Abigail Davidson, Hometown Weekly Staff

Last spring, the Needham Community Farm Committee sowed the seeds for what was once just a dream amongst organization members- creating a small community farm at 1147 Central Avenue. The farm was created as a form of outdoor classroom for Newman Elementary School students and youngsters were quickly incorporated into the program, receiving lessons on how to plant corn, squash and been seedlings in the soil and how to water and weed.

While the plot was small, committee members were able to run the farm on the primary principles guiding their mission: to teach youngsters the importance of sustainable living, encourage their curiosity in science, create a small, working farm within the Needham community, and, of course, grow some fresh, farm produce.

The Newman farm was, according to Debbie Schmill, a Needham resident and member of the Needham Community Farm Committee, an enormous success. Not only were students brought outside and given lessons in horticulture, but also the garden produced a bumper crop, enough corn, beans and squash for produce to be donated throughout the summer to the Community Council Food Pantry and for a fresh squash dish to be served up to the town’s elementary school students this autumn.

The Newman Elementary School Community Garden served as a pilot program for the Community Farm Committee, a model for a larger, town wide, sustainable living program members would love to grow. Now that the Newman Elementary Farm has taken off, committee members have set their sights on a much larger goal- creating a community farm on town land where all of Needham’s residents would be able to dig in and get their hands dirty.

Committee members have spent the past year searching for a suitable locale around town. After much research, it was decided that the former Nike site, located off of Pine Street and Charles River Road, would afford the best opportunities for a working farm in Needham.

While much of the 16-acre site has been set aside as conservation land, Schmill believes that the three acres of open land situated on the property would allow the committee to create a working garden, greenhouses and an education center.

“The mission of our project is to provide an education center, both for children and adults, that’s a hands-on program that would allow residents the opportunity to explore nature and learn about the science and technology behind sustainable living,” explains Schmill.

“We would have a working garden, examples of water collection, composting, passive solar greenhouses, classes for adults about sustainable living, and classes for children that would get them out into the garden, connecting with the earth, and, hopefully, getting them excited about science, growing food, and, at same time, getting fresh air and physical activity.”

According to Schmill, creating a community farm on town-owned land is an important aspect of the project, as committee members want to design a program available to all residents. Additionally, the increasing need for sustainable living in the face of global warming makes horticulture an important topic for Needham residents, young and old, to study.

“We would like the farm to be on town land because we view this as a community project and we think it’s appropriate to use town land for this purpose,” relates Schmill. “At a bigger site we could have a multi-generational program and we really see this as a community building opportunity. It would provide outdoor recreation that is open to all ages and we would be promoting events that would bring the community together.”

Initially, the farm would not be used to create individual plots for community members looking for some homegrown produce, but instead as a community resource where residents would be able to come and learn how to compost and coax peppers and lettuce from the New England soil.

“If we had enough land after meeting the needs of our primary mission, which is for educational purposes and to model sustainable practices, it would be great to have community plots as well, and to provide space for people who don’t have land at their own homes to come and farm,” explains Schmill. “Right now our primary goal is to have people who have their own land come and learn to farm on their own property and grow their own food.”

Additionally, committee members are tossing around ideas for how to make the farm’s produce available to all. Current ideas include creating a program where residents can purchase shares in the farm and come collect fresh produce weekly, creating a farm stand and continuing donations to the local food pantry.

While there are several other ideas floating around for how to use the Nike site (including creating new sports fields), Community Farm Committee members are hopeful that their idea for a farm and education center will at least be included in the discussion of the property’s future.

“There are two areas of this project that I think are particularly important to the community. One is the environment and recognizing the need to live within our means, the necessity to preserve our natural resources, achieve self sufficiency as much as possible and to promote environmental stewardship in a time where climate change is looming over us,” explains Schmill. “It’s also important that we be educating our children and encouraging their curiosity in the sciences. Ultimately, it will be their responsibility to come up with the answers to the environmental problems that we have and it’s important that our children are excited about science and want to explore the way things work.”

The Needham Community Farm Committee is currently collecting signatures for a petition to create a community farm on Needham land. To read and sign the petition, visit www.needhamfarm.org.

-Hometown Weekly Newspapers