Labels We Love: Old Friends Farm

Gina Lisella • Apr 20, 2021

We love working with small local businesses who make specialty products; when their labels are just as special as the products themselves, it’s the icing on the cake for us! Old Friends Farm is one of many incredible businesses in Western Massachusetts we’re proud to call our partner. We’ve been working with them since 2016 and it’s been a huge pleasure to watch them grow and produce amazing food for our community and beyond.

Old Friends Farm products

Located in Amherst, Massachusetts, Old Friends Farm grows 28 acres of certified organic salads, vegetables, and flowers for retail and wholesale. They are proud to be farmers and passionate about supplying healthy, vibrant produce, and their commitment to agriculture and the community shows when you taste any of their products. They are widely known for pioneering Northeast-grown ginger and turmeric, and for the specialty products like syrups and honeys they make with these powerful roots. They are committed to a healthy workplace, environment, and community, and their products are infused with that attention.


In 2018, Old Friends Farm worked together with Michael Crigler to upgrade their variety of syrup and honey labels. The new labels were inspired by the company’s overall excitement for the products and the rich story behind them. When Old Friends Farm started growing ginger back in the early 2000s, no one in the Northeast and very few in the continental U.S were growing this ingredient. As the company pioneered growing ginger here in Massachusetts, more farms across the country tried growing the root themselves, creating a ripple effect of ginger growing. They started a ginger revolution and want their labels to be reflective of that!


After winning the 2018 Good Food Award for their ginger syrup, the business was motivated to upgrade their labels using a crisp, classy, and personal approach. Old Friends Farm is an organic farm and maintaining that identity while moving toward a more international look was essential. Because the products are difficult and expensive to make, the farm wanted to make sure they put quality and integrity first by matching the caliber of the packaging to that of the products themselves.

Old Friends Farm Ginger Honey

Their labels are crafted on a silver base material with a matte coating. This construction allows for an understated and sophisticated shine. The background color for each label is black to continue the upscale look, and each of the honey labels has a subtle but gorgeous honeycomb pattern. Each different flavor has its own color for the product name and a few design features like a tiny bee on each of the honey labels.


One of our favorite label features for these labels is the series of informative graphics printed in silver on the backs. These clever icons give suggestions for use instantly without crowding the label with extra text. They also give the brand some space to tell a bit of their story, helping to create a deeper connection with customers.

Old Friends Farm has done an excellent job at communicating the core values of their business and the identity of the farm through their labels. Dion Label Printing is proud to work with them and we’re excited to see what they will produce next. If you make outstanding local products and need a local label printer to help bring them the attention they deserve, get started with a free quote here!

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