Pitchfork Farm owner recalls floods, sales and the lessons of small-scale farming

Eric Sites, introduced as co-owner of Pitchfork Farm, told a series of practical lessons from 13 years farming in the Intervale, from crop timing and electric fencing to making sales to restaurants and finding co-pack partners for surplus produce. He described how building relationships with local buyers such as restaurants has supported his operation as it grew.

Sites recounted major flood events and their business impacts: he said early floods reached about 16 feet in one spring and that in 2011 "the river hit 23 feet, jumped the banks, came roaring into our fields," washing out summer and fall crops. He described how the farm pivoted after those losses and relied on community markets and restaurant partners to keep going.