Cider Hill Management

Gail Farmer
Grigore Chitas
Marius Micu
Ioan Chitas
Pieter Frick

Gail Farmer

Gail took over Karen’s position as store manager over 10 years ago, and has done a fabulous job. She is in complete control of all the buying for the farm store and seems to have a sixth sense for what customers are looking for. Gail also manages all in-store labor, which, believe me, is quite a challenge when we get to those hectic days in September and October when we need all hands on deck. Gail always sets the example on what a great worker looks like through her own work ethic, and has the respect of everyone who is fortunate enough to be around her.

Grigore Chitas

Grigore came to us from a small village in Romania 15 years ago as an intern and could barely speak a word of English. Through his hard work and instinctive knowledge for growing plants, Grigore has earned his position as Farm Manager. This is no small task as Cider Hill Farm is well known to be one of the most diverse farms in our state. He is serious and fun loving at the same time, and like Gail, has earned high regards from his crew. At peak season, his crew grows to about 12workers who must plant, manage, harvest and pack just about every fruit and vegetable you can imagine while sending teams out to 3 farm markets a week as well as making sure our farm store and 3 CSA’s we supply are covered.

Marius Micu

Marius also hails from Romania and is actually a cousin to Grigore. He has been with us 6 years now and splits his responsibilities between crew foremen, and farm market manager. By July, nearly all his time and energy is spent on coordinating every detail of our Saugus, Gloucester and Marblehead markets. He manages the pick list for each market based on meticulous record sheets he keeps on past sales and weather conditions. Marius is one of those people you could trust from a million miles away.

Ioan Chitas

Yes, Ioan has the same last name as Grigore, and yes, he is actually his older brother. Ioan actually interned for us with his brother Nick before Grigore ever came to us, and while now married with 2 children, comes to us every season and specializes in equipment handling and repair on top of all his regular duties. Thirteen years ago, Glenn and Karen went to his village of Turts to participate in his 4 day wedding ceremony, and brought back his younger brother, Grigore, for the following season. Ioan treats the farm as his own and is always thinking of how to do things better.

Pieter Frick

Pieter comes from South Africa, and like Ioan, interned with us a couple seasons before becoming a regular employee using an H2a visa to return seasonally. As of this past winter, Pieter fell in love and got married, and now can stay year round.  Pieter manages small fruit production, peach harvest, and farm store fruit and vegetable stocking. Pieter has trained and worked in England on farms which specialize in season extension for small fruits. We have begun to experiment with this idea with our vertigro strawberries, high tunnel tomatoes, and container grown raspberries.