WHY WE RUN ON THE HONOR SYSTEM
Five years ago, when my partner Jonathan and I first found this land, there wasn't much here: an open field, some woods, and not a lot else. We'd come up from the Hudson Valley in New York, and when we went looking for property around Morrisville, we chose this spot on purpose. It's close enough to town that we can walk and bike, and open enough to the road that anyone driving by can see what we're building. So many farms and homesteads are tucked away down a dirt road, and that's just not our style. We like being part of the everyday life of this town. Our hope has always been that watching the farm grow feels like an invitation to come see it for yourself.
A micro farm, built on purpose
What we've grown here since is a micro farm. We keep a flock of ducks and chickens, mostly for eggs and some for meat, along with bees and a colony of Rex rabbits. There are hundreds of perennial plantings: apple, peach, and pear trees; maple, larch, beech and evergreens; and beds of raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, gooseberries, grapes, and thimbleberries, with more going in every season.
None of it is here by accident. Jon and I have both been inspired and energized by permaculture and regenerative ag approaches, especially by the idea of "stacking functions," the notion that every piece of the farm should do more than one job. Our animals aren't just livestock; they're partners. The birds and rabbits help restore the soil and create the compost and mulch we use on the farm. The cats keep the rodents down. The dogs keep the predators off. The trees and shrubs provide nectar and pollen for the bees, habitat and food for wildlife and shade for our animals and our guests, not to mention the delicious fruit. The plants, the animals, the fungi, the micro-organisms are all partners in what we do here. The plain joy of spending our days coexisting with so much life is a big part of why the farm exists.
From Humble Heart to RadFarm
This September, the farm we've run for the last five years as Humble Heart Homestead relaunches under a new name: RadFarm. We open our doors on September 4. The story behind the name comes down to a single word, spelled two ways.
I love the word radical. Most people hear it and think of something extreme, but that isn't really where the word comes from. Its true meaning goes back to the root, literally: radical comes from the Latin radix, meaning root. That's the sense I mean. Not radical as in loud or extreme, but radical as in getting all the way down to the root of things. And when I say it, I hear it spelled another way too: R-A-D-I-C-L-E. That's radicle, the botanical name for the very first root a seed sends down when it germinates. It's the first thing a seed decides to do when it starts to grow. That image isn't a coincidence for me. For seventeen years I ran a preschool in Brooklyn called The Bija Project (bija means seed), and a radicle is what a seed does first, before anything else can grow. So first we had the seed. Now we've got the radical. Here we are, rooted. Radical and radicle. This word play is the basis of our new identity.
Why everything here is chemical-free
The way I eat has a lot to do with how the whole farm runs. I've been on a long road with food. I loved it as a kid, went vegetarian, then vegan, and eventually found my way to what I'd call ancestral eating. That's been a journey in itself, one that has evolved over the last ten years or so. It shows up in our standards. Everything we raise and sell is chemical-free, and everything we sell or share is seed-oil-free and gluten-free. It goes past the shelves, too: we sprout our grains and seeds, both for people and for the animals, because I want the most nutrient density that's possible, on every level.
Why the honor system
That same instinct toward openness and access is why our new farm store runs on the honor system, seven days a week. There's no cashier standing between you and what you came for. If you're looking for clean food, every single thing in the store is for you, including all the treats. The idea is simple: make good food as available as we can to as many people as we can, and trust folks to do right by it.
What you'll find on the shelves
We carry pasture-raised eggs, chicken, rabbit, ground beef, and steak, alongside gluten-free sprouted sourdough, halvah, chocolate bars, and masa chips, plus butter, yogurt, ice cream, trea, beans, and grains. Some of it we raise ourselves. The rest comes from partners I'd rather name than keep vague: fresh produce from Breadseed Farm, dairy from Larson, Butterworks, Stony Pond and Does Leap, ice cream from Strafford Creamery and Wilson Farm Botanical Ice Cream, masa chips from Ancient Crunch, chocolate we make with Prophecy Chocolate, the tahini-and-maple Holy Halvah, tea from Tilia Tea and cereals from Lovebird. In season, our scoop stand runs Thursday through Sunday.
If you're local, or just passing through Morrisville, come see what's here. Whether it's a carton of eggs, a scoop of ice cream, or a full bag for the road, the store is open starting September 4.