SHARON WYRRICK, farmer, started Many Forks Farm in the 2012 season as a 1/2 acre market garden and so the farm story began. Her own story is part of what led her to the farm’s name with her many forks previous to farming — a career in the performing arts as a choreographer, director, filmmaker, and playwright, a community organizer in the areas of health, education and the arts, and always with the constant thread of growing vegetables along the way. She is grateful to have found her way to full-time farming before the final digging fork found her.
Sharon grew up in Oklahoma, ended up in Washington, D.C. to complete her masters degree in performing arts at American University. A subsequent move to rural Rappahannock County, Virginia, nursed her lifelong interest in growing food as she became acquainted with the farms and farmers in that community. When she relocated to the Berkshires to remarry, she knew it was the right time to transition to what she had been holding in reserve ever since she had her first garden. The numerous forks that she hopes will continue to sink into the farm’s produce, now staged on household tables, has been a dream realized.
MOLLY COMSTOCK, farmer on deck for running the farm next season, grew up in rural upstate NY with a mother who grew all the vegetables for their family. After many travels, a BFA in photography and other careers, she finally found her way to farming in 2009. She has been farming for over a decade now, starting her own CSA and vegetable farm in 2012, Colfax Farm, on leased land using organic and no-till practices. For the past ten years, she has been a roving farmer, managing farms and growing food throughout the Hudson Valley and Berkshire regions in many beautiful places provided by caring, generous folks. Recently, and inspired by her own challenges in securing a farming home, she has been deeply involved in the issues of land affordability and land security for farmers. She is here at Many Forks Farm this season, working part-time alongside Sharon, learning about the land and the farm, and partnering towards a longterm protection plan for leading the farm into its future.
CODY O’BRIEN, farm crew, was born and raised in Eastern Massachusetts. He has most recently been traveling the country as a chef at many scratch/vegetarian kitchens. As a vegetarian himself he’s joined the farm team to appreciate exactly how much love and care go into getting food from the farm to the table, from start to finish.
TALIA SANDERS, farm intern, is studying Russian and Biology at Williams College and through a sponsorship of the Summer Internship Program with The Center for Environmental Studies joins us at Many Forks this season. She grew up in Slingerlands, NY, outside of Albany, loving to garden with her mom, geting her hands into the soil and seeing how the plants developed throughout the season. In 2019 she started farming through an exchange program called WWOOF (Worldwide Workers On Organic Farms) working on farms in Portugal, Italy and Germany. Since then, agriculture and food systems have been a fascination for her. She became involved in Many Forks this summer hoping to strengthen her connection to the earth, the surrounding community, and her interests in a career integrating social justice, culture, and ecology. In addition to working alongside all farm staff in the field, she will also be leading educational activities and interfacing with our community food security relationships.
MATT SILLIMAN, the ‘all around the edges’ crew, keeps the farm looking trim, maintains the machinery and the farmhouse, digs hugels and drainage, runs deer fence, mows the farm’s hiking perimeter, and does random errands and odd jobs, such as supply runs. He puts in additional time helping Sharon solve farm problems in her ‘off hours,’ cooks dinner for her every evening at the end of her long farming days, and stays alert to the hope of an occasional day off to spend some non-farming time with her. He loves her more than the farm, but knows this is the price a farm spouse pays for being hitched to the agriculturally obsessed.
Many Forks Farm 