Erin and Ben Doherty started renting Open Hands Farm’s land in 2006, bought it in 2008, and then added more adjacent, small fields in 2015. They started with less acreage and no employees, but now have a great team of five that works year-round, plus Erin and Ben, and farm about 17 acres. There are 13 more acres on the property are wooded.

Erin and Ben both love good food and found that excellent veggies made them feel better and they enjoy food even more. They love to be outside and with soil, plants, and machines—they both had their first farm jobs around age 20 and immediately loved it. After working separately on many farms over their 12 years of combined experience, they met working for the same vegetable farmer who taught them the many ins and outs to get started on their own.

For their CSAs, they grow most common North American veggie crops such as cantaloupe, basil, cilantro, tomatoes, and heirloom tomatoes, beets, cabbage, and bell peppers. For wholesale customers, they grow crops that do best on the farm and fit in with field rotations and labor scheduling. Fall and winter carrots and radishes are their biggest offerings, but the other crops are very important for risk management and spreading the workload through the year. They are also starting to grow orange and yellow watermelons, as well as Carmen peppers.

Open Hands Farm is certified organic, so they use traditional weeding (cultivation, hoeing, and hand weeding) and disease prevention methods. Pesticides, including those allowed in organic production, are not used on their farm.