Foxtrot Farm

Foxtrot Herb Farm is an eight-acre, woman-owned, certified-organic farm in Ashfield, MA that grows botanical herbs and climate resilient plants. We’re most famous for our calendula, garlic braids, and wicked good elderberry syrups.

Our Crew

Our farm is stewarded by an amazing team of three farmers: Noah, Maggie, and River. Abby could literally never do it without them— or without her family and so many dedicated community members who are always jumping in to help (Jess, Kit, Ced, Briar, Adam, Bri, Dalila, Adrian, Will, Peter, Maya, George, Kyra, Malka, Eva, and Biko to name a few of the folks who will drop everything to come help repair the high tunnel, harvest calendula, and/or talk through a grant proposal), but to protect our everyone’s privacy in the age of internet trolls and increased surveillance, their photos and identities are not featured here.

Human-scale Farming

Foxtrot Farm is a small-scale certified organic farm. When we started in 2017, we designed our systems to be no-till, and we love the results. We use only minimal tillage when necessary. We never spray, avoid chemical fertilizers, use only organic compost to amend the soil, and use as few fossil fuels as possible– farming mostly by hand and hand-tool with the utmost respect for the wonders of soil ecology. Sometimes, our by-hand methods feel stupid-slow, but the proof, as they say is in the pudding.

Why no-till?

So many reasons!

Every time farmers till, they release carbon into the atmosphere. By not tilling our soil, we allow the carbon captured and stored by plants to remain there.

No-till practices support more robust microbial life in the soil and keep soil structure in tact. This = healthier soil = healthier plants = healthier landscape = healthier people.

No-till systems reduce water-runoff and soil erosion. They also promote proper drainage and water-retention, meaning we have to irrigate less.

From reduced irrigation to reduced tractor usage, no-till helps us keep fossil fuel use to a minimum.

Visit Us

We’re located in Ashfield, MA on the traditional lands of the Nipmuc, Pocumtuc, and Abenaki peoples. Please email us for directions to the farm.