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Harpeth Moon Farm

@harpethmoonfarm

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🌕Hayley Roberts & Max VanderBroek
🌱Certified Organic Flowers + Produce
🌎 Kingston Springs, TN
🌈Just over an acre in production

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Since it’s getting harder and less comfortable to hide:
Babe #2 growing til (hopefully) January 2027!

I say hopefully because big sis was due around then and came 6 weeks early. If there’s anything pregnancy has taught me it’s to temper expectations and practice letting go of control.
Now, if I could just apply this lesson to farming. 🤪🫠

Growing another being in this day and age feels wild. But also the most hopeful act, right up there with planting that seed regardless of rain.

When was it not? Wild and hopeful, I mean. I imagine it has been every generation since the beginning. The very fact of existence let alone each of us existing right here, right now is an absolute miracle. 1 in 400 trillion, that’s some odds right there.

Which reminds me of a favorite quote from a favorite book (Clabbered Dirt, Sweet Grass by Gary Paulsen),
“All the luck in the world has to come every year, in every part of every year, or there is not a harvest and then the luck, the bad luck will come and everything we are, all that we can ever be, all the Einsteins and babies and love and hate, all the joy and sadness and sex and wanting and liking and disliking, all the soft summer breezes on cheeks and first snowflakes, all the Van Goghs and Rembrandts and Mozarts and Mahlers and Thomas Jeffersons and Lincolns and Ghandis and Jesus Christs, all the Cleopatras and lovemaking and riches and achievements and progress, all of that, every single damn thing that we are or ever will be is dependent on six inches of topsoil and the fact that the rain comes when it’s needed and does not come when it is not needed; everything, every...single...thing comes with that luck.” by @harpethmoonfarm

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a month ago

We bought the seed garlic and the tulip bulbs and the flower seeds for next season which unceremoniously but certainly worth noting signifies that we will farm another season.
But I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you we thought long and hard about it.

It’s been a tough season. I don’t say that lightly. And I don’t expect that tiny sentence to weigh the same in your brain as it does in ours.

Much lower yields accompanied by lower sales and financial stress with higher costs and higher disease pressure and more variable weather with drought and heat weighing heavily on us and the plants plus all the external forces like still building that damn house : i.e. massive stress. Arguably more so than our previous 10 seasons.
Which is a good thing, I suppose.
1 tumultuous season out of 11 is pretty good odds.
I remind myself of that.

But farms are measured in seasons and not quarters. This blow is equal to 3-5 years of corporate business stress, not that I’m well versed in all that. There’s not much of a net when dealing in vegetables and there’s a lot riding on a single seasons success.

I haven’t been sharing because my lens is currently broken and finding the positive side in 100 degree heat has proven difficult. I’ll spare y’all my spirals.
I told Max today I’d be a better farmer (and person) if it was just 10 degrees cooler and it would rain, ya know, once in a while.

We’ve always been persistent and stubborn, I’d say most farmers are. And as Wendell Berry reminded me, “….do something that won’t compute.” Which farming doesn’t always and isn’t currently.
But neither do dreams—which is why we ended up here in the first place.

Reading his poetry and remembering the why has helped. And vowing, as insane as it feels, to do it all again has too.
Despite. Despite. Despite. by @harpethmoonfarm

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a month ago

I have wanted to make this post for YEARS!! This deserves a highlight on our page so much.

Bruce saw the unique ways i found to make a potent Elderberry extract back in 2018 and 2019. I started out using a vintage metal sieve and wood pestle, then eventually an apple presser juicer. He was growing lots of Elderberries for us even back then and started experimenting with a more efficient juice method - steam juicing. For years now, we have used Harpeth Moon’s fresh, certified organic Elderberries in Bruce’s juice.

A product is only as good as what goes into it, and we are lucky to work with people who care about what they grow and how they grow it. This matters to a formulator almost as much as the formulation and this product and process is one thing im a real snob on. As a plant lover and of course an herbalist, it hurts me to see a small amount of dried berries boiled to death in a big ole pot of water. The antioxidants in these berries are fragile and all that heat literally waters them down.

There is a lot of hands on work between protecting these popular berries from the wild, to getting a bottle on your shelf, and we would not have it any other way!

Elderberry Syrup Concentrate arrives with the fall release on September 11 at noon CT.

Comment “fall” and I’ll send you a link to get notified when it launches.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. by @harpethmoonfarm

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a month ago

Change is in the air as evident by the dragonflies spinning around right above our heads and the light in the sky lingering lower so subtly it takes a trained eye to notice. More on the fifth season later…

Speaking of change, our main man Kelton has departed for greener pastures after 6 seasons working with us. It’s not all the time you get someone to last a full season on the farm, let alone 6.
That’s a lifetime of hours in farmer years. We joked that we all spent more time together than we had with some of our closest friends. That makes us family, I suppose.

It’s also not every season you’ll find someone so committed and dedicated to learning the way we weave our craft that the pride and ownership effortlessly flows into the hard physical work we do here. Let alone 6 seasons of consistently that.

With 11 seasons under our belt, Kelton has helped keep us afloat for over half of them. Through life’s ups and downs and having a kid and building a house (still lol) he has remained constant and someone we could deeply count on to take care of this wild place just like we do.

There’s so many words and also none that could describe his impact on us and the growth of our farm.
We sure will miss him around these parts but we are super stoked for his next adventures. We’ll catch ya on the flip! 🩷 by @harpethmoonfarm

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2 months ago

Phew, we made it through this week and now onto the rest of Summer.
The heat was brutal, if a farmer can even complain. Sweat soaked by 9 and no end in sight. We took more breaks than we do on breezy days and spent the afternoons clinging to shade.
A welcomed thunderstorm rolled through this afternoon and dropped the temps a whole thirty degrees. Max and I and Ridi watched the sky pour from our new house with amazing AC and not much else.
“It feels like a completely different day,” Max said.
And he was right. Just mere hours ago we were limping inside the old house about to pass out under our trusty ol’ window unit.

This is the kind of heat that makes us both wonder why we don’t live in Michigan by the lake for all of July. It’s the same heat that forms the sweet tomatoes and colorful peppers and vibrant blooms we worked hard to pick today. Two realities can be true. We contain multitudes.

We will be @richlandparkfarmersmarket tomorrow 9-noon!
Tons of head lettuce, salad mix, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, squash, zucchini, kales, chard, fennel, carrots, I’m sure I’m forgetting something and flowers over fireworks all day. Come show us some love. 😘 by @harpethmoonfarm

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3 months ago

Every summer solstice we spend the afternoon deadheading our flowers and then we toss them into the river to watch all the beauty float away.

This ritual is grounding.
A reminder of impermanence, of passing time. A celebration of the sun’s climax in our clear skies, of letting go of our imaginary control.
Nothing is permanent, all that is sacred is flowing.

It was a much slimmer amount than usual because the spring flowers petered out earlier this go around. Ahh, the ebb and flow, am I right? Ridi participated fully for the first time having a ball throwing the majority of flowers in. Didn’t have to ask this 3.5 year old twice.

What started as a necessity eventually turned into a tradition we’ve tightly held for 10 years now.
Maybe it’s because I’m older and time seems to be moving at a much faster pace these days and the urge to hold on and even press pause is greater than it ever was. But the ripples really spoke to me last night.
With each toss a wish.
With each plop a vibration sent out into this wild world.
With each draw downstream an acceptance that forward is the only motion.

Thank you earth for spinning slow.
Thank you sun for rising high.
Thank you river for flowing just so.
Basking in the rays of yesterday, the longest day.
What a gift,
the present. by @harpethmoonfarm

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4 months ago

Ahhh, change surrounds us.

The pendulum is swiftly swinging towards Summer. This part of the season feels a lot like holding sand. Attempting to squeeze but as you can imagine it sifts right through our hands.

There’s still a plethora of green things out there. But not for long as the leaves are threatening to be hardened by heat. I understand the inclination. Not including lettuce though, we take on the Sisyphean feat of growing it despite the heat.
The totes are getting heavier by the week. The fruits sit perfectly in an oversized shirt turned makeshift basket when you weren’t expecting a harvest so soon.

Speaking of change, we will be back in our original spot at @richlandparkfarmersmarket. Where the big shade tree used to be. We will be there 9-NOON as well as @kingstonspringsfarmersmarket!

The best of both worlds coming at ya: salad mix, radicchio, kales, chard, fennel, onions, beets, carrots, parsley, celery, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, basil, squash, cucumbers, flowers and more! by @harpethmoonfarm

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4 months ago

Come with me to host a Mother’s Day bouquet-making class 💐

An afternoon full of flowers, women, and community. Honestly, it was such a beautiful reminder that women are creators at their core. Led by women, taught by women, and built around slowing down long enough to make something with your hands.

Huge thank you to Hayley Roberts from Harpeth Moon Farm for leading such a special experience, The Greer House for the dreamiest venue and Jollifrogs for providing the cutest gifts for each of our guests.

And if you’ve been thinking about making it out to one of our events, this is your sign. Keep an eye on the events calendar on the KS Gazette website… summer’s about to be a good one. 🌿🧺✨

#nashvilleevents #nashvillenews #kingstonspringstn by @harpethmoonfarm

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5 months ago

Sunlight flickering through trees dancing on flowers. Wind licking my cheeks and fresh chartreuse leaves yet to be hardened by heat.
This feels like a dream every single Spring.
We are inching towards Summer but you bet your bottom dollar we will soak up every second til the only place we can truly breathe is under water in the Harpeth River.

What a beautiful week. It’s been a trying season and lots has fallen to the whims of the world. But Max and I looked at each other while harvesting radicchio in the only way a couple who has been together almost 20 years can, communicating in waves instead of words—
Market will finally be loaded again.

We pride ourselves in a stacked market table. If you’ve ever seen us set up you know it is a well oiled machine and lots of care goes into placement and color and what goes where. We eat with our eyes first.

It’s possible we will be in a slightly different spot tomorrow. Maybe scooted down a bit? Not sure exactly but we will see tomorrow! Same row and general space of course.
I’m sure the regulars noticed that the big Oak who had been dropping limbs for years and was hollowed out was cut down and drastically changed our shade. I remember a termite hatch there 4 years ago and thinking “Oh No, this is it.” We’ve been waiting for this to happen.
I’m a huge proponent of leaving dying trees in an area not frequented but a public park on Park Ave isn’t that. (Just gotta throw that in there.)

I’m thankful for a market that prioritizes farmers and strategically places us in ways that protect the integrity of our consciously tended crops. Even if that means change.

You’ll see us smiling or maybe our tent or our colorful whimsical flowers or our vibrant vegetables. Don’t let the change throw you off, let your eyes adjust and you will find us. We look forward to seeing you and getting all that is good in this world straight from source straight into your bags.

@richlandparkfarmersmarket 9-NOON. by @harpethmoonfarm

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5 months ago

I don’t think we talk enough about mothering while farming. And how it makes a hard job even harder.

I wasn’t naive in thinking the transition would be sunshine and rainbows but I also didn’t think how much my priorities would shift and perspective would change. We never truly know til we know.

Before all I did was farm. Sun up to sundown and even dream it, all consuming. We moved here in 2016 and hit the ground running. Both 26/27 we set our life aside to work 24/7. Hindsight is 20/20 but I wish we wouldn’t have had are heads down so hard at that age. At the same time I don’t think we would have built what we did if we hadn’t.

I was a better farmer before becoming a mother quite frankly. I was attentive to only plants, not even my needs, only the farm needs forever. Which can and did lead to burn out before Max took over the metal load and got us back on track physically. We learned to work smarter, not harder. But even then, I’ll be honest, farming without a child seems like a walk in the park now. I feel I can’t compete on that realm anymore, as much as I want to.

Max and I both work full time on the farm, making a meager living working for no one but the great Mother herself. But our time is split now.
We aren’t able to work past 5 pm anymore, even that’s a stretch. We struggle with telling Ridi “not now, we are working.” We hate passing her off on our work days when she wants to stay with us, although it’s to grandparents and aunt and uncle and a precious school that she loves and gets to bond with others who love her, not just us. And we work with her too, that’s not productive from a farm standpoint but from a life one, hell yeah.

“What is a sidewalk?”, she asked me the other day. And I realized there are ups and downs to being tucked away in the country. When we lived in Asheville we would walk through our neighborhoods for fun. Waving, noticing landscaping and people. But now our sweet child will have a different kind of up bringing. She knows about cardinals and monarchs and weeds and green peppers and picking carrots for a snack and bullfrogs, so on. I’m into it. But this life doesn’t come without some kind of cost.
(Continued in comments.) by @harpethmoonfarm

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5 months ago

In today’s edition of not pictured but read instead:

The crew is killing it. It was someone’s first week starting this past Tuesday and I already feel better about where we are headed. Many hands make light work. In labor, in conversation, in vibes. We weren’t being picky about who would join the crew in the beginning of May but the right circumstances fell into our laps. It’s amazing what we can get done with another set of hands. Even when their first day is everyday.

Max has been pulled into house duty loads this week. Moving by hand and van 1700 sq ft of flooring, 1500 of ceiling, and all the doors into our house to acclimate before being laid and placed. It’s tough to work with your partner in general and even more difficult when we have two colossal situations going on: farming and home building. It’s not always pretty but we are always on the same team. Even if we have to remind each other about that often.

Ridi helped me pick campanula this evening while Max moved some wood and it was the most precious moment of my farm mom life. No pictures because my phone was dead but I’d cut a stem or three and she would take them and gently and carefully place them in the bucket. She was overjoyed and I was too. Toddlers love a job and I loved a moment to slow down while working with her. She asked why our tile guy wasn’t here at 6 pm and I said “well, the work day is over.” She countered with “Not for you or dad or me? We work whenever the sun is up.” And she’s right. But that both broke my heart and made me beam because she takes pride in what we do. One day it won’t be like this. Her willingness and our busyness and I look forward to that day. One more than the other.

We’ve harvested lots of flowers and the coolers are already full of fresh blooms. Tomorrow we will harvest all the veg for market while simultaneously putting together a massive amount of bouquets for Turnbull and market. I’ll be honest, recently I’ve been watching Law and Order: SVU while I put together bouquets. But these blooms deserve the silent treatment. Pure intention and good vibes. Because it’s not ever silent in a constantly moving world for a mother, am I right? by @harpethmoonfarm

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5 months ago

It is Mother’s Day week and yall know what that means?! FLOWERS.
Spring flowers are at their peak around these parts. Some bloomed a little early and some are lagging behind but we will have a plethora no doubt.

I like to know the origins of celebrations and in my digging I found the beginning of Mother’s Day. Anna Jarvis held the first Mother’s Day service in honor of her mother Ann in West Virginia in 1908. It then became a nationally recognized holiday the second Sunday of May (when her own mother died) in 1914. Well before then her mother helped organize women’s work days and brought mothers together from both sides after the civil war. Interestingly, Anna was disappointed in the commercialization of the holiday as she intended for it to be a holy day of remembrance for the sacrifices of mothers world wide.
I get that and I’ll be thinking about that on Sunday. The more you know, ya know.

All that being said, this will be the first time in a long time that we will not be offering a preorder. We somehow eeked one out last year while I was in between weekends in Arkansas for my own grandmothers passing and then funeral but this year feels surprisingly more chaotic.

We are hosting a bouquet making workshop in collaboration with @ksgazette and The Greer House right down the road from us on Saturday right after market. There are 3 tickets left!! I’m really excited!

And we will drop special mixes off @turnbullprovisions on Friday and have a wild amount for you to snag @richlandparkfarmersmarket. There will be LOTS.

I know many people who buy one from us every year through preorder and I hate to disappoint! But my gift to myself is to not pile on another single thing on our plates when they are already full to the brim. I’ve learned when to say No as I’ve gotten older and that’s certainly hard to do but necessary sometimes. Mothers give all of themselves to the world so this time around I’m saving a tiny sliver for myself.

This song has been Ridi’s favorite this week. She’s had us play it on repeat and I like to think she remembers deep down the times I rocked her to sleep while humming just that. by @harpethmoonfarm

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5 months ago