News from the Farm – April 19th

Hi everyone! – 

I hope you are enjoying all the wonderful changes that are unfolding this spring – peepers, birds migrating in, trees blooming, courting animals.

Educational events at the farm

Earth Day Walk on the Farm
April 22nd 1-3pm at Boulder Knoll Community Farm

Come join other CSA members and friends for an afternoon of “Exploring Different Ecosystems and Habitats” at Boulder Knoll Friday, April 22. We will be walking around the perimeter of the farm and discovering ecosystem types and landscape features including: northern hardwood forest, wetlands, marsh, meadowland and more. Environmental educator Julia Meurice will be leading the walk.

Come prepared to adventure rain or shine! Wear closed shoes and long pants please. All are welcome but be aware that the 1.5 – 2 hour walk involves negotiating some uneven (maybe even squishy) ground. Look for parking near our little red tool shed and meet at the white hoop house.

Check the website boulderknollfarm.com/directions for directions to the farm.

Questions? Email Julia at educator@boulderknollfarm.com.

Input from members needed

In effort to schedule walks and workshops at convenient times for CSA members our environmental educator is soliciting your responses on what works best for you and your family.

Events for children and youth will most likely take place on Fridays and the weekends until the end of the school period and will include hands-on activities and learning games. Events for adults and families will take place weekends in the spring and mornings and afternoons during the week in the summer. These workshops will include local plant species and community ID, decomposition and soil topics, wild edible plant hunts and a few other topics.

Please select from the following time slots and let her know at educator@friendsofboulderknoll.com.

  • Wednesday or Friday mornings
  • Sunday mornings
  • Sunday afternoons
  • Tuesday afternoon/evenings
  • Saturday afternoons

Plantings

The greenhouse at my home is filling up with seedlings – Swiss chard, kale, scallions, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, shallots, lettuce, escarole, tomatillos and flowers are all growing. The plants that can’t take the cold are in the basement under lights. Heat mats helped the eggplants and peppers germinate. I’ll soon be transplanting the tomatoes into the next sized pots. Everything is growing great!

We have planted peas, onions, parsnips, kale in the field. Carrots, beets, chard, potatoes, cilantro and dill are going in in the next few days. Next week we’ll start to plant the potatoes.

Work at the farm

Our 30 and 60 hour work-intensive crew has been fantastic. Growing beds have been prepared, shed repairs have been done, fence and corner posts have been erected, gates have been welded. Thanks so much for all the good energy and hard work.

We invite 12 hour shares to start signing up to work at the farm starting on Thursday during the following times this week

  • Thursday 10 – 4
  • Friday 10 – 4
  • Saturday 12 – 6
  • Sunday 10 – 1 or 2

Please email CSA member Annmarie Golioto at agolioto@srhs.org if you can work during any of these times. She will let me know you’re coming. Please be prepared for breezy, chilly weather. A hat and sturdy shoes are a must. Remember that anyone who is part of your share can work and the hours count toward your 12 hour commitment. Any amount of work time is helpful to the farm – a couple of hours can be plenty when muscles and backs and knees aren’t yet acclimated to gardening. Kids are welcome.

Our website

Please check the website boulderknollfarm.com periodically for farm calendar info, links, foodie stuff and new pics.

One last thought

Please keep farm neighbors Anne and Bob Giddings (our board president) in your thoughts. Anne was in a serious car accident several weeks ago and will have a very long recovery ahead of her. If you have met or worked with Anne, you know what her wonderful energy and positive spirit is like and how much she has contributed to our success. We hope that she will soon be able to come home to Bob and enjoy her beautiful spring garden.

See you at the farm – Hope you can join us for the Earth Day farm walk on Friday from 1-3!

Brenda

Farming has Deep Roots in Cheshire

Here’s an interesting article with accompanying video about Cheshire’s agricultural roots:
http://cheshire.patch.com/articles/farming-history-has-deep-roots-in-cheshire

“As with many New England towns, Slocum said, farmers settled the area which became known as Cheshire. It was a farmer, Thomas Brooks who gave the town its name, and another farmer and former First Selectman, Burnsy B. Norton, whose name lives on at Norton Elementary school.”

Welcome to Boulder Knoll Community Farm members!

Welcome to new and returning members of Boulder Knoll Community Farm CSA:

We hope you have an enjoyable and educational experience on the farm this year. We hope you try some new vegetables, meet some new people and learn something new about nurturing food plants. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, but we also like to think of it as Community Building Agriculture. Continue reading “Welcome to Boulder Knoll Community Farm members!”

CSA work intensive members' orientation this coming Sunday

Hi work intensive members –

A reminder that we’ll gather at the farm at 1 pm on Sunday April 3 to meet each other, tour the garden and talk about the coming season.

If your work share involves more than one person, it would be helpful if whomever plans to work would come. Bring your kids if you like. The orientation will probably take about an hour +.

Anyone who wants to is welcome to stay and do some work (bring garden gloves) or go for a walk around the area.

Please dress in layers. You might even want a warm hat if it’s cool. It tends to be quite windy at the farm early in the season.

Please let me know if you won’t be able to make it.
I’m looking forward to getting together!
Brenda

CSA Registration

Did you know that you can register for our CSA right now? Supporting members of Friends of Boulder Knoll are given priority registration, and they’ve already been signing up in droves.

You too could sign up today! All you have to do is become a member of Friends of Boulder Knoll by making a small donation that will help us fulfill our mission of supporting sustainable agriculture and sustainable communities.

If you don’t wish to become a member, do not despair. Members of last year’s CSA, or those who were on last year’s waiting list can register beginning on February 15. The general public may register on March 1.

For more information on our CSA, be sure to check out the “Our Farm” section of our website.

Hope to see you on the farm!

-Boulder Knoll Community Farm

Welcome to Our New Website

Hi Friends,

Welcome to the new Boulder Knoll Community Farm website. We hope this site can become a vibrant forum, hosting all your great photos, recipes for cooking up our delicious produce, and, of course, the best place to find out the latest news from the farm. Do you have any comments or suggestions for our site? Be sure to get in touch with us.

Best,
Webmaster Dan

Sunday Nov 7 – Garden work day

Hi everyone –

We’ll have an opportunity to get lots of autumn work done at the farm this Sunday from 1 to 5. We’ll be mulching, weeding, prepping next year’s strawberry beds, and pulling cages from the tomato patch. If you haven’t finished your hours, this might be a good time to come. Kids are welcome. Please bring your garden fork if you have one, some favorite gloves (we have some, too) and a hat – it’s going to be warm and sunny!

See you then!
Brenda

News from the Farm – Oct. 30, 2010

Work times are still available!

Here are the times people can sign up for work. Please let me know you’re coming so I can make sure I’m there.

If you’d like to work at other times, please let me know and we can work something out.

  • Sunday Oct 31: 9:30 am – 1:30 pm
  • Monday Nov 1: 10 am – 3 pm
  • Tuesday Nov 2: 10 – 3
  • Wednesday Nov 3: 10 – 3
  • Thursday Nov 4: 10 – 3
  • Friday Nov 5: 10 – 3
  • Saturday Nov 6: I will be away for the day. Please arrange work with me in advance

We’re pulling weeds, cleaning up and mulching beds with leaves and paths with wood chips. I’d like someone to finish putting the plastic on the hoop house end. Also, it would be great to get the lean-to shade house frame built before the winter. The lumber is there; we just need some creative types to figure out how to construct it. I would also like to inventory all the soil amendments and cover crop seed that we have left from this year. We’ll plant garlic after another week or so of cool weather.

Soup kitchen and Caseus harvests continue

As long as there are veggies in the field, we will continue to donate to the Waterbury and Meriden soup kitchens and sell to Caseus.

Thanks to Kol Ami friends who have done all the deliveries to the soup kitchens! Thanks to our good friends at Caseus who have contributed so much to our great second year.

Gleaning opportunities for members

Whenever I am at the farm (check the above times), CSA members can come to pick your own chard, kale, broccoli, carrots, beets, bok choi, Chinese cabbage, herbs, parsnips, etc. Please let me know that you are coming (in advance) so I can make sure I’ll be there to guide you.

Report from the annual meeting on Thursday Oct 28th

The Friends of Boulder Knoll (FOBK) Annual Meeting and potluck supper was held at the home of members Fellis and Hap Jordan.

Kim Stoner was honored for her years of tenacity as president of the Friends of Boulder Knoll. She was instrumental in working with the town to get a lease for our farm and start the CSA. She has agreed to be the clerk of her Quaker meeting and so she has resigned from the Friends of Boulder Knoll Board and the CT NOFA board. Very sorry to see her go, but we know where she lives! We voted new board members in, heard a report from the farmer, talked about thoughts for next year, enjoyed a delicious potluck dinner provided by the board and enjoyed great company. Bob Giddings was appointed as president, Tim O’Connell, VP, Kathryn Frund, Recording Secretary, and Carol Goertz, Treasurer.

Please consider joining the Friends of Boulder Knoll with a modest membership fee. Your FOBK membership will entitle you to first crack at a 2011 CSA membership prior to the general public.

Grant received!!

We received a much needed and VERY generous grant from the Cheshire Nursery School board. When they closed several years ago and sold their assets, their non-profit by-laws required them to donate the proceeds of the sale to educational organizations. We have the great fortune of having their former director as a CSA member. Thank you Marion Sparago for thinking of us as a recipient! This money will allow us to hire a part-time environmental educator for the farm to create programs and work with children, youth and adults. I am very excited about this – what a wonderful enhancement to our project.

Survey on the 2010 CSA season

Be looking for a survey in the next month or so. We want to hear from you about what you liked, didn’t like, and suggestions for next year.