Hillfort Farm

At 88 South Cotterell Drive in Boise, Hillfort Farm keeps a farm stand open Wednesday through Sunday on a city lot. The Idaho State Department of Agriculture’s Idaho Preferred program lists the place under farm stands and agritourism, and the farm offers curbside pickup. The stand also carries goods from other Boise makers. Chicana Foods names Hillfort among the shops that stock its salsa macha. That company was founded by photographer Allison Corona with her sisters Claudia and Giovanna and their mother, Gloria. Its salsa macha is a blend of seeds, nuts, chiles, olive oil, and dried fruit, made from a recipe developed by an aunt in Mexico.

The farm describes itself as LGBTQ-owned and operated. Its Instagram profile reads “Small farms make a BIG difference” and adds “#queerowned & operated.” The owner is Nick Crabbs, a partner and founding member of Health Tech Idaho. A May 2024 post on the Trailhead blog described his move “from the corporate realm to the entrepreneurial landscape” and took stock of the animals: “Chickens, goats, the whole lot!” Among Crabbs’s writing on LinkedIn is an article titled “We bought an urban farm. This techies insanity.”

The farm hosts events as well as the stand, and its Instagram links to tickets for a fourth annual Harvest Gathering. Boise Weekly listed a Mother’s Day brunch at the farm on Sunday, May 12, 2024, from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Guests ate a farm-to-table meal while Thomas Paul and Micah Deffries played hits from the past century on guitar, and they could visit the goats, chickens, ducks, and honey bees. Guests who reserved ahead got a goodie bag, and handcrafted gift baskets for mothers were for sale. Two months later, BoiseDev announced a Farm-to-Fork Summer Banquet for Saturday, July 27, 2024. Hillfort was cooking with Chef Pedro Martinez of Snake River Creamery and Idaho Provisions, and the $99 ticket covered dinner, dessert, and live music. After one such evening, Crabbs posted: “This last weekend I did my first farm to fork dinner at my lil farm Hillfort Farm of the season! One down, two to go!”