Ashley Brister is the farm director at the YMCA Sharing the Harvest Community Farm. She is a resident of Westport and has been farming for 17 years, having lived in everything from a platform tent to bartering exchange for rent. She recently made improvements on the farm to keep deer out of crops being grown for communities in need.

Ashley started farming with an apprenticeship at the University of California Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology and Food Systems. Each year, 37 apprentices lived in platform tents and were paid a small living stipend plus food and of course education.

This was a true apprenticeship and training program: Four days were spent in the “Chadwick Gardens,” named after Alan Chadwick, known for being a leader and early proponent of organic gardening to the US, with one day in the classroom each week. Classroom studies included a wide range of topics covering science and theory of ecological agriculture.

Ashley participated as an apprentice for two years and then moved on to continue her agricultural journey. She landed in the Southcoast about 15 or so years ago, working at Eva’s Garden for some time, and also farming at Round the Bend Farm. She’s lived in various situations during this time, including a 200-square-foot tiny house for several seasons, and a year-round rental on Horseneck Road for some years. Currently she barters with some friends for housing, trading her skill and time gardening, and helping with the family’s kids; she loves spending time with the kids, taking them to school, helping with dinner prep. She envisions building her own mobile tiny home one day in the not so distant future.

Ashley grows on just under four acres at Sharing the Harvest Community Farm at the YMCA Southcoast location in Dartmouth. The crops she grows are distributed through the United Way of Greater New Bedford Hunger Commission, in partnership with 22 local food agencies, with the Veterans Food House, Damien’s Kitchen, and the Salvation Army.

Through the Full Plate Project of the YMCA, produce is also distributed at five YMCA locations on the Southcoast. She focuses on common staple crops like potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes, cabbage, green beans and lettuce and spinach, with some fun ones thrown in like pea greens and broccolini for added diversity. Over time she is adding in fruit crops including berries and tree fruit. The farm operates with several seasonal employees: Laurel, Jae and Louisa, and a core group of regular volunteers.

Ashley is happy to have an education coordinator this year, as well as a farm volunteer coordinator to help with logistics for the many groups that come to volunteer over the course of the year.

“I am blown away by the commitment in our community of core volunteers coming out in all kinds of weather who are passionate about our mission,” she said.

“They are our biggest cheerleaders helping us from field to fund-raiser. The farm would not be possible without their support.”

With a built-in distribution mechanism, Ashley doesn’t need to worry about marketing, but she faces many of the same challenges as many other farmers in the Southcoast. One big one is the deer.  She had relied on electric fencing, which is still effective in Spring until about mid-summer. Last season she had to disc in an entire acre of squash after deer nibbled off all of the ripening fruit. She decided to look into permanent deer fencing and learned that Skinny Dip Farm was hiring Kevin O’Dwyer of Langwater Farm to install fencing on their Westport site. She reached out and through support from the Charlton Family Foundation, she was able to have three acres fenced last fall. She says the install was smooth and efficient. This is an excellent example of farmers branching out to provide services and solve problems faced by the greater agricultural community, and she said she is thrilled that this year some of her crops will be protected.

If you’re interested in volunteering or would like to reach out, Ashley can be reached at sharingtheharvestfarm@ymcasc.org