Who We Are
Kate and Jude own and manage The Neighborhood Farm. Kate started the farm in 2008 after having worked in sustainable agriculture, organic farming, and education. Kate is obsessed with heirloom tomatoes and can't stop trying new varieties. Jude started farming in 2009 and quickly began growing dozens of heirloom garlic varieties and an assortment of the hottest peppers in the world.
An amazing crew of wonderful farmers aid Kate and Jude in running the farm and staffing all the pick ups and farmers markets throughout the year. A highlight of each year is getting together to discuss and select a huge variety of unusual produce and plants to grow each year.
We farm because we want to grow local, healthy food for our community and we want to encourage others to do the same.
In 2008, we began growing produce in 5 small garden sites located in private yards in the Needham, MA area. We were inspired by the victory gardens of WWII and felt that many market gardens might be the most practical way to bring a new “farm” to the suburbs. The lack of undeveloped, reasonably priced land in the Boston suburbs forced us to think creatively about our farm beginnings.
Since then, we've rented and borrowed land and storage spaces— yards, fields, barns, garages, and greenhouses - spread over Eastern Massachusetts. Garden sites and rented fields came and went. Sites were lost as development encroached, garden hosts moved away, and trees grew up to shade our spaces. New sites were found as land was protected, new people moved to the area, and new connections were forged with other local growers. Ultimately, we scaled back the number of sites we used so we could focus on growing more intensively on fewer, larger sites.
In 2017 we landed at Mainstone Farm in Wayland, and grew there for 5 years. In 2021 we also began growing at new locations in Westport, MA - a full zone warmer - while still farming in Wayland. However, running two farms, nearly an hour apart, was not sustainable over the long term, and we began moving our production and infrastructure to Westport as we approached the end of our lease in Wayland. In 2023 we completed the farm move, and shifted our entire operation to the South Coast.
