Driving past the farms and gardens of Western Mass in the winter, it can seem a little quiet. The barns and fields are draped in a thick blanket of snow. At Grow Food Northampton’s Community Farm, it may appear that the farmers are resting for the season, but in his new home right next door, farmer Aoma Muma is busy.
As the inaugural farmer in residence on the Grow Food Northampton (GFN) Community Farm, Muma is getting ready for his first full growing season in Florence. Thanks to a collaborative partnership with Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust, Muma has been provided housing adjacent to the acre of land GFN has leased to him. The initiative comes at a critical time when the lack of affordable housing and continued loss of farmland in the state make it harder for farmers to live close to where they grow.
Originally from Kenya, Muma immigrated to Massachusetts in 2011 with dreams of starting a business. He tells me, “In Kenya, farming is the major economic activity and a mandatory subject in every school. We are all farmers in some way. But in my country you can only own land that was inherited from your ancestors. All we could do was try to survive on the little land that was left for us, growing a few vegetables behind the house; enough to feed the family. When I came to the United States, I was met with even more struggles to access land to farm.”
Eventually joining the World Farmers program in Lancaster, Muma started growing on a small plot of land, and Bombeta Farms was born — named in honor of his great grandfather, a member of the Bombeta Clan. Muma sold his goods at farmers markets scattered across the eastern part of the state. Then, World Farmers identified an opportunity that combined land and housing at the Grow Food Northampton Community Farm in Florence. In early summer, his application was selected by GFN; Muma, his wife, and five children began their move.
Muma says, “The transition to my new home has been such a blessing for me and my family. The house serves as an anchor in an area where more possibilities exist for the future of my family farming. The fact that I can live in close proximity to where I farm makes my life so much easier. I can focus on my production instead of traveling from place to place.”
He continues, “Arriving in this country with nothing but a few bags of clothing and not much else, we accept the ethic of working hard. My family brought with us the passion and commitment to grow our own food, and hopes that we could use that knowledge to feed others.”
Since its inception, Bombeta Farms has been feeding others, both through Muma’s passion for mentoring beginner farmers, and through growing culturally significant crops, bringing the taste of home closer to so many. He plans to use the land in Florence as a space to educate, as well as produce foods including lala, gourds, chisanga, amaranth, scallions, eggplants, long beans and lemongrass.
And the hard work to feed his community continues, even in the snowy months. When I spoke with him this winter, Muma had already prepared his greenhouse and started his seedlings. He told me he had been making purchases of production supplies, and had his sights set on where to sell his harvests locally.
“Winter is when I develop my marketing plan, which includes looking for farmers markets to attend, as well as entities that can purchase my crops at a wholesale level. I’m also working to get a farm stand set up on the edge of the property. I hope that I will have that set up this season for all to stop by.”
And along with Muma, two additional farmers will bring their expertise to the land this spring. With a lease signed just last month, GFN welcomes The River Rose Farm, a collaborative effort between River Aragon and Rose Cherneff. The two have had a passion for growing plants for years, starting in small gardens across the country and, in more recent years, working on farms with a focus on land sovereignty. They’ve worked to share their combined knowledge with the local community through their classes on seed saving and tips to maintain soil health through regenerative practices.
The new project will be located on the most flood-prone area of the Community Farm, situated closest to the Mill River. It was the site of heavy flooding in 2023, when over five feet of water breached the riverbank and submerged acres of farmland, destroying many of the season’s crops, washing away fertile soil and highlighting a growing need for climate-adaptive farming methods. Rose and River not only acknowledge but embrace the floodplain, seeing it as prime location to test plants native to wetlands in the area.
River says, “We want to work with the Mill River by being in relationship with the inevitability and aliveness of water and its natural rhythms, as well as introducing plants that will hold and build soil even as floods inevitably come.”
Rose adds, “We plan on using an intercropping model that will allow us to grow annual crops such as corn, beans, and squash alongside perennials like elderberry, aronia, and willow and understory plants like nettle and lemon balm. We are committed to growing the foods of both of our ancestries, and in this resilient web we want to create a model for other places that are experiencing natural and climate driven flooding.”
This new undertaking was once again made possible by GFN’s leasing of land on a sliding, accessible scale to farmers, through the organization’s belief of shifting power to marginalized communities, and prioritizing the leasing of land to Indigenous farmers and farmers of color.
“It has been challenging to access land,” River tells me. “Even though there are now amazing organizations supporting farmers, there is still so much racism entrenched in land politics. Prior to being a lessee, I encountered many obstacles blocking me from accessing land in western Mass. Grow Food Northampton offers affordable land with shared resources which lowers many barriers to beginning farming.”
The pair hopes that the land they tend at The River Rose Farm will be a space to build community and share their knowledge with others, giving even more folks a chance to gather and reconnect with land that once seemed so out of reach. With spring around the corner, both are eager to get started on their plans of agroecological experiments, after the cold months of crop planning, purchase ordering, and applying for grants is behind them.
And through all the farmers’ hard work behind the scenes, winter still leaves space for what’s to come. When the snow melts off the roofs and the rows in the fields reemerge, Grow Food Northampton farmers will return to the land ready to tend to crop and community.
As River puts it, “Winter is our dreaming time! We have so many ideas that we are excited to share.”
Laura Spencer is writer in residence at Grow Food Northampton.