The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

agriculture and flora

Letter to the editor: contribute to Codman campaign

To the editor:

We write to ask you to consider supporting Codman Community Farms (CCF) with a donation to our Vision 2020 Capital Campaign via our website or a check mailed to Codman Farm at 58 Codman Rd.

Over the last three years, CCF has undergone a transformation. We hired Pete Lowy as Farm Manager in 2016, and under his guidance, the farm has evolved from a small-scale barnyard and hay operation to a vibrant pasture-based livestock operation. Pete and his staff utilize cutting-edge rotational grazing practices with thousands of animals on fields across Lincoln to grow healthy, organically raised eggs, meat, and produce.

This transformation has brought stability to our farm operations, and we are now turning our focus to strengthening our community outreach and education programs, lowering our carbon footprint with a net-zero solar installation, and addressing some of our aging infrastructure. The Vision 2020 Capital Campaign will fund these efforts. You can read more about the projects supported by this campaign, and make a donation by clicking here.

CCF was founded as a non-profit in 1973 by a dynamic group of Lincoln residents who were passionate about preserving the historic property and maintaining its character as a genuine working farm. Today, as it has been since its founding, CCF finances its operations by the sale of farm products, membership support, community events, grants and a relatively small endowment. CCF does not receive any operational funding from the town of Lincoln other than maintenance of town-owned buildings.

We have raised more than 85% of our $350,000 Capital Campaign goal, and as we enter the home stretch we reach out to you, the community of Lincoln, to help us raise the funds needed. Please consider supporting the sustainability and future of this farm with a donation to our Capital Campaign.

Sincerely,

Codman Farm Capital Campaign Committee:
David Alperovitz, Nancy Fleming, Pete Lowy, Jeff Patterson, Ginger Reiner, and Drew Shilling

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Running of the dogs? (Lincoln Through the Lens)

Toby, an Anatolian shepherd who lives with and protects the chickens of Codman Community Farms, gallops through the enclosure. Photo by Eli Newell.

Readers may submit photos for consideration for Lincoln Through the Lens by emailing them to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. If your photo is published, you’ll receive credit in the Squirrel. Photos must be taken in Lincoln and include the date, location, and names of any people who are identifiable in the photo. Previously published photos can be viewed on the Lincoln Through the Lens page of the Lincoln Squirrel.

Special Town Meeting vote on marijuana businesses planned

The town will schedule a Special Town Meeting this fall to vote on extending the current moratorium on recreational marijuana businesses in Lincoln and whether to seek a full ban on such businesses.

Massachusetts legalized recreational marijuana sales in 2016, but individual cities and towns can choose to opt out of marijuana growing, processing, testing or retail businesses. Lincoln narrowly voted to legalize recreational marijuana in the state election in 2016; as a result, any future partial or full ban in Lincoln must be approved by a two-thirds majority at Town Meeting and by a simple majority at a later ballot vote.

In March 2017, Lincolnites approved a temporary moratorium on cannabis businesses while residents decided on a permanent course of action. That moratorium is set to expire on November 20, but the town has the option of extending it for a limited period of time. This fall’s Town Meeting vote will seek to extend it until June 30, 2019.

At the fall vote, residents will also be asked if they want to institute a full ban on all cannabis businesses. If two-thirds say yes, the town will seek to affirm that vote at the ballot box after the spring 2019 Annual Town Meeting. “We’re fairly close to two-thirds now in terms of support for a full ban,” Selectman James Craig noted at the board’s June 19 meeting, referring to results of a town-wide survey mailed to residents in April.

If the two-thirds bar isn’t met, the Marijuana Study Committee will seek more feedback with another survey “so we can really drill down on what appetite the town has for commercial development ore retails sales” of cannabis products, Craig said. The Planning Board would then draw up proposed zoning amendments to regulate businesses and would bring them to a Town Meeting vote in spring 2019.

If the town does nothing, the state could begin issuing licenses to marijuana-based establishments in Lincoln once the moratorium has expired, as noted in the FAQ document posted by the committee in April.

Selectmen emphasized that any town-wide action on cannabis businesses will not affect the personal rights granted under the 2016 statewide legalization of recreational marijuana. Under the new law, Massachusetts residents 21 and older may use, grow and possess marijuana products. Individuals may possess under 10 ounces of marijuana inside their homes and under one ounce in public, as well as grow up to six marijuana plants in their homes (or 12 plants in households with two adults). Public consumption and driving under the influence of marijauan remain illegal.

There will be another public forum on marijuana businesses in Lincoln in October. “We want to make sure people understand what they’re voting on” at the Special Town Meeting later in the fall, Craig said.

Food Project teens dig in (Lincoln Though the Lens)

Earlier this month, the Food Project welcomed 100 teenagers from diverse cultural, racial, economic, and geographic backgrounds to work as Seed Crew members on their urban and suburban farms in Lincoln and three other towns. During the summer season, they work together to grow vegetables and to donate or distribute nearly 200,000 servings of produce to increase food access throughout eastern Massachusetts—all while developing important leadership, teamwork, and civic participation skills. Photos courtesy Ross Condit of the Food Project.

Drumlin Farm opens new Environmental Learning Center

Mass Audubon staff and friends at the grand opening of the Environmental Learning Center at Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary. Left to right: Jennifer Feller, Bob Delano (Chapman Construction/Design), Laura Krich, Brandt Wild (Chapman Construction/Design), Renata Pomponi (Drumlin Farm sanctuary director), Gary Clayton (president, Mass Audubon), Marian Thornton, Nick d’Arbeloff (Mass Audubon board of directors), Christy Foote-Smith (former Drumlin Farm sanctuary director), Tia Pinney, Susan Madaus, Dick Thornton, Bill Maclay (Maclay Architects), and Robin Stuart. Photo by Heidi Thoren.

Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary celebrated the grand opening of its new Environmental Learning Center on June 9, almost two years after construction began.

The gathering at the popular Mass Audubon wildlife sanctuary and working farm in Lincoln commenced with a ribbon-cutting followed by building tours, opportunities to meet raptors and Drumlin Farm’s resident fox, hands-on science activities, and educational program highlights.

The 3,700-square-foot Environmental Learning Center (ELC), and its neighboring outdoor classroom structure, the Bluebird Pavilion, are situated between the wildlife sanctuary’s nature center and the site of the former education building. The ELC is about three times the size of the building it replaced at Drumlin, which as of 2017 employed about 15 year-round educators and conducts about 40,000 educational programs (some off-site).

The ELC and the pavilion will serve as the hub from which all of Drumlin Farm’s environmental education programming will flow. They will provide the home base for the programs through which Drumlin Farm teacher/naturalists and other educators support Mass Audubon’s mission to connect people and nature. Featuring a 42.8-kilowatt system of rooftop solar panels and many other energy-conserving construction methods and materials, the building will be net-positive, annually generating more energy than it will consume.

The ELC opening represents another phase in a long-term update plan for Drumlin Farm funded by a capital campaign that aimed to raise $4.7 million. Several years ago, the farm replaced its Farm Life Center, where most programs that involve cooking take place. In late 2016, the New England Wildlife Explorations exhibit opened, replacing the old Drumlin Underground exhibit.

Drumlin Farm Director Renata Pomponi described the grand opening of the new facility as a “watershed moment” for the wildlife sanctuary.

“Mass Audubon’s enduring commitment to nature-based education has never been stronger, and Drumlin Farm is excited about the pivotal role the Environmental Learning Center will play as we build on that legacy, developing environmental and climate science programs that further conservation in the 21st century,” she said.

Tree removal hearing on May 21

A public hearing will be held by the tree warden, deputy tree warden and/or their designees will hold a public hearing on Monday, May 21 at 7 p.m. at the DPW office (30 Lewis St.) to consider the removal of the below trees in the public right of way. The cutting and removal of the following trees has been made at the request of Eversource Energy. The trees have been marked with hearing notices and are being considered for removal because they are dead, in decline, or otherwise pose a safety or operational hazard to the safe and reliable operation of the Eversource Energy electrical system. The trees are marked as to size and type along the following roads:

  • Mill Street, 30″ oak, between poles 17/13 to 17/14
  • Mill Street, 30″ oak, between poles 17/13 to 17/14
  • Mill Street, 30″ oak, 40′ East of pole 17/14
  • 130 Lexinton Rd., 26″ hickory
  • 126 Lexington Rd., 33″ oak
  • 116 Lexington Rd., 18″ oak
  • 90 Lexington Rd., 20″ pine
  • 84 Lexington Rd., 33″ oak
  • Lexington Road, at pole 22/55, 22″ maple
  • Lexington Road, between poles 22/63 and 22/64, 35″ oak
  • 83 Page Rd., 33″ oak
  • Page Road, between poles 13/30 and 13/31, 20″ oak and 33″ oak
  • Page Road, between poles 13/31 and 13/32, 20″ oak
  • Page Road, at pole 13/35, 16″ oak
  • 44 Page Rd., 28″ oak
  • 40 Page Rd., 28″ oak
  • 83 Page Rd.across from 29, 15″ pine and two 26″ pines
  • 29 Page Rd., two 26″ pines
  • Page Road, at pole 13/49, 34″ locust
  • 49 Lincoln Roa Rd., 33″ maple
  • 100 Lincoln Rd., 33″ oak
  • Lincoln Road, between poles 24/45 and 24/46, two 20″ oaks
  • 233 Lincoln Rd., 33″ oak
  • Lincoln Road, across From 237, 20″ oak leader
  • 237 Lincoln Rd., 33″ oak
  • 244 Lincoln Rd., 36+” oak
  • 260 Lincoln R Rd.oad, 28″ oak

The following marked trees, are also being considered for removal by the DPW because they are dead, in decline, are posing a safety operational hazard, or at the request of the abutting property owner. These trees are marked as to size and type along the following roads:

  • South Great Road, two 21″ maples, across from pole 7/77
  • 80 Tower Rd., 30″ pine
  • 80 Tower Rd., 36″ pine
  • 80 Tower Rd., 36″ pine
  • 80 Tower Rd., 12″ Tree
  • 82 Conant Rd., 30″ pine

Lincoln quilters show their wares at Codman Community Farms

The latest projects by the Lincoln Quilters—individual scenes about Codman Community Farms rendered in fabric—are now on display (and for sale) in the CCF farm store.

Click on a thumbnail below to see a larger image:

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Drawn together by a shared interest in quilting and fiber arts, the nine Lincoln Quilters—Anne Crosby, Nancy Constable, Tricia Deck, Linda MacNeil, Margaret Olson, Lucy Sachs, Kate Sacknoff, Jane Solar, and Dilla Tingley—began meeting five years ago to inspire each other, share their creations, get suggestions from others on personal projects, and develop new pieces as a group. They generally have a project going that stimulates and challenges members and their creativity.

The nine framed fabric art pieces by the quilters are on display in the Codman Barn inside the farm store. Proceeds from sales will be donated to Codman Community Farms.

Blue Heron Organic Farm closes

A dumpster can be seen at the Blue Heron Organic Farm in February.

Ellery Kimball of Blue Heron Organic Farm on Rte. 117 announced on LincolnTalk today that she has closed the farm.

“We are sad to see Ellery go since she has done such a super job with Blue Heron Organic Farm,” said Conservation Director Tom Gumbart. “The Conservation Commission needs to determine the property’s future use, but it will certainly stay in agricultural production. Its long history as an organic farm certainly lends itself to continuing that use for organic food production. However, no determination has yet been made since we only recently found out about Ellery’s departure.”

When asked for further details about her plans or why she closed the farm, Kimball responded via email, “Thank you for your questions but I wrote everything I’d like to share in the letter.” Her announcement is reprinted here with her permission:

Dear Town of Lincoln,

After 17 years as the farmer at Blue Heron Organic Farm on Rt. 117, I have decided it is time for me to move on to new ventures. I will always treasure my time on this land and I have loved working in my home town, and, at the same time, I am excited about moving on to new opportunities.

I started working on the Umbrello parcel of conservation land in Lincoln, Massachusetts in 1993 when I was 17 and a senior in high school. The farm was then called Down to Earth Organic Farm (established in 1992) and I happily worked as an intern on the land in the summers from 93-98. I returned to the Umbrello Field in 2001 to start Blue Heron Organic Farm after Keith, of Down to Earth, left to begin a farm in western Massachusetts.

After running Blue Heron Organic Farm for two years in 2003 I applied for official Organic Certification and, in all, the land has been farmed organically since 1992. In 2005, after raising money through fundraisers held at the farm, I hired a company to dig a well and added electricity to the farm. Thanks to these generous donations irrigation and electricity is now available to the future farmers of the Umbrello Field. 

I have countless people to thank for helping me make this dream of running a small organic farm in my home town a reality. Thank you so much to the town and the Conservation Commission for their support and encouragement over the years. Thank you for believing in me and for giving me this opportunity. Many thanks to Keith for teaching me how to farm in the 90s and for encouraging me to start Blue Heron Organic Farm in 2001. Many thanks to my good friends who helped me on the farm harvesting pumpkins, picking up rocks and pounding in tomato stakes.

I wish to thank the customers who shopped at the farm stand, the organic plant sales, and at the farmers markets. There are so many people I will remember not only for their loyalty and for returning to buy vegetables, flowers and plants every year, but also for their positive words of encouragement, support and kindness. I am so glad I had the opportunity to grow vegetables and flowers for you. Thank you so much. I will miss seeing you all at the farm and at the farmers markets.

Thank you to the groups of farm camp kids who helped me on Fridays every summer, I could always count on them to put a smile on my face and they have given me hope for the future. Thank you to all the volunteers and interns who worked on the farm with me. Farming isn’t easy work, its long days in the sun and rain, with endless weeding and harvesting. I appreciate everyone who worked with me in the field growing vegetables and flowers.

Thank you to the Lincoln Farmers Market and the Davis Square Farmers Market and to all the people involved in making these markets thrive.

Thank you to all the wonderful chefs who placed orders twice a week throughout the growing season. I will miss bringing fresh vegetables to you in your kitchens, hearing about your recipes, seeing your smiles and feeling your appreciation for fresh local foods. Thank you for supporting local farmers.

Thank you to the Lincoln farmers who shared encouragement and equipment and support. And thank you to the town for encouraging farmers to continue Lincolns rich farming heritage.

And, last but not least, thank you to my family for believing in me and encouraging me to follow my dreams. Thanks to my brother for designing the farms website and for being a great sibling.

I am grateful that I have known this beautiful field in all weather and seasons for almost 25 years. Most of my adult memories were created on this land and I have learned so much by working with the soil, hoping for rain, picking up rocks, chasing deer, planting, harvesting and learning from others. I am comforted knowing this land is forever protected and will always remain an open field. Thank you to the Conservation Commission, the Rural Land Foundation, and the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust for the important and incredible work you do in keeping Lincoln beautiful, wild, and green.

I am excited to move on and explore other dreams and opportunities in new locations. I am so grateful that I had this opportunity to farm these seven acres in Lincoln in my 20s and 30s.

Sincerely,

Ellery Kimball

Resident raises money for cow shelters, but farmer questions need

Lincoln resident Barbara Peskin has started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for two permanent cattle shelters at Codman Community Farms—an effort that’s highlighted differing perceptions of animal welfare and the funding needs of the farm as a whole.

Peskin started thinking about the campaign after seeing CCF cows exposed to stormy weather last fall. She noted that the MSPCA had recommended a shelter for a field that didn’t have one, so Farm Manager Pete Lowy placed a livestock trailer in that field for the winter. Another cattle pasture already has permanent shelters.

“It honestly broke my heart that the cows were out there with no protection. I just felt a strong compassion for the cows. I have a strong compassion for all animals. I’ve learned from the MSPCA that while cows raised for beef have very little protection in Massachusetts, they are supposed to be given protection in severe weather,” Peskin said.

However, beef cattle are hardier than they may appear, and shelters can actually cause other problems, Lowy said.

“Beef cows don’t need shelter, just a windbreak,” he said. “As long as they have access to plenty of hay and water, they’re sturdy and fine. Even the cows on the hill rarely hang out in the shelters. Manure building up in the shelters becomes a health issue, which is why most farms with beef cows don’t have shelters.”

There are no cows on the Codman North field during the winter since it lacks permanent fencing. In the summer, they need shade but not protection from the rain, so they have a portable sun shade that can be moved along with the temporary electric fencing that the farmers shift every few days to rotate grazing areas.

Cattle shelters are not high on the funding priority list for CCF, but Lowy told Peskin to “go for it” if she wanted to raise money on her own and donate the shelters, which will cost a total of $7,240.

“We have a long list of projects for the farm for 2018 and 2019, and we’re focusing on improving the pastures through improved fencing and animal rotations rather than fixed shelters,” Lowy said.

Peskin’s GoFundMe page acknowledges that CCF “has many pressing issues that require funds” and shelters are not a high priority for Lowy or the CCF board. However, while the cows may not need shelter to survive, “surviving is not all there is to life… we can improve their well-being and comfort by providing them with shelter.”

In an email to the Lincoln Squirrel, Peskin added that, “they [the cows] are beings, and I think the shelters would set an example for Lincoln children and all our visitors that we have compassion for all animals. I would note that the Drumlin Farm cows do get these shelters and better (I know Drumlin has more money and volunteers). The shelters are a small but important gesture we can do for the Codman cows that will give them some protection from driving rain, driving snow, and high heat.”