New Farm Store is a four-season local food hub
By Melody Smith
Holcomb Farm is preparing to open a newly renovated Farm Store at 87 Simsbury Road, in the old West Granby United Methodist Church building, creating a larger, year-round destination for local food and community connection. The new space will expand upon the offerings and services that customers have enjoyed for years in the Farm Store’s longtime home, the historic tobacco barn at 111 Simsbury Road.
For many years, the big red tobacco barn has served as home to the Holcomb Farm CSA and Farm Store. Over time, we have expanded the space to meet demand, adding refrigeration, display tables and shelving to accommodate the growing interest in products from local producers. Today, it serves as a one-stop shop where customers can purchase not only Holcomb vegetables, but also locally produced cheeses, eggs, meat, honey, maple syrup and more.
The newly renovated building will allow us to build on that success. With expanded retail space, we will be able to bring in new products while strengthening ties with vendors we already know and love by increasing our order sizes. We are excited to be stocking our shelves with new products this year: items like goat cheese, feta cheese and yogurt from Sweet Pea Cheese in North Granby; dried apple slices from Lost Acres Orchard in North Granby; and premium, small-batch soy sauces from Moromi in North Stonington.
We are also working with Myers Produce, a woman-owned regional distributor based out of hubs in northern Vermont and western Massachusetts. They source exclusively from vendors in the northeast and offer streamlined distribution of produce, dairy, grains, pantry staples and more. Once we are in the new building and we have more refrigeration space, we will be ordering from them regularly to better serve our customers and support other Northeast producers who are doing amazing work.
Our new farm store also will enable the farm to operate as a true four-season destination. Gone are the days of shutting down after the fall harvest and reopening only for Winter CSA members and pop-up holiday sales. With this new heated farm store and wash-pack, the farm crew will be sheltered from the elements, and our members and customers will enjoy a comfortable shopping experience regardless of the weather outside. There certainly will be elements of the barn that we will miss, but no one will miss shivering in the farm store on a blustery, windy, cold day.
The ability to operate as a four-season store is incredibly exciting for both Holcomb Farm and the broader community. We will continue to be a reliable source of fresh produce and thoughtfully curated, artisanal, local products throughout the year.
Meet Assistant Farm Manager and Crew Lead Tom Spatcher
By Hanna Malzenski
After graduating from Bentley University, Tom Spatcher was exploring a variety of jobs when his older brother, Holcomb Farm Crew Member Dave Spatcher, mentioned a temporary position was open on the farm. Originally, it was just to help out on the farm crew for two weeks, but Tom was asked to come back for another two weeks…and then another. Eventually, two weeks on the farm crew became four years, and in 2019 Joe O’Grady asked Spatcher if he wanted to step into the Farm Crew Lead role.
Spatcher said yes, and for the past seven seasons, he has successfully led the crew to accomplish the daily tasks that O’Grady wants done. According to Spatcher, communication is the foundation of any successful crew. “If you have people who are good communicators, can follow instructions, can make good decisions on their own, or sometimes with the guidance of someone more experienced,” says Spatcher, “you have the makings of a great team.”
Spatcher has led many different crews over the years, some more experienced than others. “We’ve had many different types of field crews. We’ve had inexperienced teams with people who have had to learn skills along the way, and we’ve also had veteran-laden crews. They vary a little bit in their makeup but in the end, Joe has always made really good decisions, hiring people who are good listeners and good communicators, and that has made my job much easier.”
Today’s Holcomb Farm Crew is the longest-standing crew Spatcher has led. Multiple members have been at the farm for more than a half decade, and others have been there for several years. “With a very experienced crew, I don’t have to worry about teaching how to harvest, wash and pack vegetables or do farm chores. Rather than developing skills, I can focus on getting the right people with the right skills in the right place. With very little turnover, new crew members are additions to the team rather than replacements, which makes for a well-oiled farm crew. We’re very lucky that we have a wide range of skills on the team and I can spend my energy putting them where they need to be so we can get whatever Joe wants done as efficiently as possible.”
In both the fields and on the crew, growth and progress are Spatcher’s goals and favorite aspects of his position. “In college we took courses on how to measure the success of your efforts. In farming, you see the results—right in front of you—and you can improve them in real time. It’s very rewarding to see the work you put in come to fruition in a very tangible way in people and in vegetables.”
Farm embarks on another NAA Tax Credit Program project
At the May 18 Granby Board of Selectmen meeting, Friends of Holcomb Farm (Holcomb Farm, Inc.) Executive Director Cat Kadrle presented Holcomb Farm’s application to participate in the 2026 Connecticut Neighborhood Assistance Act Tax Credit Program. This will be Holcomb Farm’s fifth year participating in this program, which is facilitated by local municipalities and the State of Connecticut Department of Revenue Services. The NAA Tax Credit Program allows eligible corporations to help fund various tax-exempt energy efficiency and community-oriented projects and receive credit on the corporation’s business taxes. For the nonprofit Friends of Holcomb Farm, this has been utilized for various energy efficiency upgrades throughout Holcomb Farm’s operations. Over the past four years, several corporations have answered the call to help the farm implement energy-efficient strategies such as HVAC heat pumps, roofing to facilitate solar panels, and energy efficient upgrades to farm worker housing.
This year, the farm hopes to add a heat pump HVAC system to the farm crew and staff areas of the new Holcomb Farm CSA and Farm Store building at 87 Simsbury Road. This will replace the existing electric baseboard heaters currently in the building. Thanks to generous funding for the 2025 program from Talcott Financial Group and Eversource, Holcomb Farm already was able to complete two projects in the new building: the removal of electric baseboard heat and the installation of two heat pumps in the farm store and in the wash-pack space. These improvements are beneficial to fiscal operations and also promote sustainability and energy conservation.
When asked for comment on the NAA program, Town Manager Mike Walsh said, “When the State of Connecticut set up the Neighborhood Assistance Act Program, they created a powerful incentive to corporations who do business in Connecticut to lower their corporate tax liability—in some cases dollar for dollar, up to $150,000—by donating funds to nonprofit organizations instead of paying that amount in state taxes. Here in Granby, one very worthwhile project is energy efficient heating and cooling equipment for the new building. I can’t think of a better way to reinvest tax payments than providing them to Holcomb Farm, which will help feed the community of Granby, and in neighboring communities where food insecurity is a real issue.”
For interested corporations, the window to apply as a funder is from Sept. 15 to Oct. 1, 2026. Full program information is available on the State of Connecticut Department of Revenue Services website at portal.ct.gov/DRS/Credit-Programs/Neighborhood-Assistance/Program-Information
Corporations wishing to learn more about The Friends of Holcomb Farm’s 2026 project are invited to email Cat Kadrle at catk@holcombfarm.org
An evening of yoga, healing and connection
By Laura Midura
On May 31, the Friends of Holcomb Farm was fortunate to have both Ania Poltorak and Teresa Bellmund return to the Holcomb Tree Trail Knoll to host an outdoor yoga flow. It turned out to be a beautiful evening for this free, all levels event, which was designed to help participants move, breathe, reconnect and soak in the afternoon light with a gentle, trauma-informed practice.
The evening could not have been more picturesque. As participants flowed through guided yoga positions on the knoll, the sun began to lower in the sky and birdsong drifted through the air, creating a peaceful backdrop for the practice.
Poltorak is a locally based therapist specializing in trauma informed psychotherapy. Bellmund specializes in inpatient psychiatric medical management, helping individuals with complex mental health needs. Both Poltorak and Bellmund completed 200-hour yoga teacher training (YTT). Poltorak shared that yoga has been linked to improved stress response and emotional balance. Both she and Bellmund share the desire to incorporate the practice of yoga into their mental health treatment fields.
Coming Events
Don’t miss the fun—mark your calendar for these coming events.
July 30: Farm-to-Table Dinner at Metro Bis in Simsbury. A gourmet, four-course dinner in an intimate setting. The meal will highlight Holcomb Farm produce. Tickets on sale now at holcombfarm.org
Aug. 30: Third Annual Holcomb Hoedown. Come on down to the farm for an afternoon of old-fashioned, boot-stompin’ fun for all ages. We’ll have line dancing, live fiddle music, a horse show, oxen demonstrations, yard games and more. Last year more than 600 people joined us for a fun day on the farm.
Oct. 2: Harvest Celebration in the North Barn. To learn more about this cocktail party to celebrate the harvest, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, or go to our website and sign up to receive emails from the Friends of Holcomb Farm.