Dear Farm Friends,

It is with mixed emotions that we say goodbye to Sue Bottino, NCF’s beloved Executive Director. While we are excited for her future and so grateful for her service, it is hard to say goodbye. Sue has been an outstanding ED for the past four years. She successfully led NCF through a multiyear pandemic and also managed to rack up a very long list of achievements. As a result of her strong work ethic, incredible competence, unwavering persistence, and consistent teamwork, NCF achieved the following during her remarkable tenure:

 successfully revamped and pivoted….in record time….all of our key programs during the COVID crisis

 installed and commenced operation of a solar energy system on the barn

 built the new Rubin Greenhouse (thanks, Rubin and Barg families!) and renovated the existing greenhouse

 significantly increased donations and support from numerous grants, corporate sponsorships, leadership donors, and the broader farm community

 launched the Bard Family Environmental Education Fund (thanks, Bard family!) with a very well attended and widely watched presentation by an eminent scholar on sustainably feeding 10 billion people

 established and/or strengthened partnerships with many other local environmental, educational, and charitable organizations

 sponsored and participated in many outreach and educational events including the Farm’s Spring 2023 Ribbon Cutting for the barn solar array and new greenhouse; and

 brought 1,000+ people into the farm community as participants, engaged volunteers, and supporters.

These are just some of the highlights. The full list would fill pages and pages.

Suffice it to say, Sue is leaving quite a legacy that will carry NCF long into the future. She is also leaving us with many memories of joyfully working together. We will miss her contagious laugh, warm personality, inclusive style, deep respect for others, and engaging smile. We will miss her loving care of the chickens; she knows all their names and behaviors and gives regular updates on their antics. We will miss her professionalism, presence, and reliability. Most important, we will miss seeing her on a regular basis but we know we will still see her as a friend going forward, which makes it just a little easier to say goodbye at the farm.

So, on behalf of the entire NCF Board of Directors, THANK YOU, SUE! You are so talented and will undoubtedly shine in your next professional endeavor.



Fondly,

Dede Vittori & Paul Holt, Copresidents, NCF Board of Directors

Newton Community Farm is putting together all your favorite fresh veggies and fruit to make your Thanksgiving meal delicious! You can support the work of NCF and other local farms by ordering a Thanksgiving Harvest Bag. Please note, bags will be available for pickup between 3–5 pm on Monday, November 20, at the Farm at the lowest level of the big red barn (where the white tent is located). Bags that are not picked up will be donated.

Bags will have:

• 1 lb. native Massachusetts, heirloom cranberries
• 5 lbs. organic white potatoes
• 3 lbs. organic sweet potatoes
• 2 lbs. organic yellow onions
• 2 sugar pumpkins
• 2 organic butternut squash
• 3 lbs. apples
• 1 lb. carrots
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 1 bunch of sage

Sorry, no substitutions are possible.

Price is $80 per bag.

Enjoy the produce with your friends and family! If you're worried it's too much for your celebration, consider splitting a bag with a neighbor or set aside the potatoes, pumpkins, or squash to enjoy later. Thank you for supporting local farms.

Last day to order is November 10!

For the second year in a row, employees of the Wegmans store in Chestnut Hill volunteered over three days at the Farm. In August, September, and October, they cleared weeds from the mini apple orchard, removed fencing, filled benches (tabletop growing surfaces) with soil in the old greenhouse, placed tarps on the field for occultation (killing weeds), put a shade cloth on one greenhouse, and reskinned (covered) another greenhouse.

Both placing the shade cloth and reskinning the greenhouse requires a group effort so it was great to have the Wegmans workers help with these tasks. And filling the benches was a case of many hands making light work.

We fill the benches in the greenhouse to grow arugula and salad greens in colder weather. Using the greenhouse in this way as a method to allow a crop to be grown beyond its normal outdoor growing season and harvesting time frame is known as season extension. The arugula and salad greens are "cut and come again" crops so we'll harvest them twice. We plan to collect 40+ pounds of greens in the first harvest and 30 pounds in the second. These greens will be available in the late fall CSA shares, at the farm stand, and at the Newton Food Pantry through our Produce Donation Program.

Welcome to our newest NCF Board member, Debra Hall! Debra moved to Newton eight years ago with her husband, and they share a two-family home in Newton Highlands with their daughter and her family. She fell in love with Newton Community Farm after discovering the Seedling Sale and has volunteered at NCF for the past several years. Deb studied environmental and land-use planning and had a 40-year career working in public agencies and nonprofit organizations to make buildings, businesses, and communities more sustainable. Now retired, she volunteers for the Newton Food Pantry and is Restocking Coordinator for the 24/7 Newton Community “Freedge” in Nonantum, to which NCF donates fresh produce. We're so glad to have you on the Board, Deb!

Our on-site farm stand in the little red shed on Winchester Street, near the intersection with Nahanton Street, is open through Saturday, November 18. Fall hours are Thursdays and Fridays, 1:30–4 pm, and Saturdays, 9:30 am–1 pm. Click here to read our weekly updates of what produce we plan to have available and check to make sure we are not closed for inclement weather or other reasons. At the farm stand we welcome WIC, Elder checks, cash, check with ID and phone number, and credit cards.

Newton's 4th Annual Pumpkin Smash

Instead of disposing of your Halloween pumpkins in the municipal yard-waste collection, bring them to Newton’s Annual Pumpkin Smash at City Hall (outside at War Memorial Circle) on Saturday, November 4, from 1–4 pm (rain date November 5). There will be several fun options for smashing your pumpkins, which Black Earth Compost (Newton’s curbside composting partner) will then collect and compost. Composting helps reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions and creates valuable soil amendments. Preregistration is encouraged, but on-site registration will be available, too. Go to www.newtonma.gov/recycling for more information. Also, come visit us at our Newton Community Farm table at the event. Click 2022 Pumpkin Smash for a short news video about last year’s event.

Gardening Tip

Before the ground freezes, consider having your home garden soil tested by the University of Massachusetts Soil and Plant Nutrient Testing Lab. The information might be particularly helpful if you had areas where plants didn’t grow well in recent years.

NCF's Summer CSA Registration Coming Soon

Buy Local and Fresh! Registration for our summer 2024 Community-Supported

Agriculture (CSA) Program will start in January. Stay tuned for more info in our January

2024 newsletter and on our website. This is a terrific way to get healthy, fresh, and local

produce on a weekly or bi-weekly basis from June through mid-October.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

• 4 cups grated zucchini (about 1 1/2 pounds zucchini)
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (use natural unsweetened cocoa, not Dutch processed)
• 2 tsps. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

While you work on prepping the other ingredients, place the freshly grated zucchini in a sieve over a bowl to collect excess moisture as it drains.

Preheat oven with a middle rack to 350°F.

Grease two 9x5-inch loaf pans with baking spray or butter.

Whisk together flour, unsweetened cocoa, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl until there are no clumps and the ingredients are well combined.

In a separate large bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs until smooth, about a minute. You can do this with an electric mixer on medium speed, or by hand with a wooden spoon.

Add the melted butter and beat until smooth.

Mix the shredded zucchini into the sugar-egg-butter mixture.

Add the flour mixture to the zucchini mixture in three additions, stirring to combine after each addition.

Divide the batter between the two prepared loaf pans. (Work quickly because once the dry ingredients have mixed with the wet ingredients, the leavening has begun.)

Place in the oven. Bake for 50 minutes at 350°F, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Recipe from Simply Recipes online, modified by Paul Holt, NCF Board Copresident

NEWTON COMMUNITY FARM

303 Nahanton Street

Newton, MA 02459

617-916-9655

www.newtoncommunityfarm.org

information@newtoncommunityfarm.org