Winter Food and Farms on Martha’s Vineyard

Six Island farms are open this winter – all winter. This never used to be the case. And we year-rounders have them to ourselves — no bumping into visitors, no lines. But more importantly, we have the freshest of produce (albeit, with fewer varieties available than in the summer), as opposed to food that’s been trucked thousands of miles and arrives barely thriving, all packaged up, having been gassed with nitrogen or carbon dioxide to increase shelf life. Local farmers care not only about the soil and maximizing nutrients, but also about the Island. Supporting our farms helps the Island maintain its rural character. 

If you’re going to Cronig’s, you can make a first stop at Ghost Island farm less than a mile away, as I typically do, and find Swiss chard, spinach, and other produce picked daily from three greenhouses out back. Heading to Stop and Shop in Edgartown? Add a stop at Edgartown’s Morning Glory Farm, the Vineyard’s  largest farm. With the national shortage leaving supermarket shelves practically bare of eggs, North Tabor Farm in Chilmark currently has 350 laying hens and a steady supply of organic eggs, along with homemade soups on Wednesdays, including an Alpha-gal-friendly variety (vegan). If you are a bread lover like myself, both Grey Barn Farm and the new Beetlebung Farm store supply breads and pastries with freshly milled New England grains — two amazing bakeries in one small community that still manage to sell out. Every farm has its own specialties: Mermaid Farm, for instance, is the only dairy that makes its own yogurt and widely popular yogurt lassis. Visiting the farms, where you might see chickens roaming by the door or lambs in nearby enclosures, seems to feed the soul, as well the stomach. 

I’m starting first with Beetlebung Farm’s new farm store; and the other five after that. 

Beetlebung’s New Farm Store
410 Middle Road, Chilmark
Open Weds.– Sunday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Since the farm store in the new barn at Beetlebung Farm opened days before Thanksgiving, it’s become an up-Island hub of sorts.

The whole barn came from an old, unused structure in New Hampshire that was disassembled piece by piece, including the stone foundation, and trucked to the Island to be painstakingly reassembled at 410 Middle Road. The first-floor farm store showcases original wood beams and rough-sanded oak floors and ceilings, anchored by a wall of stones from the original foundation rebuilt by local stonemason Eben Armer. The result is a homey, rustic setting, augmented by a small modern wood stove. On the days I visited, the two sheep-skin covered chairs near the stove were invariably occupied by people enjoying coffee and pastries from the new bakery, often surrounded by a steady stream of friends and acquaintances coming and going. I bumped into nearly every cook I know on the Island coming through the doors (and enjoying the off-season), including caterer Jaime Hamlin, cookbook author Sarah Waldman, local chef Spring Sheldon, private chef Maddie Ezanno, and others.

“It's a farm in the center of a community,” says Amy Weinberg, who, with her husband John, purchased the farm from the Fischer family in 2018 with plans to continue the farming operation under the same name. Weinberg, who has done everything from rinsing lettuces to overseeing the barn-building and farmstand projects, said she and the staff like that the farm is not somewhere out of sight, but part of everyday life in the small town, sitting as it does at the crossroads of four major roads near the Chilmark’s town hall, fire station, library, community center, and post office. “We wanted it to be year-round for the community. We wanted it to be a small-scale everything, interweaving farm, food, and craft.” And now that the store and bakery are finally open, she adds: “Every dream we could have ever imagined, it has been more than that.”

The heart of this farm store is food – really good food. It starts with the farm produce that grower Kate Woods oversees with Nick Doherty and Islander Theo Gallagher. Woods and Doherty came from the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in New York, made famous in part because of its chef, Dan Barber. There, the gardeners plant vegetable varieties with chefs in mind, valuing taste above all else. (Woods also worked at Siena Farms in Sudbury, Massachusetts, which supplies well-known chef Anna Sortun’s three Boston-area restaurants.) Their flavor-first approach is evident at Beetlebung Farm: I noticed the taste of their vegetables, and lettuces since the day they started producing.

There’s just over an acre in outdoor production during the growing season at Beetlebung, along with three greenhouses lush with rows and rows of lettuces, greens, and herbs in the winter. Some of that produce goes directly for sale in the store, and some is now turned into value-added prepared foods in the expansive, second-floor commercial kitchen. The kitchen also houses the baking operation, turning out a range of baked goods including several varieties of bread, bialys, apple cake, and various cookies — all made with New England grains milled on-site in a back room in the barn. The farmstand carries plenty of other small-batch products from other independent farms and producers, and to many Islanders’ delight, locally produced Salt Rock Chocolates. The store is filled with printed cards telling you about the farms and producers. On the card accompanying the Katz family farm Sauvignon Blanc vinegar from California, for example, Woods notes that a good vinegar like this can be the difference between good food and bad, and adds: “I use it in nearly every salad dressing I make, to finish my roasted vegetables, or as a last touch to braised meat or mushrooms.” 

I loaded up with farm-produced items from the freezer to try and test at home. They came in handy on nights when I had few plans for dinner. Frozen whole grain turnovers filled with goat cheese, mushrooms, and greens were popped into my toaster oven and ready in 45 minutes. A unique product I’ve never before encountered are the farm’s “Beetle Bombs,” which also eased my dinner dilemmas. There’s a brassica Pesto Bomb containing herbs and edible parts of plants not typically used (like broccoli leaves), mixed with parmesan and garlic, and frozen into easily used blocks the size of large ice cubes. One night I defrosted two pesto bombs (they come eight to a package), and mixed them with spaghetti for dinner. I accompanied this with a salad from the farm’s “Party Mix” of baby greens from the greenhouse. I appreciate that the greens are double-washed and spun dry, so all I needed to do was remove some from the bag. They are tender and packed with flavor — such a welcome change from grocery store lettuces that have been treated with nitrogen or chlorine to extend their shelf life, their stems and/or cores often reddened from the treatment.

I have also enjoyed Beetlebung’s Tomato Paste Beetle Bombs, made with olive oil, salt, and summer tomatoes cooked down and frozen, again in ice-cube sized blocks, sold six to a bag. I have dropped a couple of these, still frozen, into a kale farro soup, a weekend lamb stew, and a creamy parmesan chicken dish —– and they gave all three dishes that memorable summer tomato flavor. 

“It’s part of our mission to capture as much waste internally as we can,” says chef Mirra Sims, referring here to the brassica leaves used in the pesto. “With these building blocks, I’m interested in empowering others to level-up their home cooking.” And Sims has her own building blocks. To prepare for the kitchen’s opening, she filled farm freezers with as much produce as possible from the growing season, along with extras such as Vineyard cranberries and sliced summer nectarines from Champlain Orchards, one of the oldest continuing orchards in Vermont.

Sims also prepares soups and stock for sale. I picked up as many quarts of frozen poultry stock as my small freezer would hold after I saw large pots of stock bubbling away and noticed the abundance of veggies and bones in each pot. I was not disappointed. One stock became the base of a white bean and kale soup, one of the best I remember making, and I used another in a simple Asian noodle soup with shreds of chicken and the farm’s over-the-top flavorful Mokum carrots. When you have homemade stock, your soups just taste good!  

The centerpiece of the new bakery, run by bread baker Matt Pontarelli and pastry chef Darcy Spence, is the grain mill in a back room. The farm is not large enough to grow their own grains, but they make most purchases from around New England and then turn the grain into flour themselves. Grinding the grains on-site preserves both flavor and all the parts of the grain. “Freshly milled flour, from grain grown by farmers who prioritize soil and ecological health, leads to the most delicious and nourishing bread possible,” reads a sign in the store.

In his breads, Pontarelli uses a wide variety of grains like red fife, emmer, and einkorn, all 100 percent whole grain. “There’s no white flour in house,” notes pastry chef Spence, who experiments daily with the best ways to substitute whole grains for white flour in her varied offerings. “You can feel the difference. We forget what really good homemade bread really is – or maybe we’ve never known. When I taste the bread, I can taste the whole story.” 

Along with the loaves of bread, I was excited to see whole wheat English muffins, frozen four to a bag. I really could taste how much better these were than standard English muffins. I topped them with butter and blackberry jam and savored every bite.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the gooey spelt chocolate chip cookies sold in the bakery already cooked, and also packaged frozen to bake at home. I baked one (just one) each night until, sadly, they were gone. 

New customers seem just as happy as I’ve been with the place and the food it offers. Emma MacDonald walks there from home each morning to enjoy coffee and pastry – and see friends. “Especially in the off season, it’s a place to meet up-Island, get quality food, and see people you love. It’s not only top shelf, but top consciousness.” 

“It saves my life,” says West Tisbury resident Lynne Whiting, seen picking up a few things. “If they don’t have something at one place, they have it at the next,” she says about shopping for food locally. “We are blessed to have the options. I want to keep you all in business, so you can keep us alive,” she says with a nod to North Tabor Farm owner Rebecca Miller, who was also at Beetlebung, making a few bakery purchases herself.

Ghost Island Farm
27 Davis Look Road, West Tisbury
Winter Hours: Daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“We’re still here every day, seven days a week,” says grower Rusty Gordon. “We’re pretty hardcore.” Beyond the frozen growing fields, three crop greenhouses supply the farmstand throughout the cold season. There’s spinach, Swiss chard, collard and mustard greens, and multiple varieties of the kale that has always been a specialty at Ghost Island — some of the best kale on the Island. The farm also still has produce like carrots and root vegetables stored from fall harvests, and inside, shoppers pass by the shelves holding trays of pea shoots — so fresh and tender for sandwiches or salads. They’ve become a local favorite. Besides their own produce, the farm carries a fresh, daily shipment of bread, croissants, and pastries from Maison Villatte in Falmouth. Rusty says they like to stock the rest of the store with organic food from New England area farms, including fruit, veggies, eggs, tofu,  and locally made kimchi, among other items. Their CSA membership is “anytime shopping” with a 10% discount on whatever items a member might choose. As spring rounds the corner, one greenhouse switches to spring greens, and the other makes way for tomato seedlings for an early tomato crop. Chef tip: try the small jars of dried and ground paprika, garlic, and different chilies, grown and dried on the farm, for true flavor boosts in your dishes. 

The Grey Barn and Farm
22 South Road, Chilmark
Winter Hours: Thursday–Monday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Year-round, Grey Barn carries cheese, baked goods, eggs, meat, and pork at their organic farm on South Road in Chilmark. Typically, six of their award-winning cheeses are available on-site, including their signature and best-selling Prufrock and currently popular Bon Anniversaire, according to Olympia Zgonis, director of operations. The bakery sells three types of bread each day they are open. The breads contain 100% fresh, stone-milled flours (rye, whole wheat, spelt, ancient grains, etc.) from Ground Up mill in Hadley. (See our story on Ground Up Grains here.) There are a variety of pastries and croissants baked on site, and my own favorite treat: packaged crunchy, buttery shortbread cookies featuring various grains. This winter, the farm started making baguette sandwiches. Fresh and frozen farm beef is usually available, as well as their own organic eggs, sausages, and chicken mousse. A few cheese tasting events are scheduled for February and March, with notices in the farm newsletter.  

Mermaid Farm
9 Middle Road, Chilmark
Winter Hours: Daily

Mermaid Farm, like North Tabor Farm, is a self-serve farmstand where, using the honor system, you stick your money in a slotted box. The farm’s cows graze peacefully in fields along Middle Road, producing raw milk that is sold as is or transformed into delicious pasteurized yogurt. They also make and package drinkable lassi in flavors including coffee, lemon, blueberry, and maple. Feta cheese, which sells like lightning in the summer, is available now along with blue cheese and occasionally other cheese varieties. The farm also raises sheep and has a freezer of lamb available along with beef. Another whole cooler features eggs from other farms and local oats from grower Dan Sternbach. Right now, there’s also a pile of eclectic food magazines available for the taking.  

Morning Glory Farm
120 Meshacket Road, Edgartown
Winter Hours: Daily, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

This is the fourth full-time winter season for Morning Glory Farm. The largest farm on the Island, Morning Glory has 65 acres in vegetable production (during the growing season) and five large greenhouses supplying winter crops including arugula, lettuces, and spinach. A new barn built specifically for winter storage means they have “heaps” of their own parsnips, carrots, beets, potatoes, and turnips, reports farm CEO and co-owner Simon Athearn. Their Cape white turnips are delicious mashed or added to soups. The kitchen continues to churn out take-out dinners, soups, and the always popular pies, quiches, breads, and cookies. You can usually find farm meat and eggs among the offerings. Check out the goodies displayed as you enter: bags of fresh popcorn on some days, hot cider, and the other day, just-baked apple cider donuts. 

North Tabor Farm
4 North Tabor Farm Road, Chilmark
Open daily

As a self-serve farmstand, North Tabor Farm is open seven days a week year-round, supplying seasonal, healthy, and organic produce, along with take-out and grocery items. “A friend of mine calls us the health food 7-Eleven,” says family farm owner Rebecca Miller, who works with her daughter Ruby, now overseeing all food production, and husband Mathew Dix, who among other things, corrals 350 laying hens conveniently at a time when egg shelves in markets have been severely emptied due to bird flu. The farm’s chicken, pork chops, ribs, and bacon are available from the freezer. While you might not find their baby lettuce mixes and pristine arugula at all times during the winter months, there’s still plenty of winter-hardy produce like collard greens, bok choy, spinach, and kale. Along with the goods in the two packed glass refrigerators and one full freezer, the farm stand offers a hefty selection of pantry items from beans and grains to condiments and specialty items. For those up-islanders who don’t venture much into civilization for one reason or another, provisions include dessert items, ice cream and a good variety of snacks. In 2023, the farm added a commercial kitchen to provide prepared foods. This winter, Soup Wednesdays always include a meat-based soup and an Alpha-gal friendly (vegan) soup.