On Sunday, March 17 at 1:00 pm at Lexington High School:

We invite you to celebrate Lexington’s 300th anniversary with us during the 300th Anniversary LexCelebrate! Incorporation Weekend. LexFarm has assembled a distinguished panel of speakers to present “Farming Then and Now” – a look at agriculture in Lexington over three centuries:

Speakers will include:

•  Mary Babson Fuhrer, public historian specializing  in New England before the Civil War.

Read one of Ms. Fuhrer’s works online:
“From Sources to Stories: Reconstructing Revolutionary Lexington in the Classroom”

•  Richard Kollen, local historian and former archivist for the Lexington Historical Society

Read essays from Mr. Kollen here, including a history of Irish farmers in Lexington

•  Donald Wilson, a third-generation farmer and co-owner of Wilson Farm in Lexington.

Read about Mr. Wilson and his award for lifetime service to agriculture

• August “Gus” Schumacher, Jr., who grew up on a farm in Lexington, served as Commissioner of Food and Agriculture for the Commonwealth of Massachusettsm and currently serves on the 21st Century Sustainable Agricultural Task Force of the National Academy of Sciences.

Read “Gus Schumacher and the Future of Food” on FoodRepublic.com
Read details on our Event page . Event is FREE but seating is limited.

“We started farming with borrowed equipment. Now we’re growing up! A walk-behind tractor will help us grow more food for more people.” – First Root farmers Laura Sackton and Nina Booth

Here’s a great opportunity to make a big difference to a small farm: Read this letter from Lexington native and First Root farmer Laura Sackton about her dream for their first piece of farm equipment, a BCS walk-behind tractor.

You can jump right to their Kickstarter site and donate now!  Then let us know that WE made a difference:

If you saw this post and donated to First Root’s kickstarter campaign, click here!

Did you ever wonder what it was like to be a farmer in Lexington at the time of the American Revolution?

Join us at Minuteman National Historic Park on Sunday, October 7, at 1:00 p.m. for a special program being presented by the National Park Service geared towards LexFarm members and friends.

This program is being offered at this time through LexFarm to support our mission for education about farms and farming. . . including farming history in Lexington!

Appropriate for ages 12 and up.  Participation is FREE, but space is limited. See this page for more details and to reserve your space

Thank you to all those who entered our “Farm Gateways” photo contest. The “Best of Show” winning photograph is shown here, titled “Rustic Morning at Wilson Farms”, by Arnav Mukherjee.

Winning photos can be seen in the window at William Raveis Real Estate at 1713 Mass. Ave, Lexington. All entries can be viewed here on our website.

The deadline for LexFarm’s “Farm Gateways” photo contest is midnight Saturday! Take advantage of this beautiful weather to snap those pictures! There is NO ENTRY FEE to enter the contest, and you can enter up to five photos (one of each of the designated farms.) Thanks to generous sponsorship by Dave Sears at Wm. Raveis Real Estate and Vlad Selsky, you could win the $100 “Best of Show” prize for your photo. See details here: lexfarm.org/photocontest

“Sunset over Busa Farm” – Danielle Boudrot

As Lexington prepares to celebrate its 300th anniversary, LexFarm invites all photographers to commemorate its beginnings as “Cambridge Farms” by capturing a view of five important “farm gateways” to Lexington. This photo contest will highlight the views of:

Chiesa Farm, Wright Farm, Waltham St. Farm, Wilson Farm, and Busa Farm.

Throughout the summer months of 2012, submit your photo of one of these five farm gateways to Lexington for the opportunity to win $100 for Best in Show.

For contest details, please see this page !

Our new goat yard has certainly created a buzz in Lexington…first an article in the Minuteman on Thursday and today an article in the West section of today’s Boston Globe.

Are you interested in visiting and learning more?

Contact us here and spread the word!!

Here’s what Lauren Yaffee had to say about her experience at the Northeast Organic Farming Association Summer Conference this year. Lauren manages Meadow Mist Farm,  a wonderful small farm in Lexington.

“When the second week in August rolls around, my thoughts typically turn to the NOFA Summer Conference.  This year, as a result of a most generous scholarship funded by The Lexington Community Farm Coalition, I was able to attend the full three days of the conference.

Read the rest…

I’ve had a lot of fun the last few days trying to keep up  with different kids on farms, as LexFarm organized some education and volunteer programs at two farms.

First, on Thursday we had about 20 kids and their parents visiting Waltham Fields Community Farm for a Kids Farm Tour.  We separated into two groups according to age: I decided to hang out with the littlest ones. We learned about the “Fab Five” things that plants need to grow (can you name all five?), made hummous that included fresh-picked cucumbers, and did some planting in the Learning Garden.

Today, I met about 35 adults and kids down at Busa Farm and we helped harvest potatoes. There were very few people who knew what a potato plant looked like, so we had a fun time trying to identify all the wonderful vegetables, until Jane led us to the potatoes. For their hard work, everyone got to take home a half-lunchbag of potatoes.

Here’s a wonderful description of what’s going on at our favorite local farm, from Jane Hammer:

“The fields are filling up with spectacular greens and many of them are being harvested. Peas are flowering now and beets are on the way. Tomatoes, squash, onions, eggplant, flowers, and more are being transplanted into the beds, seed potatoes are in the ground – it’s a very busy time of year.

The greenhouses and the area around the stand are overflowing, positively gushing with color in the beautiful variety of flowering and ornamental plants–annuals, perennials, ornamental grasses,
hanging petunias, and more–gracing the benches and greenhouses. We still have some vegetable plants left including plenty of heirloom, hybrid, plum, and cherry-size tomatoes and also some very healthy patio tomatoes that have green fruits already on them. Read the rest…