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Real Pickles

Northeast Grown, 100% organic, fermented & raw pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi, kvass, and hot sauce

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Home / Our Facility

Our Facility

Energy Efficient & Solar Powered

We operate Real Pickles out of a solar powered, energy-efficient, 6,500 square foot organic pickling facility on Wells Street in Greenfield, MA.

In 2009, we purchased a century-old industrial building in Greenfield, MA and transformed it into a new home for Real Pickles. We made significant building renovations to minimize energy use and to prepare the space for certified organic food production. Two community loan funds – Franklin County Community Development Corporation and Equity Trust – helped to make the project possible, along with financing from our local community bank.  The move from the Western MA Food Processing Center (where we got our start) to our own organic pickling facility allowed us to expand significantly in the years following, and we look forward to staying here for many years to come!

Minimal Energy Use

We are proud of the many steps we have taken to make our facility as energy efficient as possible, including:

  • High efficiency lighting, including LEDs and high output T5 fluorescents,
  • Occupancy sensors and photo sensors (adjacent to skylights) to keep our lights operating only when needed,
  • On-demand, tankless water heater,
  • Freeaire system for our walk-in refrigerator, utilizing outside air during the winter months to keep things cool and reducing electric usage by an estimated 60%,
  • R40 ceiling insulation and mini-split heat pumps in our fermentation rooms.

Solar powered

Real Pickles and PV Squared owners with solar array
PV Squared and Real Pickles staff pose on the roof with our newest solar array! (Photo: PV Squared Solar)

We are excited to be supplying the majority of our electricity from solar panels installed on our rooftop!

Our efforts to maximize energy efficiency in the course of our building renovations have resulted in remarkably low energy requirements for a commercial facility of our size. In 2011 and 2019, we turned our efforts toward deriving as much of our remaining energy needs as possible from clean, renewable sources.  We hired Pioneer Valley Photovoltaics (a fellow worker co-operative that shares our building) to install two photovoltaic systems on our roof (17 kW in 2011 and 31 kW in 2019).  Our solar array provides much of the electricity needs for both businesses!

By making our facility energy efficient and solar powered, we have taken small but important steps as a business to help move our society forward in pursuit of cleaner air, greater community self-reliance, and a more stable global climate.

Read more about Real Pickles

Our Mission
Our Farmers
Our Co-operative
Our Story

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These are REAL pickles: naturally fermented withou These are REAL pickles: naturally fermented without vinegar. Organic and Northeast grown.  #ReelPickles 
#PackedWithAMission #RealPickles #organic #northeastgrown #pickles #fermented #reels
Thanks for featuring us in this AMAZING raw salad Thanks for featuring us in this AMAZING raw salad @perfectfoodsinc ! 

Repost @perfectfoodsinc 
BEST Raw Vegan Salad You’ll Ever Have👇

This salad is Day 1 of our raw vegan reset cleanse. Full recipes for the dressing and faux tuna and the rest of the week’s delicious recipes can be found in our cleanse 👉 link in bio to set up a free consultation.

Ingredients:
🌱 4 oz @perfectfoodsinc Sunflower Microgreens (chopped)
🌱 4 oz @perfectfoodsinc Pea Microgreens (chopped)
🥕 Carrots
🥬 Romaine Lettuce & Celery
🌞 Sunflower Faux Tuna
✨ @realpickles Sauerkraut
🥕 Carrot Ginger Dressing
🎃 Topped with pumpkin seeds and mung bean sprouts

Comment below ME if you are looking to lose weight, reduce inflammation, improve gut health, increase energy levels or just overall level up and improve your health and want a FREE health consultation to see if our cleanse is for you👇👇

#rawvegan #vegansofig #juicing #cleanse #juicecleanse #detox #holsiticheslth #autoimmunedisease #inflammation #guthealth #cleanseyourbody #feelingmyself #sprouting #sproutsfarmersmarket #greensmoothie #fixmeaplate #smoothierecipes #nyc #nycvegan #vegansofinsta #vegansofnj
We are thrilled to introduce you all to TWO MORE m We are thrilled to introduce you all to TWO MORE member-owners of our co-op, Amy Laprade and Victor Signore! As a worker co-operative, Real Pickles is preserving our strong social mission, empowering our staff to direct the future of our business, and creating good local jobs with shared profits. 

Amy is part of our production team and our shipping and distribution team. Amy says “what excites me the most about becoming a worker owner at Real Pickles is the opportunity to build alliances with like-minded people, which can help shape the kind of community I wish to live in.” When Amy is not packing your orders and making ferments she likes to spend her time writing, doing hot yoga and spending quality time with her partner Geoff and their cat, Jack. 

Victor is the Real Pickles Vegetable Coordinator. He is responsible for maintaining our relationships with our farmers, helping to plan our starting season, ordering vegetables and so much more! He says that he is excited to be a part of something that is having a positive effect in supporting our local agriculture, local economy and our community. “Being a worker-owner means that I can help shape the future of Real Pickles and what our next steps may be as we face issues, such as climate change.” Victor is a musician, a visual artist and lives nearby with his partner, Mere and their sweet kitty Olalla.

We are so excited that our co-operative is expanding to include these excellent folks! Welcome Victor and Amy!

#workercooperative #workerowned #RealPickles #PackedWithAMission
Real Pickles is hiring a production assistant! Lin Real Pickles is hiring a production assistant! Link in bio for details! 

Real Pickles is a worker-owned co-operative in Greenfield, MA, producing organic fermented vegetables from Northeast-grown produce.  Our mission is to promote human and ecological health by providing people with delicious, nourishing food and by working toward a regional, organic food system in the Northeast.  As a co-op, each worker has the opportunity to become an owner of the business and participate in shaping its future.  We are strongly committed to creating good jobs that support the dignity of all workers in an equitable and inclusive workplace. 
#workercoops #workerowned #coop
The time has come! Organic Dill Pickles are back f The time has come! Organic Dill Pickles are back for the season! Thank you to our farmers for such an abundant and beautiful start to the cucumber harvests! Fresh batches of pickles are making their way to your stores in the Northeast! Enjoy! 

*check out our store locator on our website. Link in bio.

#RealPickles #DillPickles #organic #lactofermentation #NortheastGrown #coop 

@atlasfarm @redfirefarm
@leafandbeanfarm on Ask A Sista Farmer series this @leafandbeanfarm on Ask A Sista Farmer series this Friday at 4pm on Instagram Live @soulfirefarm - See you there! 

Repost from @soulfirefarm
•
See you this Friday at 4 PM for Ask a Sista Farmer!

Interested in making the jump from urban living to rural homesteading? Then join us for ASK A SISTA FARMER - EPISODE #38

On Friday, July 1 at 4 PM ET we are joined by Nivek Anderson-Brown of Leaf and Bean Farm, a homesteader and micro vegetable farmer from Virginia. Nivek will teach us the ins and outs of homesteading for self-sufficiency, and talk about the journey from urban to rural life. 

Learn more and follow @Leafandbeanfarm and Leafandbean.farm 

***
Ask a Sista Farmer, FIRST Fridays, 4:00-4:40 Eastern
On Instagram Live @soulfirefarm 
Past Episodes www.soulfirefarm.org/ask-a-sista-farmer 
Apply to be a presenter here https://bit.ly/AASFapp 

Are you ready to grow your own food and medicine for self-reliance and community resilience? First Fridays, experienced Black womxn* farmers answer your chat questions about gardening, livestock, agroforestry, plant medicine, business operations, and food preservation. At the end of the show we have a GIVEAWAY to the person who wins our quiz. To free ourselves we must feed ourselves!

Ask A Sista Farmer centers the voices of Black, Indigenous, People-of-Color, Queer, Trans*, Disabled, Immigrant, and Poor communities. Everyone is welcome to watch and listen, but please make space for centered folks to ask questions and share. Thank you. 

Sista and womxn includes trans* and nonbinary folks

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Contact

311 Wells St
Greenfield, MA 01301
(413) 774-2600
info@realpickles.com

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