cook the book

Amidst now-bucolic fields on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard, the Athearn family grows over fifty acres of small fruits and vegetables that supply their roadside farmstand from May through December. Morning Glory Farm began in 1975 by Jim and Debbie Athearn (who both grew up on the island) on what they describe as “once-worthless scrub land” that Debbie’s father bought for $7 in 1943. There they raised their three children who are an integral part of the farm today.

Initially, when they started farming, Jim and Debbie sold produce from their home garden out of the back of their pickup truck. “We were surprised our first summer in ’79, when we made $10,000. We thought ‘wow’. People want vegetables.” The next year their numbers doubled and they haven’t stopped growing since.

Writer Tom Dunlop and photographer Alison Shaw pulled the Athearn’s remarkable history and their deep dedication to family and farming by working long hours alongside Morning Glory’s farmhands. The result is Morning Glory Farm, and the Family that Feeds an Island.

Recipe: Curried Asparagus Soup