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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.

Natick Community Organic Farm

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.

Natick Community Organic Farm

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.”

Natick Community Organic Farm

 

Natick Community Organic Farm

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.

Natick Community Organic Farm

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.

MORE:

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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Filed Under: Community, Education, Environment, Food, Gardens, Outdoors, Volunteering



Natick Food Pantry— keeping the shelves stocked during pandemic

May 28, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

The Natick Food Pantry  has experienced a sharp increase in requests for food assistance due to the coronavirus pandemic. To meet this need, the pantry has remained open while addressing the health and safety of clients, volunteers, and staff.

The pantry, which operates under the umbrella of the Natick Service Council (NSC),  has switched to a contact-less curbside pick-up model of food distribution. Clients schedule an appointment, and each family receives 2 -4 bags of food, depending on the family size. Formally, clients were able to shop the shelves, but that system is on hold for now to minimize community contact.

Natick Service Council

What hasn’t changed — families still are provided with up to two weeks of nutritious foods, including fresh fruits, vegetables, low fat dairy products, lean meats and personal care items.

The pantry is still managing to keep the shelves stocked in large part through a partnership with the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB). This partnership has allowed the pantry to purchase large quantities of essential food pantry items at a fraction of the cost of large stores. The GBFB operates under stringent health and safety measures to ensure the food the NSC is distributing is safe.

Never have monetary donations been more needed. Here’s how you can donate to the Natick Service Council and help them continue to serve clients while minimizing community contact.

Should you need any assistance, please call the Natick Service Council office at 508-655-1791.

The Natick Service Council’s annual appeal

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Charity/Fundraising, Health, Volunteering

Natick virtual runners and cyclists step up to help charitable organizations

May 27, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

We always look forward to the many fun and family-focused running and cycling events in the area each spring but, unsurprisingly, charitable organizations have had to reimagine their races due to COVID-19 concerns.

Tour De Natick

All money raised through the Virtual Tour de Natick will go toward the Rotary Club of Natick’s charitable foundation to benefit Natick Scholars. Each year the Club gives away over $10,000 in scholarships to graduating Natick High School Seniors and over 300 dictionaries to the town’s third graders. Thanks to funds raised through the Tour de Natick, over the past 14 years the club has distributed over $151,000 in scholarships and over 4,500 dictionaries.

The need is literal, not virtual

Other 501(c)s that rely on the fundraising generated during the annual springtime events — New Life Furniture Bank, Natick-based Family Promise, and The Second Step program — need essential funding more than ever to continue with their missions of helping families.

The Eliot Church of Natick stepped up by fielding a virtual team of 15 runners and walkers for the New Life Virtual 5k. To participate in a safe and socially distant manner, group members completed their own personal 5k walks or runs. Funds raised benefited the New Life Furniture Bank of Massachusetts in its mission to provide essential home furnishings to those in need.

Eliot Church, Natick

Across the border, the Wellesley Hills Junior Women’s Club (WHJWC) invites the community to participate in a “Virtual Wonder Run” to support of two organizations — The Second Step program and Family Promise Metrowest.

Both programs are committed to helping families through difficult times, and are facing difficult times of their own with the increased critical financial needs associated with COVID-19.

The WHJWC is about halfway to its 15k fundraising goal.

Here’s how the WHJWC Virtual Fun Run works:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Charity/Fundraising, Volunteering

Natick volunteers spotlight: making masks in a time of pandemic

April 29, 2020 by Elana Varon 2 Comments

As COVID-19 cases began to spike in the Boston area last month, Natick resident Kelly McPherson received an important request. A  colleague in her quilting guild was looking for fabric to make masks for local healthcare workers. Since McPherson runs a business from her Natick home that helps crafters finish their quilts, she had plenty of material lying around. She packaged up cotton left over from previous projects and sent it off to her friend.

Women in a Natick Moms Facebook group, meanwhile, were sharing ideas for keeping their kids busy. School was closed, and remote classes hadn’t begun. “I thought, I’ll make up some kits for anybody who wants to teach their kid how to sew,” she recounts.

Natick, masks

McPherson put 10 kits — enough cut fabric and elastic to assemble 40 masks — in a bowl in her front yard and posted on Facebook. Neighbors picked up a few. Then requests from healthcare providers and caregivers came rolling in, and McPherson could barely make kits quickly enough.

By the end of this week, more than 300 Natick and Sherborn residents will have collaborated to produce and distribute more than 5,000 homemade masks, scrub caps and headbands from donated fabric and elastic. Call it a local movement that’s re-defined the idea of public service during a time when everyone stays home. The Natick/Sherborn Sewing Support Group has created new connections among residents and deepened their community involvement. “The people who are helping now, they didn’t always. But they think they can make a difference,” says volunteer Ingrid Frank.

Creating connection

I had some woven cotton stashed away myself: scraps from years-ago craft projects, and several yards of purple batik that I bought to make placemats, but never did. I picked up some elastic from McPherson, and started cutting and sewing.
I’ve pulled out my bottom-of-the-line Singer, the one that jams when I work too fast, only a handful of times in the past 10 years. Some pillow covers here, some jeans shortened there. It took me most of the weekend to make only eight masks.

Natick Masks

And yet, though it seems corny to say it, sewing brought me back to the world. After almost two weeks of sheltering in place, I was spending way too much time scrolling through coronavirus news and second-guessing my spring allergy symptoms. Sewing
made me feel a little less helpless. The next ten masks went faster.

Sewers in the group range from minimally skilled who can sew on a button, to professional tailors. Those who can’t sew or don’t have access to a machine are helping to source materials, cut fabric, and assemble kits to donate. Others deliver batches of finished items to local hospitals, nursing homes, and other facilities providing care or public safety services. Volunteers range in age from tweens to retirees.

“The majority of these people I would have never met otherwise,” says Frank. “You see at every level all these terrible things. Knowing that there are people out there who are trying to work together — it’s the only positive light that we see.”

A community of helpers

Within a week, the group added scrub caps and headbands to their repertoire (the headbands have buttons sewn in so mask-wearers can hook the elastic on them, which keeps their ears from becoming irritated).

As the mask-making operation was gearing up, Gopa Mukherjee, an emergency room nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who lives in Natick, saw a social media post about caps and asked her friend Pam Koskovich to sew her one. “Early on, as we started donning personal protective equipment for suspected COVID patients, I realized that we were not covering our hair,” Mukherjee said. Caps would provide extra protection.

Koskovich, who works for Natick Recreation and Parks as the costumer for the Natick Drama Workshop, found instructions online, tested some prototypes, and distributed patterns through the sewing group. While McPherson continued to manage the mask-makers and track the effort overall, Koskovich organized sewers who wanted a more challenging project to make more scrub caps. Frank and Renee Man stepped in to captain the headband brigade, which includes students from Gymnastics Express who are cutting donated uniform fabric.

“I am helping to find materials, keep inventory, find people to help with cutting and sewing, and serving as a drop-off point,” says Man. “Not to mention sanitizing and sorting thousands of buttons.”

Man decided to get involved because of her own brush with a life-threatening (non-COVID) illness. “I have seen first hand how hard doctors, nurses, therapists, receptionists, kitchen staff and cleaning staff all work every day when there is no pandemic,” she says. “If this gives them even a little bit of comfort or joy then I will feel that I have at least done something. And I like showing my kids” — she has three — “that it is important to pitch in however you can when people need help.”

All of the recipients have a Natick or Sherborn connection, such as an employee or a close relative of one who lives or works in one of the communities. Nurses and doctors at Newton-Wellesley Hospital have received more than 100 masks and several dozens caps and headbands. More than seven dozen items have gone to Metrowest Medical Center. Other beneficiaries include the Visiting Nurses Association, Boston Medical Center, Boston Hope (a temporary facility in the Boston Convention Center for recovering COVID-19 patients), and essential employees working for local government agencies and some businesses.

Mukherjee puts on a cap before leaving the house for each shift. “I can feel the love and support,” she says. “At the hospital, we all have stories of where we received caps from and share them. They remind us that we are not alone and have a whole community
behind us.”

Can community replace commuting?

I’ve lived in Natick for 22 years. Like many people who have been here a while, I’m not surprised to see folks show up to help when needed, or to take the initiative to solve a problem when they see one. “One thing that really struck me about Natick in general is just this sense of community, and of community service and civic duty,” agrees Liz Turi, who moved to Natick in 2012.

Turi has a teenager at home and works full time as a software engineer and interoperability specialist for a healthcare technology company. But she has spent between four and 12 hours a week sewing masks and caps. The differences in community engagement between Natick and other places she has lived “are huge,” she says.

The effort has even spawned a side project. Robin Chalfin, a tailor, made a few hundred masks for healthcare workers, but she wanted to do more. “I have never understood before how important my skills are,” she says. She launched a fundraiser for the Natick Service Council to make a mask for each person who donated $25. So far, she’s raised almost $3,000 (the masks have sold out, but people can still donate).

“I wanted to contribute directly to our neighbors in a different way,” Chalfin adds. “The number of families they serve is going to continue to rise.”

McPherson, who serves on Town Meeting and led the campaign to create the new dog park on West Central Street, thinks it’s possible that as the pandemic subsides, more people might arrange their lives around their communities, rather than their commutes. “If you work from home, that does give you 10 hours a week back to your life, if you work in the city,” she says. “I mean, you could sew with me, or you could join Town Meeting, or you could play a role in the arts community in downtown Natick.”

Also, “it would be really nice to get together and have a toast or meet at a restaurant — and whatever. To just celebrate that which binds us together.”

Natick resident Elana Varon is a freelance writer and editor. She is the author of The Ultimate Side Hustle Book: 450 Moneymaking Ideas for the Gig Economy. Contact her at elana.varon@cochituatemedia.com.

Filed Under: Health, Volunteering

Natick Youth in Philanthropy program seeks applicants

April 22, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

STARTING DATE: September 17, 2020
MEETS WEEKLY: Thursdays, 7pm – 8:30pm
LOCATION: Foundation for Metrowest, 3 Eliot St., Natick
APPLY TODAY: yipmetrowest.org

Filed Under: Kids, Volunteering

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