The rebirth of a farm - not many things seem more hopeful to me than that. What a great testament to years of a dedicated conservation plan that this property did not fall to development like the fate of so many of our country’s family farms.
My name is Molly DellaRoman and I am the new Farm Manager at The Trustees of Reservations’ Moose Hill Farm in Sharon, MA. I started here on October 1 and began working the land as soon as I could. So far I have spent about 25 hours plowing the old hay fields here. That is a lot of time to think. I’ve thought a lot about the old dairy farm that existed here from the 1930’s to the 1960’s. It has been really exiting to come across bits and pieces of its existence all over the property; from tracing old foundations of the beautiful dairy barns that once stood here, to plowing up an occasional brick where the vegetables will stand next spring.
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| The first acre plowed at Moose Hill Farm - October '12 |
I’ve wondered how the dairy operation was run and compared that to the new farm that we hope to create for this community. How will we be the same or different? There has been a long tradition of habitat conservation at this farm and we plan to strongly carry on these practices. Before I began to plow, we marked off where pairs of bobolinks (a declining grasslands bird species) have been mating and we will leave that field undisturbed. We will be bringing back the long tradition of livestock at the farm. This time around it will be a combined produce/livestock operation; fertilizing and tilling the land as sustainably as we can.
At Moose Hill Farm, we hope to recreate an “extended-family farm” – a vibrant community farm. We hope to achieve this through many different outlets over the years: a year-round vegetable CSA program, on and off-site farm stands in surrounding towns such as Walpole and Canton, egg and meat production, hunger relief and food access programs in Sharon and our surrounding towns, PYO accessibility gardens, school programs, a summer camp, numerous volunteer opportunities and farmer training. Whew! Let’s get started - we would love to have you join us!! www.thetrustees.org/moosehillfarm
~Farmer Molly
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| Farmer Molly, tabling for the new Moose Hill Farm CSA at Bird Park's annual Pumpkins in the Park event |
