A Year in the Life of a Community Farm

What is a community farm? Who decides what to grow there? Who grows it? What do children do there? The Lexington Community Farm Coalition is sponsoring a panel discussion titled “A Year in the Life of a Community Farm” as part of its series of educational talks about community farming on Thursday, December 3 at the Church of Our Redeemer, 6 Meriam St. Lexington. Light refreshments will be available at 7 pm; program begins at 7:30 pm.

Come ask real community farmers and farm managers your own questions. Hear about how community farms in neighboring towns operate through the seasons to provide fresh produce and opportunities to work, learn, and grow to people of all ages and abilities.

Panelists include:

* Christy Foote-Smith, Sanctuary Director, and Matt Celona, crops manager at Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary, Lincoln, a working farm and wildlife sanctuary that has been connecting families to nature since 1995
* Verena Wieloch, Farmer at Concord's Gaining Ground Farm in Concord, which has donated all produce grown since 1999 at its 17-acre farm site to area food pantries and meal programs;
* Greg Maslowe, Farmer at Newton Community Farm, non-profit community farm located on the historic Angino farmstead owned by the City of Newton;
* Jen James, Farm Director at Codman Community Farms, which has been farming a town-owned site in Lincoln for more than 36 years.;
* Representatives from the Food Project, which works with over a hundred teens and thousands of volunteers to farm on 37 acres in eastern Massachusetts in the towns and cities of Beverly, Boston, Ipswich, Lincoln and Lynn.

The panelists will give brief presentations about their farms, then answer audience questions. For excerpts from the Lexington Community Farm Coalition's previous program on community farming, see http://lexfarm.org/archives/category/video