The seeds are planted—let the season begin!
The seeds are planted, the CSA and Farm Store will be opening June 11, and the Friends of Holcomb Farm have more than ever to be excited about.
A Successful 2024
The Friends celebrated an outstanding year with a volunteer appreciation brunch, followed by an annual meeting that drew some 80 people to Holcomb Farm’s North Barn. The event featured a moving presentation, Giving Back, from CSA member and Granby resident Sri Divakaruni. Divakaruni shared why he has chosen to support the Friends with a generous three-year pledge that launched Fresh Access Heroes, creating a solid and sustainable funding base for our Fresh Access program and ensuring fresh produce reaches those who need it most. We will share more about this program, and the generosity of our Heroes, in future months.
Bottom line: 2024 was a good year
Holcomb Farm’s farming operations generated net income.
Successful friend- and fund-raising events brought people together.
Hundreds of families sourced produce directly from our farm.
Hundreds more had healthy food on their tables, thanks to Fresh Access.
Granby Town Manager Mike Walsh, fresh off his first full year in town and one of its newest residents, summed it up beautifully at the brunch, “To my knowledge, no other municipality in the State of Connecticut produces wholesome food from their town-owned farm for its residents, and then takes the abundance and feeds hungry communities within Hartford and surrounding cities and towns. I find this whole organization quite remarkable! To do this important work as volunteers speaks volumes to what the community of Granby is capable of.”
For the full 2024 Annual report of the Friends of Holcomb Farm, visit holcombfarm.org.
Joe O’Grady is our Businessperson of The Year!
At the Granby-Simsbury Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting on May 1, 2025 (see this article from this issue for related story), Joe O’Grady was honored as the Granby’s Businessperson of the Year. “A farmer, running a nonprofit farm, as “Businessperson of the Year” you ask? You bet—and here’s why.
No one goes into farming dreaming of reporting to a nonprofit board of well-meaning but agriculturally clueless folks. But O’Grady did, and the Friends of Holcomb Farm is immensely grateful; he patiently educates us to the intricacies of regenerative farming and climate change — the good, the bad and the ugly — while giving us confidence we will get through.
Farming is a tough business, and no one in the business expects to generate positive financial results every year, especially with the challenge of the changing climate. But O’Grady takes the business of Holcomb Farm very seriously, and the results show.
Under his management, Holcomb Farm has delivered net income in 11 of the 12 years he has been with us. It is because of his commitment to the business side of farming that we can pursue new opportunities, like the possible re-purposing of an abandoned church to create year-round local food access at Holcomb Farm.
As a testament to O’Grady’s superb management skills, much of our farm crew—including local young adults and professional farmers who come to us through the H2A program—return year after year. In fact, in the winter of 2023, the entire crew vacationed together, a testament to the team culture O’Grady has cultivated. Also, several young people who worked on the crew have since pursued careers in agriculture—a ripple effect of his mentorship.
Recently, a generous donor approached us wanting to find an organization making a difference that he could support. As a CSA member, he has been so impressed by the work ethic and quality that O’Grady and his team deliver, that he chose us—the Friends of Holcomb Farm. What more could we ask?
At the starting gates for 2025
Our crew is prepping fields and planting seeds for another abundant season. Here’s what’s in the ground already: thousands of onions, garlic, leeks, carrots, scallions, fennel and kohlrabi. In the greenhouse, we’ve planted fava beans, tomatoes and peppers.
For three weekends in May, we gave home gardeners the opportunity to fill their gardens with seedlings grown from organic, non-GMO seeds; Holcomb Farm vegetables, flowers and herbs will be sprouting all over town this summer!
The farm’s Opening Day is June 11 and from then on, CSA pick-ups and the open-to-all Farm Store will be open for the season Wednesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. until late October.
Feed your soul with a tree trail walk
As we await the bounty that O’Grady and his crew will produce in 2025, we can feed our soul today. The Holcomb Tree Trail, an arboretum founded in 2018 on town-owned land in West Granby, has many trees that will grow tall over time. They are sited carefully to avoid interfering with the long views of hills to the South and West.
One highlight: the cucumber magnolia (Magnolia acuminata ‘Moegi Dori’), planted in 2023 near the pond. It is a native tree that can grow up to 100 feet tall, with a trunk diameter as much as four feet. Its bark is furrowed gray-brown. Its range is from Toronto to Georgia, and west to Illinois and Arkansas. It has no serious disease or insect issues. Ours is still under six feet tall, as it was planted container-grown in 2023, and sourced from O’Brien Nursery on Wells Road. In fall, it bears pinkish 2- to 3-inch-long fruits that some say resemble cucumbers. Gold fall color is respectable, setting it apart from most magnolias with little fall color.
Michael Dirr and Keith Warren, leading authorities on trees, consider it “…one of the most beautiful deciduous magnolias and a terrific addition to large properties.”
Save the date!
The second Holcomb Hoedown will take place on Sept. 7. Mark your calendars for this fun family event and go to holcombfarm.org/events to learn more!