In 1975, a young James(“Jim”) and Deborah (“Debbie”) Athearn staked their future on a patch of Edgartown soil, a truck in a field, and a card table shaded by an umbrella. Their toddlers played nearby, while Jim sold ears of corn and baskets of tomatoes to Islanders who were craving what the land could provide.
Half a century later, Morning Glory Farm has become something far bigger, a family-run institution that feeds the Island year-round, from sweet corn and zucchini bread in July to pumpkins and fresh-cut flowers in the fall. What began as one family’s dream has grown into 130 acres of vegetables, fruits, and pastureland stretching across three towns, with a bustling farmstand at its heart.
“It was my predestination,” said Jim Athearn. “It was always crawling around in my ‘Gee, wouldn’t it be nice’ file.”
Today, his children and their families carry that dream forward. The second generation has built on their parents’ foundation with greenhouses, barns, worker housing, a food truck, and a windmill, all while keeping Morning Glory rooted in the Athearns’ original commitment to ethical, sustainable farming.
Jim recalled the farm’s humble beginnings: “We set up a truck out in the field over there,” Jim said, gesturing out toward the produce growing in the sun. “The next year we set up in that parking lot across the street with an umbrella and a table,” he said, pointing across the street to a gravel lot.
Although those first two years had nowhere near the production that Morning Glory’s farmstand bears today, they were monumentally significant to the future of the farm, because they made it clear to the Athearns that there was a demand for local produce.
As business increased, so did the infrastructure on the farm. “They’ve all just come logically, one by one, in terms of buildings,” said Jim. Since opening, they’ve added a farmstand, a vegetable barn, worker housing, a windmill, a food truck, and several greenhouses.
Over the years, Jim has seen other farms on the Island grow and change as well. “There are periods when you might say it’s a period of latency, or that farming had faded out, and then it was a resurgence, but I don’t know if it was that clearly marked. There’s always been some farmers, and sometimes there’s more than others, and sometimes they’re doing different things,” said Jim.
In 1970, Jim and his wife Debbie began seriously thinking about farming, and at the time Ronnie Silva was a pioneer farmer growing vegetables in West Tisbury. Silva told the Athearns that they would be able to sell just about everything they grew, so they did just that.
As Jim described his early influences, his son Simon turned off Edgartown–West Tisbury Road on a tractor, waving as he entered the parking lot. He had spent his morning harvesting corn, which he noted was especially bountiful.
“I was just about to tell her the Reynolds story,” said Jim as Simon approached the picnic table in front of the farmstand.
“Oh great,” responded Simon, “I’ll turn off the water while you embarrass me.”
Several decades ago, Mrs. Reynolds owned a plot of land which was covered with pine trees and bushes, and when Jim met her, he expressed his interest in cleaning up the space. Before they could talk logistics, Simon, who was 2 years old at the time, stood up and peed off his father’s truck, narrowly missing Mrs. Reynolds. She decided to look past this harrowing bladder incident, and ended up leasing her land to the Athearn family. “It kind of became my specialty. I didn’t have farmland, but I made it by taking down the trees,” said Jim.
In addition to clearing forest, Jim was also gifted with some land. Jim’s father-in-law had bought land on the Island at a tax auction in the ’40s for $7. At the time, he didn’t know where it was or how much of it he had bought. When Jim married Debbie, the land was gifted to them as a wedding present, and in 1973, when they moved back to the Island, they decided to put it to use.
“People want fresh local foods, and we’ve been lucky enough to be the ones growing it and offering it,” said Simon Athearn, CEO of Morning Glory Farms, and Jim’s eldest son. “I gotta give my parents a lot of credit for constantly improving,” added Simon.
Growing up on such a large-scale farm is an experience that is unfamiliar to most, and Simon appreciates the rareness of his childhood. “The freedom of space and opportunity and boredom allows you to just do stuff and have space to fool around on, which was pretty fun,” said Simon.
“Our parenting method might be defined as benign neglect,” added Jim with a laugh.
Simon noted how formative it was, watching his parents work on the farm. Seeing them pick barrels of produce up, pull down trees, build buildings, and move livestock around was all notable and prominent to young Simon. At the time, though, if you had asked Simon what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would not have said farmer.
“They had encouraged us pretty steadily to choose any vocation that made us happy,” said Simon about his parents. “That’s what they were doing, and their vocation didn’t pre-describe ours. It didn’t take until I was living out west and had some absence from it to realize how special it was.”
Simon went to the Culinary Institute of America, where he studied pastry, and spent time as a chef in Seattle and Montana before returning to the Island.
Simon and his father looked back on the time when he announced his return to the Island. They were in Jim’s truck, driving to Maine. “I was kind of stunned, I guess,” said Jim. “We Athearn fellas don’t get that excited very often, but I knew it was a good thing. I don’t think I realized how good a thing it would be within a short amount of time.”
Not only is farming hard work, it is also a big risk. “It takes many brave leaps, farming, every spring, just going out in the cold, barren Earth and hoping that things will grow, and buying supplies for an income that’s months away,” said Simon.
Part of what makes those leaps worth it is the response from the Island community. “It’s not just the satisfaction of seeing a crop well-grown,” said Simon, “but walking into the farmstand and seeing how they’re displaying all the produce and the variety that we have, and the quality, I just feel very proud of that. And then the frosting on the cake is that we have people from the community repeatedly telling us how they appreciate what we’re doing.”
Building the farmstand was also a huge risk financially. “A core memory for me, business-wise, is seeing the intention [Jim] had about building a new store, and the risk of it,” said Simon.
“The boys were instrumental at the same time in their consultation, because we knew it was their future we were talking about,” added Jim.
Suzy Crowley is the farmstand manager, and has been for the past 10 years. “The colors right now are just beautiful,” she said, arranging a display of produce at the front door of the farmstand, gesturing toward the pumpkins, white eggplants, red peppers, basil, and other vibrant produce spilling out of their respective baskets. “I pinch myself sometimes still, just about what this means here. It’s just such a unique business; the family is just so wonderful to work for, it’s very rewarding.”
Izzy Gomes recently started working at the farmstand, and was arranging a pumpkin display with guidance from Crowley. “It’s a lot of fun. I grew up coming here, so it’s fun to see the behind-the-scenes,” said Gomes.
Looking back on 50 years, there are many moments that stick out to Jim as special, but one he remembers well is years ago, when his children were all still young, and they were out in the field together gathering hay. “All the three kids came out to help me, and they were kind of fooling around, because they’re always fooling around when they’re together, and they all were smiling and laughing. And they looked like me, everyone looked like three little Jims,” said Jim. Now Athearn grandchildren run across the farm, with future generations sure to follow.
Great story ! Great people ! Great Place !
Comments are closed.