Dear Farm Friends,

I know that the outdoor growing season is winding down when the dinosaur kale starts to look like palm trees after being harvested from the bottom up for multiple weeks and the cooler weather has me missing warm summer days. (See photo.) At the Farm, we're beginning to tuck away supplies and equipment, clean up, and prepare for next year, including outside and inside, by writing our annual report, preparing the business plan and budget for 2023, planning programming, and fundraising through our end-of-year appeal.

We are proud of all that we accomplished this year, and we could not have done it without all of you—the many donors, supporters, volunteers, business sponsors, grantors, partners, interns, customers, neighbors, friends, students, advisors, and staff who helped this little farm flourish. We hope that you feel pride in the Farm, too. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! Please make a donation to support the Farm today so that we can continue to grow stronger and engage this community in sustainable agriculture on the historic Angino farm in 2023.

With gratitude,

Sue Bottino

Executive Director

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR 2022 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

EDUCATION, OUTREACH, & PARTNERSHIPS

• Engaged with more than 2,000 people through classes, tours, activities, volunteering, and service-learning opportunities on- and off-site and at Newton’s Earth Day, GreenExpo, and Pumpkin Smash festivals.
• Established The Bard Family Environmental Education Fund through a generous donation to launch an initiative in 2023 focused on climate change education.   
• Hosted a Fall Family Party for approximately 100 people in October. 
• Ran our educational, hands-on Summer Student Internship Program—for our tenth year—with nine high school student interns led by our intern supervisor. 
• Awarded over $3,000 in scholarships for our educational programs.
• Produced educational newsletters read by about 2,500 people each month.  
• Developed relationships with more grantors and increased our grant income to support programs and initiatives including our Produce Donation Program, greenhouse renovations, new equipment, and signage.  

SITE IMPROVEMENTS AND ENVIRONMENTALLY-SUSTAINABLE INITIATIVES

• Completed the construction of the Dr. Eugene Rubin Greenhouse, to be dedicated in spring 2023.
• Successfully applied for Community Preservation Act funds for farmhouse modification projects, including electrifying the heating system in line with the City of Newton’s energy priorities. 
• Installing barn solar panels and storage system to provide 99% of agricultural electric use. Funding via MA Department of Agricultural Resources grant and City of Newton energy funds. Expect completion by spring 2023.

SUSTAINABLY-GROWN PRODUCE DISTRIBUTION

• Grew 50,000 pounds of food on less than two acres of farmable land.
• Distributed over 28,000 seedlings of more than 90 plant varieties to more than 700 customers through our annual seedling sale, tomato plant sale, and seedling donations in spring of 2022.
• Distributed 1,760 shares of produce from June through December 2022 to 150 summer and 40 fall families. Both Summer and Late Fall CSA programs sold out. 
• Increased our produce donations to $14,000 in value over 26 weeks to the Newton Food Pantry and Freedge and the Boston Area Gleaners in response to increasing food insecurity in our community in 2022. NCF has donated produce to the community since our first growing season in 2006.
• Approved to add MA HIP (Healthy Incentives Program) to the list of benefits we accept as payment, in addition to SNAP, WIC and Elder checks.
• Sold and distributed 47 bags of nutritious produce from NCF and other local farms through our Thanksgiving Harvest Bag program.
• Sold our produce at the Newton Farmers’ Market on Saturdays since 2006.
• Ran our on-site farm stand three days a week, June through November.
• Grew over 50 varieties of crops in 2022 including turnips, beets, cutting broccoli, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, zephyr squash, scallions, white onions, red onions, fennel, herbs, garlic, carrots, spinach, arugula, snap peas, beans, chard, lettuce, radishes, mustard greens, leeks, kale, Asian pears, apples, and nasturtiums as well as offering fruit shares and produce from other local farms.

Newton Community Farm is a small farm with a big impact! We connect with thousands of community residents each year through our programs and produce distribution to help build a more sustainable future.

Please support the continued success of the Farm by making a donation today.

Our community's needs are changing, and our work is evolving. We have increased our produce donations, awarded more student scholarships for classes, offered free educational programs and informal drop-in groups, grew more seedlings for home gardeners, and created more affordable events. 

We need your help to keep the Farm strong!

Our expenses for labor, supplies, shipping, equipment, materials, fuel, and maintenance have skyrocketed this year. We depend on financial contributions from our community to steward this beautiful open space and provide fresh, local produce and opportunities for engagement, education, and community. 

Your involvement and generosity will help sustain the Farm in 2023.

We are thrilled that Newtonville Books in Newton Centre has invited us back to gift wrap customer purchases and collect tips for Newton Community Farm! This is a really fun way to help the Farm with our fundraising efforts, engage with the community, and spend a few hours of your time. We will be gift wrapping for tips for NCF at Newtonville Books on Saturday, Dec. 17, and Sunday, Dec. 18. Ask a friend to join you and sign up for a shift here.

Join us on Wednesday, January 25, on Zoom, 7–8:30 pm for our group discussion of the book Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal by Mark Bittman. "From the #1 New York Times bestselling author and pioneering journalist, an expansive look at how history has been shaped by humanity’s appetite for food, farmland, and the money behind it all—and how a better future is within reach." Click here to RSVP so we can send you the Zoom link.

Thanks to everyone who has sent in reading suggestions. We will keep a running list. If you want to recommend a book centered around food, nature, agriculture, climate change, the environment, or health and wellness topics, email us at sue@newtoncommunityfarm.org.

We are looking for a person or company that might be willing to volunteer to plow the Farm driveway if we are unable to do so due to staff schedules this winter. If you have a snowplow on your truck and wouldn't mind clearing the semicircular driveway on Nahanton Street or if you have a portable snowblower and could stop by if we get in a bind and need backup, please reach out to sue@newtoncommunityfarm.org. We would really appreciate your help!

Winter Lasagna Recipe

Ingredients:

4 tbsp olive oil

Nonstick cooking spray

8 2¹⁄₄-inch-wide lasagna noodles (1/2 pound)

1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and sliced about ¹⁄₈ inch thick

¹⁄₂ pound thinly sliced, cleaned leeks (3 cups) or thinly sliced red onion (1 medium)

³⁄₄ teaspoon salt

³⁄₄ pound green cabbage, sliced

1 tbsp minced or crushed garlic

¹⁄₂ pound mushrooms, wiped clean, stemmed as necessary, and sliced

¹⁄₂ pound red bell pepper, sliced (1 large)

Black pepper

1 pound whole-milk ricotta

1 packed cup grated or chopped mozzarella (about 6 ounces)

¹⁄₃ cup grated or shredded parmesan, plus more for topping

Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in center of oven. Spray a 9"x13" pan and a baking sheet with nonstick spray.

Fill a large pot with water; add 1 tbsp olive oil, and bring to a boil. Add noodles and stir to keep them from sticking together for two minutes. Add Brussels sprouts; boil for two more minutes and then drain the noodles and sprouts in a colander. Lift out four of the noodles and lay them flat in the pan in a single layer. Place the other four noodles flat on the baking sheet in a single layer.

Place a large skillet over medium heat for about one minute. Add one tbsp olive oil and swirl to coat the pan. Toss in leeks or onion and ¹⁄₄ tsp salt, stirring for several minutes until softened. Add the cabbage and one tsp garlic and cook, while stirring, for two more minutes. Add another ¹⁄₄ tsp salt, mushrooms, and bell peppers and cook for 8–10 more minutes. Stir in sprouts and black pepper during last minute. Remove from heat and set aside.

Combine ricotta and mozzarella in a small bowl. Place remaining two tbsp of olive oil and garlic in a small bowl, cover, and microwave for 30 seconds before stirring into this cheese mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

Spoon half of this cheese mixture onto the noodles in the pan in evenly-distributed spots. Cover the cheese with half of the vegetable mixture and half of the parmesan. Add the remaining layer of noodles with the cheese mixture, vegetable mixture and parmesan in the same order.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until heated through and lightly golden on top. Makes six servings.

Contributed by Paul Holt, copresident of the NCF Board of Directors, who said he chopped more vegetables for this dish than any other in recent memory.

Source: The Heart of the Plate by Mollie Katzen

"The Farmer" by W.D. Ehrhart

Each day I go into the fields

to see what is growing

and what remains to be done.

It is always the same thing: nothing

is growing, everything needs to be done.

Plow, harrow, disc, water, pray

till my bones ache and hands rub

blood-raw with honest labor—

all that grows is the slow

intransigent intensity of need.

I have sown my seed on soil

guaranteed by poverty to fail.

But I don’t complain—except

to passersby who ask me why

I work such barren earth.

They would not understand me

if I stooped to lift a rock

and hold it like a child, or laughed,

or told them it is their poverty

I labor to relieve. For them,

I complain. A farmer of dreams

knows how to pretend. A farmer of dreams

knows what it means to be patient.

Each day I go into the fields.

Contributed by Dede Vittori, copresident of the NCF Board of Directors

Source: Beautiful Wreckage by W.D. Ehrhart