March Happenings at Natick Farm

Take a Maple
Sugaring Tour
No doubt you’ve seen Natick Community Organic Farm (NCOF) silver sap collecting buckets hanging on sugar maples around town. When the weather permits, we’ve been frantically running around collecting sap and boiling it into precious syrup. We’ll be offering guided maple sugaring tours of our sugaring operation through the end of the month. Tours last approximately 45 minutes and run Monday through Friday, 1, 3:30, and 4:15 pm, and on Saturdays at 9:30 and 11:30 am. You will learn all about the science, history and craft of making maple syrup. Advance registration is required. Since Mother Nature is in charge, we cannot guarantee boiling, though there’s always lots to see and learn.
Pancakes and Sugaring at Maple Magic Day,
Saturday, March 4
Nothing beats a plate of warm homemade pancakes smothered in real maple syrup, particularly when you don’t have to cook the pancakes yourself! Come on March 4, 8 to 11 am at Memorial School, where we’ll be more than happy to serve you up a plate of wheat or gluten-free/dairy-free hotcakes as you listen to live Dixieland jazz, tour our educational exhibits and our nonprofit fair. Take a chance in our raffle to win great prizes like Red Sox tickets courtesy of Fair & Yeager Insurance or a free week of NCOF summer program. Breakfast admission $10 for adults ($8 for members), and $5 for kids ages 3-6 ($4 members). You can save $1 by walking or biking to the event.
Concurrently, over at the farm, we’ll be running Maple Sugaring Past & Present Tours, from 9 am to 2pm every half hour. These enhanced sugaring tours feature fascinating re-enactments of Native American and Colonial sugaring methods, plus a visit to our modern-day sugar shack. We’ll be serving family-friendly food throughout the day. Tours are $7/person, or $6 if you attend breakfast first. No need for reservations.
Seedlings and Babies
March is all about new life, from seedlings growing in the greenhouses to piglets, lambs, and kids being born weekly in the barn. Keep an eye on the Farm’s Facebook page for both planting and birth announcements. If you’d like to some of our beautiful, certified-organic seedlings for your own garden, you can do so using our Seedling Pre-order program. Pick up an order sheet at the Farm or download it from our website. If you’d like to purchase a piglet, lamb, or kid (goat-kind only), please contact Jon, the Farm’s animal manager.
Food and Products
Right now we have certified-organic mesclun mix, potatoes, leeks, squash, plus our own eggs, maple syrup, honey, woolen yarn, pork and beef. Please stop by our workshop stand Monday Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, or on weekends during morning or afternoon chore time.
Summer Program Registration Opens March 15
Public registration for NCOF’s popular, week-long morning- or afternoon programs for youth ages 3.5 to 14 opens March 15. Participants help to run the Farm and have a lot of fun as they learn and get dirty. For an age-by-age overview of our programming, please visit our website, or watch the family-friendly July episode of “On the Farm,” a serial documentary about NCOF on Vimeo.
The farm offers a number of programs for adults and children, from books discussions to crafts to caring for animals. Descriptions, fees, and registration is our and through our website, www.natickfarm.org.
Natick Community Organic Farm is a nonprofit, certified-organic farm located at 117 Eliot Street offering productive open space, farm products, and hands-on education to people of all ages, year-round. Our 27 acres are open daily during daylight hours with no admission fee for your visits and purchases. Come on down and see what’s “growing on!”