The road to Farm River farm leads through suburban East Haven to a clearing in the woods where Kit Luckey has created an agricultural oasis. Kit is the owner and sole operator of the organic farm on the banks of the Farm River Estuary.
Kit started the farm in 2015 as a CSA (community-supported agriculture), meaning customers pre-pay for a season’s worth of weekly vegetables as a way to support the upfront costs of farming. She has since doubled her customers to 30 families and added new gardens to keep up with demand.
“Farming is kind of like magic,” says Kit, walking alongside fields of chesthigh zinnia, elephantine squash plants and ruby-red tomatoes. “You start with these little seeds and then you end up with this bounty.”
She adds, “It’s also exhausting and sweaty and sometimes lonely and repetitive.”
The 16-acre property has been a work in progress since Kit’s parents, Tom and Ettie, bought it in 1999. It had been an illegal dumping ground; her father first discovered it after his car was stolen and ditched there. As a kid, Kit and her dad spent weekends clearing the thick bramble of wild roses that covered what is now a pasture for her two donkeys.
She started the farm, in part, to “bring something positive” to the property after years spent caring for her ailing parents, who are deceased. She lives with her boyfriend Charles, two dogs and two kittens in the house her father built.
Her farming life requires a serious work ethic and a willingness to learn, traits she cultivated over her 10 years at Foote. It’s rewarding to do work that promotes healthy eating and builds community, she says.
“The pleasure of being outside and seeing beauty around me outweighs the disgusting humidity, horrible bugs, long hours and low payoff,” Kit says. “Having my own project is very nourishing.”
Learn more about Farm River Farm at farmriverfarm.tumblr.com.