Kristen Tool & Chris Wheeler

Kristen Tool & Chris Wheeler, entrepreneurial farmers and beekeepers, own Olsen Farm in Lanesborough. During a six-year effort to purchase and restore Wheeler’s family property, they repaired, cultivated, and raised animals while keeping their eye on the prize—sharing knowledge and bounty with the community, creating new generations of confident farmers, and connecting children and adults to the land their food comes from. They are on their way to accomplishing all this, having recently hosted a “Honey CSA” and free community beekeeping workshops, and piloted a 2020 Free Produce Program for local seniors, expanding it in 2021 to families and surrounding communities. During the pandemic, Kristen donated more than 750 handmade cotton face masks to local organizations and dozens of toiletry and snack pouches for unhoused members of the Berkshire community. “Kristen Tool and Chris Wheeler are generous neighbors, caring citizens and stalwart stewards of the land,” says Jenn Smith, journalist and Berkshire 25 alum.