Gaining Ground is Featured in “Concord Farms: Open for the Season”

We’re grateful to the Concord Agriculture Council for including Gaining Ground in their video about the arrival of this year’s growing season at some of the fantastic local farms in Concord. It’s a pleasure to be featured among some of our wonderful neighbors, Verrill Farm, Brigham Farm Stand & Greenhouses, ScimoneFarm, and Saltbox Farm! Check […]

Food for Families Market is Back!

Our Food for Families market—serving the Concord and Carlisle communities—returns this month. Staff and board members pre-assemble produce fresh from the farm into grocery bags, which they deliver to the distribution site in Concord. Rain or shine, the market takes place Saturdays at 11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., from June 19 – October 2, 2021. […]

Gaining Ground Awarded $350,000 Cummings Grant

Gaining Ground recently received a $350,000 grant from the Cummings Foundation to support the farm’s operations and volunteer program that grows, harvests, and distributes its fresh, organic produce to emergency food programs. Gaining Ground is one of 140 local nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 to $500,000 each through Cummings Foundation’s $25 Million Grant Program. […]

One for the Record Books

Gaining Ground’s 2020 growing season was memorable for many reasons. A pandemic altered our lives and behaviors forever. Food insecurity skyrocketed, both in Massachusetts and across the nation. Our caterpillar tunnels were damaged by a microburst storm in April, and we reluctantly suspended our volunteer program for the first time in the organization’s 26 year […]

Growing Community Together with the Greater Lowell Community Foundation

Last March, as the pandemic swept across the country, it didn’t take long before the folks at the Greater Lowell Community Foundation (GLCF) started to hear stories of people in need of personal protective equipment—gloves, masks, hand sanitizer. So they set to work creating an emergency fund for grants to address these new needs, and […]

Getting to Know Gaining Ground’s New Farm Manager, Anna Kelchlin

What drew you to farming? When and how did you start farming?  Initially, what drew me to farming was the fact that I didn’t really understand where my food came from and I was curious about our food system, which I have come to learn is in a sense our healthcare system. In 2012, I […]

A Gift from the Sugar Maples

Last year, because of the pandemic, our Maple Sugaring Open House in early March was the only public event we were able to hold at Gaining Ground for the entire season. This year, we had to cancel the big celebration entirely.  Even when so much changes, though, we take heart that many things remain the […]

Thank You to All of Our Supporters

The board and staff would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who gave generously and shared their time and talents with Gaining Ground last season. Special thanks go to: Belmont Day School, Thoreau Elementary School, Tenacre Country Day School, and all of the individual students who participated in our 2020 virtual Read […]

2021 Staff and Board News

In tumultuous times, we are more grateful than ever for the dedication of our board of directors and staff. Their talents and skills have helped Gaining Ground achieve record-breaking harvests year after year, and have enabled us to strive to meet rising food insecurity associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.  At the end of 2020, we […]

A Warm Welcome Back to Our Volunteers!

Gaining Ground was thrilled to announce the reopening of our volunteer program this growing season. After a year of isolation and overwhelming challenges, it feels important for all of us—our farmers and our volunteers—to have the opportunity to reconnect with the land and come together in support of hunger relief. Volunteers are essential to the […]

The Measure of a Year

“Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes.How do you measure,Measure a year?” Musical theater buffs may recognize the lyric above from Rent and a song that explores how one defines the truly important events that occur during the course of a year. The Tony award-winning play celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, and multiple casts have […]

Countdown to Volunteers!

In a year marked by so much change, the past months have served as a powerful reminder for everyone at Gaining Ground of the essential role that connection and community plays in our lives. And we know that our volunteers share this understanding with us. As one volunteer who started joining us on the farm […]

Please Join Us for a Poem Walk on the Farm!

Gaining Ground invites you to join us for a Poem Walk in celebration of National Poetry Month, which will run at the farm from April 10 to May 10, 2021. Together with the Concord Free Public Library, Gaining Ground collected poetry submissions during the winter from people of all ages on topics like food, spring, […]

Help us celebrate National Poetry Month!

Did you know April is National Poetry month?  Celebrate with us by writing an original poem about vegetables, the weather, birds, bugs, or anything else related to nature and farming!  Gaining Ground will feature several poems in a display at the farm this coming April. Submit your poem to: poems@gainingground.org no later than March 15. Thank you!

A Tumultuous Year

First and foremost, the board thanks everyone who made our year on the farm one of the most productive in our history. Despite some unexpected and challenging issues, we delivered over 440,000 servings of food and grew more than 110,000 pounds. Just a sampling of our challenges included COVID-19, which forced us to suspend our […]

Land’s Generosity Passed Forward to Others

In a year of uncertainty, one thing has held steady: the unending generosity of the land. Our fields and soils are oblivious to the global pandemic, political turmoil, and painful systemic injustices exposed across the nation. The land gives. The soil teems with microorganisms busily enhancing fertility to support our growing vegetables. Through the gifts […]

Recipient Spotlight: East Boston Community Soup Kitchen

Our newest recipient partner is the East Boston Community Soup Kitchen, which provides meals and groceries to those struggling with food insecurity, homelessness, and other challenges in East Boston. Our program manager, Allison Goodwin, recently interviewed the Kitchen’s founder and executive director, Sandra Niijjar, about her mission to feed her community. Sandra is second from […]

Hidden Epidemic Now in Plain Sight

The data came in, and it was sobering.   This past summer, we needed to prepare for a tripling in the number of people participating in Food for Families, our free farmers market. While shocking, the numbers weren’t surprising. We saw this increased need across the board from all our partner agencies, and news reports indicated […]

Water: Life at the Wash and Pack Station

Without water life does not exist. Water makes up 60 percent of the human body, 70 percent of the earth, and almost 90 percent of many of the vegetables we grow, like cucumbers and tomatoes. This season I have spent my days surrounded by this sacred substance—using it to spray, dunk, shimmy, and shine our vegetables.

Wildlife Sightings in 2020

This season the farm staff has generated an impressive list of wildlife in and around the farm. There are many reasons we may have noticed more this year than ever before: more naturalists amongst the crew, more wildlife finding food; and shelter and safety in the ecosystem building from our no-till, regenerative farming practices. Whatever […]
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