drive along Clapboardtree
Street in Westwood produces
idyllic scenes with stately
homes, established trees and
fields, aging stone walls, and plenty of New
England charm. The Bean Farm, right before
the curve to Xaverian Brothers High School,
melds with picture-perfect splendor into its
surroundings. A large antique maroon home
sits close to the road, surrounded by acres
of fields. Bright spots of orange and yellow
pumpkins dot the landscape. Sounds of
roosters, geese, pigs, and a baby calf bubble
through the quiet. And there overseeing it
all in his paint-splattered pants and plaid
flannel shirt is Chris Bean, a 2014 graduate
of Xaverian who went on to study agriculture
at Cornell University. His demeanor is quiet
and unassuming, but his presence looms
large, towering at 6’5” over his domain.
The Bean family has been tilling the
New England soil since they came over
from Scotland not long after the Mayflower
arrived on these shores, making Chris a 14th
generation farmer. He says he “caught the
farming bug” from his grandfather, Charles
Bean II, who established the Bean Farm in
1971. He raised his four sons there, and
Chris and his brother, Charlie Bean IV
(Xaverian Class of 2019), both grew up across
the street from the farm on the land abutting
Xaverian’s property.
When his grandfather passed away in
2010, Chris was just 14 years old in eighth
grade. By that time, he knew he wanted to
continue the family tradition of farming and
he once again brought sections of the Bean
Farm back to life, planting a large mix of
vegetables including sweet corn, tomatoes,
squash, peppers, and pumpkins. Chris started
a wholesale operation selling his produce
to local businesses such as Lamberts, Roche
Brothers, and the High Street Market. He’d
come home each summer when he was in
college and run a small roadside stand on the
farm. And then when he officially returned
home to Westwood after Cornell, he knew
he had to get the farm back to being fully
operational. That’s what he’s done. He’s now
farming most of the family’s 26 acres and
expanding his crop and livestock diversity
each year.
Farming is Chris’s passion, but it’s not
yet his paycheck. He’s working full-time in a
construction company he co-owns, in addition
to his work on the farm (which he describes
as his “part-time job that requires full-time
effort.”) Monday through Friday he’s up at 5:00
a.m. for construction, and he tries to be home
by 3:00 p.m. for the farm. That’s when the farm
stand opens on weekdays. “Then on Saturday
and Sunday, we’re out there at 4:00 a.m. with
headlamps picking corn and we work until it’s
dark at night,” he says. The “we” he’s referring
to are the only two other farmers, James
Curtin and John Rogers, both from Westwood.
CHRIS BEAN ’14 PROMOTES
LOCAL AGRICULTURE
Photo Credit: Will Clarke ’24
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“Without these two men, the farm wouldn’t
be what it is today,” says Chris. He adds,
“Their work ethic is unmatched and I’m
blessed to have them by my side working the
farm seven days a week.”
The Bean Farm is a work in progress, as
Chris describes it, and he’s got a vision for
what it can become. At present he’s growing
a variety of pumpkins, sweet corn, squashes,
watermelon, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce,
broccoli, cauliflower, and fresh flowers. He’s
also branched out into animal husbandry
and he’s caring for 150 egg-laying chickens
on the farm in addition to pasture-raised
meat chickens and turkeys for Thanksgiving.
This year he added pigs, a baby calf, and
three rabbits…although the cow and the
rabbits are more to make his customers
smile than to turn a profit. Chris admits he’s
trying to create a memorable experience so
they’ll return time and again. For fall he’s
set up a giant pyramid of hay bales, studded
with pumpkins and a little bench nestled at
the bottom, perfect for fall-themed family
pictures after picking pumpkins out in the
patch. But more important than repeat
customers is teaching people where their
food comes from.
“It’s really sad how little the public knows,
especially in urban and suburban areas
like this, first about how to grow food for
themselves but also in general, how anything
is grown or raised in this country,” says Chris.
“There’s a huge disconnect between the
farm, field, and table. It’s awful. So to keep
something like this alive is a big deal. I want
kids to see what happens on a farm, how the
animals are raised, how the crops are grown,
and all of the hard work that goes into it. It’s
so important.”
When you purchase produce, meat, or
eggs through the Bean Farm, Chris aims
to make it the best product around. He
calls that, “Bean Farm Fresh.” All of the
animals are out in the open air. His chickens
and turkeys are pasture raised. He says
he practices minimal tillage and plants a
lot of crop cover to benefit soil health and
reduce erosion. He doesn’t use insecticides
and instead has an intensive integrated pest
management program. “I try to do the right
thing and use as little chemicals as possible,”
he says. “I learned it from my grandfather. I
do the best job that I can to give people the
best product. That’s what it’s all about.”
Someday he hopes to be able to run the
farm full-time, build a retail building, and
expand his business. In the meantime, he
says, “It’s a hell of a lot of work, but I love
doing it.”
“I want kids to see what happens on a farm,
how the animals are raised, how the crops
are grown, and all of the hard work that goes
into it. It’s so important.”
Photo Credit: Will Clarke ’24
Winter 2023
Xaverian Magazine
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