A link to a Community Center Building Committee document showing five preliminary site plans proposed by ICON architecture has been added to the May 25 post headlined “My Turn: Site plan shows the downside of a consolidated community center.”
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STEM robotics open house
On Thursday, May 31, the Lincoln GearTicks will host a STEM Open House from 7-8 p.m. at Hartwell Pod A where you can see some of the robots that students built this year and learn more about joining one of the many teams.
Robotics programs are organized through FIRST and the Lincoln Recreation Department. FLL Explore introduces kids in grades 1-3 to STEM through Lego building and programming activities and runs for six weeks starting in January. In FLL Challenge, students in grades 4-8 build and program Lego robots for specific tasks on a playing field for lasting 12 weeks starting in early September. FTC caters to those in grades 7-12 with a commitment of 9+ hours/week designing robots using 3D-printed and laser-cut materials and programming in Java. Questions? Email hello@gearticks.com.
Lemonade social to celebrate Dr. Sharon Hobbs
All are invited to a lemonade social at the Lincoln School to celebrate Dr. Sharon Hobbs, who is retiring as principal after 17 years of service to our community, on Friday, June 2 from 4–6 p.m. at the Lincoln School. Click here if you would like to donate toward the campus legacy gift.
Softball league welcomes players
It’s not too late to sign up for adult Lincoln summer softball! Some teams need a few more players to avoid the last-minute scramble when someone can’t make it. We especially need women, but can use anyone 18+. The league tends to be on the older side, and we are not highly competitive — we just want to get out and have fun. The season will start on Sunday, June 4, with another game June 18 and then the full season starts with the Sunday/Monday/Thursday schedule on June 25. Games are at Codman Field next to the pool at 6 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays, and 5 p.m. on Sundays. Click here to register. The cost is $36 through May 31 and $40 thereafter.
Camp counselors needed
Lincoln Summer Camp is seeking qualified, responsible applicants to join the team for the 2023 camp season. Click here for more information.
Kids’ triathlon coming up
The Splash, Mash and Dash, Lincoln’s triathlon for kids ages 5 -14 on Saturday, June 24 from 8–11:30 a.m. is the perfect race for a first-time triathlete. The swim/bike/run event takes place at the Codman Pool; the older you are, the farther you go! Information about the race can be found at www.kidstri.net. There are T-shirts, goody bags and medals for every participant plus awards and raffle prizes. Entry fees are $30 per person (maximum $90 per family) before race day and $40/$120 maximum on race day. For maximum family discount, please contact ldumont@lincnet.org. Packet pickup is Friday, June 23 from 12:30–6 p.m. in Hartwell B Pod. Click here to register.
Codman Community Farms birthday celebration
Codman Community Farms will mark its 50th birthday with a celebration for all ages on Saturday, June 10 from 11 a.m.–3 p.m. This will be a day of games, food, and music, with special T-shirts available for purchase. Among the activities:
- Live music by the Honey Steelers
- Farm themed games & entertainment for kids
- Strawberry pie-eating contest
- “American Gothic” photo contest
- Birthday cake and ice cream for all (cake-cutting at 1 p.m.)
- Food for purchase including Codman’s own smoked ribs or maple sausage, grilled cheese sandwiches, fresh veggie & hummus basket with pita chips, and beer/wine/nonalcoholic drinks
While the event is free for all and no tickets are required, please click here to “purchase” your free tickets as an RSVP. This will ensure enough fun for all.
Give feedback about Farrar Road
The Farrar Road advisory shoulder pilot has reached the one-year mark and the town wants to know how you feel using the roadway with the new striping If you have traveled on Farrar Road at all in the last year, whether walking, biking or driving, please take this brief survey. The results will be combined with other feedback and data collected during the pilot and included in the town’s report to the Federal Highway Administration.
Honor Lincoln teachers and staff
Are you looking for a special way to thank a teacher or staff member for all they have done this school year to support our kids? The Lincoln School Foundation’s HATS (Honor A Teacher & Staff) program allows you to recognize learning coaches and other staff members of your choice while supporting the LSF. For a small donation, we will prepare a certificate of appreciation with your personalized message to be delivered to the recipient. In addition to your child’s learning coach/teacher, consider celebrating the hard work of teaching assistants, specialists (art, music, drama, science, wellness), support specialists, office staff, nurses, custodians, METCO staff — anyone who works in Lincoln schools. Follow the instructions on this LSF webpage. Your HATS gifts support LSF’s grants to teachers and innovation in the classroom. To learn more about the LSF and the grants we have given in recent years, see www.lincolnschoolfoundation.org.
15 L-S graduates win scholarships
The 2023 Atkinson Scholarship recipients. Top row, left to right: Rebecca Edwards, Alijah Williams, Caleb del Rosario, Aviel Stutman, Chris Kornblum, Lily Gordenstein, Chloe Mazza, Anuvab Deb. Bottom row (left to right): Norah Lee, Carly Robinson, Lea Murphy, Mary Ogunsanya, Neeva Manandhar, Melissa Andrade, Ava Flynn. Not pictured: Faimah Nalwanga (click photo to enlarge).
Lincoln’s Neeva Manandhar is one of 16 seniors to receive an Atkinson Scholarship. Neeva and 14 others will graduate from Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School while Ava Flynn will graduate from Marblehead High School. The other scholarship recipients are Melissa Andrade (Boston); Anuvab Deb, Caleb del Rosario, Lily Gordenstein, Christopher Kornblum, Norah Lee, Faimah Nalwanga, Carly Robinson, and Aviel Stutman (Sudbury), Chloe Mazza (Hudson), Lea Murphy (Framingham), Mary Ogunsanya (Mattapan), and Rebecca Edwards and Alijah Williams (Hyde Park).
The Atkinson Scholarship Program was established 28 years ago to recognize local students with financial need, academic promise, and the capacity to make a meaningful contribution to society. Recipients get a $5,000 scholarship and an opportunity to reapply for support each year of their undergraduate academic career. Selected students embody the qualities valued by former Sudbury residents Herbert and Esther Atkinson, who established the foundation in 1952.
Senior actors wanted
Senior citizens are invited to join the cast of “Cat Tales,” a family show featuring “Jellicle Cats II” from Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot and “The Cat that Walked by Himself” from Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories. The show will be directed by Eugene Warner, a recently retired theater professor and high school teacher. Performances in August will include a special appearance at the Bread and Puppet Theatre in Glover, Vt. For more information, see seniorcattales.org or contact Warner (617-826-9080, seniorcattales@gmail.com).
Kids get colorful (Lincoln through the Lens)
Lincoln Public Schools students in grades K-5 came together on April 3 at the eCordova Sculpture Park for The Great Create, where they work collaboratively to complete creative challenges and create sculptures using unexpected art-making materials. The event was sponsored by the Lincoln School Foundation.
 Children working on their Great Create project. (Photo by Corrina Miara) |
 Qianhe Ma gets his hands dirty (or blue, anyway) at the Great Create. (Photo by Corrina Miara) |
Correction (May 20 car wash rescheduled)
Because of predicted rain on Saturday, May 20, the eighth-grade car wash has been rescheduled for Sunday, May 21. The calendar listing has been updated.
Correction
In the May 17 article headlined “Watering limited to one day a week as town works to repair leaks,” the word “not” was missing in the second-to-last paragraph. It should have read:
Though the old pipe’s contents are not counted as part of Lincoln’s water usage, “it is water we’re losing from Flint’s Pond and we’re eager to get it fixed,” said LaFalam, adding that the Water Department hopes to get it fixed this spring or summer.”
The story has been updated, and a photo and video have also been added.
Correction
The May 14 story headlined “Meeting, public forums to tackle town’s options under Housing Choice Act” listed an incorrect time for the June 16 public forum on the Housing Choice Act. It will be at 8 a.m., not 8 p.m. The original post and calendar have been corrected.
Correction
The talk on Operation Desert Storm on May 9 in Bemis will take place at 1 p.m., not 3 p.m. as previously listed. The calendar item has bene updated.
Field Notes: Support local farms this summer with a CSA
By Rachel Neurath
Field Notes is an occasional feature highlighting climate and environment work in town and spotlighting Lincoln residents and staff. Rachel Neurath is a soil microbial ecologist, co-leader of Lincoln Common Ground, and a member of Lincoln’s Climate Action Plan Working Group.
There’s nothing quite like a fresh tomato, bursting in an explosion of flavor, or the sweet crispness of a sugar snap pea, just picked off the vine. Lincoln has an incredible abundance and diversity of small farms. This summer, consider supporting one with a CSA share. Buying local food is good for our community, good for the planet, and delicious!
CSAs are community-supported agriculture shares. Each farm operates a little differently, but with all of them, you sign up in advance for regular shares of seasonal produce. This helps farmers plan ahead. Picking up produce lets you get to know where your food comes from and is a great way to interact with our incredible local farmers. Not only are the farms in Lincoln taking impressive steps to operate sustainably, but many Lincoln farmers are working toward food justice.
Below is information on how to sign up for CSAs. Lincoln also has the Codman Community Farm store which offers local produce for sale 24 hours a day.
Hannan Healthy Foods
Hannan Healthy Foods is a family farm centered on the core value that healthy food is not a privilege, but a right. Originally from Bangladesh, Mohammed Hannan and his team grow wide varieties of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers, including many unique and delicious varieties from Southeast Asia. Mohammed looks forward to sharing a diversity of certified organic, sustainable, and affordable produce with the Lincoln community. This summer, Hannan Healthy Foods is offering a variety of CSA shares and is also piloting an innovative project to improve soil health with a focus on compost, which should help draw carbon out of the atmosphere and store it in the soil while at the same time increasing ecosystem biodiversity and resilience.
Drumlin Farm
The CSA at Drumlin Farm is offering ten half or full shares. For an additional cost, you can have pick-your-own and fruit share add-ons. SNAP (the Federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) users can buy shares. People can also work in exchange for CSA work shares. Drumlin Farm continues to expand its sustainable agricultural activities.
The Food Project
The Food Project is not offering summer CSA shares this year, but they are planning a 2023 fall harvest CSA. The Food Project is deeply rooted in youth development and food access work. Supporting their farm helps to advance their work towards equity in our local food system. Farm manager Rob Page says, “What I love about farming in Lincoln is the community interactions I get to have with residents and other farmers — there’s a gratitude and humility for farming held by the people who live and work here, which is really special.”
Lindentree Farm
Lindentree Farm was one of the first farms in eastern Massachusetts to offer CSA shares. Ari Kurtz and Moira Donnell have been pioneers in organic agriculture and many crew members at Lindentree have gone on to start their own farms all over New England. After 29 years, Lindentree Farm discontinued their CSA program in 2021. They still offer periodic “popup” shares throughout the spring, summer, and fall. If you are interested in being on the mailing list, please email lindentreecsa@gmail.com.
Codman Farm Store
The Codman Community Farms store is open every day and they exclusively carry local food products. Their market garden is expanding with a wide variety of popular veggies like greens and tomatoes. They also carry a wide variety of local protein raised sustainably and ethically on Lincoln land, including eggs, pork, beef, chicken, and turkey.
Addendum
At the request of author Lynne Smith, the second paragraph of her April 18 “My Turn” piece (“My Turn: CCBC architects tackle forum topics and site analysis“) has been amended to include a specific piece of information she is seeking.
Firefighters from Lincoln and other towns help at Weston fire
Firefighters from Lincoln and several other area towns responded to an April 7 house fire in Weston that caused extensive damage and also a brush fire nearby.
The house at 479 North Ave. is at the corner of Route 117 and Lincoln Street, a stone’s throw from where the latter turns into Weston Road in Lincoln. Route 117 eastbound was closed at Tower Road in Lincoln for some time, and drivers heading south on Weston Road had to turn around.
No one was inside when firefighters arrived at around 12:40 p.m., according to Lincoln Fire Chief Brian Young. The fire apparently started in some mulch close to the house and strong winds pushed the fire under the porch, into the eaves of the deck, and eventually into the rafters of the house, which then caught the large attic space on fire. Windblown embers also started a brush fire on the other side of Lincoln Street, he said.
The scene was crowded for hours with emergency vehicles and firefighters from Waltham, Newton, Wayland, Wellesley, Sudbury, Lexington, Needham, and Framingham, according to the Weston Fire Department’s Facebook page. The fire reached four alarms; each alarm is a request for three fire engines and a ladder truck, and each engine has four firefighters, resulting in a total of 64 firefighters, Young said. They spent several hours exposing ceilings and walls to access where the fire was burning up in the attic so it could be fully extinguished.
Aerial shots were captured by a helicopter from WHDH-TV (7 News Boston). The house was valued at $2.16 million, according to Zillow.