Brookwood Farm Interview

Hannah Helfner, the interim farm manager at Brookwood Farm

Situated on a 70-acre parcel of land in the Blue Hills Reservation in Massachusetts, the Brookwood Community Farm grows food for members through the community-supported agriculture (CSA) model, provides on-farm educational and community-building opportunities, and actively supports food access projects. The farm’s mission is to build a farm-centered community united by a shared passion for sustainable agriculture, fresh local food, and a commitment to increasing access to healthy food. The farm helps ensure that all individuals have access to healthy, fresh, affordable foods through developing new markets in under-served communities and relationships with local hunger relief organizations.

To learn more about Brookwood farm’s contribution to serving local communities through food support, I interviewed Hannah Helfner, the interim farm manager.

"The Brookwood farm is built on rented land from trustees and the DCR. We mainly grow diversified veg and herbs, and sometimes flowers too. Our primary way of selling produce is through CSA, community-supported agriculture. In simple words, the program works by having people become farm members, pay an upfront cost at the beginning of the season, and receive a share of produce each week. In addition, our farm operates as a choice CSA, meaning that there are always more options than the amount of food people take. For example, we will offer more than 15 available items each week, and the program participants can select 12 out of 15 items. Three times per week, at the same time as the CSA distribution, we have a farm stand to sell our local produce to the public. We also sell to the Roslindale farmers market every Saturday morning. As part of a non-profit, we strive to make food more accessible to our community, who may not be able to attain food otherwise. We also have a robust donation program and collaborate with seven different food pantries and food access centers around the greater Boston area.

During the main growing seasons, the farm offers pick-up sessions where the leftover produce from the day before will be donated to food access organizations and distributed to recipients of both organizations. Our goal is to make food more sustainable and accessible. We offer reduced/ preCSA shares with money from the food access fund and accept snap benefits. Snap benefits are a government-assisted food stamps program in Massachusetts. If a person doesn’t meet the income threshold, they qualify for the program and receive money for monthly groceries. Another thing about our farm is that we follow the “Healthy incentives program” at our stand in the farmers market. Through hits, our products are eligible for reimbursement, and people in the program can spend their monthly snap money and get their money back when purchasing our produce. Finally, our farm follows all organic standards, such as organically approved fertilizers. In addition, we are a small organization that uses a combination of tractors and manual labor that work hard to get our produce ready for distribution."