Milk Moon Farm

Milk Moon Farm is a market garden operation that grows vegetables, cut flowers and culinary herbs for direct sale to households and market shoppers across southeastern Pennsylvania. The farm is owned and run by Rachael Cumbaa and Chris Ninnis, who handle the growing, harvesting and market work themselves. In West Reading, the farm's presence is centered on the West Reading Farmers Market at Penn Avenue and South 6th Avenue, where the stand carries seasonal produce alongside mixed bouquets cut from the farm's flower beds.

The term "market garden" describes the scale and the method: intensive plantings of many different crops on a relatively small footprint, harvested at maturity and moved quickly to the people who will eat them. Rather than concentrating on one or two commodity crops, Milk Moon Farm plants dozens of cultivars across the season so that the offerings at market and in the weekly share change from week to week as the weather turns.

History and Background

Cumbaa and Ninnis met while working on diversified organic farms in the region, gaining experience across the range of tasks that a mixed vegetable operation requires, from seeding and transplanting to harvest, washing, packing and market sales. In 2023 they launched their own enterprise on leased acreage at North Star Orchard in Cochranville, Pennsylvania, beginning with a modest planting plan and a direct-to-customer sales model.

In 2026 the farm is relocating its growing operation to Charlestown Farm in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, at 2565 Charlestown Road. The move brings the fields closer to several of the farm's customer bases and introduces an on-farm pick-up option for subscription members, something that was not available at the previous site.

Growing Practices

Milk Moon Farm's approach centers on soil health. The farmers use cover crops and compost to build and maintain fertility rather than drawing down the organic matter already present in the ground. Cover cropping, in practice, means planting species such as grasses, grains and legumes during periods when a bed is not in cash-crop production, then incorporating that growth back into the soil to add organic matter, feed soil microbial life, suppress weeds and reduce erosion. Compost application supplies a slow release of nutrients and improves the soil's ability to hold both water and air.

The stated goal behind these practices is produce and flowers that are nutrient-dense and mineral-rich. Healthy, biologically active soil supports a plant's ability to take up the minerals it needs, and the farmers connect that soil work directly to the flavor and quality of what ends up in a box or a bouquet. This is a slower approach than relying on purchased soluble fertilizers, and it requires planning crop rotations years rather than months in advance.

CSA Program

The farm's primary sales channel is a Community Supported Agriculture program, in which members pay in advance for a season of produce and pick up a box each week or every other week. The full season runs 24 weeks, from late May through early November, and each box contains five to seven items selected from whatever is at its peak that week.

Members choose a pick-up location at checkout. Two locations are offered:

• On-farm pick-up at Charlestown Farm, 2565 Charlestown Road, Phoenixville, PA 19460, new for the 2026 season, with a pick-up window on Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• La Baguette Magique, 202 W Market Street, West Chester, PA 19382, on Thursdays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

For those who would rather not pay online, the farm accepts checks and can arrange a payment plan for a share. Prospective members can email the farm to set either option up.

Farmers Markets

Milk Moon Farm sells at two weekly markets during the growing season:

• West Reading Farmers Market, Penn Avenue at South 6th Avenue in West Reading, Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Winter market dates and hours, which run from December through April, are posted on the market's own website.
• Farmer's Market at Christ Church, at Church Street and 2nd Street in Old City, Philadelphia, Wednesdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., May through November.

Both market stands carry vegetables and herbs, and seasonal mixed flower bouquets are sold at market locations when the blooms are in. Because the farm harvests for market and for CSA boxes from the same fields, what appears on the table reflects the same weekly rhythm as the shares.

What Is Grown

The crop list shifts across three broad phases of the Pennsylvania season:

• Spring: salad greens, lettuces, chicories, peas, spring onions, green garlic, radishes and fresh herbs.
• Summer: summer squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, eggplant, sweet peppers, chiles, beans, tomatillos, potatoes, fennel and melons.
• Fall: braising greens, mustards, brassicas, root vegetables, leeks, celeriac, sweet potatoes and winter squash.

Cut flowers are grown alongside the vegetables and sold as mixed seasonal bouquets, which means the composition changes as different species come into bloom over the course of the summer and early fall.

Practical Information

Shoppers in West Reading and greater Berks County can find the farm at the Sunday market without a subscription, buying produce and bouquets by the item or bunch. Households in Chester County and the Phoenixville area are closer to the CSA pick-up points and the farm itself. Philadelphia residents, particularly those near Old City, have the Wednesday afternoon market stand as their most convenient access point.

CSA memberships are sold in advance of the season and are the best way to receive produce consistently from late May into November. Because the operation is small and run by two people, the market stand serves as the main point of contact and the most current source of information on what is being harvested.