Annual Meeting
On a beautiful August day, some 40 Friends of Holcomb Farm members gathered at the North Barn for our Annual Meeting: to celebrate the great successes of 2022 and highlight current activities, including the ongoing celebrations of this, our 30th year of community service.
Many of the highlights have been shared on this page in recent months—permanent preservation of the land, a fabulous growing season, thousands of volunteer hours spent improving and growing the Tree Trail for public enjoyment and amazing support from donors and granting organizations, to name a few. Rather than review them all here, I encourage you to check out our Annual Report which you can find on the homepage of our website:
holcombfarm.org
In addition to enjoying delicious homemade pies from a few of our members—including the pie baking contest winner, Sue Canavan—we gave special recognition to two people at the meeting: Bob Bystrowski and Cathy Browning. Bystrowski retired from the Friends of Holcomb Farm Board of Directors after 12 years of leadership, and Browning has announced her year-end retirement from serving as the Friends’ administrative manager. Both have provided much-needed guidance and support as the Friends evolved and changed over the past decade into the successful farming, land stewardship and service organization of today. We thank them!
Fresh Access
Speaking of service, this month we highlight our newest Fresh Access partner, the Open Cupboard at Granby Congregational Church (GCC). The Open Cupboard provides weekly drive-thru food distribution on Friday afternoons between 3 and 4 p.m. in the parking lot of the church’s North Campus at 219 North Granby Road. This all-volunteer program is funded by GCC and individual donations and is led by Kerri Crough. Clients of Open Cupboard need not be members of the church, nor must they prove financial need or town residency, but they must be Connecticut residents.
In September 2021, Open Cupboard entered into a partnership agreement with Connecticut Foodshare. This partnership increases its purchasing power and allows Open Cupboard to give out more food and a greater variety of items.
Distributions usually include frozen meat, family-sized canned and dry goods, shelf-stable milk and pet food. Occasionally personal care items like tissues and toilet paper are also offered. Now through its partnership with Holcomb Farm Fresh Access, Open Cupboard can provide fresh produce to its clients. Both Open Cupboard and the Friends are excited about this new partnership, and grateful for the donations and grants that support it.
Special thanks again this year to Thrall Farms, which has welcomed our volunteers into their orchards to harvest grapes and apples, which we include in our Fresh Access distributions.
Celebration 30 Continues
On Sept. 16, Holcomb Farm joined the Granby Agricultural Commission as one of 14 farms inviting the public in for Open Farm Day, with expanded activities to reflect our evolution to the community service organization we are today. We thank all who came to visit!
Throughout the month of October the Granby Public Library will feature The Friends through a display which will include information on all our activities. We hope you can stop by and learn more. And mark your calendar for Thursday, Oct. 26, 6:30–7:30 p.m., when the Library will host us for a presentation about all the work we do at this town-owned gem.
Clarification
In the September issue of the Granby Drummer we highlighted the work Fresh Access does with Granby’s Waste Not Want Not (WNWN) Community Dinner and noted that the partnership between Fresh Access and WNWN is funded largely by the Granby Community Fund. It is important to note that the good work of WNWN goes well beyond this partnership. WNWN relies on donations from many individuals and organizations for their weekly dinners. We encourage all to support WNWN: donations can be made directly with a check payable to Waste Not Want Not Community Kitchen, mailed to: PO Box 606, Granby, CT 06035.
