Lexington Farmers Market Returns Next Week

Market sponsors will ring in LFM's ninth season at 2 p.m. next Tuesday, May 21.

The following was provided on behalf of the Lexington Farmers Market. The Lexington Farmers’ Market will return for its ninth season, rain or shine, from 2 to 6:30 p.m. next Tuesday, May 21, at the corner of Mass Ave and Woburn Street. Come down at 2 p.m. and help our market sponsors ring in the new year, and celebrate all things local with us. Visitors can find an eclectic mix of local food, crafts and entertainment every week from May 21 until the end of October. The market is open every Tuesday, providing fresh, native produce to visitors directly from farmers. For many Lexington residents and visitors, the Lexington Farmers’ Market is a weekly one-stop-shop for accessible, healthy and local food choices and a connection to local …

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Lexington History: Farming Then and Now

A panel of speakers will discuss Lexington’s farming history as part of the LexCelebrate! Incorporation Weekend celebration on Sunday, March 17.

For the Busa Land, Community Farming’s Another Year Away

But an Agricultural Committee could be in the immediate future.

  Over the past several weeks, the Board of Selectmen have heard from a lot of concerned residents concerning the state of a request for proposal to operate a community farm on the town-owned Busa Farms parcel in East Lexington. At their Sept. 24 meeting, the selectmen's took some time to try and answer public concerns and re-evaluate an RFP regarding the farm. Ultimately, the board saw the need to wait another year to complete the RFP and expressed the desire to create an Agricultural Committee to study the avenues for either a for-profit or not-for-profit organization to take over the farm. Public Comments Addressed The selectmen began by detailing all the questions they have received regarding the farm and its future, queries like, What…

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PHOTOS: Feast Your Eyes on Dinner in the Field at Wilson Farm

An evening of eating elevated local fare in the field at Wilson Farm.

A picture is worth 1,000 words and, sometimes, 1,000 calories. So feast your eyes on these images from Wilson Farm's first Dinner in the Field of the season, held Thursday, June 28. In his first Dinner in the Field at the farm, Chef Jeff Peters prepared a mouth-watering menu with interesting amuse-bouche using fresh, local ingredients and Busa Wine and Spirits paired wines with the different courses. Proceeds from the dinner are donated to Pan Mass Challenge and will benefit cancer research through Dana-Farber. Click through the above images for a look at each course and the settings. If some of them look a little funky or familiar, it's because I Instagrammed them out during dinner on Thursday. 

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Don Wilson Receives Agricultural Award

Don Wilson, a third-generation farmer at Wilson Farm, received a prestigious award for a lifetime of service to agriculture from the Directors of the Eastern States Exposition.

The following announcement was provided by Wilson Farm.   The New England Fellowship of Agricultural Adventurers came into being in 1953 as a means of recognizing leaders who have made exceptional contributions to New England agriculture. Each year the Directors of the Eastern States Exposition select a fellowship recipient. This prestigious award is normally given for a lifetime of service to agriculture and the recipient for 2012 is Wilson Farm’s own Donald Wilson. Wilson, of Lexington, is a third-generation farmer at Wilson Farm. While the term “locavore” was coined in 2005, Wilson Farm has understood the value of locally grown produce for over a 125 years. In 1884 the patriarch of the family, James Alexander Wilson, arrived in the …

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VIDEO: Locals Get Fresh at Lexington Farmers Market

The Lexington Farmers Market opened its eighth season on Tuesday, May 29.

Hundreds of local residents and dozens of vendors turned out for the opening day of the Lexington Farmers Market's eighth season on Tuesday, May 29.

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Rhubarb - Red, Tart and Delicious

Local farm demystifies rhubarb.

Among the 125 crops grown at Wilson Farm, rhubarb has to be one of the most unusual and perhaps misunderstood. Its odd, celery shaped stalks range in color from red, to pink, to green. The flavor is tart and sour, mouth puckering, with no sweetness, which is why it is perfectly paired with sweet dishes or fruits such as strawberries. Rhubarb is a New England tradition that dates back the 1800s and, despite its long history, remains perplexing to many shoppers. However, if you know how to buy rhubarb, and have a good recipe to work with, you’re likely to become a lifelong fan. Rhubarb first entered the country through Maine and Massachusetts back in the 1820s and has been cultivated here since. Many farms were not quick to pick up rhubarb…

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LexFarm Announces Winter Programs

The Lexington Community Farm Coalition is offering several educational opportunities around its goat yard in the months ahead.

The following information was provided on behalf of the Lexington Community Farm Coalition. If you or your children would like hands-on farm experiences, look no farther than the LexFarm Goat Yard (at 52 Lowell St., behind Busa Farms) right here in Lexington. As part of its mission to provide hands-on farm-based education, the Lexington Community Farm Coalition (LexFarm) established a goat yard with five Nigerian Dwarf goats this fall. Weekly visiting hours have proved popular with people of all ages. And, LexFarm is now offering several hands-on educational winter programs: Learn & Work Projects: The second Saturday of each month, from  10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.. After an educational overview, help with goat yard chores or project. Pasture …

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Question of the Day: Busa Land?

Share your opinion in the comments section below.

There has indeed been a lot of talk lately about the future of the Busa Land. Over the summer, supporters of recreation, community farming and affordable housing have all made pitches to the Board of Selectmen, who will decide of Busa Farms, a now town-owned parcel that's been farmed pretty much forever. This morning, Jonathan Pickering reported on a petition making the rounds in support of the community farm idea, as well as the Busa Land Use Proposal Committee's recommendation, which has made a recommendation about the future use of the land. It's a polarizing issue, for sure. Many feel strongly that this land should remain used for farming, with maybe a few units of affordable housing. Others feel the parcel has room enough for farming…

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Beth

10:19 am on Thursday, October 6, 2011

Helena, If you want to know about CPA please read http://communitypreservation.org/content/cpa-overview. You probably did not show up at the referendum when 3% CPA tax was added to our bill. You can not sell conservation land to developers to get some revenues and you can not sell CPA land to a developer, you can only lease it to a developer of affordable housing and spend more money to build and…   more ›

Question of the Day: Help for Farmers?

Share your opinion in the comments.

This morning we featured a video in which John Moriarty of Meadow Mist Farm explains the integrated farming practices he implements on his plot of land here in Lexington.  Included in the video is a portable chicken coop, the use of which the Conservation Commission recenly OK'd on land Moriarty has used for farming and cow pasturing.  In May and June, Moriarty and his attorney spent time in front of the ConComm, arguing that Meadow Mist was, in fact, a farm and that the pultry pasturing should be exempt under the Wetlands Protection Act's provisions for agricultural use. During Meadow Mist's time in front of the board, some farm supporters, feeling it was unfair that Moriarty had to rack up legal fees to introduce a new component to his …

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