GUERRILLA GRILLING AT SWEET WILLIAM FARM

                         Caroline, Brittany, Briana and Rob Nicholson

Forty-five minutes west on I-90 and south down I-495, sits the semi-rural town of Upton, Massachusetts. A grandmother, her son, his wife and their two young girls live there on a 90-acre plot of land with Arabian horses, mixed-breed chickens, Sicilian donkeys and loads of vegetables. The scene is idyllic, pastoral and precarious.  Precarious because a modern-day small farm in New England must continually fight to define itself against bigger farms with lower costs and real estate developers with larger bank accounts. The second installment in our Guerrilla Grilling adventures took us to Sweet William Farm where the Nicholson family works to keep their farm afloat.

                               Summer squash and rows of lettuce 

Leaving the restaurant in the morning, we felt a little weather cocky at how well we had planned our guerrilla grilling day—we predicted gentle, short-lived showers in the morning followed by bigger storms in the afternoon when we had all safely returned to Cambridge. We had it backwards.

At 9:00 am buckets of water were dumped from the sky and the lights dimmed.  It felt like dusk in a car wash. Fortunately, we were just around the bend from the farm so we crawled into the parking lot of the Sweet William Farm and raced for shelter.  As we dripped and snacked on freshly baked coffee cake and hard-boiled eggs, Gail and Rob (mother and son) told us the story of their farm.

Gail bought the farm as a haven for an Arabian horse some twenty years ago.  The horse should have been dead, as he was so cruelly neglected.   Gail adopted him and named him Sweet William.  Today he thrives and is the prince of the farm. 

                   (left) A descendant of Sweet William; (right) Sofia and Lucia

                                        Not pictured: DonQui-xote

Gail, a fearless adventurer, (she's ridden horses in Africa, India and other far away places)  was joined by her son Rob and daughter-in-law Caroline and their first daughter Bentley (Brittany came a few years later) to save the farm. They put up a little store and sold ice cream for a few years.  They hosted families and parties. But this wasn't enough.   The land needed to be farmed.

Rob started with what he knew - hops.  He'd always had a passion for making beer. Later, it was on to vegetables.  Gail jumped when Tufts University asked if they’d like to participate in a chicken project.

                          The chickens - free to do as they please

Today, Rob has 30 chickens that collectively produce on average 80 delicious eggs/day. They're a mixture of Rhode Island Reds, Leghorns and Aracona and produce an egg the color of a weathered beachside house—sort of light greeny, bluey, silvery gray.  The eggs have thick shells, big perky saffron yolks and dense firm whites.  The chickens are free to run around the yard pulling up worms and bugs and Rob regularly lets them roam along the grassy edges of the driveway.  As one hen in the coop fluffed her feathers, she revealed a blue beautiful egg. (You can purchase these eggs at the farm for $2.50/½ dozen or $5.00/dozen.)

                                           Frittata - from hen to plate

Nuno (the grill-meister) had started the fire and laid out a platter of antipasti for nibbling as he set to making a basil frittata and grilling zucchini from the garden. 

                                            Antipasti plate

Tom and Michael, delightfully resourceful, washed lettuce and tatsoi in rainwater as it ran off the roof of the tent. 

                                         Lettuce and rain water

We made a salad and grilled the tatsoi.  The vibrant yellow eggs played the lead role at the table.

                                        Tatsoi on the grill

                                          Jody enjoying grilled tatsoi

We watched the hops growing in the garden and asked Rob about his making beer.  We insisted we try it...all four kinds.  

                                 A portrait of beers with Michael

Rob has continued to grow his knowledge and skills as a farmer. This year he successfully started a CSA that includes 20 local folks.  He figured out what people want—simple regular vegetables like squash, spinach, lettuce, peppers.  When he offered bok choy and tatsoi, there wasn't much interest.  That’s where we come in.  We want variegated round eggplants with a custardy texture, Tuscan kale, kohlrabi, cardoons, puntarelle and other deviant vegetables.  We'll meet with him in the winter and talk about alternatives for next summer. 

A farmer on a farm like this works in the dirt and often works alone.   Single-handedly he is providing a weekly supply of vegetables for 20 families.  Next year he plans on 100.

                                     Seedlings in the greenhouse

The family wants to hold onto their land.  They've learned to grow vegetables and chickens, they’ve revamped their store and offer a gathering place on Friday nights with music.  A step they did not know they would have to take is development of the land.  They've decided to take one piece of the farm and build a series of comfortable, green, houses for people who are interested in raising their family in farmland.  It’s clear that this was not an easy decision for Gail, but she knows it's necessary for the protection of the farm as a whole. 

Rob and his family are students of the land.  They are learning as they go and are committed to growing the healthiest food they can.   It is not an easy life, but if you ask them, they will tell you they feel lucky.  Lucky to raise their girls in such a beautiful place.

                                          The Guerrilla Grillers   

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