Dear Farm Friends,

Things are starting to get exciting here at the Farm as we are busy making preparations for the upcoming growing season. We are hard at work making sure that we maximize production on our small plot of land. We are very fortunate that Greg Maslowe, our farm manager, is especially gifted at planning each season to make sure we can deliver the maximum amount of produce while preserving the health of the land. You can read more, below, about Farmer Greg's role in the winter. And make sure you take advantage of our Summer CSA program. Registration is now open to the general public, but with only 80 shares available, they won't last long!

With spring just around the corner, we have some amazing events planned. Make sure you save the dates for our upcoming educational event all about owls, and don't forget about our annual Seedling Sale happening right here on the Farm on May 18-19!

We can't wait to see you all this year at the Farm!

Allyson MacKenna

NCF Director

Open Enrollment for 2024 Summer CSA Program 

Registration is now open to everyone for our Summer CSA program! We have only 80 shares available, so get yours quickly before they sell out! Traditionally, our CSA sharers receive significantly more value for their money than buying from the grocery store. You can buy a weekly share, split a share with a friend, or sign up for an alternate-week share. Click here for full details on this program. Remaining spots will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Here are some fun facts about the Summer CSA program:

• CSA members generally get a lot of value, typically about 15–20% off retail prices, from buying the veggies in bulk and sharing the risk with us.
• Last year CSA members received more than 35 pounds of tomatoes and 12 pounds of cucumbers over the course of the season.
• CSA members have access each week to a rotating variety of fresh pick-your-own herbs.

What's in a share? Each distribution will include delicious, fresh produce!

• In the spring and early summer, our shares include fresh greens like arugula and spinach, carrots, lettuce, Hakurei salad turnips, PYO sugar snap peas, and scallions.
• A typical early summer share might include: 1 bunch of beets, 1 bunch of broccolini, 1 bunch of cilantro or dill, a bag of bok choy, a head of lettuce, a quart of PYO peas, and a bag of spinach. 
• As the summer picks up, by mid-July shares start to include summer favorites like cucumbers, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and basil. August brings lots of tomatoes, corn, peppers, and eggplant.
• In the fall we have potatoes, winter squash, and plenty of cooking greens, and last year we had tomatoes through the end of September!

Hurry, only a few spots remaining!

NCF is partnering with Duck Hollow Farm to bring you fresh, local flowers all summer! Sign up for 15 weeks of floral bouquets, organically grown in Sherborn, MA.

Pick up weekly at NCF on Wednesday or Thursday, 2–7 pm from June 19/20–September 25/26.

Price is $300.

Click here to sign up.

Please email laurel@al-freshco.com with any questions.

Apply now to join the field crew!

NCF is currently accepting applications for summer high school field crew interns. This program offers the experience of working on an intensive market garden (the traditional term for small vegetable farms) for students entering 9th–12th grade in the fall of 2024. These unpaid internships last for four weeks and are three mornings a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday), 8 am to noon. Applicants can indicate if they are available for session 1 (July 9 –August 1) or session 2 (August 6–August 29). Check out our website for more details and to apply online.

Join us for these fun upcoming events.

More details to follow soon!

Sunday, April 21

Come visit us at Newton Earth Day Festival!

Sunday, April 28

3:30 pm

Come learn all about owls here at the Farm!

Saturday, May 18, and Sunday, May 19

12pm to 3pm

Annual Seedling Sale!

I frequently get asked, “So what do you (a farmer) do in the winter?” Often my quick answer is: ski! I love skiing and love having the flexibility to ski mid-week and avoid the crowds. And I do think this is actually a very serious and important aspect to answering the question of what, as a farmer, I do in the winter. Farming is intense, physical work with long hours and few days off for a good part of the year, so having time in the winter to do things that recharge me is important for my mental, as well as physical, health.

But just like I know when I get the question “Is the farm organic?” that there are assumptions that need to be uncovered, so too do I suspect this is the case with this question. For example, when does the asker think my season is over? When there are no more tomatoes? When the weather gets cool? When school starts back up? And when does it start? For Newton Community Farm, our final day of sales (and harvests) is typically in the second week of December. After that we have another week or so of cleaning up, putting everything away, and shutting things down for the winter. The following spring our season begins around the first week of March when we fire up the greenhouse and start the first seeds of the season. 

The intervening two and a half months are not, however, reserved solely for skiing (alas!). We have seeds to inventory so we know what we need to order. A crop plan to update with new varieties to try, changes in timing or changes in amounts based on notes from the previous season. Equipment to repair. Supplies to order. And, of course, the next year’s CSA to enroll and our annual Seedling Sale to plan. We also have fruit trees, blueberry bushes, and blackberry to prune. Less work, for sure, than in the middle of July. But work continues nonetheless.

As a member of the planning committee for Eastern Massachusetts CRAFT (CRAFT stands for the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training and is a grass-roots organization dedicated to training aspiring farmers) I’m involved in planning the biweekly educational programs we host throughout the growing season. We also organize winter meetings oriented toward established farmers to engage in more in-depth discussions (e.g., climate resiliency, soil science, marketing strategy). It’s a way I can give back to a community that nurtured me when I was a beginning farmer. And a way to re-connect with friends who I often don’t see during the crazy months of summer. 

Winter is also a time to read and attend conferences. One of the things that originally appealed to me about farming, and that continues to engage me, is that there is so much to learn. Soil science, entomology, meteorology, hydrology, plant pathology: the list of topics you can take a seriously deep dive into just goes on and on, and winter is when there’s a bit of mental space to keep on learning. It’s also a time to give back through presenting at conferences and on panels, sharing my experiences with others who are engaged in food production. This winter will find me presenting at the Massachusetts Commercial Urban Farming Symposium in Lowell on the topics of season extension and how to expand your markets in a (literally) volatile climate. 

There’s a growing (sorry for the bad pun) movement toward year-round growing. While I understand the motives for this—the need to increase farm revenue; the desire to move us toward greater food sovereignty; providing the opportunity for year-round employment for farm workers—I also recognize that both farmers and the land need rest. I enjoy the seasonal recharge that comes with reduced winter hours. By spring I’m always excited to get back out into the field and start the whole process over: putting seeds in the ground and nurturing them as they grow into the foods that nourish all of us. But for now, I’m still enjoying skiing.

Greg Maslowe

Farm Manager

Check out the Farm's 2023 Annual Report and 2024 Business Plan that we recently submitted to Newton's Farm Commission in compliance with our license agreement with the city. The report is dedicated to NCF's former executive director, Sue Bottino, in gratitude for her four years of outstanding leadership! In a nutshell, 2023 was another successful year thanks to our amazing staff, volunteers, and supportive community, but it was also unusually challenging as well. We are planning for another productive year in 2024 as we continue to revise our programs post-pandemic. We hope you will join us! Intrigued? Take a look. It's a quick read.

Sue assisting with the testing of NCF’s new solar energy array on the barn. As with so many other initiatives at the Farm, Sue was instrumental in securing funding and bringing that project to fruition.

Mixed Greens Pesto

Pesto can be a great way to incorporate dark leafy greens in pasta or meat dishes, as well as to use different greens that are in season during the winter, like kale, Swiss chard, or spinach. These provide a good source of vitamin K, a nutrient that helps with blood clotting and bone health.

Ingredients

• Choice of greens (2 cups or bunches)
• A few garlic cloves (depending on your preference)
• 1/4 cup oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Grated Parmesan cheese
• Red pepper flakes (adds some additional heat if desired)

Instructions

In a blender or food processor, add the above ingredients and blend together until well combined. Most of all, enjoy!

Thanks to Inna Kagan, local Registered Dietician and Nutritionist, for providing this recipe, a favorite in her family!



We're looking for helpers for our Seedling Sale. We need volunteers to work the days of the event as well as to help prepare.

POPSICLE STICKS AND PIZZA!

Thursday, March 21, and Friday, March 22, 10 am to 1 pm - Come help label popsicle sticks for our upcoming Seedling Sale! We will provide pizza!

SEEDLING SALE

Saturday, May 18, and Sunday, May 19 - Help out on the day of the event. Training provided. We also need volunteers to help set up on Friday, May 17.

If you are able to display a lawn sign advertising the sale, we would greatly appreciate it! We are also looking for volunteers to distribute flyers to local businesses for display.

Please email admin@newtoncommunityfarm.org if you can help.

Newton Community Farm is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, EIN #20-2482452. If you would prefer to donate by mail, please send a check payable to Newton Community Farm at the address below. Please also check with your employer if matching funds are available.

NEWTON COMMUNITY FARM

303 Nahanton Street

Newton, MA 02459

617-916-9655

www.newtoncommunityfarm.org

information@newtoncommunityfarm.org