About the Farm
About Cotyledon Farm
Cotyledon {kot~l~eed~n}
Cotyledon Farm is located in Leicester, Massachusetts, just a few miles from the City of Worcester. Amanda leases a portion of the land to operate her business and lives in the original farmhouse on the property. There are stone walls, perennial gardens, diverse forests, pasture land, and wetlands that make up an ecologically diverse landscape worth preserving. The vegetable production is nestled amongst these biomes and great care is taken to build soil and preserve surrounding ecosystems.
Cotyledon Farm’s physical infrastructure consists of permanent and cultivated row crop agriculture, perennial herb gardens, a farm store, two high tunnels, a greenhouse, a packing shed, a chicken grove, grain shed a tractor, many hand tools, and an incredibly supportive community of people.
Our produce is grown using OMRI (organic standard) approved fertilizer, soil inoculants, and pest control. No herbicides used. Ever.
The Bigger Picture
As a community farm, the mission is to nourish and enliven a diverse community of members, neighbors and friends with life-sustaining vegetables and herbs.
Vision: To join together in community to create and enjoy a diversified, small-scale, organically-grown vegetable and herb farm. The farm will be a place alive with art, collaboration, organizing and activism with those who share in the labor and love of the land their food is grown on, as well as the community that it brings together. This vision is to foster a sustainable livelihood for the farmer while also fostering and developing an social-justice focused community. In doing that, we must honor the needs of those who both work and benefit from the land for respect, dignity, community, and mutual-aid.
Goals: To nourish existing communities of radical, social-justice oriented people in a mutually beneficial way that balances the rights of the both farmer and the community of access to the resources they need to flourish and succeed. Members and participants who work on the farm will experience and co-create a dignified, centered and loving environment.
Values: To mindfully grow means to carry the responsibility of sustaining the land, the people that work on it, and those who consume the produce. There is a dance constantly at play with small-scale farming. This means we must collectively face the reality that in order to foster a sustainable livelihood for a farmer whose produce nourishes you and your family-that farmer must, too, be nourished, valued and sustained.
This is a place of listening and seeking common ground.
What is a Cotyledon?
Cotyledons are the first leaves that appear after a seed has sprouted. They are different from a plant's true leaves because they develop in the embryo and present before germination. The cotyledons contain the stored food reserves in the seed. Some cotyledons begin to photosynthesize and stay with their host plant for a longtime, while others shrivel and die after the true leaves takeover food production. There is an essence in each of us that makes us who we are - even before we are born. But it’s how we nourish, care, and tend to the seed that truly determines its fate.
What Makes a Community Farm?
Access: Participation through Farm Hours, Two Pick-Up Locations, Evening Hours, Farm-Hours Opt Out
Affordability: PaymentPlans, HIP/SNAP, Work Share, Sliding Scale
Environment: Welcoming and Beautiful Space, Friendly and Instructive Staff, Accommodating toAll Abilities
Collaborative: Social Events, Educational Opportunities, Locally Produced Goods
People: Members are Present, Approachable, Engaged and Participate.
Meet the Farmers
Amanda Barker
she/her
Lead Farmer and Owner of Cotyledon Farm
Amanda Barker was born and raised in Central Pennsylvania. She has been farming since 2009 when she started Nuestro Huerto, Urban Farm in Worcester, MA while attending Clark University's graduate program in Environmental Science and Policy. Initially a small raised-bed garden in the back of a church parking lot, Amanda grew the urban garden into a community farm over seven years. In this time, she graduated with her Master’s degree and founded Camp Street Community Garden, also in Worcester. Leaving Nuestro Huerto and Camp Street in 2017 in the capable hands of a collaborative between New American farmers and the Regional Environmental Council, Amanda sought new beginnings in Leicester to create space for adopting a child with her partner, Josh. While still on this journey together, Amanda started Cotyledon Community Farm. With the immense support, investment and engagement of the property owners, community members, friends, and family, the farm operation has grown immensely.
Kitty Boy
he/him
Chief Mousing Officer
Kitty Boy arrived on the farm in 2017 as a mouser during a year of relentless pressure from chipmunks. He worked tirelessly for many years, and appears to be retiring. He came from Queen Street in Worcester, where he was captured, neutered and retained until he was healthy enough to be adopted. While too bitey for a shelter, his caretakers felt it best he became a farm or barn cat. He is a devoted farm cat-greeting customers at the farm store, unapologetically basking in the sun in the gravel driveway, attending to work-share members’ need for pets and company, and hosting his neighbor-cat friend, Purlin, at home in the farmhouse, sharing his food and space with him without a second thought.
2026 Work Share Crew
COMING SOON!
COMING SOON!
COMING SOON!
COMING SOON!
COMING SOON!
COMING SOON!
COMING SOON!
COMING SOON!
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