If you've been a follower of Hosta Hill you may know that from the start, we have been dedicated to farming multiple acres of mixed vegetables for our ferments at Hosta Hill. Growing and sourcing quality ingredients for our products is the basis of our vision for a local food economy.
This 2018 season is shaping up to be a little bit different!
To start, we are taking the year off from growing the typical array of vegetables for our ferments. Though we couldn't help ourselves and have a crop of garlic planted for a fall harvest (and for Scape kraut of course). While being involved deeply in the growing for our ingredients is close to our hearts, we consciously chose to take the season off for big changes ahead:
The major news being that Abe and I are anticipating the arrival of a baby in June and are looking forward to prioritizing time for our growing family!
And, along with our own family, Hosta Hill is also expanding! You may have noticed on some of our labels it says 'Produced in Pittsfield, MA. That's right, we are in the process of shifting all operations to a new facility in Pittsfield! The facility is owned by the local company Fire Cider, and they have graciously invited us to share space with them. This new move and increased space will allow for some serious ease of expansion in production and distribution. For the past 4 years we have been operating out of our Kickstarter fueled (THANK YOU!) and increasingly confined kitchen space in West Stockbridge (less then 900 square feet, oy!). The new kitchen space is about 3,500 square feet--and that's just the kitchen. Other features in the building are a 14x36' walk-in refrigeration unit (a grower/food processor's juiciest dream), an actual space for packing online orders and shipping, a loading dock, and generally lots of flat, hard ground for moving stuff around (think barrels of ferments, pallet bins of vegetables).
You may be wondering, well where are all the vegetables going to come from? We have many talented growers between the Hudson and Pioneer Valley and we will be utilizing them. MX Morningstar Farm and Winter Moon Roots will be supplying the majority of our daikon radish. Atlas Farm and Red Fire Farm will be supplying our red, green and napa cabbage, as well as onions and carrots. We'll be supplying the majority of our garlic and hot peppers. Working together with local food system partners is just as close to our hearts as growing is, and still a part of our Field to Ferment vision.
We are excited for these growth opportunities and new chapters, and we are so grateful to our dear customers (that's you!). We look forward to the coming season and continued connections in our community.
~Maddie Elling
cofounder/cabbage patch parent
Maddie and Abe pictured with Berkshire ferment friends Michelle and Ted