News
April 14, 2022 • Jennifer Johnson, Executive Director
“Wow.” The clerk at my neighborhood grocery store took a pause from scanning the items I’d placed on the conveyor belt, a bit stunned by what he’d seen on the cash register. “These cherries are over $15. Do you still want them?” I looked at the not-very-large bag the clerk was holding and answered that […]
• Anna Kelchlin, Farm Manager
In the life of a farmer, as much as deep winter is for reflection and quiet, it is also a time of intricate planning, preparations, and dreaming. Those long days of summer light are so far off, yet in just a short couple of months a rebirth will be upon us. This season I am […]
• Polly Vanasse, Board President
When I was a volunteer at Gaining Ground, I thought like a volunteer. I watched the seedlings my students planted turn into gorgeous veggies, helped drive them to a local food pantry, and heard the exclamations of recipients about the quality of the produce. Yet this process only revealed to me the surface of hunger […]
• Allison Goodwin, Program Manager
Each season at Gaining Ground brings challenges as well as successes; rewarding reminders of the impact and importance of our hunger-relief mission. Foremost among these in 2021 was the return of our volunteer program after a pandemic-driven hiatus. The joy of those first April volunteers was undeniable in their warm smiles, rolled-up sleeves, and dirt-caked […]
Last year, we bid a fond farewell to board members Penny Austen, Elisabeth Elden, John Canally, and Gretchen Nelson. We are incredibly grateful to each of them for the dedication, enthusiasm, and thoughtfulness they contributed to Gaining Ground over the years. This season, we are thrilled to welcome four new terrific members to our board […]
• Gaining Ground
After more than 15 years of dedicated service, last year David Outerbridge stepped down from his volunteering in support of Gaining Ground. David—who turned his retirement into a period of keen effort caring for the land and structures on the farm—was a regular and beloved presence among the farmers and volunteers. Last summer, as he […]
You don’t have to look very hard to find the parallels between Gaining Ground and the Concord-Carlisle Community Chest. “The work that Gaining Ground does is at the core of why the Community Chest does what we do: You grow food locally, you harvest it, and then you distribute it back to people with the […]
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, Bancroft Elementary School, R.J. Fisher Middle School, and all of the individual students […]
April 11, 2022
Join us for Gaining Ground’s second annual Poetry Walk! We are once again installing a self-guided farm tour featuring poems authored by Gaining Ground recipients, partner organizations, and poets throughout our community. The Poetry Walk kicks off on Saturday, April 30, and will continue through Friday, June 17. Please pay us a visit and enjoy […]
March 3, 2022 • Christine Savage, Communications Manager
This winter has proved to be an especially harsh one for people experiencing food insecurity. Supply chain woes and labor shortages left the shelves at some grocery stores sparsely stocked. Food prices are the highest they’ve been in years, making it more difficult for folks to afford the food they need. As a result, more […]
• Christine Savage, Communications Manager
A common refrain on the farm these past weeks has been how quickly the winter is passing. The cold season in New England can seem to stagger on without end. But with bustling harvests taking place on the farm through November—and continuing at a reduced pace all winter long—even the grizzliest weeks of snow and […]
February 14, 2022 • Gaining Ground
We enjoyed last spring’s Poetry Walk so much that we’re doing it again! This wonderful month-long event will once again feature poems authored by Gaining Ground recipients, partner organizations and poets throughout our community. Like last year the poetry installation will take the form of a self-guided farm tour. This year we will also be […]
January 19, 2022 • Gaining Ground
Gaining Ground is a 3-acre nonprofit, no-till organic farm in Concord, Massachusetts, thatsupplies fresh, high-quality vegetables, flowers, herbs, maple syrup, and honey to emergencymeal programs in Boston and the surrounding region. Our mission is simple: We grow organicproduce for hunger relief with help from volunteers of all ages and abilities who work and learnin our […]
December 19, 2021 • Anna Kelchlin, Farm Manager
As we approach the winter solstice, time and space feel more expansive in a vegetable grower’s life. With the leaves now resting on the earth there is a sense of physical and mental vastness. I can see more clearly through the woods, the hardy juncos and bluebirds who overwinter suddenly appear on naked branches, and […]
• Christine Savage, Communications Manager
In mid-November, Farmer Erin Espinosa visited the Children’s Meetinghouse preschool in Concord to teach the students there about seed saving—the practice of collecting seeds from open-pollinated food crops and using them to grow future harvests of those plants. Her visit was a reminder of the importance of learning about the life cycles of plants, food […]
• Gaining Ground
Throughout the harvest season, produce from Gaining Ground goes to meal programs, food pantries, schools, and shelters in Greater Boston and Eastern Massachusetts. Some of these dedicated organizations use our food to prepare and distribute free meals for people who need them. Others give our vegetables, herbs, and fruit away as part of providing free […]
November 30, 2021 • Gaining Ground
The end of November means the days are approaching their shortest and the coldest nights will soon be here. It also means that our volunteer season has come to an end for the year and the last of our seasonal farm team members have departed. At the farm, we grow used to the many devoted, […]
• Christine Savage, Communications Manager
On a bright, warm November afternoon two weeks ago, the Gaining Ground team gathered in front of the barn—some of us wearing t-shirts in the midday sun that filtered through the treetops along the edge of the farm. We set out hefty boxes and bags of harvested vegetables and got to work assembling and filling […]
• Gaining Ground
For November, we’re taking the opportunity to catch up with our recipient partner House of Hope, which runs programs and permanent housing services with the goal of ending homelessness in Lowell. They do this through a commitment to transitioning families experiencing homelessness into greater social and economic stability. As a part of their work, they […]
November 9, 2021 • Gaining Ground
We are hiring for 2022 Field Crew positions!
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