ABOUT US
Our Story
Hilltown Homestead Services is owned and operated by Alex Feinstein and Tina McCarthy of Worthington, MA. Alex is a hill town native who spent his childhood exploring the outdoors and developing his relationship with the natural world. After studying Sustainable Design at Hampshire college he worked at several area farms before starting his own. Fifteen years of farm and greenhouse experience has given Alex a deep knowledge of local food systems, including all aspects of greenhouse construction, propagation, disease, and pest management, sales and distribution. For Alex, his work as a carpenter is inseparable from the ethics that guide sustainable food production. As a professional builder and landscaper, Alex always seeks to work with natural materials, using non-toxic building systems that keep soils clean, plants and people healthy.
Tina moved to Western Massachusetts in 2001 to pursue a degree in Sustainable Architecture and Native American Studies at Hampshire College and earned a Masters of Design Studies in Historic Preservation from Boston Architectural College in 2018. Tina's work focuses on the connections between culture, history, and ecology, connecting the concerns for environment and heritage through the practice of restoration, salvage, and reuse.
Tina's recent article exploring these topics, "Deconstructing Heritage: enabling a dynamic materials practice" may be found here: https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-06-2019-0084
LICENSED AND
INSURED
Hilltown Homestead Services operates under a Home Improvement Contractor's License, Construction Supervisors License, and a Lead Renovator Certification (RRP). We are fully insured, covered by general liability and worker's comp.
In the News!
See Alex's work featured in the June 2020 edition of
Fine Homebuilding!
Alex completed finish carpentry for Seaver and Son's Custom Builders' restoration and addition to a 1785 Federal-style farmhouse in Cummington, MA. Designed by architect Nicole Migeon, the project received Fine Homebuilding's 2020 "Best Remodel" Award.
HHS Mission
Our work at Hilltown Homestead Services begins with building the skills and ethics of homesteading in our community. Central to this is a concern for ecological, economic, and cultural sustainability in the Hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. As a result, we choose local, natural products whenever possible, for both building and growing. We bring a holistic approach to landscape and building design that honors the natural environment of your property.