August 24 – come to our first Holcomb Hoedown!
Please plan to join us before school starts for a full afternoon of family-friendly fun at the first ever Holcomb Hoedown. This event is open to all, and admission is free. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome the community to the farm, with the goal of raising money for our Fresh Access program, which provides food grown at the farm to people who would not otherwise have access.
The event will include line-dancing lessons and competitions, led by locally famous Stompin’ Boots (www.stompinboots.com), as well as a hay maze, puppet show, food trucks, beer and wine for purchase, costume contests and more. See our ad in this Drummer, and plan to join us for this special event.
The farm store is open for the season
Come to West Granby and check out our Farm Store! Stop by anytime, Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., at 111 Simsbury Road. You don’t need to be a member of our CSA to shop in the farm store. And we stock a range of local products in addition to our own fruits and vegetables. Check out Cat’s Corner for more on what is available — from cheeses to honey to ginger syrup. New this summer, we are selling Grassroots Ice Cream! You also can see a full list of our products on our website: holcombfarm.org
Nassau Financial Group spends a day on the Farm
Last winter, the Friends were thrilled to receive support for its proposed Neighborhood Assistance Act (NAA) CT tax credit project requests from Nassau Financial Group in Hartford. In addition to $33,000 in funding from Nassau, which we used to upgrade electricity in the greenhouses and improve heating and cooling in the historic farmhouse, Nassau brought some 35 Nassau employees, including Granby’s own Ed Ohannessian, to join Farmer Joe and his crew in the fields and spread straw that will protect the winter squash. It was the ultimate example of “many hands make light work.” The Friends are sincerely grateful for the support, both financial and physical, and the Nassau team is invited back anytime that a day playing in the fertile fields of West Granby is more enticing than desk work.
New trail map
A new and improved trail map is now available! In close coordination with the Friends’ Stewardship and Tree Trail teams, Steve Perry of Sperry Geospatial produced a new Holcomb Farm trail system map that is much easier to read, has many more details and greater accuracy.
A digital version of this map appears onis on the Holcomb Farm website (go to holcombfarm.org/trail-map) and on Avenza Maps, a digital map app. To access the map while on the trail, scan the QR code on any lettered trail junction sign. This will link to the map on the Friends’ website. You also can download the map, for free, from the Avenza Maps app (search the Avenza store for Holcomb Farm.)
This new map has all the woodland trails and includes trail mileage and terrain topography. It does not include all the mowed meadow paths of the Holcomb Tree Trail, but it does show the quickest access through the fields to the woodland trails. It also indicates routes for horseback riders to take through the fields, avoiding certain trails that are prone to overuse or damp conditions. This Preferred Horse Route was designed in conjunction with the Granby Horse Council.
The Friends also worked with the Granby Land Trust (GLT) to create new access to the west side woodland trails, from south of the Simsbury Road bridge. More about this new trail is included in a separate announcement in this Drummer issue.
Other news
The Friends of Holcomb Farm Summer CSA is once again sold-out – and we are excited to greet both returning and new members!
We started the season early with two plant sales in May, as well as our first-ever, very popular, DIY Shiitake Mushroom Log Clinics, courtesy of Andy Griffin of RMS Growers. Griffin generously donated funds he raised through the clinics to our Fresh Access program. We hope we can entice Andy back next May — stay tuned. In the meantime, his amazing shiitakes are available for purchase at the Farm Store!
We had great fun showing off our tractor at the Town’s Parks and Rec Touch-a-Truck event at Salmon Brook Park. Hopefully some seeds were planted for future farmers.
Cat’s Corner: It’s okay to not love kale.
We finally made it! The Holcomb Farm CSA and Farm Store are now open. I’ve picked up my first round of fruit and veggies from the farm, plus some awesome new bleu cheese from the farm store. I’ve planted my garden at home. The kids are out of school. The Salmon Brook is flowing, and the tent is ready for camping. This year feels more magical than ever before. Every summer, I look forward to finding something new at the farm and giving it a whirl. My kids recently fell in love with sunflower sprouts. I’ve developed a deep fondness for roasted okra. I’ve eaten a cornucopia of produce throughout my life, but never tried a pea shoot until this year.
With so many fun discoveries, I’ve also settled on some not-so-favorite items. You will never get me to enjoy eating escarole. I’m not alone. Farmer Emma isn’t a fan of cantaloupe. For Farmer Kim, tomatoes bring no joy. You don’t love kale? It’s okay to not love kale. We’re not going to judge you. This summer, we’re going to enjoy the bounty of the things we love and explore something new along the way. I hope you’ll join us!
See you at the farm!
Cat Kadrle, Administrator
P.S. Here are some things I really recommend and that I think will bring you joy, from the Farm Store:
True ghee, Alba Flowers Apiaries honey, Cato Corner Farm cheeses, Old Friends Farm ginger syrup, Kitchen Garden Farm giardiniera, Howling Flats sausages, and Grass Roots Ice Cream.
In addition to Holcomb Farm produce, we currently stock the following items in the farm store:
Birds and Beans LLC, Boston MA (coffee)
Ekonk Hill Turkey Farm, Moosup, CT (chicken and turkey)
Harney and Sons, Millerton, NY (organic juices, sodas and teas)
Hartland Hollow Modern Homestead, East Hartland, CT (maple syrup products)
Katalyst Kombucha/Artisan Beverage Co-op, Greenfield, MA (kombucha)
Lyric Hill Farm, Granby, CT (goat milk soap)
Mi Tierra, Springfield, MA (fresh tortillas)
Old Friends Farm, Amherst, MA (ginger syrup and flavored honeys)
Real Pickles, Greenfield, MA (pickled vegetables)
RMS Growers, Granby, CT (log-grown mushrooms)
Sepe Farm, Sandy Hook, CT (lamb)
Severance Foods/Pan d’Oro, Hartford, CT (tortilla chips)
South River Miso, Conway, MA (miso)
Taza Chocolate, Somerville, MA (chocolate)