‘A Critical Training Ground’: North Adams Farmers Market Vendors Grow Into Downtown Staples
The Berkshire Eagle looks at how Red Shirt Farm and three other North Adams Farmers Market vendors built loyal customer bases before opening storefronts of their own.
Business Monday: Spotlight on Red Shirt Farm
Owners Jim and Sarah Schultz have just wrapped a nearly $800,000 project at Red Shirt Farm, with the new Farm Market store already open and a community commercial kitchen next on the horizon. Originally published by The Berkshire Edge.
Red Shirt Farm Market Is Open for Business on Route 7 in Lanesborough
After five years of planning, Red Shirt Farm’s store on Route 7 is open, with a commercial kitchen, local groceries, and Sarah Schultz now leading the farming side.
Local Farmer Awards Boost Productivity, Growth, and Efficiency at Red Shirt Farm
Local Farmer Awards grants helped Jim Schultz bring three innovations to Red Shirt Farm: a paperpot transplanter, a fertigation system, and a QLIPR trellising system for greenhouse tomatoes.
Berkshire Farmers Markets Aren’t Just Catering to the Rich These Days
Jim Schultz sells at the North Adams Farmers Market and Pittsfield’s winter market, where SNAP and Massachusetts’ Healthy Incentives Program now cover 30 to 40 percent of a given day’s sales — keeping the heirloom tomato within reach whether you can pay full price or not.
Flora or Fauna, That’s What One Berkshires Chef Asks Dinner Guests
This spring, Red Shirt Farm turned up in a Worcester Telegram & Gazette review of Sage and Sparrow, the tasting-menu restaurant at Wheatleigh in Lenox — one of the local farms chef RJ Cooper sources from for his hyper-local menus.
Digging Into Regenerative Farming in the Berkshires
A regional look at regenerative farming, featuring Jim Schultz on Red Shirt Farm’s no-till practices, intentional grazing, and why the word “regenerative” itself needs watching.
Red Shirt Farm, Berkshire Grown and Berkshire Bounty Win Grants Totaling $800,000
The state awarded $800,000 in food security grants to Berkshire Grown, Berkshire Bounty, and Red Shirt Farm in February 2024. Our $50,000 share went toward finishing our farm store and commercial kitchen.
How and Why a Climate Battery Works
A December 2023 Country Folks Grower Q&A on how a climate battery works, built around Jim Schultz’s own excavation, manifolds, and heat exchange tubing beneath a 30-by-72-foot high tunnel at Red Shirt Farm.
Nine Berkshire County Farms Awarded Grants, Including Red Shirt Farm
The Berkshire Eagle reports on the state’s $26.3 million Food Security Infrastructure Grant program — nine Berkshire County farms shared $1.5 million to help recover from a season of heavy rain and flooding, with Red Shirt Farm awarded $344,049.
Innovative Greenhouse Design, Heritage Livestock, and Honest Small Farm Talk
In May 2023, I sat down with Mimi from Growers Daily for a wide-ranging conversation about Red Shirt Farm — greenhouse growing, heritage livestock, and why the name comes from a college sports term.
Red Shirt Farm Expanding With Store/Commercial Kitchen Build
Red Shirt Farm broke ground in March 2023 on a new farm store and community commercial kitchen on Route 7 — iBerkshires covers the site visit, the mission behind it, and how the $774,000 build is being funded.
On the Job: Jim Schultz
The Berkshire Eagle’s “On the Job” Q&A with Jim Schultz on trading 26 years in education for full-time farming, and why he named the place Red Shirt Farm.
Where It’s Always Growing Season
A February 2023 Berkshire Eagle photo essay — Sarah French watering leeks and scallions, and lettuce thriving in Red Shirt Farm’s solar-powered greenhouse.
Buying Local: North Adams Winter Farmers Market Opens for the Season
A Berkshire Eagle photo of Red Shirt Farm’s booth, laden with sweet potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and more, at North Adams’ first indoor winter farmers market of the 2022 season.
Nurturing Nature: A Greenhouse Photo Essay
A short Berkshire Eagle photo essay from March 2022 — farm manager Sarah French transplanting greens and young tomato plants getting their start in one of Red Shirt Farm’s greenhouses.
Systems of Resilience: Energy-Efficient Advances Power a Vegetable Farm
A 2022 Acres U.S.A. feature on the climate battery, thermal curtains, and SolaWrap covering behind Red Shirt Farm’s most energy-efficient high tunnel — and how the system pays for itself while cutting propane use and carbon emissions.
Jim Schultz’s Red Shirt Farm Is a True Success Story
A 2021 Hobby Farms profile on Jim Schultz’s path from 26 years as a public school educator to building Red Shirt Farm into a thriving 13-acre, no-till operation with a 130-member CSA, farmers market sales, and wholesale accounts.
Turning Over Some New Leafs: A Greenhouse Photo Essay
A short Berkshire Eagle photo essay on Red Shirt Farm’s climate battery greenhouse — Jim Schultz prepping a lettuce bed and farm crew harvesting Asian mixed greens, mid-winter.