Dylan Leary in one of the several greenhouses on Pelham Farms. If there have been two constants in Dylan’s life they would be food and service. As a seven-year-old, he was cooking pancake dinners for up to 40 people at annual family reunions. His parents still have the pint-size chef’s coat and hat his godparents gave him to wear for those occasions. In high school he traveled to Costa Rica, Peru, and Uganda on service trips. Upon graduation, he enrolled at Northeastern on a scholarship. “I was really into food, but because of societal pressure I thought I should go to a traditional college,” he said. In the chemical engineering honors program he attempted to merge engineering with biology as a food science. “After a year my chemistry professor said to me, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t tell you this, but you’re in the wrong place.’” It was his father who brought Dylan’s attention to the Culinary Institute of America.

Mathis originally came to help out for a month, and stayed. “Dylan has the momentum going, and I want to do the same thing in Florida,” Mathis said. You’d be hard-pressed to know who was the owner and who was the farmhand. “We don’t have positions or titles,” said Dylan. “Right now we both do the work, and he’ll be operations manager when we bring on people.” Mathis sees a system of hundreds of collaborative small farms with people making a good living and a strong food system. You have to remember that the first airplane flew 120 feet for 12 seconds. A 10-acre farm in West Dennis isn’t the end; it’s the beginning. As of this writing, Mathis has returned to Florida where he hopes to start his own regenerative farm.

Father and son, ennis and Dylan Leary, have mutual respect for one another. About his son the elder Leary said, “He’s always been a very bright, inquisitive person who would take on whatever he was doing with intent and purpose.” Not considered the black sheep in the family; rather he’s viewed as the one who “…always did his own thing.” There’s sustainability in the environmental sense, and there’s financial sustainability. “The first year with Dylan was tough,” said Dennis. “We went in with unrealistic expectations of what he could produce and what the Pelham needs were. “It’s been an interesting conversation about the mission of the resort and the mission of the farm, and how do we pull those two together. Dylan really struggled. We had conversations about understanding a gradual movement toward the ultimate goal: Having a completely organic and regenerative sourcing of the Pelham Resort menu. You don't get there overnight. Growth comes in increments. If your goal is to produce a sustainable farm, it’s a contradiction to say you’re going to run a sustainable farm that’s not financially sustainable. Other people wouldn’t be able to replicate it.”

During the Covid-19 lockdown the Learys talked in Florida. Dylan would regale his family about his ideas and views on the importance of organic, regenerative food, and his low opinion of the corporate-driven food chain in America “We’ve always talked about having a family business, something philanthropic, something good for the environment,” said Dennis. “We talked about long-term goals and what we wanted to accomplish as a family, and this farm seemed like a great place to start,” said Dennis. The family shared their idea with Frank Hursey, Dylan’s grandfather on his mother’s side who invented QuickClot, a wound dressing that stops bleeding. Hursey and Dennis are the sole financial backers of the farm. When Hursey heard their idea, much to their surprise he said he’s always wanted to own a farm. He told Dylan while growing up in South Carolina he had some meaningful experiences in farming that changed the way he looked at food.

With a green light, Dylan and Mathis knew exactly what to do next. They had had their sights on the decrepit greenhouses at the former Garden Center at 621 Main Street in West Dennis. It was there they saw a sign for land for sale. They called the listing phone number and viewed the proposed land that very day. The land abutted the Garden Center and was exactly what they were looking for: seven-and-a-half acres on a former horse farm, complete with barn, greenhouse, outbuildings, pasture, a spring, wetlands, and a house that the Learys turned into a home for Dylan and an Airbnb, all for the bargain price of $690,000. Later the Learys purchased the two-and-a-half acres comprising the Garden Center situated in the business district for an additional $625,000. The condition of the Garden Center at the time of purchase was urgently in need of repair. Today the Garden Center houses a small roadside stand.

The farm and adjoining garden center was purchased in July, 2020. Since then, Dylan and Nick have been laying track in front of an oncoming locomotive, upgrading the farm’s infrastructure while attempting to meet the needs of the resort with an eye toward organic and regenerative best practices learned at CIA.

One of the greenhouses on Main Street was made operational almost overnight and planted with hundreds of tomato plants.

Hugelkultur, a method where large sections of trees are buried under a berm of compost, is being utilized among the gardens. Dylan planted bee and butterfly gardens along the tops, with vegetables like squash planted along it slopes.

The farm collects kitchen waste for composting from Pelham House Resort, Rory’s Market, and Family Table Collaborative, and Dylan plans add more businesses. He’s envisioning opening waste drop-off for the entire local community. He’s held the first of what he hopes will be many community days, where a handful of volunteers spent a morning spreading mulch and wood chips before being treated to a gourmet lunch courtesy of Chef Mathis. In a few years, the hope is the Main Street property will again be a retail outlet and gathering place sponsored by the farm. “It all goes back to the soil,” explains Mathis. “We’re taking out of the soil, so the idea is to put back in the way nature would rebuild it without human interaction. Everyone talks about sustainability, but we want to increase the rate we put back in, hence the term, regenerative.”

Dylan Leary considers which seeds to plant when in the spring.

Seeds in the hand of farmer, Nick Mathis. Much of the work on Pelham Farms is done meticulously by hand.

Dylan Leary spreads a mixture of compost, soil, and peat moss over newly planted seeds.

Plants that germinated from seeds planted in the early spring. An assortment of vegetables including various types of tomato, basil, and pepper plants was started in January was moved outside into the ground in the spring.

Dylan Leary brings two turkeys to slaughter for Christmas diners during Pelham Farms' first year. The turkeys were raised humanely and slaughtered humanely and quickly.

Turkey butchering for Christmas during Pelham Farms' first year.

Turkey butchering for Christmas during Pelham Farms' first year. The turkeys were raised and slaughtered humanely.

A butchered turkey that had been raised on Pelham Farms. Animals play a key role on Pelham Farms, not only providing meat, but eggs and manure. Even the pigs are utilized to till the soil in fields.

The farm’s greenhouse was modernized with heat, a double layer of polypropylene plastic, and automated fans to control the internal temperature.

Much of the work on Pelham Farms is done meticulously by hand to reduce the impact on the soil.

Nick Mathis and Dylan Leary work side by side to prepare a garden and plant seedlings raised over the winter in the adjoining green house.

Dylan Leary retrieves an assortment of vegetables including various types of tomato, basil, and pepper plants that were started in January and now are being moved outside into one of the farms many gardens.

Transplanting seedlings into the ground in spring.

Transplanting seedlings into the ground in spring.

Dylan Leary plants by hand vegetable plants grown from seeds planted during the winter and grown in one of green houses on Pelham Farm.

The farm’s organically fed, diverse flock of fifty-some chickens had to be doubled to meet egg demand of the resort, preserve an ever-decreasing gene pool, and increase manure production for compost.

The pasture, rich from years of grazing horses, was first cleared and tilled by the farm’s resident pigs.

One of the farm's resident Kunekune pigs.

Father and son survey the property as Dylan explains his plans to his father. Dennis’s view is a tiered approach where the customers at the resort who are willing to pay top dollar for top quality food will ultimately sustain the farm, then eventually opening the farm’s produce to the community. “I know the last thing Dylan wants to do is create beautiful food for rich people,” he said. Dennis’s Christian faith is very important to him. “There are biblical principles that tell you if you’re farming you should have a few extra rows for the widows and orphans, and I believe we can get there.” he said. “I’ve always wanted to make things better for people,” Dylan said. Then, almost in embarrassment he says, “That sounds corny, doesn’t it?” Dylan is very much in the mold of the people who believed in service to the country and joined the Peace Corps and VISTA during the Kennedy era. Raised in a family with means, he’s not squandering what he’s been given. There’s another biblical quote in Luke that says, “To whom much is given, much will be required,” and Dylan seems to personify that sentiment.

Come summer, the farm is operational, including a food truck and small farmer's market. “People are suffering because of bad systems,” Dylan said. He cites how the pandemic exposed cracks in society, for example, how the consolidation to a few meat-packing plants caused a meat shortage. “We have big problems but I think they’re solvable through nature. It’s all very hopeful and idealistic but it’s what we’re heading towards,” he said.