The Newton Farmer
May 2020
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Peas and carrots, beets and chard, lettuce, radish, scallions, spinach.... So many crops going into the ground, and not one, but two greenhouses full of seedlings for our annual Seedling Sale.
It's been an interesting time to farm mainly because, except for the lack of volunteers, it has been pretty much like farming any other year. Growing food is an essential business, so we’ve moved a little farther apart in the greenhouse and continue to plant seeds, plow the field, and do all the other tasks to make sure that in about a month we’ll have food coming out of the field.
This is really what makes farming at the moment feel weird—while everyone I know, including my own family, is out of work or working from home, and they seem to have endless time for texting funny pictures back and forth and taking up new projects and hobbies, my days just aren’t that different. Not a complaint. I feel lucky. But it’s also weird to have so much feel so normal when things are anything but.
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I received a special book for my birthday this year.
The Lost Words
by Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris seeks to bring nature back into our lives. The book comes in response to the latest edition of the
Oxford Junior Dictionary
in which a number of nature-related words—acorn, dandelion, fern, newt, otter, and more—disappeared, replaced by words from the digital age like "bullet-point" and "broadband." While certainly the latter are important for children to know, words have power, and when they disappear from our lexicon, the things themselves fade away. Perhaps not literally, but they recede from our ordinary, everyday consciousness.
It was a fitting gift as we observe the 50
th
celebration of Earth Day. On the many walks I’ve taken recently I’ve seen more people, especially more families, out for walks in the woods than ever before. Will a habit be formed? Will people continue to spend time with their families, time out walking, biking, running, when this is all over? I hope so. For just as words have power, our everyday actions have power. And perhaps having time to walk now will remind us in a few months how much we miss it and how much good it does for us and our world.
Greg Maslowe
Farm Manager
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Thank You for Supporting the Seedling Sale
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Thank you to all of the home gardeners who bought plants at our annual Seedling Sale. This was the first year that the sale was online and this community is definitely interested in gardening! We were thrilled to hear from so many longtime garden enthusiasts, and we welcome all of you who are new to the Farm as well. We appreciate your patience as we navigate this new way of doing business.
If you placed an order, don't forget to sign up for a designated curbside pickup slot through the link in your confirmation email. Your order will only be ready for pickup at your assigned time. If you have any questions, contact
[email protected].
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Special thanks
BayState I
T
, our Seedling Sale sponsor for the second year in a row!
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Following advisories from the State of Massachusetts,
we have canceled onsite education programs through June 28, and the Farm remains closed to the public. As always, if we cancel an education program, registrants will be offered a full refund. Thank you for your understanding and support.
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Resources Available for You
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Sign Up
Healthy Cooking in 20 Minutes or Less
, Thursday, May 7, 12–1:30 p.m. Offered as part of our new nutrition workshops, this program provides shortcuts to food prep and instruction on how to cook healthy, nutrient-dense recipes. $25 per household.
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Watch
- Mondays, Healthy Cooking with Jay
- Wednesdays, Gardening with Hope
- Fridays, Story Time with Sue
Shows are live at 1 p.m. or you can watch the recorded programs anytime. Subscribe to the channel and you can "chat" with us live online.
Share
Read and contribute to the
Community
tab o
n our website. You'll find our YouTube shows and content submitted by all of you. Send your recipes, garden photos and videos, nature drawings, and related ideas to
[email protected].
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Eugene S. Rubin, one of the "founding fathers" of Newton Community Farm, passed away on April 8 at the age of 94. Gene and his family have been wonderful friends to Newton Community Farm for many years. Gene took the lead in promoting a farm for the use of the land when it went up for sale. He was very active in the advocacy group that formed around this mission, and he was instrumental in discussions with city officials and running a public campaign.
Once NCF was formed, Gene served on the Board and helped guide the Board to make practical decisions. He believed that a farm was the best neighbor for Ledgebrook, and he worked with the condominium association to provide financial support to the Farm. “You could always count on Gene to show up, to be active and to advocate for what he thought was right,” said Peter Barrer, a longtime Farm supporter and former Board president who served with Gene. We will miss Gene tremendously. We are so grateful to him, and our thoughts are with his family. You can read the full
obituary
here.
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Apiarist Sean Sanker reports that the bees at the Farm are thriving this spring. Sean recently doubled the number of hives at the Farm when he added two more in April. Honeybees help pollinate the plants at the Farm by transporting pollen on their bodies as they collect nectar. According to the U.S.D.A., one out of every three bites of food in the U.S. depends on pollinators.
We appreciate the help of these busy workers!
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With your donations to our "Spring for the Chickens" campaign last fall we were able to upgrade the chicken run area so that the new flock of hens could be as safe as possible when they moved to the coop. Well, more than two dozen chicks moved into their new digs at the end of April. In addition to upgrading the fence and improving the landscaping, an additional mulberry tree and some farm machinery artifacts have been added to the chicken run to give the chickens shade and cover from hawks.
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NEWTON COMMUNITY FARM
303 Nahanton Street
Newton, MA 02459
617-916-9655
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