Who's Who

Who's Who at Old Friends Farm?

A little about ourselves and the friendly people
you may meet at our stand.

Casey Steinberg

Casey is a co-owner of Old Friends Farm. His steady work energy and multi-tasking skills are an essential part of the farm. Casey can often be seen at markets, and seems more and more energized with each long day he works. He loves producing food & flowers and facilitating customer connections with the farm. His excellent office, marketing and growing skills are a key part to our business.

Not only is he a great farmer, Casey is a singer, musician, dancer, and all-around socialite. He is enamored with the time of day when the sun sinks low in the sky and illuminates the sides of the trees with warm, yellow light.

Missy Bahret & Phillip Sherwood-Berndt

Missy is a co-owner of Old Friends Farm and night-crew for Phillip's farm (Cow Belle Farm).   Missy enjoys growing delicious and nutritious food for people and feels passionate about providing a local, Organic source for flower customers. She recently got a staple-less stapler, which neatly cuts and tucks the papers, keeping the pages together using its own means. Looking at it one day, Missy realized that it best summed up her role on the farm- whether its overall farm management, leading the crew, bringing in the harvest, making bouquets- she's facilitating the workings of the farm by cultivating the synergy of its parts.

Phillip helps in several aspects of Old Friends Farm. You will find Phillip at our Northampton Market stand each Tuesday, making bouquets and using his artistic eye to make the array of flowers and veggies look spectacular. Phillip can brighten up any day will his smile, and people visit him at market just to hear his laugh bubble over. In addition to being at Old Friend's, Phillip is the proud owner of Cow Belle Farm, which consists of a small herd of dual-purpose Devon cows that are his 100% grass-fed beauties. In his spare time, Phillip materializes his artistic skills with children's book submissions and sketches. (Check out his Blog to see some of his sketches.)   You may very well see Phillip on a tractor with a pencil behind his ear, or at his drawing desk with dirt under his nails. He is a true Farming Artist.

Missy and Phillip especially love creating meals with food from the farm and spending time with their daughter Mabel Etta.

Our Crew!

We are excited to have all our workers from last year back for another go!
Buzzy, Tamsin and Ona are returnees (yet again-- we are so blessed!) and new additions Dan and Julie. Not only are they a powerhouse of a crew, they are of the nicest people you may ever meet. With their help, care, and talents, our market stands and wholesale accounts will be a bounty of quality veggies, eggs, flowers, and salads. Thanks to You, Crew!

Buzzy

Besides doing everything, Buzzy wears the hat for Markets, Hoophouse Maintenance & Veggie Harvest.

Tamsin

Besides doing everything, Tamsin wears the hat for Crop Enterprise Budgets, Irrigation & our High Tunnel production.

Ona

Besides doing everything, Ona wears the hat for Hoophouse Production, Pack House & Wholesale.

Mary Jean and Roland Bahret

Missy's folks, Mary Jean and Roland, are our quintessential behind-the-scenes workers. From being the Label Masters for each and every bag and flower sleeve; to carpentry projects; to sewing projects; to computer work; to greenhouse work; to overall farm help- the farm wouldn't run the way it does without their endless energy and skills.

Shh! Don't remind them that they've retired!!

Many people are curious about our farm name. Here's the story...

The farm is named in honor of Mary and Dana Snyder, of South Amherst, for their admirable friendship for many, many decades- to each other, to the people around them, and to the land they live on. They let us use some of their land for the first year of the farm, and it started us off!

Mary and Dana are very inspiring to us on many levels... their friendship, their political involvement, their dedication to preserving agriculture in our community, and their remarkable youthfulness. It became clear that 'Old Friends' would be a great name to remind and honor, and so our farm was named.

Mary and Dana are busy people, and you might see them just about anywhere- on top of the roof, on the farm, in the kitchen, at a contradance, in town protesting, at Ag. meetings, at a swing dance, at the opera, playing boggle, or traveling to visit their kids and grandkids. If you do see them, do us a favor, (and yourself a favor too!), commend them for their lovely friendship and dedication to our community and the land. Thank you for being YOU, Mary and Dana!