The real triumph, though, came when the second generation Volante's did indeed show interest in joining the family trade.Īfter the war, Peter's daughter Margaret began to notice a shift in consumer trends. Not only did Peter's children attend college, his boys went off to prestigious schools like MIT and Boston College, while the girls split between Wellesley and Regis College. Hard work and a father's insistence paid off. They were always hopeful that the children would take over the farm as adults, but Peter was insistent that his kids attend good colleges no matter what career path they chose. It's that type of business intuition that would lead the way for future achievements by Peter and Caterina. This off season for most Yankee farmers turned into a profit-making season for the Volantes. Business did so well that Peter was able to afford sending his equipment, tractors and all, by train down to Florida during the New England frost. He and his wife, Caterina, were quickly successful too, and their family, which by now included seven children, were growing. And so he did.ĭuring these initial years, the Volante operation was mostly a "truck farm" which meant Peter would drive into Boston and sell his yield at the city's legendary markets. He put together every cent he had saved since emigrating to the States and realized he had enough to buy the Stone property for himself. Two years later, when the younger generation Stones decided they weren't interested in taking over the business, Peter was given the opportunity to start something of his own. After finding work in different fields for many years, Peter was hired as a farm hand in 1915 on the Stone Family Farm in the Oak Hill village of Newton, Massachusetts. The family business was started by Peter Volante, an immigrant from Atina, Italy, who first arrived in Boston in 1900. Volante has never stood by and waited while the tide changed - they moved with it. There have been additions of road-side stands, new crop opportunities and expansions, and these types of modernizations have occurred regularly from the farm's opening in the 1900's to the present day. Not just in our time, in this new millennium, but always. Four generations of Volante's deep, the current proprietors are three siblings (Dave, Teri, and Steve), the great-grandchildren of the farm's founder, and they are just as enthusiastic and dedicated to Volante's success as their earlier ancestors were. There's lots to be said about the shared passion and sense of tradition that family units instinctively hold onto, and this farm is proof of that. But how did this local farm outlive and outlast so much transition and stay successful for an entire century?įirst, Volante Farms has been continuously family owned and operated for all of the one hundred years its been around. _ Living Through a CenturyĬelebrating its 100th year in business, the grounds of Volante have lived through more cultural change than most of us could experience in two lifetimes. Volante Farms, in Needham, Massachusetts, is one of them. Luckily for all of us, some of the tougher crop producers fought back and survived the storm of the modern era. A once vital industry for the Commonwealth has now been reduced to a group a fraction of its original size. Those walls, originally erected to separate acreages, are now basically the fossils of the New England farmer. Also, think about any time you've been walking in the middle of the woods in New England and stumbled onto a stone wall seemingly out of place. Now, it may be tough to imagine Massachusetts as a hub for agriculture, but the bustling Market District in Boston during the 19th and 20th centuries is certain evidence of it. The majority of farmers in the region was almost decimated. Farmers in the Northeast cashed in on development dollars as the housing expansion made its way outside of the big cities and their once vast numbers dwindled. Eventually, breakthroughs in farming technology made the industry more efficient and, along with our urge to urbanize, that thriving community began to decline. Even as recent as the 1940's, the number of farmers in parts of the United States was still growing. At one point in our history, agriculture was the life-blood of the American economy.įarming, in some way or another, was how a large portion of the population earned their living, and it stayed that way for hundreds of years.
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