Enjoy these pictures of LexFarm in the Patriots Day Parade this afternoon. Thanks to all those who marched and cheered us on.
Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer
Join your neighbors to learn how we want to turn the concept of a community farm for Lexington into reality by attending one of our conversation groups or hosting one in your home. There will be the opportunity to ask questions and critique our proposal.
We have public forums scheduled for
- May 20, Thursday, 7:00-8:30 PM, Hancock UCC in Lexington
or you can choose to host one in your home. We would provide the presenters.
Sign-up here and fill out the form.
You’ve been to the forums, you’ve seen the films – but how do local farms really work? See for yourself by joining LexFarm on an actual farm tour.
Tour the Busa Farm and learn the history of the land on the first Saturday of the month– April 3, May 1, or June 5 from 12:45-2 pm.
Tour Local Farms on the second Saturday of the month – April 10 or May 8 from 10:45am-noon, or June 12 from 9:45am-11am. Farmers will host tours and talk about the business of managing self-sustaining community farms.
Tours are limited to 25 people; to register, click here and fill out the form form:
Currently scheduled:
- April 10: Newton Community Farm
- May 8: Stearns Community Farm, Framingham
- June 12: Waltham Fields Community Farm
Would you like to show all of Lexington just how many people care about a community farm? Here’s your chance–and a vital opportunity to demonstrate that farms matter. You don’t have to live in Lexington to march; you just need to show up!
Show just how many people care about farms in Lexington! Click here and fill out the form to sign up.
You don't need to dress like this... 
*UPDATE*
Hi folks – The Patriots Day Parade is coming up! Below are the tasks that need to be finished and details on marching.
**Marching details**
PARKING:
There is no parking at the parade start; participants can take a shuttle from the High School or be dropped off at the Pleasant Street Rotary (Marret Rd – Follen Rd – Pleasant St. Rotary).
TIMING:
The first shuttle leaves the High School at 11:45 am; the last shuttle leaves at 1:30 pm.
Units may begin checking in at 11:45 pm. All units must be checked in by 1:15 and in place by 1:30. The Parade starts *promptly* at 2. I’ll be getting there around 12:30 with various puppets in tow.
BATHROOMS:
They have them at the start and along the route.
MAP OF THE PARADE ROUTE:
View Patriot's Day Parade Start in a larger map
***
Out of town on Patriot’s Day? You can still help! Make giant puppets: Staple Tyvek, sew, or paint giant vegetables! Come to an East Lexington garage from 2-6 pm on Sunday, March 28 to make the biggest tomato, carrot, pea, beet or ear of corn of your life–or flowers! Or bees! Children are welcome with adult supervision. E-mail Meg Muckenhoupt at megmuck at gmail dot com to RSVP with your choice of vegetable.
Today’s Boston Globe West section has a great article about Arlington’s concern for the fate of Busa Farm; it includes an interview with Arlington’s Selectwoman, Clarissa Rowe…
Cooperation asked on fate of farm land
The following is an op-ed that was published in the February 11th edition of the Lexington Minuteman.
Now that the question of whether the abutting property to Busa Farm will be sold to the Town (it will not), the Selectmen can finally proceed in forming the Master Planning Committee promised at Town Meeting last May – to make a recommendation on the use of the 7.9-acre working farm purchased by the Town with CPA funds.
And it is finally time for a direct answer by the Selectmen to the question of whether a farming interest – and specifically the Lexington Community Farm Coalition (LexFarm) – will have an equal voice and vote on that committee alongside other land use interests.
In a bit of comic relief, Candidates’ Night moderator, Meg Muckenhaupt, asked the candidates a somewhat silly question…
Look for more clips and the full length recording of our Candidates’ Night event to appear in the next couple of weeks.
What is a community farm? Who decides what to grow there? Who grows it? What do children do there? The Lexington Community Farm Coalition is sponsoring a panel discussion titled “A Year in the Life of a Community Farm” as part of its series of educational talks about community farming on Thursday, December 3 at the Church of Our Redeemer, 6 Meriam St. Lexington. Light refreshments will be available at 7 pm; program begins at 7:30 pm.
Come ask real community farmers and farm managers your own questions. Hear about how community farms in neighboring towns operate through the seasons to provide fresh produce and opportunities to work, learn, and grow to people of all ages and abilities.
Panelists include:
- Christy Foote-Smith, Sanctuary Director, and Matt Celona, crops manager at Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary, Lincoln, a working farm and wildlife sanctuary that has been connecting families to nature since 1995
- Verena Wieloch, Farmer at Concord’s Gaining Ground Farm in Concord, which has donated all produce grown since 1999 at its 17-acre farm site to area food pantries and meal programs;
- Greg Maslowe, Farmer at Newton Community Farm, non-profit community farm located on the historic Angino farmstead owned by the City of Newton;
- Jen James, Farm Director at Codman Community Farms, which has been farming a town-owned site in Lincoln for more than 36 years.;
- Representatives from the Food Project, which works with over a hundred teens and thousands of volunteers to farm on 37 acres in eastern Massachusetts in the towns and cities of Beverly, Boston, Ipswich, Lincoln and Lynn.
The panelists will give brief presentations about their farms, then answer audience questions. For excerpts from the Lexington Community Farm Coalition’s previous program on community farming, see http://lexfarm.org/archives/category/video.
Update: for convenience in adding to an online calendar this event has also been posted at:
The League of Women Voters of Concord-Carlisle, as part of their Life In The Balance series, are hosting an upcoming two-part public forum called Food For Thought. If you’re concerned about the challenges facing our food system you won’t want to miss it.
For program details and locations click here.
Ladies & Gentlemen, we have a winner! Out of 255 responses to last week’s online poll in the Lexington Minuteman, a resounding 84% said that a community-run farm was absolutely a good fit for our town. Only 7% thought it was a bad idea.
