Valley Bounty: Sunset Farm
Bill and Connie Gillen, co-owners of Sunset Farm in Amherst. Photo by Carol Lollis, Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Sunset Farm Grows Vegetables, Flowers, and Community
Sunset Farm in Amherst is a neighborhood farm that emphasizes the social aspects of farming in community. Owners Connie and Bill Gillen grow vegetables and flowers on ten acres, within walking and biking distance of the University of Massachusetts campus.
The couple waded into farming over fifty years ago, while they were still working in other professions. With early careers in Cambridge, Connie Gillen is a retired psychologist, and Bill Gillen is a retired architect.
Bill Gillen’s great grandfather and grandfather farmed in Brooklyn in the 1860’s. The octogenarian worked on farms there when he was young. The tractors at Sunset Farm are functional farming history that punctuate Gillen’s long view: the Ford 9N was built in 1937, the blue 8N in 1948, and the newest is from the mid-1950s.
The farm welcomes neighbors, students, and passing visitors throughout the growing season to visit and experience the farm. With an unconventional approach, all the crops at Sunset Farm are offered as pick-your-own.
Farmer Bill Gillen checks his crops. Photo by Carol Lollis, Daily Hampshire Gazette.
The farm has 100 rows of crops that are labeled, so visitors can find their chosen crop. The farmers use a golf cart to navigate sections of their farm. Gillen explains, “We mix the rows up and move them 12 feet apart, so there is room for the golf cart. We keep the aisles open so we can get to the crops.”
Gillen’s daily email missives from “The Gillen Collaborative” to over 130 people combine agriculture education with social updates. Part Farmer’s Almanac, the farmer shares what is in season and practical suggestions for the farm visit, inserting a bit of humor and wisdom in equal measure.
The farm grows 800-1,000 tomatoes in many varieties. Neighbors who wish to pick them can walk out to the correct rows on the far edge of the property—or they can purchase them in the farm stand already boxed. On August 5, Gillen wrote, “When you pick tomatoes, leave your water bottle behind: just pop a tomato when you need hydration. I do believe in climate change, but that doesn’t mean I need a water bottle with me in the field.”
Vegetables and flowers are the primary crops on their gently sloping landscape. Although Sunset Farms offers a wide variety of pick-your-own crops, they do not offer blueberries or other berries or fruits that are commonly sought after for pick-your-own.
A melon on the vine
Gillen says, “Watermelon and cantaloupe are the only fruits we offer currently.” The farm grows a small variety of watermelon, suitable for smaller households, and easier to manage at farmers’ markets.
Touring the farm on a golf cart with Gillen, he points at a small cantaloupe with a light green rind that is edible, with pink flesh inside. The innocuous melon shines a light on the diversity of friends and neighbors visiting Sunset Farm. Some of the pick-your-own customers say this variety of melon is from their home country of Korea, while others claim the melon comes from their home country of Armenia. Gillen smiles and says, “So our melons belong to everybody.”
Some people make an annual event out of visiting the farm, such as a group who visits for the chestnut harvest in the fall. Gillen notes, “You take a rake and poke the branches to get the chestnuts to fall. There’s a trick to it. The men will harvest while the women shuck the chestnuts, with tea going on the side.”
Gillen trusts that neighbors, students, and customers visit according to nature’s rhythms. He explains, “We don’t have a schedule. Nature has a schedule. Depending on nature and good luck, people show up when the crops are ready.” The social aspect of neighbors and community enjoying the bounty of the farm together makes Sunset Farm a vibrant place to gather.
With confidence in nature and the experience of watching the unfolding of seasons over 87 years, Gillen knows his market. He explains that excitement for crops is about timing. For instance, over-wintered spinach is their first crop of the year and the first leafy green at the farmers’ market. “The timing makes our spinach extremely popular,” he says.
Produce and flowers from the farm are available for sale at their own farm stand. Locals may recognize their bright yellow farm stand as the little building that once sat on the Amherst Town Common. While the farm stand is open daily 24/7, visitors are encouraged to enjoy the experience of pick-your-own as well.
Bill Gillen, co-owner of Sunset Farm carries a crate of tomatoes. Photo by Carol Lollis, Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Sunset Farm has a longstanding presence at the Amherst Farmers’ Market. “We have been selling at the Amherst farmers’ market for over fifty years,” says Gillen. In 2021, the couple received a special citation from the legislature for 50 years of service at the market.
Connie Gillen stands in front of her workspace where she prepares flower arrangements for a customer.
While Sunset Farm seems to place as much emphasis on the social aspects of the farm as the crops themselves, Bill and Connie Gillen cultivate intangibles like community, beauty, and fun with their farm. Gillen explains, “This is not a food community. This is a social thing. Customers retired here in Amherst because of the beauty here. People have fun coming together here. They enjoy talking to Connie while using their hands.”
Gillen concludes, “Between the farmers’ market and our farm stand, this small farm supplements local families’ diets with fresh food that is lovingly grown. More than anything, I hope to inspire and enhance joy for our customers and neighbors by sharing with them what it feels like to touch the soil, pick a vegetable, or arrange flowers.”
Lisa Goodrich is Communications Coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, (CISA). To learn more about Sunset Farm, check out their Facebook page or website at www.sunsetfarm.us.
