Local Stories for Our Store
Atlas Farm
South Deerfield, Massachusetts
It’s hard to describe the perfection of the organic vegetables grown on this family-owned farm in Western Massachusetts. Surely, a taste of a sweet Chioggia beet or butternut squash would certainly help more than reading this. Since the summer of 2005 when we met Gideon and Sara Coblyn Porth at the Copley Square Farmer’s Market, we have been extremely fortunate in offering you what we think is some of the finest organic produce in the US- greens, lettuces, bell peppers, summer and winter squashes, root vegetables, heirloom tomatoes and more- locally grown in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, in the Connecticut River Valley, on some of the most fertile vegetable growing soil on the East Coast.
Today, Gideon and “assistant farm manager” Stella (pictured above) are “dedicated to producing food in a way that will maintain biological diversity, support natural ecosystems, and keep the land productive for future generations”. We are proud to have been the first Whole Foods Market store in eastern Massachusetts to buy from their farm.
Batch
Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
Susie Parish was a mobile software product manager. Veronica Janssens had been a civil engineer in her native the Netherlands and then in Boston. In 2009 they began their plans to make ice cream in small batches using local, fair trade, and certified organic ingredients whenever they are available. They delivered their first ‘batch” this past May (2010) and have since been growing steadily. “We make small batches of ice cream from scratch one at a time, using the purest and freshest of ingredients. That means we use ingredients such as vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks, or our own handmade caramel, rather than processed flavorings. We have a lot fun selecting our ingredients, particularly those that come from local farms and suppliers,” Susie explains. Their seven flavors are made with milk from Rhode Island but without stabilizers! Salted Caramel, our favorite, also contains butter and sea salt from Maine. We look forward to watching them grow, one batch at a time.
Manor Hall Soap Company
Springfield, Massachusetts
Begun in 2004 in Springfield, Massachusetts, by “indie soapmaker” Susan Mann, Manor Hall Soap Company is an independent woman-owned and operated business. We met Susan at the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival in October 2009 and were excited to finally receive our first order of soaps, body washes, and facial masks just in time for Christmas in 2010. Susan makes her natural soap and skin care products from vegetarian ingredients using the cold kettle method; they contain no sulfates, parabens, or phthalates.
Susan says, “There’s nothing I love more than whipping up a brand new batch of olive oil soap. The precision of measuring skin-loving everyday ingredients, the pleasure of blending in exotic butters and oils, the inspiration of creating a brand new scent, the craftsmanship of cutting the blocks by hand, or the wait through the long six week curing period until the bars are ready, I don’t know what I find most satisfying. I just want everyone to enjoy using my natural soaps and skin-care products as much as I enjoy making them!” When you hear Susan speak about her creations with her distinctly Manchester (England) accent, you realize how devoted she is. Find out for yourself; watch our web calendar for her next visit during one of our local nights.
