Meet Our Farmer Consultants
Jen Salinetti (she/her) is a co-founder, farmer, and the Director of Education & Community Engagement at Woven Roots Farm. Jen has 20 years of experience in hand-scale, no-till farming systems. Jen, her husband and her crew grow over 200 CSA shares and serve 2 wholesale accounts, feeding over 1000 people per week with just over 1.3 acres in production. In addition to her farming work, Jen is a skilled educator teaching at the intersection of agriculture, soil health, climate resiliency, food systems and social justice.
Equipment and Tools: Jen’s equipment and tool experience includes standard hand tools and push seeders, the tilther, and walk behind tractors for compost spreading (a full sized tractor is used for compost management but not for spreading).
Contact Jen about: Hand-scale no-till systems for vegetable production.
Availability: Please allow 48 hours for response.
Wally Czajkowski (he/him) is a lifelong Hadley farmer growing vegetables and tobacco. For 10 years Wally has been successful growing winter squash and pumpkins using zone tillage and wants to share that experience. Wally is interested in reduced tillage strategies, cover cropping, and is insulted when he hears folks calling soil “dirt”.
Contact Wally for help with: Zone tillage for pumpkins and winter squash, cover cropping, and drip irrigation.
Equipment and Tools: Wally has experience with the zone builder, front-mounted row cleaners, planters adapted with row cleaners, rolling cultivators, subsoilers, and sprayers.
Availability: Most availability is December through April. During the growing season, call evenings or Sunday afternoons.
Laura Davis (she/her) has 11 years of experience with hand scale no till vegetable farming. She co-founded and co-runs Long Life Farm, a 2.5 acre farm serving 90 CSA members and two farmers’ markets. Long Life Farm is certified organic by Baystate Organic Certifiers and is also certified by the Real Organic Project. Remineralization (balancing soil macronutrients and optimizing soil micronutrients) has been a particular focus at Long Life Farm. In addition to her farming work, Laura also works as an organic inspector for Baystate Organic Certifiers, serves as the President of the Board of NOFA/Mass, and works as a Technical Advisor for NOFA/Mass, helping farmers navigate organic certification and providing comprehensive and holistic fertility recommendations based on soil lab results.
Equipment and Tools: Laura’s equipment and tool experience includes standard hand tools and push seeders, tarps, and BCS implements.
Contact Laura for help with: Transitioning to organic practices, soil fertility planning, no till amendment application strategies, cover crop planting and termination methods for small farms, mulching and weed management for hand scale farms.
Availability: Please allow 48 hours for response.
Mike Davidian (he/him) grows 70 acres of vegetables and corn, using both synthetic and organic fertilizers, with cover crop mixes and reduced tillage practice. After adopting soil conscious practices Mike has seen an increase in marketable product yield. Davidian’s Farm Market was able to achieve a total conversion of equipment using both MDAR grants and USDA conservation programs. Mike attended the UMaine Compost School and makes all of his own compost on farm.
Equipment and Tools: Mike has experience with using a no-till drill, no-till corn planter, compost spreader, Forigo GS35-170 Stone Burier / Plastic Layer and just recently added a zone tiller to his fleet and will be beginning use in 2022.
Contact Mike for help with: Identifying grants and financial assistance options for soil health practices, adopting more soil health friendly practices for crops, and making on-farm compost.
Availability: Please allow 48 hours for response
Jim Koebke (he/him) runs Walnut Lane Farm, a dairy and beef production with 100-150 head of cattle. Jim has transitioned his land from primarily silage corn production to 130 acres of perennial hay crop and no-till mixed cover crop for bailage (rotated through the hay crop fields) and 100 acres of permanent pasture. Jim’s farm is entirely no-till and soil health focused; Jim has completely transitioned away from synthetic fertilizers in recent years and has been experimenting with the use of foliar organic fertilizers to improve crop performance and nutrient cycling. This has reduced Jim’s fertilizer costs and improved his soil health.
Equipment and tools: No till drill, John Deere 7200 Max Emerge corn planter.
Contact Jim for help with: Soil health for livestock fields, grazing practices, pasture health and transitioning to organic fertilizers in livestock production fields.
Availability: The best time to call or text Jim is in the morning around 9am (after milking) and if that’s not a good time, he will set up an appointment with you when you call.