Beavertides Farm is Using Innovative Farming Practices to Build Community
By Zachary Schwartz
Photo: Ryan Lavine
At Beavertides Farm, Marleen van Gulick and Dan Carr are converting sunshine into sustenance. Through innovative agricultural practices, nose-to-tail grass-fed meat production, educational events, and a colorful social media presence, this farm is reimagining what a modern day community could be.
Van Gulick is a Dutch former United Nations counter terrorism worker with a penchant for shepherding. Carr is a former rugby player and Stone Barns Center employee with a passion for agroforestry. The two met at a rooftop beekeeping course in Queens. A year and multiple bee hives later, they married and moved to Litchfield County to start their own 70-acre farm.
Beavertides Farm raises grass fed Katahdin sheep and Kiko goats for meat. Van Gulick is the primary farmer, but the couple farm together with their two young sons. “This is what women have been doing, and what people still do in many parts of the world. I would just tie my child on my back, nurse them when they’re hungry, and take care of my animals. My days are basically just tending to the needs of creatures, human and not,” says van Gulick.
The farm focuses on sustainable, regenerative, pasture-based livestock farming. They practice managed intensive grazing, whereby livestock are moved daily so the fields and animals remain fallow and healthy. “Our passion to raise ruminants that live on grass grown by sunshine is such a beautiful process. It feels balanced and good to produce food for people with what we have here on the land,” says van Gulick.
In addition to raising livestock, Beavertides Farm has an apiary for sweet honey production. “Beekeeping has always been a huge part of what we do here. We’ve always had hives and taught beekeeping courses, which is nice because that’s how we met,” says Carr.
Beavertides Farm promotes nose-to-tail diets by selling lamb and goat meat boxes via their website. Boxes include a variety of nourishing cuts, accompanying recipes, and an invitation for a private farm tour. Van Gulick’s favorite recipes include a slow braise with homemade wildflower vinegar, chops over the fire, bone broth, liver pâté, and neck rillettes. “I love connecting to the older, rural ways of eating, which is starting with a wonderfully raised animal, then cooking it in simple ways. I love old European cookbooks from 100 years ago.”
The farm also offers beekeeping courses, farm tours, pasture walks, and farm-to-table dining events, with an emphasis on community building. “People come here and connect with our family and to experience our farm life. That community aspect is what I long for. I really try to create that for others,” says van Gulick. She emphasizes community building both in-person and digitally, where the farm’s website and Instagram share delightful images of bucolic landscapes, as well as adorable lambs and kids.
As for what’s next, Beavertides Farm is planning to introduce beef boxes as well as agritourism farmstays, further efforts to foster community in their Northwest Connecticut neck of the woods. —beavertidesfarm.com
