Natick issues mandatory water use restriction: Don’t blame us

August 11, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The Town of Natick has announced a mandatory non-essential outdoor water use restriction in light of the light rainfall totals so far this summer. In other words, turn off the sprinklers to help ensure there’s enough water left for public health and safety needs, such as fire protection.

As you can see, we’ve been doing our part, with our two-tone lawn of fading green and crispy brown.

Here are the specific rules:

Watering Schedule

Residents and businesses occupying a building with an odd number street address will limit non-essential water use including lawn and garden watering to Monday and Thursday from the hours of 5:00 pm on the select day until 9:00 am the following day.
Residents and businesses occupying a building with an even number street address will limit non-essential water use including lawn and garden watering to Tuesday and Friday from the hours of 5:00 pm on the select day until 9:00 am the following day.
No non-essential outdoor water use Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday.

Non-Essential Outdoor Water Use Recommendation

Water lawns only when necessary. Please be aware that a healthy lawn only requires a maximum of one (1) inch of water per week.
Maintain your lawn at a height of at least two (2) inches. This practice will protect roots and retain soil moisture.
Water is lost to evaporation when watering during hot days
Visit https://www.epa.gov/watersense/watering-tips for additional watering tips.

Essential Outdoor Water Use Definition

Essential Outdoor Water Use shall mean those uses that are required for the following:

For health or safety reasons;
By regulation;
For the production of food and fiber;
For the maintenance of livestock;
To meet the core functions of a business (for example, irrigation by golf courses as necessary to maintain tees and greens, and limited fairway watering);
Irrigation by Plant nurseries;
Agricultural operations as necessary to maintain stock or establish new plantings;
Pest management;
Wash equipment to prevent damage and/or maintain performance;
Irrigation of parks and recreation fields

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Natick Community Organic Farm flower operation is in full bloom

July 31, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

The first message you get when driving up to the Natick Community Organic Farm (NCOF) is to slow down. If the sign isn’t enough to convince you, the pot holes should do the trick. They’re deep, wide, and will swallow your vehicle whole if you don’t navigate the driveway just right. So be warned. But don’t let that minor challenge scare you off from visiting the 30-acre certified-organic farm that has operated on Town-owned land since 1975.

I stopped by recently for a tour of the farm’s quarter-acre flower fields, led by Heather Livingstone, the farm’s flower manager. Although her domain may not be large in size, sales from flowers bring in a sizable income for the non-profit organization. Livingstone, along with assistant Jen Campos and a crew of volunteers, sees to it that the the farm stand is kept stocked daily with bouquets. In addition, they keep running the Community Supported Agriculture subscriptions that range from five-weeks of spring blooms for $100, to a 20-week vase subscription delivered to your home or business for 20 weeks for $600, and other options in between. The NCOF has a table at the Natick Farmers Market every Saturday, and also sells to local Whole Foods markets and specialty grocery stores. Putting together arrangements for weddings and events is a regular part of what they do, as well.

The flower gardens are planted in tidy rows and in full bloom right now with zinnias, dahlias, cosmos, statice, celosia, viburnum, dahlias, rudbeckia, snapdragons, sunflowers, asters, and more, all organic, and all bursting with color. Pollinators such as bees, wasps, and butterflies crowd the gardens throughout the April through late-October growing season, taking advantage of the abundance.

Weeds also compete for space in the rows. Livingstone says they manage to keep unwanted plants at bay by laying down organic weed mats in some spots and humble cardboard in other areas. Still, invasive species do experience a measure of success. In their quest for world domination, weeds creep in and try to crowd out their floral cousins, who prefer to stay in their lanes and focus on looking amazing. Livingstone is philosophical about the realities of gardening without the use of herbicides. “We’re an organic farm, so we use only sustainable farming practices. Sometimes, when you’re farming organically, you have to let go a little.”

The flower operation is a decidedly low-tech concern. Workers get the job done using trowels, hoes, and other hand tools. No big machinery is used. And although the farm is on town water, the farmers try to use sprinklers sparingly. This year, they’re experimenting with a no-till system in an effort to improve soil structure, reduce erosion, and minimize the compaction of soil in the planting area. At other farms, there have been some reports that using a no-till system makes weed control a losing game. Still, Livingstone is interested in seeing what the results will be at the NCOF.

The NCOF is open to visitors, but there are several protocols in place right now to keep workers, visitors, and summer camp participants safe from COVID-19. The picnic tables, barn, and buildings are closed, though the outdoor composting toilet is open and the barn-side sink is operational. Bring your own hand sanitizer.

In addition, the outdoor barn-side stand is open for purchases. The stand is stocked with eggs, maple syrup, woolen yarn, vegetables, and floral bouquets. The selection changes throughout the day based on what’s harvested. Note: eggs are in limited supply until the farm get more hens. Meat may be purchased online.

There’s something about a working farm in the middle of a suburban community that brings in people and keeps them coming. “I started volunteering when I was 15-years old,” says Livingstone, a Franklin High School graduate. “I came to work for a summer, and now I’m out of college and I work here. This place fulfills me and makes me happy.”

Over 20,000 visitors that come annually to the farm agree. They find their own happiness and fulfillment whether it’s in picking up a bouquet of flowers, or fresh lettuce for dinner, or dropping off their kids for a Budding Farmers program. In a location where farming has been part of the landscape continuously for over 350 years, agriculture at the NCOF spot feels like it should be a permanent part of South Natick. The town agrees, and in 2009 the NCOF’s acreage was preserved forever as conservation land by the people of Natick.

Its future secured, the NCOF is busy teaching the next generation about stewardship, land use, community service and, of course, organic agriculture.

Natick Community Organic Farm
117 Eliot St, Natick, MA 01760
(508) 655-2204

Admission is free.
The NCOF is open for you to explore on your own from sunup to sundown, every day, year-round.

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Time for Natick to dig out those reusable bags

July 15, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Reusable bags are back, baby.

Bags, Wellesley — The bags situation is a little out of hand at our house, so it’s welcome news that reusable bags are back.

We’ve amassed quite a collection of single-use paper and plastic bags in our home since March 25, when the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) temporarily suspended the use of reusable bags due to COVID-19 concerns. One day the well-trained shoppers of Natick could be seen with an armload of canvas totes, or well-worn paper bags on perhaps the last Roche Bros. run of their lives before finally falling apart. The next day, those bags were banished to the back of the trunk for the foreseeable future.

Health officials have since determined there is a low risk of contracting COVID-19 from resuable bags, so we can all pull those sacks out of obscurity and once again go about the business of saving the planet.

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Down go the Natick Common ash trees

July 13, 2020 by Bob Brown 2 Comments

Nobody was happy about this decision, but Natick had no choice other than to cut down 10 signature ash trees along Park Street and Natick Common due to an Emerald Ash Borer infestation. The tree removal began shortly after 7:30am on Monday morning, with the Natick Department of Public Works overseeing the operation and North-Eastern Tree Service handling the cutting down of the trees.

I swung by to see the first tree being sliced and diced at the corner of Park Street and Common Street, across from the post office and Park Street Ice Cream. The tree surgeon wielding the chainsaw started with the smaller branches up and down the tree, then worked his way into the thicker branches (I had to leave before they got to the trunk). The only break I saw the guy take during the first 30-40 minutes was to refill the gas tank on his saw). His teammates gathered the debris below.

The DPW had roped off a good chunk of the Common ahead of time, with signs marking the Drop Zone for where the trees would be felled. Though from what I could see this was a precise job, with little chance pieces of the trees would be getting anywhere near the Drop Zone signs.

The town posted notices on the target trees recently to alert the public that the trees would need to be removed and why. One town official estimated the trees were about 20 years old, no older than 35 (a poster in a Facebook group said he was involved in planting the trees in the 1980s, and that they lasted pretty well considering their location).

The Natick Department of Public Works has had an Emerald Ash Borer suppression system in place for a while given neighboring communities have had infestations, but there’s pretty much no stopping these insects once they set their sights on ash trees.

The good news is that Natick plans to replace the trees with different species next spring.

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natick common ash trees — A bit later in the day (Photo by Dennis McCormick)

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Ash #natickeats trees being removed on #Natick Common due to #emeraldashborer infestation

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This beetle will give Natick Common a new look

July 1, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive insect that made its way to the United States less than 20 years ago, is a pretty beetle. It’s also pretty destructive, and Natick will be losing 10 signature trees this month that have been infested with the critter.

The Department of Public Works has issued a memo (embedded below) detailing the issue that will be presented at the Natick Select Board meeting Wednesday. The trees are facing “rapid decline” and must be removed to prevent possible injuries to passersby or property.

Up until now, Natick had not been on the Massachusetts map for detections, though the Natick Department of Public Works has had an Emerald Ash Borer suppression system in place for a while given neighboring communities have had infestations.

“Unfortunately due to the aggressive nature of this pest and the confirmed infestations in nearby communities, the EAB population has exceeded our threshold to suppress and the EAB has been identified on the Natick Town Common.”

The DPW says about 3% of the public tree population in town, with many more on private land.

It plans to replace the elm trees with different species come spring 2021.

Meanwhile, I could use an Emerald Ash Borer for my insect collection.