A Short History Waltham Fields Community Farm
Waltham Fields Community Farm's first season was 1995. With a rototiller, tractor and plow borrowed from a local farmer, one field was planted entirely in potatoes and the other field in all the other veggies - collards, kale, carrots, beets, beans, lettuce, radishes, turnips, broccoli, etc. We donated all our produce, with most of it going to Food For Free, a Cambridge food bank that delivered to some thirty food pantries and meal programs. We harvested 13,800 pounds of produce that first year and gleaned close to the same amount from Field of Greens, Parker Farm and Drumlin Farm.
"We" were a volunteer crew that had operated for about five years gleaning area farms for charity. Oakes Plimpton was the coordinator of this effort, inspired to become a farm follower by the Back to the Earth movement of the 70s. When we learned about the fallow fields at the University of Massachusetts Field Station site in Waltham, we proposed a charitable and educational farm for the site. The University accepted the proposal and Waltham Fields Community Farm was born.
1996 was a year of incorporating, obtaining charitable status, insurance, workman's compensation, and opening an office. We incorporated as "Community Farm's Outreach, Inc."; so as to pursue the broader goals of local and community farm preservation and promotion. We raised some family and foundation funds, enough to pay for a farm intern, Steve Ronan, two agricultural interns and some equipment, but we soon found that was inadequate to the task! We grew more weeds than crops!
The difficulties of farming on a shoestring convinced us to try Community Supported Agriculture as a means to afford a farm manager and put the Farm on sounder financial footing. In 1997, Tim Cooke, an experienced farmer, was hired to be our first Farm Manager. This proved to be a win/win decision, because with experienced management production increased five times and donations doubled! Nancy Sableski developed our Children's Learning Garden program and was its first Coordinator in 1998. Kids learned about insects and soil, did rural crafts and games, drew what they found, and generally experienced life on a farm.
In 1999 the University of Massachusetts announced that they were considering closing down the U Mass Extension site due to fiscal constraints and lack of a mission. A series of meetings were held and all the various users of the site attended. Friends of Cornelia Warren Farm was started as a coordinating group to advocate site preservation and rehabilitation.
In 1999 we held our first spring fundraiser. As our CSA base increased we started a pick-up site at the Farm. Share distribution was simplified by having just one share amount and boxed produce for the delivery sites. Jenny Hausman put out the CSA produce on some wood camp tables protected from the sun by tents. She also wrote a weekly CSA newsletter, designed by Martha Creedon, then a Board member.
2002 brought a number of changes to Waltham Fields Community Farm. John Mitchell became Farm Manager. Oakes Plimpton delivered produce and the CSA shares to Somerville and Cambridge. His own side yard became a CSA outlet.. We transitioned from a partly volunteer-run organization to a staffed corporation with a strong Board of Directors. Oakes Plimpton retired from his role as pro-bono Director at the end of the year to be a Board member and to help out from time to time. In 2002 WFCF was the chief supplier of fresh produce for the Waltham Salvation Army and Red Cross food pantries in Waltham, and we continued to supply produce for many other food programs including Sandra's Lodge Shelter in Waltham, Food For Free in Cambridge and the Helping Hand Food Pantry in Porter Square. Preserving urban farms has become a major project on our very site. Through the Friends of Cornelia Warren Farm we are working to take part in long range planning to keep the site a thriving urban horticultural and agricultural center.
~ Notes largely from Oakes Plimpton ~ founder
Historical Dates:
1990-1994
A group of volunteers, organized through Food For Free, a Cambridge food bank, and coordinated by Oakes Plimpton, began gleaning area farms for produce to donate to local emergency food programs, soup kitchens, and shelters. Interest in the preservation of local farming led to a proposal to farm the fallow fields at the UMass Field Station site in Waltham.
1995
Our first season of farming. Four acres were planted on the UMass fields that had not been used for seven years.
1996
We incorporated under the name Community Farms Outreach, as a nonprofit 501(c)3 charitable organization with a mission of hunger relief, education, and farm preservation, deciding to name the farm Waltham Fields Community Farm.
1997
Our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program was created in order to garner funding for effective farm management and expand our provision of local food to a broader range of constituents.
1998
The Children’s Learning Program is created.
1999
Friends of Cornelia Warren Farm was formed to advocate for the preservation and rehabilitation of the UMass site.
2004
Waltham Fields Community Farm expands, farming an additional 3 acres of land located at the nearby Lyman Estate. Farm staff and volunteers erect a heated greenhouse.
2005
We celebrated our tenth anniversary.
2006
We started drafting our first Strategic Plan, and made the decision to hire an Executive Director.
2007
Annual donations to our hunger relief programs increased to $30,000.
2008
Launched the Mobile Outreach Market, a once-a-week market in Waltham targeted to the clientele of several project partners: the Joseph Smith Community Health Center, the Power Program, the Waltham Family School, and the WATCH CDC, as well as to low-income residents in the neighborhood.
2012
We take on a third land lease for four acres in Weston, helping the family that owns the property reclaim productive farmland for organic food production. Together with our Waltham leases with UMass (our base of operations) and Historic New England (at the Lyman Estate), we are now farming a total of 15 acres.
2013
We started a Youth Crew paid-jobs initiative for teens, we entered into a contract with LexFarm to run the farm operation next year for Lexington's first community farm on the former Busa family land.
2014
OUR 20th YEAR FARMING ON THE UMASS WALTHAM LAND and our most productive year ever, distributing over $100,000 worth of vegetables for food assistance, feeding 700 households through our CSA program, opening up our distribution barn for some sales to the public, and providing 500 children with hands-on educational experiences on the farm.
2018
We celebrated our 20th Anniversary of our Learning Garden and our 10th Anniversary of our Mobile Outreach Market.
2019
Waltham City Council approves Mayor McCarthy’s request to advance a purchase and sales agreement for the UMass Field Station and approve financing the transaction. The City of Waltham's Community Preservation Committee unanimously approved Mayor McCarthy’s application for CPA funds to support the purchase of the UMass Field Station. The City of Waltham appropriated $13.75+ million to purchase the Waltham Field Station, one of the town's most important historical agricultural properties and the largest CPA Open Space preservation project in history
2020
Piloted WFCF's Produce Rx Program. The Massachusetts Senate and House approved legislation authorizing the City of Waltham to purchase the UMass Field Station and ensuring that the fertile land at the field station will be limited to certain uses in perpetuity: open-space, agriculture and recreation.
2023
April 11 Community Farms Outreach dba Waltham Fields Community Farm submits successful RFP to the City of Waltham for management of approximately 22.59 acres and buildings at 240 Beaver St.
2024
February 15 WFCF signs license agreement and begins reconstruction of its greenhouses.
2025
Construction of a new CSA pick up Pergola begins, located next to the farm stand, to allow for expansion of our farm stand retail space.