season apprenticing at the beautiful Marble Valley Farm, a 3 acre vegetable farm in northwest Connecticut.

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Mary Joelle

Mary is excited to be returning to the fertile soil of Western Mass. She has been living on Cape Cod for the past four years working with a small gardening/landscaping crew. While she enjoyed the work very much, her growing aspiration has been to join the sustainable and local food movement. She believes that all things start with good food... and usually end with a small piece of dark chocolate! As a novice apprenticing farmer, she is thankful for this opportunity to be involved with Next Barn Over for its debut season and especially looks forward to this endeavor amongst the vibrant community of the Pioneer Valley.

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