Empowering folks to grow, harvest, and make the most of their home-grown veggies is as deeply rooted into the core of Clove Valley Community Farm as the rows of fresh produce popping out of the soil it rests on.

Aileah Kvashay, owner and operator of the farm, opens up her land every Thursday for visitors to buy plants and harvested produce, while learning more about where their food comes from. Her helpers include everyone — a handful of apprentices who live on-site, kids in the neighborhood who are bored, and even folks who want a break from tapping on their keyboards and want to get their hands dirty. The farm's unique approach to community farming allows folks to be involved in how their food is made, from the time seeds are planted to the day they’re picked for the kitchen.

“We’re not going to change the course of global warming or feed all of the hungry people, but the experiences that individuals take away from [the farm], and put out to the world, hopefully, can cause a ripple effect,” Kvashay said.

Kvashay was born in Pennsylvania, where she studied to be a teacher, but eventually made her way to the Hudson Valley after discovering her love for farming. After college, her first gig as a farmer was in Hawaii through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF), which allows volunteers to explore rural areas and live as farmers. She went on to hop around to other farms and even took her skills to Europe for a short time.

Roughly 12 years ago she began working with a couple who started at Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operation, where folks pay for a stake in the veggies grown on-site and pick up bushels of produce on a regular basis. When the couple parted ways, she decided to latch on to the property they rented, at 81 Clove Valley Road, and establish her community operation. Back in the day, the land was used for a dairy farm, which you can see from the large, overgrown barn that used to house hay for cows. She now lives in a 16-foot yurt, amidst the thick shrubbery and vegetable beds, for a majority of the year until the cold winter drives her indoors. Kvashay said she hopes that she won’t have to live indoors ever again; she said it was nice to trade the sound of buzzing electric boards for the chirping birds and insects that surround her.

“It’s really nice to be outside working with plants in a beautiful setting and watching them grow,” Kvashay explained. “The community lifestyle is also important to me: living on the land and sharing food with people. It feels meaningful to produce food and all of the relationships with my members and customers.

Currently, Thursday between 4 and 7 p.m. are the only times where the farm regularly interacts with the public (unless someone schedules a private visit). Visitors are welcome to help set up the display of veggies, help clean the area, and pick up their bundle of goodies as well. Non-CSA members are welcome to stop by and pick up produce as well. On top of the shopping opportunities, the farm occasionally holds pop-up workshops: sometimes visitors learn how to cook a tasty meal, other times they are taught how to pickle vegetables. Some events, like the annual harvesting of garlic in the first week of November, can attract up to 70 volunteers all working on their knees while children play gleefully in the background. Kvashay explained that the CSA member pool is small, and full for the year, since she is looking for people who can dedicate a few hours each week to help with the process.

Stone Ridge resident Barbara Miller has been a CSA member for the past 10 years and stopped by to wash a pile of kale in a bathtub behind the farm stand. The only problem she faced as a shareholder over the years is having too much produce.

“You know where it’s grown, you help grow it, and you can’t get it fresher anywhere else,” Miller said. “I'm grateful that I don't have to go to the produce section of a grocery store until November. I just don’t need to.”

Kvashay is joined by a team of five hard-working farm hands: some are WWOOFers and others reached out to the farm personally for some experience. Some of these apprentices help only a few days during the week, while others help for months at a time. Kvashay said that hundreds of apprentices have come to her farm over the years, many of which use the close upstate farming community to continue their agricultural careers elsewhere. Apprentices are fed and housed, on tents throughout the property, and only work a few days out of the week, which allows them to find part-time jobs.

“I’m trying to empower the workers by making decisions together.” She explained, adding that the apprenticeship model gives her the freedom to create interesting and educational projects, “but it doesn't necessarily turn into money for the farm.”

Each week the team takes a survey of the farm, looking for areas that need to be weeded, plants that are ravaged by roaming deer, and other issues that they work together to solve. They’re a part of every aspect of the process — harvesting produce, distributing farm goods, and cleanup and general farm maintenance. They learn what it truly takes to be an organic farm: maintaining crops without harmful sprays, planting each seed by hand, and using mulch compost to feed the plants. Kvashay described her team as a family that shares meals and memories every day. While the work is more labor-intensive, these practices are much healthier ways to nurture the soil, she explained.

Faye Forman, a WWOOFer from Suffolk County, is in the middle of an apprenticeship that runs from May to October. Tucked behind a few garden gates and rows of produce lies her small, white tent with her belongings tucked in tiny cabinets and her bed surrounded by a thick net to keep the bugs away. She said that although she works hard in the fields, she also enjoys music nights and swimming hole excursions with her co-workers and even sees herself selling cut flowers in the future.

“I love this,” Forman said. “I would enjoy farming anywhere else but the people I have met here are really special.”

Unlike many local businesses this past year, work and demand for goods never really stopped at the farm. Kvashay was beginning to take a step back from farm work to teach part-time with the Poughkeepsie Farm Project before the people began gardening more than ever during the pandemic. She shifted some of her plant sales online to accommodate people’s fear of contracting COVID-19.

“I’m doubling my plant sale business so that people can pick up without having to worry about a potentially dangerous shopping experience,” Kvashay said.

Aside from the Thursday gatherings on-site, you can catch the farm at the Woodstock Farm Festival on Wednesdays between 3 and 7 p.m. For more information, you can visit the farm website at Clovevalleycommunityfarm.com or on Facebook and Instagram under the farm’s name.