News from the Friends of Holcomb Farm – June 2020

VICTORY FARMING IN GRANBY

This spring, the greenhouses full of seedlings and the freshly turned soil of the Salmon Brook flood plains of Holcomb Farm are providing a sense of normalcy in these unsettled times. Just as people turned to growing their own victory gardens in times of war, our community is counting on Granby’s own farm, under the stewardship of the Friends of Holcomb Farm – along with the whole local farming community – to fill our tables with fresh produce. This urge to connect with the soil and nourish our souls is happening throughout the country.

“The victory garden movement began during World War I and called on Americans to grow food in whatever spaces they could — rooftops, fire escapes, empty lots, backyards. It maintained that there was nothing more valuable than self-sufficiency, than working a little land, no matter how small, and harvesting your own eggplant and tomatoes.” (NYT; Food Supply Anxiety Brings Back Victory Gardens, March 25, 2020).

We have had several farming victories at Holcomb Farm already this spring. Our winter larder of potatoes, carrots and beets enabled our customers to stock their shelves with local produce in March; the annual Mothers’ Day Plant sale allowed many community members to bring some seedlings home for their own victory gardens; our summer CSA shares sold out early; and a special fundraising outreach on #GivingTuesdayNow increased our ability to provide the food we grow to people in need, through our Fresh Access program. If you missed out on joining our CSA, you can always partake of the retail farm store offerings, which will include our own produce as well as offerings from the larger ag community, beginning daily (Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 am – 6 pm) in mid-June.

HELPING FEED NEIGHBORS IN NEED

If you are looking for ways to contribute to others during these trying times, your donations to Fresh Access are always welcome, and go directly to providing the food we grow to people in need right here in Granby and throughout the greater Hartford region. This pandemic has caused unprecedented need, and we are working to help as much as possible. To learn more or make a donation, go to www.holcombfarm.org/freshaccess.

Eric Lukingbeal and Walter Ford demonstrate proper social distancing as they plant a Sweet Gum on the Holcomb Tree Trail.

TREE TRAIL GROWING, AND OPEN TO ALL

Our Friends of Holcomb Farm Stewardship committee and volunteers have been busy maintaining trails and planting trees, as our Tree Trail, officially launched in 2019, really begins to take shape. In addition to planting new trees, we have been freeing older trees, like apple trees, that were almost lost to overgrowth and invasives. In all, we have marked nearly 80 trees with identification tags.

We had hoped to offer a guided “Grand Opening” of the tree trail at our Annual Membership Meeting of the Friends of Holcomb Farm in June. Alas, good risk management practices mean that community gatherings of this sort need to await the scientific and medical breakthroughs that are sure to come. So, for now, we encourage all of you to enjoy the trails at Holcomb Farm in your own socially distanced and responsible ways. To that end, we have put together this guided Tree Trail hike. Discover some trees – new and old – and breath the fresh air. Know that just as the fields and woods  of Holcomb Farm have been through many more challenging times than any of us will even know in our (relatively) short lives, we all will emerge from the current challenge, stronger than ever.

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