News
April 25, 2024 • Polly Vanasse, Board Member and Community Farm Team Member
What can happen when you join a team eager to develop their “game” with extraordinary “coaches” who excel at growing food and creating a sense of purpose? The inaugural Community Farm Team formed in 2022, made up of folks who had found tremendous joy volunteering at Gaining Ground and who hoped for longer sessions and […]
• Jennifer Johnson, Executive Director
Over the years, I’ve heard numerous Gaining Ground visitors describe the joy, happiness, and wonder they experience during their trips to the farm. This special place can be a sanctuary, a source of inspiration, and a balm for our frenetic and screen-heavy lives. Sharing the farm with visitors—particularly volunteers—is a central part of our work. […]
April 4, 2024 • Gaining Ground
The arrival of spring signals many important events on the farm—including our annual Poetry on the Farm exhibit! In its fourth year, this special celebration of language, food, nature, and agriculture will again take the form of a self-guided farm tour, featuring poems from community members of all ages. Thank you to everyone who submitted […]
January 25, 2024
Winter months on the farm are prime time for reflection, and when we look back on the 2023 season—from sowing seeds to reaping abundance—we see YOU, our amazing community of supporters, at every step. Thank you! Without your generous contributions of time, talent, and treasure, Gaining Ground simply could not farm as we do, exclusively […]
If you’ve spent time at Gaining Ground in the last few years—or attended one of our free no-till training sessions—you’ve likely had the pleasure of working with and learning from Kari Bender and Chrissie Edgeworth. Combined, Kari and Chrissie have almost a decade of farm experience, including their leadership last season as Co-Assistant Farm Managers. […]
Last year we announced that Gaining Ground had embarked on a milestone farm expansion, to bring another 5.1 acres of historically-significant Concord land into cultivation so we may grow and donate more fresh, healthy food for our neighbors in need! To ensure our success as we more than double our footprint, we created the new […]
December 11, 2023 • Gaining Ground
We are hiring for three open 2024 Field Crew positions at the farm in Concord, MA. Read on for further details!
December 7, 2023 • Danielle Capalbo, Communications & Development Manager
On a crisp fall morning, chef Inna Khitrik stirred a huge skillet of aromatic Mediterranean soup over the stove at Women’s Lunch Place, a Boston-based day shelter that serves more than 1,800 unhoused women each year. “We ask for just their first names, no other questions,” said Khitrik, who became the Kitchen Manager in July […]
• The Gaining Ground Team
Since 2021, Gaining Ground has thrived under the leadership of Farm Manager Anna Kelchlin, a skilled grower with more than 12 years of experience who also brings a strong philosophy of mindfulness, care, and gratitude to her work. Season after season, Anna has led the dynamic Gaining Ground crew to produce hundreds of thousands of […]
• Allison Goodwin, Operations Director
As the farm settles in for its winter rest, we reflect with gratitude on the year’s successes and challenges. The fields are quiet now, blanketed beneath cover crop, mulch, or salt marsh hay. Gone are the spirited laughter and chatter of volunteers. The barn and pavilion are packed tightly with distribution tables, banana boxes, tools, […]
November 1, 2023
This year more than 3,200 people have volunteered with Gaining Ground, helping us promote regional food security by growing and donating fresh, organic produce for people in need! One of those community members is Mark Mullins, who first volunteered in 2022—and has kept coming back! We appreciate Mark’s consistent, positive presence, and were glad to […]
October 31, 2023 • Anna Kelchlin, Farm Manager
The key to building soil health is photosynthesis, hands down. All life depends on this beautiful synergy between sunlight, water, plants and microorganisms. Our mission as farmers, as land stewards, is to constantly promote and encourage diverse growth in order to continue this cycle of life. I am excited to tell you about the importance […]
October is a bittersweet month on the farm, as productivity wanes and the season ends for some of our field crew members. Since April, they have stewarded the land with care, respect, and skill to help us grow fresh, organic produce for hunger relief. We thank them! In 2023 we were lucky to have Dayanna […]
September 27, 2023
You’ve probably heard the term “Farm Bill” a lot this year, as the current legislation—passed in 2018—is set to expire on Sept. 30. So what is the bill? What’s at stake, and how can we get involved with intention? We’ve been asking the same questions at Gaining Ground, so we can help to shape laws […]
When peak season subsides at Gaining Ground, we remain busy and productive—including making autumn visits to our hunger relief partners. These 16+ organizations provide a connection between the farm and the community, by distributing organic produce from Gaining Ground to thousands of people experiencing food insecurity in Eastern Massachusetts. September visits have included the Bedford […]
It’s been a busy, bountiful season at Gaining Ground, and we offer heartfelt thanks to our talented farmers for leading this work! One such farmer is Avery Indermaur, a third-year field crew member who took on two new roles this year: Development Assistant and Volunteer Coordinator. In her third season at Gaining Ground, Avery Indermaur […]
September 9, 2023
We are thrilled to announce the opening of Photography on the Farm, a self-guided exhibit of community artworks on display at Gaining Ground from Sept. 9 to Oct. 20, 2023. Immense thanks to the 21 artists who submitted their striking perspectives on nature, farming, and hunger relief work. All are invited to view the gallery […]
August 29, 2023
We welcome thousands of volunteers to the farm each year, and almost half are youth. Typically classrooms and families visit once or twice during the season. Yet one particular group, the High School Farm Team (HSFT), spends all summer helping our crew in the fields. Since the program began in 2016, the HSFT—comprising students from […]
Up-tempo music and conversations among neighbors were the soundtrack on a recent afternoon for the open-air food pantry that convenes twice a week in Chelsea, at a Route 1 underpass, coordinated by the Latina-led nonprofit La Colaborativa. In the shade, community members chose from vegetables, fruits, grains, flours, dairy, eggs, proteins, and canned goods. “All […]
What’s 115,000 pounds, but just a tiny piece of the big picture? The weight of our annual harvest! Numbers command attention. They tell a story. And poundage in particular is a prominent metric on the farm. Accurately recording the weight of each harvest helps us understand production rates; track patterns in crop performance; gauge the […]
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