#MCCOTInterview {3}
Isabella Rossellini and Elettra Wiedemann, Founder and Executive Director of Mama Farm
In the countryside, about 60 miles east of Manhattan, in Brookhaven on Long Island (Suffolk County), there is a 28-acre farm like no one else. An happy, safe and green place where regenerative agriculture techniques developped by former Chef and Farmer Patty Gentry, founder of www.earlygirlfarm.com, are used in order to preserve the biodiversity. This place, which firmly stands out of the crowd, is called Mama Farm. It was opened in 2013 by actress and former model Isabella Rossellini. It is managed with love and devotion by her daughter Elettra Wiedemann and a tiny team. This green oasis is visited by a growing community of people who are looking for a more authentic and sustainable way of life. At Mama Farm, you can book a private event, buy organic food if you are a CSA member or attend to ticketed events. And last but not least, you can stay as a guest at the new cozy B & B opened a few months ago. Be sure, there is always a good excuse to visit Mama Farm. Let's have a talk with Isabella and Elettra, Mama Farm's Landladies.
By Hélène Battaglia
How and when did you come up with the idea of Mama Farm?
Isabella: I always say that Mama Farm would not exist without optimism and naivety. I took on the project with very little vision or connections, beyond knowing that the land was special and could be a good place to have animals like chickens, sheeps and more. Mama Farm evolved slowly with the help and input of many different people including farmer Patty Gentry, local conservationists, a wonderful Swedish landscape designer named Lars Kranz, friends who wanted to raise their own flowers, animals, medicinal herbs and more. It is an ever evolving project and a living, breathing thing.
Why did you call it like that?
I: The name came to us because all the animals on the farm are working girls: from the honey bees to the chickens, sheeps, goats, ducks...We also have the honor of working with a female farmer, Patty. So between us, Patty and the animals, it's a female heavy team. We also noticed that many mothers come to the farm with their children because it is a gentle and safe place they can explore nature with their families and pass time as a family in nature. The farm also has a very nurturing and calming energy and vibe, so once the name came to us, we quickly knew it was the right one.
What is the Mama Farm exactly about?
Our goal is for Mama Farm to be a piazza for our community; A place where knowledge and inspiration can be shared; Here we want to preserve and celebrate the heritage of our environment and Mother Nature, the Mama on whom we all depend.
When did you join your mom in the business as Executive Director?
Elettra: After the birth of our first son, Ronin, we moved out to Bellport from Brooklyn in 2018. I have an educational background in food and so my role developed naturally as I saw areas that I could help the farm to grow and have more of a role in the community. Mom provides the top level vision, Patty manages the vegetables operation. My job is to make everything work together cohesively and also figure out community facing activations that are unique and, hopefully, enrich and engage our community. I also focus on partnerships with artists, musicians, chefs and more.
You both worked at the farm but is it your home too?
We live about a mile away from the farm in a neighboring village.
How has your Italian heritage influence what you had in mind for this green and personal project?
I: It is impossible to extrapolate which Italian part of me has influenced Mama Farm. I would say that the idea of a piazza is central to the layout of Mama Farm and its gathering areas. The B&B was also created by me and my best friend, Pietro Cicognani, who is an Italian architect. I think in America, there is a tendency to tear things down and start new for everything, whereas in Europe, and especially in Italy, we build upon the past. Both Mama Farm and the B&B used skeletons from the past - whether old roads or old dilapitated buildings - to dictate its layout and spaces and that is something that reminds me of Rome, which is where I grew up.
As owner and manager of an organic farm, how are you daily involved in the fight to save the planet?
Mama Farm's focus is to maintain biodiversity, whether its plants or animals. Biodiversity is an essential component of planetary health. Our farm is small but we hope that our engagement, particularly our CSA program, has helped to inform our community about the importance of their food choices on wider systems. The farmer we work with, Patty Gentry, also uses restorative agriculture techniques to enrich her soil and grow healthier crops. We like to say that we educate through delighting the senses, not through lecturing or didactic instruction. Once people experience Patty's vegetables or eat one of our eggs, our heritage breed chickens or our honey, they start asking questions about why it tastes so much better and different than what they are used to. From there we can engage them and start to talk about heirloom seeds, heritage breeds, regenerative cultivation of soil, bees, etc. To keep the farm's footprint to a minimum, we also use as little as possible packaging and printed marketing/communications materials. We are also committed to composte and use the compost in our fields to help the soil.
How is a typical day on the farm?
Every day is different and that is what we love about it. It also depends on the season. There are not enough hours in the day in the summer to get through our to-do list; In the winter time, even if things calm down dramatically, though there is still a lot of work to do with the animals and their care.
Do you consider yourselves as real farmers now?
We do not farm the land; Patty Gentry, the farmer who rents land from us, does. We continue to learn so much from her, but we are not farming land with her. We are very hands on with the animals and their care, but we also have experts teaching and guiding us, like The Livestock Conservancy.
Was the Mama Farm born first as a women community?
Not intentionally. At first, it was a team of women but that was a coincidence, not by design. We are still a woman heavy team but we have many wonderful men who are part of the farm who help to keep the animals safe and healthy, work in the fields or keep the bees happy and beyond.
For now, we are focused on optimizing our B&B systems and integrating with the farm its offerings and programmings. We are also noticing that people are approaching us for weddings and private events, so we will have to acclimate to that as well.
What have you planned for Mama Farm's Happenings schedule 2022?
E: We are still in the process of developing our schedule for 2022. We have interest from many people for weddings, so we are exploring that as well and it will have an effect on our event schedule. We hope we will be able to do more Full Moon Concerts, which were a huge hit last year, as well as our children's music classes. We are also planning cooking lessons and painting lessons for our farm members, inspired by flowers and medicinal herbs and surrounding native plants that grow on the farm.
Mama Farm in Three words…
It is impossible to capture Mama Farm in three words, so we decline to answer this question.
IG: @ mamafarm
@isabellarossellini
@elettrawiedemann
@earlygirlfarm
#mamafarm
#organicfarm
#regenerativefarm
#femaleentrepreneur
#femalefarmer
#isabellarossellini
#elettrawiedemann
#pattygentry
#earlygirlfarm
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