Omasta History

In my first posting I promised to provide more info on John, his family and the farm, and so here it (finally) is.
The farm (Hickory Dell) has been in the Omasta family for three generations and is one of very few working farms remaining in Northampton, MA. In the 1930s, Paul Omasta, who emigrated from Slovakia earlier in the century, purchased the land as a homestead for his growing family. Along with vegetables and livestock, he raised broad-leaf tobacco, a popular crop at the time, used for cigar wrappers.
Over the next 50 years, Paul and his three sons and their families continued to work the land, growing a variety of crops and raising beef cattle.
My husband, John studied forestry and agriculture at the universities of Maine and Massachusetts, and assumed ownership and management of the farm in 1981. Until 1996, he worked full time at the University of Massachusetts, while raising beef, producing/harvesting hay on the family farm and two additional hay fields, and growing and selling bedding plants, vegetable starts and cut flower bunches from a roadside wagon. In 1998, we built a farm stand, put up a large hoop house to supplement the two small houses already on the property, and purchased a tractor for field crops. In May of 1999, the 20 by 40 foot Hickory Dell Farm Stand officially opened. In 2000, we added a 12 by 20 foot addition including a rest room, sink area, and cooler. We began to stock more gift items in addition to our selection of garden pots and decorations and Peruvian imports (we began raising llamas in 1996, as a replacement for the beef cattle). The farm was open 4- 5 days a week from April through October for the first few years, and then, in 2002, when I left my corporate job, we increased our store hours to 7 days/week and extended our season through Christmas. Over the years we have tweaked and adjusted what we grow and what we sell, and in 2006 decided to focus on growing ornamentals. We specialize in new and unusual, and specialty annuals and perennials.