Many Hands Make a Farm By Jack Kittredge and Julie Rawson

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Many Hands Make a Farm: 47 years of Questioning Authority, Feeding a Community, and Building an Organic Movement
By Jack Kittredge and Julie Rawson
Chelsea Green Publishing

Reading Many Hands Make a Farm is like peeking through the window at the journey that authors Jack Kittredge and Julie Rawson made while developing their regenerative farm in Massachusetts. Although they begin by sharing details about their respective upbringings, the majority of the book focuses on the milestones they experienced while creating “Many Hands Organic Farm.” Kittredge and Rawson take you through their process of finding the right land, designing a house that makes use of the sun and the seasons, incorporating their children into everyday farm life, finding labor, expanding to farmers markets and creating their own CSA (community-supported agriculture) program.

Readers learn about the struggles and successes the authors experienced on the farm as well as the importance of relationships and community throughout the entire process. The farm has seventeen “Rules of Engagement” and specific “Operating Principles” that aim to foster an environment that is productive and nourish­ing to the land, promotes healthy interactions among staff and makes their farm a pleasant place to work. “Know your help,” “Make it fun” and “Never ask someone else to do something you wouldn’t do” were among my favorite rules of engagement.

This is not a “how to farm” book, but it does provide minor insights on some farm­ing techniques, such as how to improve soil quality by avoiding tilling and instead using blended organic fertilizers, calcium, lime and large amounts of mulch. Rawson also lightly explains how she approaches freezing herbs, meat products, vegetables and fruits as well as how she dries herbs and makes tinctures, soaps and salves. She proves that with a well-thought-out approach, it is possible to utilize everything throughout the year.

A bonus of reading this book is learning about how the authors helped build the non-profit Northeast Organic Farming Association. In addi­tion to describing their leadership responsibilities and the organization’s accomplishments, they also consider the challenges that inevitably arose.

Many Hands Make a Farm will motivate readers to realize the power each of us has to make a difference in this world. Reading about all of the beautiful effects that Kittredge’s and Rawson’s years of work have had on their land, their community and the organic movement is delightful. Thumbs up!

This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Summer 2024

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