I am writing this after the sun has gone down on the longest day of the year. Looking back on the day, it seems like a lot can be done with fifteen hours of light fueling you. All of us farmers started the morning with our regular Tuesday walk around, observing how the fields have […]
Although it was just the seed of an idea in March, June’s rollout of produce to our partner organizations is now transitioning into a steady weekly rhythm of harvesting, washing, boxing, weighing and loading. Our partners include: Tuesdays: Head Start, House of Hope, Loaves & Fishes, Pine Street Inn, Sudbury Food Pantry Thursdays: Bedford Food […]
This year Gaining Ground welcomed two talented, hard-working individuals to our Board: Theresa Cohen and Elisabeth Elden. Believing that everyone is entitled to clean, nutritious food, Theresa Cohen is delighted to join the Gaining Ground board. Trained as a civil engineer, she has worked for an environmental consulting business, built a recycling business with her […]
Did you know that Project Bread’s 2014 Status Report on Hunger in Massachusetts found that the food insecurity rate has increased by 71% over the past ten years? This year, Gaining Ground will be participating in the Three Squares New England Ride for Food, a bike ride that raises funds to eliminate hunger in New England. The Details This year’s ride […]
On a blustery Sunday in May, Gaining Ground donors and friends gathered to celebrate our completed barn. This new structure will advance all aspects of our mission and will be the center of life at the farm. Our barn will protect our equipment and supplies — the essentials for growing more food. It will provide produce storage […]
Spring at Gaining Ground reminds me of the beginning of Richard Wilbur’s poem “Seed Leaves:” Here something stubborn comes Dislodging the earth crumbs And making crusty rubble It comes up bending double And looks like a green staple. It could be seedling maple, Or artichoke, or bean That remains to be seen. Spring at the […]
I wander around the farm as dusk settles in on this silent spring night, and I pause knowing this is the calm before the storm. This spring marks the beginning of my fourth season of growing at Gaining Ground. Which means I have walked all around and over this piece of land. Back and forth […]
We are a five-person farm crew again this season, with Doug and Kayleigh co-managing the farm, Coleman Wadsworth and Alexis Mantis as our two seasonal apprentices, and Paula Jordan as Head Start mobile market manager. Coleman grew up nearby in Newton, Massachusetts. College led him to the University of Vermont, where he studied zoology and […]
For farms, winter means more time to plan, and this year’s focus has been to streamline our volunteer sign-up process. We want our volunteers to spend less time in their planning and more enjoyable time in the planting and harvesting. Our website now offers real-time calendars so volunteers see what dates and times are likely […]
The Board and Staff would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those supporters who have given generously and shared their time and talents with Gaining Ground through the winter and early spring in 2016. Special thanks go to: Jeff Clements, Bouke Noordzij, and David Outerbridge for loading, unloading, and stacking all that wood […]
Please contact us if you would like to help with these or other donations! Vermont garden cart Supply of wax boxes and banana boxes DeWalt cordless drill Stihl chainsaw Stanley FatMax tape measure Klein 4-piece screwdriver set Tarps Felco hand pruners Small baskets
Everyone has a food story. It just seems to take a little talking to learn it. Working with Gaining Ground volunteers over the years, I have heard many stories that I collected like slips of paper. It was just this year that I realized how these food stories come from all types of people. There […]
In the spring, we asked our community to help us raise funds to build a barn. New and long-time donors, foundations, and our Board have responded, and a barn is coming. A dedicated group of our Staff, Board, and consultants, led by Board member Jeff Young, has been working on design and siting all summer. […]
Due to the pending construction of the barn, we celebrated our 22nd growing season a week earlier this year on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in mid-September. With tomatoes still in the hoop house and a large field of fall crops near the pavilion, musicians Ryan Thomson and his son Brennish entertained a welcome group of […]
With so many volunteers, Gaining Ground has needed an additional picnic table and benches. This spring, high school student Santiago Benoit of Concord’s Troop 132 took on the challenge as his Eagle Scout project. In August, he and a team of Scouts spent the day putting together the many components just in time for September’s […]
Hi! My name is Ryan Devlin, and I was one of the apprentices at Gaining Ground for the 2015 growing season. I am from Framingham and have been working on small organic farms for the past seven years. Despite my previous experience, Gaining Ground was the first full-sized farm where I worked for the entire […]
Another record-breaking harvest gave our farmers a problem that was a pleasure to solve: we had to find another group to receive the bounty from our fields. Rosie’s Place in Boston proved to be ideal. It meets our criteria for distribution—it is located within 20 miles of our farm, has a “choice” pantry and refrigeration, […]
“I wouldn’t really call them mice. Definitely rats. House-cat-sized. This is one of the many trapdoors where they enter.” Enough! Gaining Ground Farm Managers Kayleigh Boyle and Doug Wolcik vividly brought to life our rodent-ravaged greenhouse in a video to NetScout employees during the final selection stage of their Heart of Giving Community Program. Westford-based […]
Lorin DeMuth I have been volunteering at GG for many years with friends and family. This past semester, I attended The High Mountain Institute in Leadville, Colorado, where I learned a lot about sustainability and ways in which one can live a greener life. I hope to bring positive energy to the Board, as well […]
he Board and Staff would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those supporters who have given generously and shared their time and talents with Gaining Ground throughout the 2015 season. Special thanks go to: Andrew Brockaway, for reviewing our barn design for building approval Applefield Farm and Nashoba Brook Bakery, for donating delicious […]
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