The North Amherst Community Farm Board of Directors is pleased to be able to support the Common Good Project, which is a local effort to promote a Common Good Economy—a democratic, community-centered financial system the puts people and planet first, so that everyone has enough to eat, a home, healthcare, satisfying work, and a livable world.

The Common Good payment card which may be used at Simple Gifts farmstand generates funds for our community’s projects every time you use it.  Members decide together what to fund. It’s easy to use, easy to accept as payment. And there are no fees for either the buyer or the businesses.

Here’s how it works:

1. Open an account online at CommonGood.earth
2. Put some money in it.
3. Use your card for purchases at Simple Gifts and a growing number of participating businesses.

Simple….

Like a bank, our community can invest money held in the accounts.  Unlike a bank however, the members decide together how the money is used for community projects and the common good.

The idea is to shift power from big business and big government back to communities, where we know and care more.

Jeremy Barker Plotkin describes Simple Gifts as a community farm. “The primary function is to produce food,” he assures, but says that “where we are and how we do things brings people together.” Located on 38 acres owned by the North Amherst Community Farm land trust, Simple Gifts serves as a “community hub,” hosting various events – a monthly “front porch jam,” a late season harvest festival, and regular farm tours, among others – with the goal of connecting people to one another and to their food. Simple Gifts also supports the local farming community by maintaining an active apprenticeship program, which Jeremy says will “train the next generation of farmers.”

To further this goal of creating a strong local community, Simple Gifts joined Common Good at the end of 2018 and is proud to accept Common Good in their farm store. “What makes Common Good different,” Jeremy says, is that “you can cash out whenever you want. And the other thing is that you’re creating a pot of money that can be lent out for community projects.”

You can find Simple Gifts’ produce, plus products from neighboring farms, in the Simple Gifts Farm Store, open weekdays from 10-7 and weekends from 8-7. Find out more about the farm, events, or the Simple Gifts CSA by visiting their website or by email at simplegifts@gmail.com.