Monday, July 14, 2025
79 ° Cloudy
79 ° Cloudy
As the summer sun warms Bucks County, Love Grows is in full swing, welcoming customers old and new to another fruitful season of fresh, regeneratively grown produce. From June through December, farmers Brad Berry and Ailsa Coughlan, partners in life and farming, are dedicated to nurturing not just vegetables but community connections and healthy local economies.
“Now is the perfect time to come buy our produce,” Brad said with enthusiasm. “Tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, potatoes, all the summer vegetables are coming in. If you’ve heard it can be grown in a garden in this area, chances are we have it.”
Love Grows, founded in 2016 and operating at Playwicki since 2020, demonstrates the power of small-scale, ecologically sensitive farming. With nearly 35 years of combined organic growing experience, husband and wife Brad and Ailsa have created a thriving 3.25-acre operation in Feasterville. They farm without synthetic inputs, feeding the soil with compost, cover crops, and rotational grazing. “Healthy land grows healthy food and healthy people,” Brad said, echoing their core philosophy.
Their journey to farming was driven by a shared vision they developed as social science majors in college. Ailsa was in history and education, and I studied anthropology,” Brad said. “We were inspired by seeing how food shapes culture and wanting to be part of a positive cultural shift. Farming is how we live that philosophy every day.”
For the past six seasons, the couple has rented land at Playwicki Farm Foundation, selling their vegetables there every Sunday . “We had been selling produce there for a while,” Brad explained. “They offered us a spot to rent, and it’s been great. It’s become our home base.”
Love Grows offers its bounty at three key locations: the Doylestown Farmers Market on Saturdays from 8 am to 1 pm, where you will meet Brad ; the Yardley Farmers Market on Saturdays from 9 am to noon, where you will meet Ailsa ; and their own farmstand at Playwicki Farm on Sundays from 10 am to 1 pm where they both are to meet customers. “The Doylestown and Yardley Farmers Markets, along with the Playwick farmstand, are all producer only, meaning that most of the time whatever is on our stand has been grown by Ailsa and me,” Brad described.
While CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) members enjoy prepaid weekly shares, Brad emphasizes that “you don’t have to be a CSA member to shop with us. Everyone’s welcome.”
Their CSA program, which has about 60 members, embodies the farm’s community-oriented ethos. “The advantage for members is they’re getting a discounted rate by paying ahead,” Brad said. “And for us, it’s critical. We’re getting paid before the season starts, which helps us buy seeds and supplies when we’re not selling vegetables yet.” Each week, CSA members pick up five or nine items, everything from leafy greens to fresh onions and crunchy carrots.
At the markets and the farmstand, the produce is as fresh as it gets. “We’re usually harvesting on Thursday and Friday, so unless you’re growing it in your backyard, you can’t get vegetables this fresh,” Brad said. “It’s not just about flavor; it’s also about nutrition. Fresh vegetables are simply better for you.”
This freshness is part of a broader commitment to quality over quantity, a balance Brad and Ailsa guard fiercely. “We’re very conscious of trying to maintain manageable growth,” Brad explained. “We don’t want to get bigger at the expense of quality. That’s true of everything we do, whether it’s the flavor of our vegetables or the service we provide.”
Their approach is rooted in a deep respect for both the land and the local economy. “When you buy from us, you’re keeping your money in the community,” Brad said. “It’s a healthier way of life. You’re not sending your money to a big corporation or someone who doesn’t even live in this state or country. You’re supporting a local economy, and that keeps connections tighter.”
Those connections are the heart of Love Grows. “Seeing the same faces week after week and season after season; it’s so motivating,” Brad said. “It reminds us why we’re doing this. We’re feeding good food to people who live around us.”
Though it’s just the two of them doing most of the farming, with some part-time help , Brad and Ailsa have found creative ways to work within their small footprint. “We focus on things that grow well on a small scale,” Brad said. “We leave the winter squash and melons to growers with more acreage, but we’ll still have them available at the stand.”
While Love Grows doesn’t grow fruits themselves, they partner with local growers to offer a wide selection. “Ailsa used to work at a place that grows fruit, so we still source from them,” Brad said. “It’s all about supporting other local farmers.”
This adaptability is essential in an environment where farmland is increasingly scarce. “We didn’t grow up on farms, and we weren’t born into land,” Brad said. “We’re landless peasants,” he half joked, “essentially, working with the land that’s available, and right now, it’s four acres in Feasterville that we rent. We’ve accepted the realities of land access and scaling to fit that.”
Despite these challenges, Brad and Ailsa remain steadfast in their mission. “We’re motivated by wanting to be a positive force,” Brad said. “What we’re doing will be history moving forward. We’re making our daily lives part of something bigger.”
For those looking to be part of that mission, whether by signing up for a CSA share or just picking up a few fresh vegetables at the market, Brad has a simple invitation: “Come visit us. Browse, ask questions, get to know us. This is food grown by people you can meet and talk to. That’s something special.”
With the season in full swing, Love Grows offers more than just vegetables; it’s a chance to connect, support local farmers, and be part of a community that values health, sustainability, and good food. And in the words of Brad, “It’s a chance to be part of the change we want to see in the world.”
