Community Gardens and Community Farms

Yesterday, I was on a three person subcommittee of the Agricultural Commission with the other two members holding opposing views on where to locate the new community gardens. There's nothing like standing in a field knowing that you have the deciding vote while wondering whether deer ticks are crawling up your leg. A community garden is a place where people who don't have space for a garden at home can rent a plot for a year. The cost of the rental goes to maintaining things like fencing and water. The Natural Resources Trust of Easton has run a successful community garden for many years on their property in North Easton.

The two choices for the new garden, scheduled to open in 2013 and run by the Agricultural Commission not the NRT, were the field immediately north of the entrance to the Wheaton Farm main parking area (adjacent to the historic Daniel Wheaton House) and the Galloway Farm property known to old timers as Sam Wright's Farm and to everyone as the place where the silos used to be.

It's been a goal of the Friends of Wheaton Farm for many years to move the main parking area of this great 1,000 acre park to the street in order to limit the opportunity for illicit activities. During my last FOWF clean-up we found both used condoms and a used pregnancy test in the parking lot, and the lot is also suspected of hosting nocturnal drug deals. I'm surprised Rick Santorum didn't come there to speak during our pre-primary days! The idea was to put a 120 foot by 100 foot garden in next to the access road with a parking lot in front that extended from the current access road to an exit opposite Prospect Street. This  parking lot would be the most expensive part of the initial project although piping for water would also have to be provided. Finally, the field while flat, and for Easton relatively stone free, would need to be improved with fertilizer and searched for Native American artifacts.

Galloway Farm already has a small prexisting parking area at the end of a very narrow one car dirt access road, and it has a well that could provide water for the cost of the electricity to run the pump. Electricity is also available on site. Besides the narrow access road, the potential community garden site is a hike away from the parking area because the adjacent part of the field is too wet. On the other hand because cows grazed the field until very recently, it has greater fertility than the Wheaton Farm field.

Here's what was decided. The community garden would be located at Wheaton Farm, but the size of the parking lot, while larger than the current one, would be reduced with access and egress on the current access road. The original lot would stay for the first year, but would eventually be turned into a road with a drop off spot for canoes and horses. As initially planned, the garden would be landscaped preferably with berry bushes and dwarf fruit trees to reduce its visual impact. The initial 12,000 sq. foot garden would host 15 garden plots. Final approval for this idea rests with the Conservation Commission with input from FOWF; both have given strong initial support.

Standing in the Galloway Farm field, an idea came to me that I had heard at the Farm to School Conference last week. Why not a community farm? What is a community farm? It is a non-profit organization established for the purpose of running a commercial farm for the benefit of the town. It would be run by a competent farmer and be supported by an active Board of Directors who would seek grants and run fundraising events. Community farms are active in about 80 Massachusetts communities with another 80 or so in the planning stages. People support them by buying CSA shares  which often include a mix of cash and sweat equity. Unlike community gardens, community farms often have livestock, poultry, riding schools, and summer camps as well as produce and orchard products. Community farms are also a locus for environmental and agricultural education programs. Most of these farms are organic in recognition of the dangers of toxic chemicals in our environment. Still a dream at this stage, but you'll be hearing more here on this spot.