Charbrook is located in Nipmuc territory somewhere between Menamesit and Naquag at the foothills of Mount Wachusett. It is a working family farm with heritage Milking Devon cattle, Herdwick sheep, lots of chickens, an old Maine Coon cat, and a pair of feral kids. The farmland had been abandoned in the 1920s, and old fields had grown into a birch, poplar, maple, oak, and pine woodlands with traces of colonial stone walls, a hidden spring, and wetlands. After dozens of design iterations, a house and studio were built with red oak milled from the land, along with outbuildings to support the farm. The orchard, cow pasture, and sheep meadows are all used for rotational grazing.
Charbrook abuts MA State Forest land and a Mass Audubon Sanctuary, giving the farm an opportunity to integrate agriculture with ecology, testing the idea that farming is compatible with the surrounding wilder landscape. In 2021, we opened the studio at Charbrook as a way to integrate a live-work model and landscape laboratory into our landscape architecture practice. Wildness and the rural inform our design process every day.
WILDNESS AND THE RURAL
INFORM OUR DESIGN PROCESS.
Just up the road from the farm and studio, Charbrook Nursery is located on 100 acres of the historic Stimson Dairy Farm and successional hay fields. In 2003, STIMSON began to think about this landscape in a new way: as a testing ground and a way to integrate in-the-field learning and research into our design practice.
We established the nursery for native tree and shrub production. Low-lying wetlands, wet meadows, successional fields, glacial drumlins, and dense woodland offer a rich template for siting selected species in response to the farm’s micro-ecosystems. Our projects benefit from the knowledge we gain related to hybrids and cultivars, planted form, growth rates, and habitat value.
The Nursery provides a unique opportunity for our team to be in the field seasonally. They experience the holistic process of planting whips and bare root linestock, digging trees, the art of hand-lacing rootballs, and the techniques of pruning for plant health. Charbrook Farm and Nursery have become our living laboratory for on-going agricultural and horticultural experimentation.
