On Friday, October 18, the Log Lunch community welcomed student speakers Emma Nathanson ’25 and Campbell Leonard ’25 to discuss their experiences working with local farms, funded by the Center for Environmental studies summer grants program. Emma, a history major, spent the summer collecting oral histories from farmers in Williamstown and working at the Williamstown Farmers’ Market. She read excerpts from her interviews with local farmers from Chenail, East Mountain, Wendling, Haley, Peace Valley, and Fairfields Dairy farms. “It was very fun to hear farmers speak in their own voices,” she said. “I’m a really big fan of oral histories. For a long time they weren’t accepted in the discipline of history for being too subjective and emotional, but they’re actually some of our most important historical material. They’re a source for what the emotional experiences of different times were like, and for collecting stories that would otherwise fall through the cracks.”
Emma discussed how Williamstown used to be almost an entirely agricultural community, and now many farmers are being priced out of agricultural work. “It’s important to capture these stories now,” she said. Several farmers she worked with talked about the ways they have had to adapt to changing times to keep their farms afloat, such as applying to numerous grants and turning to automation. They also talked about changes they have witnessed in the community, such as different collaborations they have held with the College, the emergence of interest in locally-sourced food, and the transition from reliance on smaller grocery stores to larger chains.
While working Saturdays at the farmers market, Emma got to connect with many farmers and community members. “It was an incredible experience to see how farmers support themselves and engage with the local community,” she said. “I really encourage Williams students to introduce themselves to farmers when you go to the market and get to know them. That’s a really important way we can bridge the divide between the college and the larger Williamstown community.” The project of collecting oral histories from local farmers is intended to be an ongoing one, she added, encouraging students who are interested to continue her work during upcoming summers.
Campbell, an English and Environmental Studies major, spent her summer researching and writing a history of Caretaker Farm, a project which she is continuing as an independent study this fall. “The history of Caretaker really exemplifies how the relationship between land and people is upheld through agriculture,” she said.
Campbell began the story with the formation of the land itself where the farm is located, which is now 35 acres of land off of Route 43 in southern Williamstown. She explained that during a period of deglaciation, an ice sheet trapped between the Taconic and Greylock mountain ranges melted and became a glacial lake. When the glacier receded, it scraped up sediment from the earth, uncovering carbonite rock, which is ideal for plant growth. The first sign of human life on the land that is now Caretaker Farm is a bifurcate point that the Historic Preservation Office of the Stockbridge Munsee Mohicans dated to about 3,000 years ago, when the community resided there. “Mohican stewardship is an essential part of the land’s history and the way life unfolds on the farm today,” Campbell said.
The earliest deed for the land is from 1765. In 1969, Sam and Elizabeth Smith purchased the land. Influenced by the back-to-the-land and antiwar movements of that decade, the Smiths, who at the time were both educators with no farming experience, were interested in creating a self-sustaining community and having a bigger garden. Caretaker operated as a farmstand until 1990, when it became one of the first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in the country. Under the CSA model, community members buy a share of the farm’s harvest in advance by paying an agreed-upon amount at the beginning of the growing season, and then are able to pick up fresh vegetables weekly for the rest of the season. This results in greater security for farmers, and allows people to connect with the places where their food comes from.
At Caretaker, CSA members must commit to two hours of volunteering per season, and have to harvest a certain amount of their share themselves. “In this way, Caretaker really exemplifies the CSA model,” Campbell said. “The farm has a mission of bringing people to the land. Members go to the farm to get their food, and this means that they get to interact with their farmers and neighbors.”
Today, Caretaker is owned by two families — the Smiths and the Zasada-Spanns — as well as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, under an Agricultural Preservation Restriction, and the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation. The preservation restriction means that whoever owns the land in the future has to be actively farming it, and will not have to pay for the commercial value of the land, meaning they can buy it at a lower price.
“I can really attest to the community that is fostered and what is reaped from the CSA system,” Campbell, who spent many hours volunteering on the farm with other members, said. “There’s a real sense of belonging and trust.”
The Log Lunch chefs prepared a delicious meal of lablabi (blended chickpea soup), kale tabbouleh salad, beet hummus, pitas, cauliflower shawarma with spicy tahini sauce, and baklava for dessert.
BY CHARLOTTE STAUDENMAYER ’25