Q. What goes into a picnic bag?

A. Our picnic bags are a reflection of what is at its best on the farm that week. We know people are busy and on the go, and we also know that a good snack can make or break a day (speaking from experience). We want to make local food approachable so we pack your bag with farm fresh vegetables, artisan cheeses grown and made right here, breads, jams and preserved produce that will last. We are a family that seeks the outdoors whenever we can — these are the goods we pack in our saddlebags.

Q. What are your practices at Good Mama Farm?

A. We are an organically certified produce farm specializing in a variety of vegetables. We use zero chemicals, minimal tillage and do our very best to work with the land. We are obsessed with pollinators and seek diversity in plant, animal and insects. While we’re not perfect and don’t subscribe to all the buzzwords, we seek to leave things better than we found them as much as possible, recognizing that seasons and circumstances sometimes deal a tough deck.

Q. What about the other products on your farm? Are they organic?

A. They are not certified but they are grown using organic and humane practices. Egg laying chickens are fed a corn-free, soy free diet and are allowed to range in the pastures before roosting in the coop at night. Meat birds are fed a similar ration and like the egg layers, spend their summers pecking and scratching in our pastures. Goats are fed a grass and Alfalfa blend hay with minimal grain (treats for milking time) and are let out to pasture daily before snuggling in their stalls in the barn at night. Likewise, cows are pasture based with minimal grain at milking time. Goods we produce to accompany farm grown products such as bread use organic ingredients whenever possible.

Q. Why are your prices higher than grocery store prices?

A. Many commercial operations in our country are built to maximize their profit and still keep cost to the consumer as low as possible. But they aren’t built to be a net asset to their local community. Someone or something is always paying that price whether it is the land, the workers or the local community. At Good Mama Farm, we believe in having a holistic approach to farming: Everyone and everything pulls their weight, contributing to the whole and in turn the whole contributes back to the place. But to make those cogs in the larger machine work, we have to adequately invest in them. The final price at the farm stand is a more adequate reflection of the investment consumers must make to have farms that are a net benefit instead of a net drain on the resources — clean air, clean water, healthy soils, well-paid workers, healthy communities — that belong to everyone.