Dear Farm Friends,

Spring is officially here, and we couldn't be more excited! Seedlings are growing strong in the greenhouse, and we’re getting the fields ready for another productive season.

There are lots of ways to connect with us this spring:

Join us for a free educational event on Thursday, May 1, at 7 pm:

“Food for All: The Challenges and Opportunities for Feeding Our Community” will bring together local leaders to talk about food access and building a stronger local food system. Register here.

Our Seedling Sale is coming up on May 17 & 18. Don't miss this great opportunity to stock up on healthy, locally grown plants for your garden.

Sign up now for our popular Fruit CSA and Duck Hollow Flower Share. Our Late-Fall CSA starts in October, so stay tuned for details.

Registration is now open and applications are already coming in for our HIgh School Intern Program. Students who will be entering grades 9 through 12 are eligible. This is a great hands-on opportunity for teens to learn about farming, teamwork, and local food. Spots are very limited. Apply today!

Thanks for being part of our community and supporting Newton’s last working farm. We’re looking forward to seeing you this season!

Allyson MacKenna

NCF Director of Administration and Programs

Food for All: The Challenges and Opportunities for Feeding Our Community



Thursday, May 1, at 7 pm

UMass Mt. Ida Campus

Newton Community Farm invites you to a thought-provoking panel discussion on food access, equity, and sustainability in our region. “Food for All: The Challenges and Opportunities for Feeding Our Community” will bring together local leaders working across farming, food distribution, and community support to share insights and ideas.

This event is free, but registration is required. Register here.

Panelists include:

• Greg Maslowe, Farm Manager, Newton Community Farm
• Glynn Lloyd, Executive Director of Nectar; founder of City Fresh Foods and cofounder of the Urban Farming Institute
• Jeff Lemberg, Executive Director, Newton Food Pantry
• Usha Thakrar, Executive Director, Boston Area Gleaners
• 
  

This is a great opportunity to learn more about the local food system and its impact on our community.

Presented by the Bard Family Environmental Education Fund.

Special thanks to UMass for hosting the event.

Annual Seedling Sale

Saturday, May 17, and Sunday, May 18

Noon to 3 pm

Get your garden started with strong, healthy plants grown right here at Newton Community Farm! Our Seedling Sale is a favorite local tradition for new and seasoned gardeners alike. We’ll have a wide range of vegetable, herb, and flower seedlings available. Click here for full details.

Want to help out? We’d love your support!

Pitch in on one sale day or both! We need greeters, helpers, and friendly faces! No experience or special knowledge necessary. Sign up to volunteer here.

We are looking for volunteers to display lawn signs leading up to the sale. If you are willing to place a sign in your yard, please contact

admin@newtoncommunityfarm.org. Thank you!

A huge thank you to The Village Bank for their continued support and sponsorship of this event!

This unpaid internship is a great chance for you to get hands-on experience working on a busy farm. The internship is open to high school students (ages 14 to 18). Our farm is small, which means we use every bit of space to grow veggies, and most of the work is done by hand. It’s a great way to learn about farming while getting a feel for what it’s like to work on a real farm.

As an intern, you’ll get experience in all kinds of farm work, like planting, harvesting, and packing produce. While these sessions are running, we’re harvesting produce for our farmers' market, farm stand, food pantry donations, and our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) sharers. Although we’re small, we grow a lot of vegetables. Interns help us harvest hundreds of pounds of cucumbers, tomatoes, and more each week.

We also want to make sure you leave with a well-rounded understanding of our food system. Each day during break we host educational discussions about topics such as organic farming, sustainability, farm finances, and more. You can even guide some of the topics based on your interests!

Internship Dates & Schedule

The internship lasts 4 weeks, working on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 8 am–12 pm. You’ll need to be available for the entire 4-week period. Here are the two terms you can choose from in 2025:

• Term 1: July 8–July 31
• Term 2: August 5–August 28

Apply today!

Newton Community Farm is pleased to offer a weekly fruit share in conjunction with Autumn Hills Orchard in Groton, MA. Each weekly share consists of a 4–5 pound (approximate) bag of apples and other fruits. Autumn Hills is reporting their crops are looking great and there should be a variety of stone fruits (peaches, plums, nectarines, etc.) as well. As with all things agricultural, what is available is highly dependent on the particular growing conditions.

Registration Deadline: August 19, 2025, or until sold out

Cost: $110 per share (one bag each week for eight weeks).

Duration: Eight pickups, beginning August 27, 2025, and ending October 16, 2025.

Pickups: Share distributions should be picked up at Newton Community Farm at the white tent near the barn each week during the program on Wednesdays or Thursdays between 2 and 7 pm. Fruit will be held until

7 pm Thursday, after which time unclaimed shares will be donated.

Autumn Hills Orchard is a working farm in historic Groton, Massachusetts, about 45 miles northwest of Newton. The farm produces more than 25 varieties of apples, peaches, pears, plums, grapes, and raspberries. For more than 10 years, Autumn Hills has partnered with local CSA programs to provide weekly shares in the late summer through the fall. Share contents vary by week over the season but are primarily apples with other fruit varieties based on availability. The fruit varieties may include Concord grapes, peaches, nectarines, Italian plums, Bartlett pears, and Bosc pears. Apple varieties may include Ginger Gold, Paula Red, Gala, Gravenstein, Honeycrisp, Macintosh, Cortland, Empire, Cox Orange Pippin, Spencer, Mutsu, Golden Delicious, Macoun, Newtown Pippin, Rhode Island Greening, Golden Russet, SpiGold, Suncrisp, Pink Lady, Ida Red, and Northern Spy.

Register here.

Other CSA Programs

In addition to our Summer CSA program, which is sold out, we also offer a Late Fall CSA program. Information will be available on our website by mid-fall for the Late Fall CSA.

Fresh, Local Flowers All Summer Long!

We’re excited to partner once again with Duck Hollow Farm to offer beautiful, organically grown flower bouquets throughout the summer. Enjoy 15 weeks of vibrant, locally grown blooms straight from Sherborn, MA.

Program Dates: June 19–September 25

Pickup: Thursdays at Newton Community Farm, 2:00–7:00 pm

Cost: $330 for the full season

Optional Add-On: Weekly posy bouquet for an additional $75

Treat yourself (or someone you love) to a season of fresh flowers!

Click here to sign up.

Questions? Contact Laurel at laurel@al-freshco.com

As spring begins to stir the soil and wake the trees, it's the perfect time to think about how our gardens can not only feed us but also support the buzzing life around us. Pollinator gardens are a simple, beautiful way to make a big ecological impact, and they're more important than ever.

Why Pollinators Matter

Bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, and hummingbirds all play a crucial role in our food system. About one in every three bites of food depends on pollinators, yet many of these species are struggling due to habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change. By planting a pollinator-friendly garden you can help provide the food and shelter these creatures need to thrive.

What Makes a Pollinator Garden?

A good pollinator garden includes a variety of nectar- and pollen-rich flowers, ideally native to your region. Native plants are best suited to the needs of local pollinators and tend to require less maintenance once established.

Tips for getting started:

• Go native. Choose plants like milkweed, coneflower, bee balm, goldenrod, and Joe Pye weed—all favorites of New England pollinators.
• Plant for all seasons. Include early bloomers (like crocus and lupine) and late bloomers (asters, sedum) to support pollinators spring through fall.
• Use clumps of the same plant. Mass plantings are easier for pollinators to find.
• Skip the chemicals. Avoid pesticides and herbicides, which can harm beneficial insects.
• Provide water and shelter. A shallow dish of water with stones, some bare ground, and a few logs or stems can offer habitat for native bees and butterflies.

Big Impact, Small Space

You don’t need acres of land to make a difference. A balcony planter, front yard strip, or corner of your vegetable garden can become a vibrant pollinator stopover. Even integrating a few native flowering plants into your existing beds can help.

When you plant for pollinators, you're planting for the future—of food, biodiversity, and beauty. Happy gardening!

Do you:

·       Miss everything you could once get at Russo’s?

·       Yearn for high-quality local fruits, vegetables, berries, and other foods?

·       Like having many produce varieties and specialty items in one place?

·       Want to support local farmers and food businesses, instead of big corporations? 

We do, too—and we’re doing something about it! With your help, we will build a new community-owned food store in either Waltham, Watertown, or Newton that will serve all of these needs—and fill the big hole that the Russo’s closing left. 

By purchasing a share of the Charles River Food Co-op, you will become a member and support our mission to build a new food store for our local community. You will also have the right to run for a board position and to vote in our annual elections, giving you a say in how we run the organization.

Membership fees, in addition to other funding sources, are used to finance the opening of our store. The more members we have, the faster we can open the store! Most stores open with around 2,000 members and we are only halfway there, so your support means a greater chance of success. Learn more and join us at https://charlesriverfood.coop/. 

Spring Stir-Fry with Baby Greens, Radishes & Carrots

Celebrate the return of crisp, colorful spring veggies with this simple and flavorful stir-fry.

Serves: 2–3

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 Tb. olive oil or sesame oil
• 2–3 small carrots, thinly sliced
• 4–5 radishes, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. fresh ginger, grated (optional)
• 4 cups baby greens (spinach, baby kale, arugula, or a mix)
• 2 tsp. soy sauce or tamari
• 1 tsp. rice vinegar or lemon juice
• Toasted sesame seeds or chopped scallions for garnish
• Cooked rice or noodles, for serving

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat.
2. Add sliced carrots and radishes. Stir-fry for 3–4 minutes, until they start to soften but still have a bite.
3. Add garlic and ginger (if using) and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
4. Toss in the baby greens and stir until just wilted, about 1–2 minutes.
5. Add soy sauce and vinegar or lemon juice. Stir to coat everything evenly.
6. Serve hot over rice or noodles, garnished with sesame seeds or scallions.

Tips

• Add in chopped asparagus or snap peas if you have them!
• For a heartier version, top with a fried egg or tofu.



This dish is a great way to enjoy early spring’s fresh, vibrant flavors, and it’s flexible enough to adapt to whatever’s coming into season next!

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