The Neighborhood Farm
A collection of market gardens in and around Needham, MA
News from Needham's Neighborhood Farm
8/4/08 - There is a lot of interesting local agriculture going on in our area right now. Here is a quick plug for another farm project that we think is especially worthwhile. A group of Needham residents is working to start the Needham Community Farm, much like the Natick Community Organic Farm and the Newton Angino Community Farm. Those of you who are in Needham may have seen the Needham Community Farm test garden plots out at the Newman School/Historical Society on Central Ave. There are four new garden beds with tomatoes, salad greens, corn, potatoes, carrots, and lots more. A lot of the produce is donated to the Needham Community Council, and some is available for sale on site. Hopefully a permanent farm site will become available sometime soon. This would be a wonderful, educational organization to have in town. More people are needed to help if any of you are interested in getting involved. Check out the website at http://www.needhamfarm.org
Our gardens are looking great. We've has so much rain that everything is enormous. We have a lot of cherry tomatoes all of the sudden. We are growing 7 different types of cherry tomatoes this year. There are some pictures of them posted in the photo gallery. We've also picked a few big heirloom tomatoes. So far the tally is half a dozen Black Krims, five Cherokee purples, one Tiffen Mennonite, one Pineapple, and about three dozen Glaciers that are growing in the greenhouse.
The biggest problem we've had is with our basil. Most of our garden sites were lawns not too long ago. As we now know, there is a kind of beetle (the Asiatic Garden Beetle) that is commonly found in lawns and apparently LOVES basil. There are countless beetles at one of our sites and they decimated the basil we had there. When we dug out the plants we found about half a dozen beetles in the roots of each seedling. Wow! We tried some organic controls including diatomaceous earth and soap sprays, but there were just too many beetles. In the end we planted more basil elsewhere (thank you Powisset Farm!) and we are squishing any of the beetles we find.
7/11/08 - Our first farmer's market was a success! We made it on time and with all our produce, plants and supplies! A miracle. We had a wonderful time. The market had a festive atmosphere - people were really excited to see local produce come to town. There were 2 other farms, a bakery, a nursery, and a company with composting products. There were even performances by some talented young Irish step dancers. If you get a chance, come visit us on Wednesday afternoons in Dedham Square. It's a fun event. We posted some more pictures in the photo gallery.
We ate our own tomatoes for lunch yesterday! So far there are only a few, but within a couple of weeks we should be inundated with tomatoes.
There have been a number of bunny and insect problems in our gardens lately. We've tried fencing out the bunnies, but they've found new ways through. We have been unable to identify our insect pests despite numerous consultations with other local growers. We can't find any of the insects, we can only see the damage. It's a mystery. We're hoping that they will depart for greener pastures now that they've eaten all the basil. Sometimes you just have to accept a certain amount of loss and focus on other things.
We've had some amazing help over the last couple of weeks. Jeanne cleared an astonishing number of weeds out of one of our gardens. She is a holistic health counselor with some wonderful resources on her website. Check it out.
Julia and Isaac came to market with us and thank goodness they did! I don't know what we would have done without them. Without them both (and their vehicles) we literally wouldn't have gotten there.
Overall, things are growing, growing, growing. We had rain daily for over a week and everything took off. Some of the tomatoes are over 5 feet tall already. Now that we're having a string of hot, dry, sunny weather we're expecting things to start ripening quickly. Come on tomatoes!
6/13/08 - We sold our first produce of the season this week! The farmer's market doesn't start until July 9th, but we began selling produce via email. On Tuesday, we emailed our subscribers and offered them 2 types of salad mix, spinach, Chinese cabbage, cilantro and scallions. They replied with their orders and picked up their vegetables the next day. We're pleased with the response we've received so far.
Next week we should be offering greens, peas, some herbs, heirloom tomato seedlings, and flower seedlings. If you would like us to email you with our list of produce, please subscribe to our newsletter.
The hot weather earlier this week stressed out many of our crops, but cooler temperatures have returned and everything seems to be recovering. A cool, rainy day would be helpful, but it doesn't appear to be in the immediate forecast. Working with and around the weather is one of the trickiest parts of farming and gardening.
New photos are finally up in the photo gallery. Check out some of our garden sites from around town.
This week we would especially like to thank Kristin and Julia, our fabulous volunteers who helped us get a lot done in a short period of time. Thanks guys!
5/22/08 - The first tomatoes are in the ground as we push our luck for a pre-Memorial Day start. The greenhouse is packed with more things waiting to go in the ground.
We will have a stand at the new Dedham Square Farmer's Market. The market will be on Wednesday afternoons from 1 - 6 in the parking lot at the corner of Providence Highway and Eastern Avenue (across from Staples on one side and CVS on the other). The first market day will be July 9.
We are also thinking about taking orders for boxes of produce (like a CSA share box) week by week. If you are interested in this, please subscribe to our newsletter and we will keep you updated with prices and availability.
4/28/08 - We've turned 2 lawns into gardens already! We have 2 more lawns and an old herb garden to go. So far we've planted sugar snap peas, shell peas, carrots, beets, swiss chard, lettuce, spinach, and scallions.
I was hoping to plant potatoes, more greens, and herbs today, but it rained so hard I couldn't see through my glasses. We'll try again tomorrow. At this time of year it feels like every minute counts. The hardier crops need to get planted outside and the tender crops need to be seeded indoors. The potatoes are sending out eyes that seem to be longer every time I look at them.
We are still thinking about how we are going to sell our produce. We would really like to sell in Needham, but with no farmer's market that is more complicated. It seems silly for both us and our local customers to drive to another town in order to buy and sell our produce. Any marketing ideas are welcome - please contact us if you've got an idea!
The Sungolds are ripe!
Another garden in early August. Note the 7 foot tomatoes on the right.
Garden in mid-June
Newly seeded herb garden
Flower garden and greenhouse
New garden site in early spring