Bootstrap Farm Club: The Password is...Clean

In Hollywood vernacular, the “inciting incident” is the event, however great or small, that kicks off the story and sends our hero on the adventure. Business opportunities can be born in much the same way. The idea is there, marinating in the mind of the would-be entrepreneur for months or even years, a powder keg silently awaiting the lit match that kicks off the “leap.” An unplanned termination of employment is one such common incident, but the birth of Bootstrap Farm Club in Cataumet had a more dire motivation. A frightening health scare for one person has led to a cleaner way of eating for many.

Bootstrap Farm Club is just that: a club. Although open to the public Thursday and Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings, Bootstrap Farm Club’s members do come first. Members get first choice to purchase the certified organic or sustainably grown produce and meats at the store (or perhaps, clubhouse) located at the corner of Scraggy Neck Road Ext. and Route 28A in Cataumet. Members can place their orders online after perusing the weekly offerings on the Bootstrap Farm Club’s website. The orders are then picked up at the store. Some members prefer to shop the old-fashioned way and inspect the merchandise for themselves. They can do this whenever they want. With membership comes access to the store 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The yearly dues for this premium service…$0.

Seattle area native Susan Sigel Goldsmith moved to Martha’s Vineyard in 1998. After 18 years of island life, she relocated to the village of Cataumet in Bourne in 2016. Her first thought as she got a lay of the land? “Where are all my farms?” Having lived on an island which has 40 farms within its 100 square miles, her new neighborhood seemed a bit lacking. On the Vineyard, she had a number of farms, small markets and roadside stands to choose from within a few miles of her house. “On the island, I was almost always eating local all year round,” Susan recalls.

Running a media and marketing firm and dealing with events and ticketing, one would think that Goldsmith was out in the community a great deal. Much of the time, however, Susan was locked to her computer and longed for the ability to interact with other like-minded people when it came to caring about how food is grown or raised. It is here where the idea for Bootstrap Farm Club began to germinate. Surviving a grave illness gave Susan the kick start that she needed. It was time to launch Bootstrap Farm Club and see if it would soar. “I was really doing it as a proof of concept,” she claims. Generally, proofs-of-concept are more theoretical in nature; a simple test to see if an idea is viable. You know, before the large outlay of cash. A year into this “exercise,” it seems to have passed (and continues to pass) with flying colors. The club’s name has a multi-level meaning, as a nod to her own life’s twists and turns as well as the farm she once owned on the Vineyard where children came to learn horseback riding.

To be certified organic, farmers must abide by the regulations set forth by the United States Department of Agriculture and be able to prove that their practices do not include the use of such prohibited substances like synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides and fungicides for at least the previous three years. They also must show that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have not been grown on the property during the same time frame. The concern is that synthetic chemicals remain in soils and perennial plants for years after their last application. Farms must allow for testing annually to maintain their certified organic status. “Sustainable Growers” follow the same practices. They simply don’t have the certification. Both follow a much more stringent set of guidelines than the farms following Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs). The certified organic or sustainably grown meat and produce which Bootstrap Farm Club offers its members comes from farms within 100 miles of the store. Susan has found that club members’ main impetus is the products’ organic growth, even more than the location of the farm supplying them. They are willing to travel for it as well, with some coming from as far away as Plymouth and Hingham.

The club is stocked with a wide variety of organic products. Besides the produce, the freezer is bursting with beef, pork, chicken, lamb and even a few prepared food items. The produce comes from Langwater Farms in North Easton, Web Of Life Farm in Plymouth and Tuckaway Farm in Harwich, among others. Beef and eggs — of which she sells 30-35 dozen a week — are supplied by J.H. Beaulieu Livestock and Produce Farm in Fairhaven. Susan is always on the lookout for more suppliers. “I’m open to working with people producing clean prepared foods,” she states.

It has been a learning experience for all involved, particularly Susan. After a soft open a year ago for which she sent out a small postcard mailing to area residents, ordering became the first challenge to overcome. Dialing in the correct amount to order every week for a new and growing store took some time. Yet, when there was an overage, Goldsmith simply put together small packages to give away to area businesses for further publicity, making herself some proverbial lemonade out of the abundance of lemons she had remaining.