The Tuesday and Thursday CSA pickups at the farm in Westborough are full and hav been closed. The Crystal Spring pickup in Plainville is also closed. The Sunday pickup at the farm is still open.
New pickup co-op location in the town of Uxbridge. Sign up now. Be sure to write 'Uxbridge' where the name of your co-op is requested.
Heirloom Harvest now has its own Facebook page. Check it out.
Welcome to Heirloom Harvest
Welcome to Heirloom Harvest, a certified organic community supported agriculture farm located in Westborough, MA.
The farm is comprised of 17 acres total, with 8 acres in production in any season. The soil is of the Merrimac, Agawam and Sudbury types over an ancient lakebed, so the subsoil is sandy and there are few stones. The farmsite is surrounded on 3 sides by fields that are managed for the benefit of uncommon field bird species such as bobolinks and meadowlarks. Wildlife is abundant.
The CSA has over 200 members. This is the second year that we have been certified organic, though the fields have been managed in compliance with organic guidelines for many years, though several new fields are in their second year of transition to organic (three years are required to be certified). (See Why Local and Organic?, What is Community Supported Agriculture? and Payments and How to Join sections).
Heirloom Harvest is a community farm, in that it commits to integrate volunteers (who do not need to be members) into the work of farming, and donates a portion of the harvest to charity (See Volunteers, Visitors and Safety section). In 2005, Heirloom Harvest donated over 6,800 pounds of produce to charity. Community farms value creating community and service to it, farmland stewardship, growing food in an environmentally safe way, and education.
Members of the farm are called shareholders, and usually receive from 8 to 15 vegetable items a week throughout the 22-week season, everything from kohlrabi and greens to watermelons and pumpkins. A CSA share is designed to provide generously for a household of two adults and two children although this varies with family eating habits. Many CSA members find themselves eating greater quantities of healthy vegetables—with less fuss from the children—because of the freshness and flavor of the produce compared to that available in local markets. (See What is a Share? section).
Eat healthy with fresh vegetables grown by organic practices and principles. Eat local to preserve the environment and support sustainable farmland stewardship in your region. Teach children where their food comes.
Farmer John Mitchell and Marina Mountraki, farmhand, hold Amish Moon and Stars watermelons. Amish Moon and Stars was originally introduced in 1920 by Peter Henderson and Co., and was reintroduced in 1987 by Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, a small Virginia seed company founded in 1983 to preserve our agricultural genetic heritage. Small independent farms like Heirloom Harvest are the only outlets remaining in America where such varieties are grown and can still be found.
