If you’re looking for incredible produce and local srirachas and salsas, look no further than Kitchen Garden Farm in Sunderland, MA. The farm is local on 50 acres of rich river bottom soil on both sides of the Connecticut River, in Sunderland and Whately. Owners Tim Wilcox and Caroline Pam are dedicated to keeping their farm certified organic and growing healthy soils by cultivating a wide range of biodiverse crops, improving crop rotation and cover cropping.
And this is what really makes the farm unique. “We are one of few farms growing such a diverse array of crops at such a large scale,” says Lilly Israel, Sales Manager at the Kitchen Garden Farm. “We also are one of few producers making organic shelf-stable products from ingredients we grow on our own farm.” On top of all of that… they grow over 100 varieties of peppers on their farm. We can’t even name more than 15 different varieties! Holy smokes!
And their value-added products are out of this world. Our Marketing Manager may have overdone it on the Giardiniera one too many times! Lilly said it’s hard to choose her favorite. “Each season brings new crops that we can't wait to cook and eat with friends and family. We have a special interest in Italian specialties like radicchio and broccoli rabe, and of course, we love hot peppers! Our original sriracha is a testament to our farm and community's love for flavorful spicy food.” We always keep a bottle or two of the sriracha in the Food Connects staff fridge!
“We started farming because of our love of food and the way it brings people together. Growing and producing food for our local community makes our hard work feel especially rewarding.” And we couldn’t agree more and that is why we are so proud to work with such a mission-aligned farm. We brought the Kitchen Garden Farm on in early 2019 and haven’t looked back since! “Food Connects helps link us with buyers in Northern New England who we previously had no way to work with,” says Lilly. “We love creating new partnerships and adding to our list of restaurants and stores to visit!”
Every September, Kitchen Garden Farm hosts a hot pepper festival called Chilifest. “This weekend celebrating all things spicy features a chili cook-off, a hot sauce competition, spicy food, local beer, and great live music! The fate of this year's festival is unclear due to COVID-19, but we look forward to celebrating hot peppers in the future.” And we hope so too!