MEET THE FARMERS
THE FARM
Paul Bucciaglia
Like many small-scale, direct market farmers, Paul did not grow up on a farm. He grew up gardening at the family home in Naugatuck, CT, and studied agriculture at Penn State University and plant biology at the University of Minnesota. After spending time in mid 1990s working with Paul and Chris Burkhouse on their operation, Foxtail Farm, just northeast of the Twin Cities, Paul decided to leave the laboratory and explore small scale organic farming. In 1999, Paul returned to New England to apprentice at Brookfield Farm CSA in Massachusetts, and later managed Holcomb Farm CSA in Granby, CT. After two successful seasons at Holcomb, Paul had a clear vision of what his own farm would look like. In the fall of 2002, Paul moved to New Milford and plowed the first four acres of what would become Fort Hill Farm on the sandy soils of the Sunny Valley Preserve.Now, after many years of cultivation and the hard work of friends and family, Paul and Rebecca continue to work the land with the help of a talented crew of aspiring farmers and workers.
Rebecca Batchie
Rebecca came to farming through her combined love of plants and food. She trained in horticulture at Stonecrop Gardens in Cold Spring, NY, and then ran her own horticultural business for 10 years. During that time, she became increasingly drawn to vegetable crops and spent much of her time designing, building, and growing vegetable gardens. Farming was a natural transition for Rebecca. She worked summers with Paul while earning a degree in Critical Social Thought at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA. After graduating in 2011, she joined Paul in running Fort Hill Farm. She and Paul joyfully welcomed their son, Luca, into their lives in July of 2013. Every day he becomes more deeply engaged in the beauty and power of growing things.
