The Newton Farmer
June 2020
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We all know that farming is an uncertain business. Will there be a cold spring? Enough rain? An early or late frost? Add to this the uncertainties surrounding a pandemic and it's enough to keep a person up at night.
But I'm so happy to report that, thanks to your support and a hardworking team including staff, Board, and volunteers, Newton Community Farm continues to help us all eat healthy and local. The first ever NCF online, socially-distant Seedling Sale (and mini sale) was a great success despite all the challenges. We learned how to set up an online store in record time. The seedlings survived two frost advisories and a tornado alert after they were sold but before they were picked up by customers. And there was scorching sun on packing days. The whole village showed up to get this event off the ground, and we are so grateful to all of our patient and supportive customers. Together, we are growing over 500 gardens in Newton, the Garden City!
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W
e are buoyed by the outpouring of support from all of you at the start of this growing season, and it will help carry us through the challenges to come. Read on to find out our plans for the Summer CSA, farm stand (check out our new Healthy Harvest Bags), and farmers' market. While the logistics may change, we remain committed to providing fresh, healthy local produce for you, our community.
With gratitude,
Sue Bottino
Executive Director
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Thank You for Supporting the Seedling Sales
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Thank you to all of the home gardeners who bought over 24,000 seedlings at our annual Seedling Sale and at our follow-up Mini Seedling Sale. It was a huge undertaking to grow, list online, and arrange for sale and pickup in a short period of time. All of our staff worked incredibly hard in new ways to make this possible, and we are extremely grateful for the hard work of our team of Greg, Bee, Jay, and Hope.
In addition, we could not have done this without an amazing group of over 40 volunteers who wrote over 6,000 plant labels and worked tirelessly over six days to pack and transport orders and facilitate curbside pickup. Our amazing team included Dede, Jeff, the Cogen-Kopf family, Jon, Paul H., Zach, Angela, Gabrielle, Craig, Betsy, Henry, Paul G., Linda, Robin, Barbara, Joanna, Victoria, Alice, Dean, Shal, Mary, Ginny, Anna, Sayuri, Thomas, Karen, Scott, Nyssa, David, Claire, Mindy, Val, Stan, Christine, and the Goodfriend family. And of course, THANK YOU for buying the seedlings. Happy gardening!
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We also donated a portion of our seedlings for the urban gardens at Haley House, an organization that helps "those made vulnerable by the harshest effects of inequality move toward wholeness and economic independence" and to the Sustainable Agriculture Program at Newton South High School.
Special thanks to
BayState IT
, our Seedling Sale sponsor for the second year in a row!
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Produce Distribution Update
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Healthy Harvest Bags
Exciting news! We are selling Healthy Harvest Bags by preorder on our website. Instead of purchasing from the farm stand, which will be closed, you can order a bag of seasonal produce from our online store and arrange for pickup at the Farm on Friday afternoon. Each week we will list what will be in the bag and the price. Please check our
website
for more information and to order.
Newton Farmers' Market
The Newton Farmers' Market is moving to Newton South High School this summer. We will be at the market on Saturdays, 9:00 a.m.—1:00 p.m. Opening day is June 20. For more information on how the market will work, check out the
city's website
.
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CSA Sharers
If you are a CSA sharer, you should have received an e-mail from Farmer Greg about our new pickup protocols for the summer. You must sign up for an available day of the week and time slot for the summer so your share will be packed and ready for you at the tent outside the CSA bay. If you have questions, please reach out to Greg at
newtoncommunityfarm@gmail.com
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Gardening Resources Available for You
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Watch
Check
out our
YouTube Live channel
on
Wednesdays for "Gardening with Hope." Shows are live at 1:00 p.m., or you can watch the recorded programs anytime. Subscribe to the channel and you can "chat" with us live online. We have recently added captioning to our shows. Click on "cc" on the show for subtitles. You can also find our shows on NewTV by searching their online schedule.
Sign Up for Our Weekly Gardening Tips
We recently began to distribute a brief weekly newsletter focused on gardening tips and information you can use. Topics so far have included how to plant successful seedlings, soil, sunlight, and root vegetables. To sign up for our e-mail list, contact
jay@newtoncommunityfarm.org
.
And we would love to see your gardens. Please send us photos, videos, and garden selfies to share on our website.
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NCF will again be a pickup location for the Natick Community Organic Farm (NCOF) Flower Share program for 15 weeks from mid to late June through the end of September. Visit
NCOF
for more details and to sign up for a share of beautiful seasonal cut flowers.
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Summer Camp Cancelled This Year
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In light of Governor Baker’s recent announcement regarding the Covid-19 re-opening process, we have made the difficult decision to cancel all previously scheduled spring and summer education programs including our Kids at the Farm Camp. We have determined that this is the right decision for our program and for the well-being and safety of our staff and the community. Registrants should have received an e-mail regarding their refund. If you have any questions, please e-mail
sue@newtoncommunityfarm.org
.
As the summer proceeds, we will determine whether we are able to offer any alternative programs, either virtually or in person. Thank you for your understanding and support.
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According to the USDA, 30% to 40% of food in the United States is wasted every year. That’s around 133 billion pounds of food that may have been grown, harvested, processed, shipped, hauled, packaged, labeled, distributed, priced, stocked, purchased, or prepared but never eaten. This has serious environmental, social, and economic impacts including methane emissions, food insecurity, and the misappropriation of a tremendous amount of water.
What can you do to reduce food waste?
U
se more of your groceries by researching recipes, planning meals, and making grocery lists as part of every purchase. Also composting food scraps will prevent them from going to landfills, where food waste makes up 20% of the content, and you can use your compost to improve your soil health, too.
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NEWTON COMMUNITY FARM
303 Nahanton Street
Newton, MA 02459
617-916-9655
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