Our Story

My name is Brian Callahan also known as Uncle B. Growing plants and playing in the dirt have always been a passion of mine ever since I was a little kid. When I was seven I was already using the lawn mower and mowing lawns in the neighborhood. I took that passion of mine to the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at UMass Amherst to study Turfgrass management as well as Plant Soil and Insect Sciences. When I first entered college I thought for sure I wanted to become a golf course superintendent and manage a golf course for my career. I had the great opportunity to work at golf courses around the world from courses in the Berkshires, Boston area, and Scotland. One of the best courses I ever worked at was in Scotland called Machrihanish dunes. The course is considered the world's most natural golf course and takes a sustainable approach at how they manage the turf. It was there that I began to realize how much wasteful resources go into golf courses here in the United States. After graduating I worked on a course for 6 years and began to take up small scale farming on the side. I realized how much more satisfying it was to grow something that people could actually eat and enjoy rather than just trying to make a plant look green everyday. While working at the course I began looking for land to purchase to farm on so that I could slowly transition from golf into farming. The farm would be called Uncle B’s Farm seeing all my nieces and nephews called me Uncle B and loved helping me with the gardens. While I was looking for the perfect piece of land I ended up finding the perfect girl, Katy. Katy is from the Albany area and is an occupational therapist for adults with disabilities. I began telling Katy about how I wanted to start a farm and I really thought she was going to think I was crazy , but instead was extremely supportive of the idea. I continued to work at the course and Katy Continued to push me to go for my dreams to start a farm. During all this another great opportunity happened the new vocational high school was looking for a teacher to teach horticulture. I had to jump on that opportunity seeing I could teach during the winter and farm during the summer. Teaching has been the most rewarding job I have had. Knowing that I am teaching the future of the industry and seeing each student's progress is a great feeling. In the fall of my first year teaching Katy found a nice piece of land and a cute little house in Richmond Ma and asked if we could look at it. I said let's see what else pops up I am not sure if that would fit our needs or not. The following spring the Covid -19 pandemic hit and we didn’t have much else to do but ride around and look at potential properties. She brought up that piece of land and cute little house in Richmond again and seeing there was nothing else to do during the covid closure we set up an appointment to look at the property. As soon as we walked in the house we both instantly felt at home and could tell Katy loved it. We took a walk out to the fields and I saw how green the grass was and how rich the soil was. We told the realtor we wanted to put a bid in and as soon as we got back into the car Katy Said, “ I told you you’d like it.” The buyers accepted and each day we have been here we find something new about the property and its beauty. Our first Christmas in the house I proposed to Katy and we will be getting married in October 2022. Katy continues to push me to reach for my dreams and she has really taken a liking to the whole farming thing. She is going to be in charge of all the cut flowers and flower arrangements on the farm. We are very excited for the future of Uncle B and Katy Lou’s Farm.