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Natick Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day is April 30—get your tickets

March 24, 2022 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Natick Board of Health’s 36th annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day

Saturday, April 30,   9am – 12pm at the Natick Dept. of Public Works, 75 West St.

natick public works dpw truck

Tickets must be purchased in advance in one of the following ways:

  • in person at the Board of Health office, 13 East Central St., Town Hall, 2nd floor with cash or check payable to Town of Natick, you will be given your ticket
  • with a check payable to the Town of Natick either via US Mail or via the drop box to the right of the Town Hall front door.  Please address envelopes: Board of Health, 13 East Central St., Natick MA 01760.  Be sure to include your US Mail address so we can mail your ticket to you. NOTE: if you wish to get your ticket by mail, please have the payment into the Board of Health office by Friday, April 22
    Tickets will not be sold on site; autos without a ticket will be turned away
  • Natick Residents only
  • $10.00 per car, limited to 300 cars 

Learn more about what you can or can’t bring, as well as about hazardous waste days in other communities that have reciprocal agreements with Natick. Sorry, no ammo, radioactive materials, or asbestos allowed.


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Filed Under: Environment, Government, Health

Celebrate Earth Day at Bacon Free Library in Natick with a free tree and other fun

March 24, 2022 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Natick’s Earth Day organizers have been filling up April 30 & May 1 with lots of events and invite you to celebrate by planting a free tree sapling. Parents or guardians can register here for kids to receive a tree. Pick up will be April 30, 10am-2pm, at the Bacon Free Library, 58 Eliot St.

Natick Common, new trees

Also on April 30, 1oam-2pm at the library, enjoy an activity and art event sponsored by Wilson School. “Project Sapling” will engage kids in a hands-on arts and crafts activity: a “DIY” bird feeder that kids can hang in their own backyard, made from pine cones, bird seed, sun-nut butter, and string, along with a paper bag to take it home.

Don’t miss the story walk on April 30 & May 1, 8am-8pm, on the Bacon Free Library grounds, and read the book Solar Story by Allan Drummond, one page at a time. This book shares the experiences of a Moroccan schoolgirl who lives near the largest solar plant in the world, conveying how the plant has brought jobs and reliable power—and also how it’s upended the old ways of doing things, even in the girl’s own family. More here.

There are many more activities going on around town like a garden tour and some clean-out and tidy-up activities. Learn more here.

Filed Under: Bacon Free Library, Environment, Outdoors

Natick High now composting its lunchtime leftovers

March 22, 2022 by Bob Brown 1 Comment

The Natick High School Earth Club is starting small with its new composting project, but its efforts could have a big sustainability impact at the school as well as across town.

The club, which focuses on reducing the environmental impact of the school and community, launched the composting program on Feb. 28 and is already filling two 48-gallon bins a week, according to Rebecca Adams Pandolfo, an early childhood development & education teacher at NHS. She and wellness teacher Tori Zinck are the club’s advisors.

NHS Earth Club

 

The club is partnering with Black Earth Compost, which also collects those green carts in Natick as part of the town’s residential composting program.  According to the school, residents can sign up here, and you’ll get $5 off and earn $5 to help pay for composting at NHS.

Pandolfo says “This was a phenomenal leadership opportunity for Earth Club members since a school-wide program like this includes coordination with a lot of different stakeholders. We partnered with  the Natick Town Sustainability committee and Black Earth compost to plan out the logistics of the program.  We also worked closely with school administration and custodial staff to ensure a smooth day-to-day operation.”

Most important has been student awareness and education. The team worked with a video production student on a promotion shown to all students the day the program launched. That’s been supplemented with flyers, daily announcements, raffles, and treats to encourage and reminder students to join in.

An environmental impact audit done for Natick High School found that composting could make a big impact.

“Over 50% of the waste produced in the cafeteria was found to be compostable, although without a compost program, it was being diverted into trash, which ends up releasing harmful greenhouse gasses into our environment,” Pandolfo said. “This data is what helped us at the Earth Club to hone in on composting as our main initiative for this year.  Our goal has been to offer a solution where that 50% of waste that is compostable can instead become usable, nutrient-rich soil.”

The club has started its effort with a single bin in a prime part of the cafeteria where members can answer questions and ensure composting is done correctly.

“It can be difficult to ensure that compost bins don’t get contaminated with other waste and so we took a quality over quantity approach with this launch. We all agreed it was better to start off smaller in order to get everyone accustomed to how to compost and to iron out any unforeseen challenges before we grow,” Pandolfo said.

The club expects to expand the program beyond student lunch waste, possibly to include waste from food prep in the kitchen.

Hopefully word of the program’s success will reach homes throughout town. As of now, about 1,100 Natick households are enrolled in the town’s curbside composting program, according to Jillian Wilson-Martin, Natick’s director of sustainability. “We have been kind of ‘stuck’ at around this number for about a year. If we get 1,500 households composting, the cost would go down for everyone from $115 / year to $90 / year.”


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Filed Under: Education, Environment

Natick Community Organic Farm barn fire, one year later

March 15, 2022 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

In the early morning hours of March 17, 2021, the beloved Natick Organic Community Farm’s (NCOF) 200+ year-old barn burned down. The cause of the conflagration, which completely engulfed the timber framed structure within 20 minutes, was electrical in nature, Chief Michael Lentini of the Natick Fire Department confirmed in an email. Thankfully, there was no loss of human life, but three sows and 13 piglets perished in the 3-alarm fire, which started around 4:30am.

Natick Community Organic Farm

Everyone connected with the farm agrees that the day the historic barn was lost was one of the most terrible of their lives. But almost before the sun rose, the community was rallying to support the town treasure that is NCOF. “We were so lucky in so many ways. It wasn’t a windy day, thanks to the firefighters there was no spread to the other wooden structures,” said Trish Wesley Umbrell, Assistant Director of Internal Operations, during an interview at the farm. “But it was really dreadful to get here in the dark and see the flames going up in the sky. It was really, really awful.”

The outpouring of support over the past year has included monetary donations from piggybanks and bank accounts; words of kindness; and meals for farmers, staff, and volunteers as they worked through the almost unbearable loss.

Natick Community Organic Farm, barn

The heart of the farm

The NCOF serves Natick and 22 surrounding communities, and the people have spoken. They want the farm to rebuild the barn. It will take about $1.1 million to replace the two-story barn and attached greenhouse, making the farm whole again. Donations have poured in. Over $276K has been raised over the past year via a crowdfunding campaign launched by the farm. Another $400K+ came in through the Natick Community Organic Farm website and through private offline donations. The goal is to raise the barn in its original location, hopefully breaking ground in fall 2022.

The 27-acre NCOF is registered as a 501(c)3 nonprofit entity that is designated for agriculture and conservation purposes in perpetuity. The land is owned by the town and is under a multi-decade long-term lease to the nonprofit.

Regarding the insurance coverage that was carried by the Town of Natick on the barn and greenhouse, capital campaign director Rachel Adjemian said in an email, “The barn that burned was owned by the town. The insurance money was minimal (not near the cost to replace what was lost) and did not come back to the farm for this rebuild but went to the town. The town is giving ownership of the new barn to the nonprofit, and the nonprofit is responsible for funding the build. We will own our own insurance on the new barn.”

Barn raising

Currently an architect is working on plans that will result in a barn with an updated interior that will will serve the way NCOF farms today. “We want to build a barn that has the spirit of the old barn but with some modern aspects to it that will allow us to do our work of youth education and farming better,” Umbrell said. The new structure will look a lot like the old barn in terms of shape, and like the old barn, there will be an attached greenhouse. Changes such as a state-of-the-art irrigation system to replace the tangled tripping hazard of hoses from the past will be put in place.

Natick Community Organic Farm

Another practical wish list item is a concrete slab floor so that farmers can drive heavy equipment in and out of the barn, something that the former barn’s heavy oak floors were unable to support. In a nod to 1815, the year the old barn was built, the new structure will be timber framed to honor the essential character of the place. A surveyor’s report advised the barn be raised on its original site. From a practical standpoint, the farm grew up around the barn, and the farm’s many structures and fields were placed due to the barn’s location. From an environmentally sensitive standpoint, much of the farm abuts wetlands, so an attempt to move the barn to a different location would likely lead to obstacles that can just as easily be avoided by keeping the structure on its original footprint.

“It’s an opportunity to build something that will not only serve our current farmers, but future generations of farmers,” Umbrell said.

After the firefighters left, and the charred remains were safe to sift through, farmers saved what little they could. Although most of the wood went up in smoke, some of the beams were salvaged. In addition, Mark Oteri, a professional timber framer and craftsman, worked with the demolition crew that was brought in by the town and found seven of the eight original door hinges. Oteri has led the farm’s Teen Work Crew that timber framed many of the farm’s structures including the composting toilet building and the market stand, and will have hands-on involvement in construction of the new barn.

“We will definitely incorporate bits of the old barn into the new one. We want to honor the spirit of the old barn but still build something that’s more reflective of the times we’re in,” Umbrell said.

Planning ahead

Every detail about the new barn is being discussed by the Barn Reconstruction Advisory Committee (BRAC),  a brainstorming group that includes NCOF executive director Casey Townsend, former executive director Lynda Simkins, some NCOF board members, an architect, a builder, and town officials.

The BRAC group is working with the town to secure a building permit in hopes of breaking ground once the summer programs, which serve 700 kids, have wound down. Plus, the farm could use a little more time to bring an exciting offer to fruition. An anonymous donor has come forth with a challenge grant—if the NCOF can raise an additional $200k by Oct. 31, 2022, the donor will match that.

The Challenge Grant is an all-or-nothing opportunity. NCOF will only receive the full matching $200,000 if they can raise the first $200k by Oct. 31. Here’s how to donate.

“While farmers are very resilient and tough people, it’s very, very difficult to function without a practical facility,” Umbrell said.

With hard work and community help, the NCOF is getting closer to that goal of a practical facility that will keep the heart of the farm beating.

_________________________________________________________________________________

The Natick Community Organic Farm is a nonprofit, certified-organic farm. The farm provides productive open space, farm products, and hands-on education for all ages, year-round. The Natick Community Organic Farm is about farming in the public eye. Visitors to the farm learn what food looks like before it gets processed, refined, or packaged. Farmers demonstrate how to take good care of the land and the animals, teaching the next generation about stewardship, ecology, and personal responsibility.


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Filed Under: Animals, Community, Environment, Firefighters, Food, Gardens

Earth Day spreading out in Natick this spring

March 11, 2022 by Admin Leave a Comment

Organizers of Natick’s Earth Day celebration this spring have reimagined it as a truly town-wide event rather than one centered on the Common like in springs past.

earth day all around

What community group EcoNatick envisions for Earth Day All Around Natick is at least a couple dozen separate events distributed through town on the weekend of April 30-May 1, and organizers are seeking individuals, families, businesses, and organizations to host such activities. These could range from backyard garden tours to electric vehicle petting zoos and litter clean-ups, and would engender the spirit of other events like open artist studios.

Learn more about hosting.

Questions? EcoNatick@gmail.com


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Filed Under: Environment

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