Greetings!

Harvest season has returned, and with that, so has New Entry Sustainable Farming Project's blog! We have lots to tell you about what we've been doing and what we have planned, but for now - just a quick heads up about a great campaign happening in honor of the 4th of July:

FoodIndependenceDay.org wants you to help celebrate America's sustainable food producers this weekend, by eating a locally-sourced holiday meal, or serving one at your backyard barbeque. Invite your friends and neighbors to join you, tell them about the great farmers' market where you bought your lettuce, the friendly farmer who sold you the beef for your burgers, and encourage everyone you know to explore the benefits of sustainable agriculture.

And if you have some free time before the fireworks, sign FoodIndependenceDay.org's petition, or send a letter to your local politicians telling them how important this issue is to you!

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Sign up for the World PEAS CSA, and receive 18 weekly distributions of fresh, seasonal vegetables grown by New Entry and other local farmers. The CSA also offers fruit and winter share options. To get a copy of the brochure, please click here: 2009 World PEAS CSA Brochure.

If you are interested in volunteering to establish a "CSA cluster" in your workplace, home, or community where a minimum of 25 shares can be delivered, please e-mail Matthew Himmel.

It may seem that just because it is the dead of winter, there is not much going on at New Entry. It is quite the contrary! New Entry staff is keeping busy preparing for the next growing season, working on expanding the CSA, and conducting the second Farm Business Planning Course.

The World PEAS CSA has welcomed 9 new growers this season, all of whom completed the Business Panning Course last fall. McKenzie and Matthew now have the fun challenge of making decisions on all the crop bids for the upcoming season.

The second intake of the Farm Business Planning Course is in session. One of the requirements for graduating from the course is a completion of a business plan. With 15 business plans completed this winter, we will have 30 graduates from the Farm Business Planning Course this year! We hope to celebrate all New Entry graduates in late March. We'll keep you posted.

Matthew is also hard at work on expanding the CSA for this coming season. With a new brochure and flyer, he's ready to reach more people who may be unaware that World PEAS CSA exists! While the World PEAS CSA had 100 members last year, the goal this year is to double the membership to 200 shareholders. We are looking to expand the neighborhoods we deliver to and would love your input on where you would like to see a CSA drop. The Andover and East Boston drops will continue, and we hope to deliver to Tufts University - Boston, and possibly to neighborhoods in Lexington and Medford in the future. Are you interested in getting a drop in your neighborhood? Please feel free to contact Matthew.

Winter is a busy time for learning and sharing ideas on farming, sustainability, and all things food. This weekend, Matthew will be attending Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) CSA Conference in Unity, Maine. This conference will feature speakers Jill Perry (Author of Local Harvest: A Multifarm CSA Handbook) and Elizabeth Henderson (CSA pioneer and author of Sharing the Harvest: a Citizen's Guide to CSA). A few Friedman students will also be attending the 2nd Annual NE Real Food Summit in Amherst, MA. We hope to come back re-charged with fresh ideas to help the local food movement grow!

The second Farm Business Planning Course in preparation for the 2009 growing season will begin on Monday, January 26th. Classes will meet for six weeks, each Monday evening from 6-9 pm in our Lowell office. There is still room for additional students! To register, please contact Matthew, at mhimmel@comteam.org or call 978-654-6745.

This 6-week course is offered twice every year, beginning in October and again in January. Fees range from $50 to $150, depending upon income. The course covers:

Business plan and budget development
Identification of market demand
Promotion of farm products
Crop planning
Evaluation of the materials, equipment, and additional resources needed to run a successful farming business

Here is news first published in the New Entry Newsletter and re-broadcast for our internet community:

Farmer Seona Ban (New Entry class of 2006) recently joined New Entry's ever-growing crop of independent farmers. After farming at the Richardson's Dairy training site for three seasons, she has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with a local landowner - an important next step that enables her to continue to farm on land independent of New Entry's incubator training sites.

The land owner is Don Couture, New Entry's Farm Manager. Don Couture has worked for New Entry for two seasons, and during this time, has come to know Seona well. Don and his family live on 19.5 acres of property, which is located 4 miles from Richardson's Dairy. Don has five tillable acres prepared, one of which will be farmed by Seona this season.

Seona is excited to continue her vegetable farming, and expand her corn production. She says that her new farm has fewer rocks, and is drier than her plot at Richardson's Dairy. The recently signed agreement represents an important step for Seona's business enterprise, as it represents a break from dependence on New Entry for farmland. However, this move does not translate to a departure from the New Entry community. Seona will continue to receive as-needed individual technical assistance from New Entry in her production and marketing operations as she farms and expands production on her new plot.

We wish many years of success to Seona on her new farm!

Have you heard of change.org's Ideas for a Change in America? This is your chance to vote on issues you'd like to see on the new President's agenda. Polls close Thursday, 5pm EST and the top ideas will be presented to the administration before inauguration day.

New Entry has endorsed Eat the View's White House Victory Garden. Eat the View is a campaign to urge the First Family to replant a large organic garden on the White House Lawn with the produce going to the White House kitchen and to local food pantries.

For more on the campaign to grow some organic food at the White House, see: www.EatTheView.org and www.TheWhoFarm.org.

If you also feel strongly about locally grown, sustainable food, please vote here!

Sturbridge, MA - Last Friday, CSA Coordinator Matthew Himmel and New Entry farmers, Mr. Kim, Addison, and his two daughters attended a seminar entitled, "Alternative Crops for Greenhouses and High Tunnels." This class was put on with the collaboration of UMass Extension, UConn Extension, and Northeast SARE. This class showed that the short, New England growing season can be extended with the use of hoop houses and covered row crops. Crops such as brassicas (kale, collard greens, broccoli), carrots, leeks, and salad greens (arugula, mache, and baby greens) can easily be grown in these conditions.

New Entry is exploring season extension and plans to teach a related course in the near future for its farmers as well as those in the community. Keep checking back for updates!

Lydia Sisson, a 2008 graduate of the Business Planning Course at New Entry, has secured some land in N. Reading to start her business, Luna Farm. Lydia's agricultural experience started as an undergraduate at Vassar College, where she volunteered on a local farm and was subsequently hired to work in their CSA program. Upon graduation, Lydia worked for United Teen Equality Center (UTEC) in Lowell, as a mentor in the "Fresh Roots" program, where youth learned about growing, cooking, and selling food. For the last year now, Lydia has been the Farm Education Coordinator and Seasonal Agricultural Intern for Green Meadows Farm in Hamilton, MA. At Green Meadows, Lydia was teaching classes to adults and children as well as assisting with vegetable production and animal husbandry for their 370-share Community Supported Agriculture program.

Luna Farm, in North Reading, Massachusetts, is a diversified vegetable farm on five acres of land. The mission of Luna Farm is to provide the community with fresh produce grown with sustainable and organic techniques and farming practices that enrich the soil and the fertility of the land. Luna Farm strives to create equal access to healthy food for the entire community.
Luna Farm is a CSA and she is taking orders now for the 2009 season for delivery to N. Reading and Davis Sq in Somerville, MA.

Here are the details:
Lydia Sisson
Luna Farm
843.810.9841
lunafarmcsa@gmail.com
P.O. Box 1863
Lowell, MA

http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M25085?ul

Congratulations and Best Wishes, Lydia!

On Friday, October 17, 100 Middlesex Community College students helped clean up New Entry's leased farmland for their Day of Service. From 9:30am to 12:30pm, these students mobilized to clear up bushes, winterize the hoop house, trim the fields, clean out the sheds, collect field supplies, clean up the Pick Your Own Garden, and ready the shade shelter area for winter. Yeah, you would need 100 volunteers to help you do all those things in 3 hours too!

With 50 young volunteers mobilizing at Smith Farm and 50 at Richardson's, much was accomplished to have the fields ready for when Spring comes around. Many thanks to MCC for your community service and enthusiasm--we could not have done all of this without your help!

The Farm Business Course is in session! This is a 6 week course where students learn the business-side of running a small farm business - from creating a business plan, learning crop management, troubleshooting, and marketing. This course is offered twice a year, one starting in October and the next in January.

The Fall '08 cohort is made up of students from all age ranges and represent seven different countries. McKenzie Boekholder, New Entry Technical Assistant Coordinator and course instructor says, "this class represents the most diverse group so far in terms of ethnicity, experiential background, and age. I really look forward to teaching this class and seeing the end result, which will be 17 very different business plans."

This 6-week course is offered twice every year, beginning in October (evenings) and again in January (mornings). Fees range from $50 to $150, depending upon income. The course covers:

* Business plan and budget development
* Identification of market demand
* Crop planning.
* Promotion of farm products
* Evaluation of the materials, equipment, and additional resources needed to run a successful farming business

Tufts Agriculture, Food, and Environment students--second year Abby Randall and first year Chelsea Bardot-Lewis, also assist with the course.

Does this sound like something you're interested in? If so, sign up for the Explorer Farm Course, by emailing Matthew Himmel at mhimmel@comteam.org.

Also, to learn more about the Farm Planning Business course, click here.

To learn more about the training farm, click here.