Next Barn Over Farm

We are excited to be working with Next Barn Over Farm in Hadley, a 34-acre mixed vegetable farm operating since 2010.  Ray apprenticed under Michael Docter at Food Bank Farm, a pioneering community supported agriculture (CSA) farm that served as an important training ground for many young farmers.

Next Barn Over Farm grows over forty different crops, for their CSA and a few grocery stores and restaurants … and now for Real Pickles! Their land sits within the famed Hadley loam region (world class soil!), in the rich bottomland of the Connecticut River Valley, which has likely been farmed for several thousand years.  One crop, used in great quantities here at Real Pickles, has a long history on the land at Next Barn Over Farm: garlic. Their garlic seed has been grown there for almost three decades, handed down from the days of Food Bank Farm, which previously operated at the same location.

The Next Barn Over farmers believe that everyone should have access to healthy, local, sustainably-grown food.  Toward this vision, they are participants in Gardening the Community, a youth urban gardening project in Springfield, MA, that provides fresh organic produce to families in low income neighborhoods and educates youth in urban agricultural practices.  The farm also hosts many community events centered around DIY food & farming techniques, art, and food justice issues.

Real Pickles started using Next Barn Over Farm vegetables in 2015. We are so pleased to be growing our network of local farmers and to be fermenting the valley’s most top notch produce.