Granby Drummer (https://granbydrummer.com/category/grow/friends-of-holcomb-farm/)
With the footbridge over the Salmon Brook washed out by Hurricane Ida, the Holcomb Farm trails to the east of Simsbury Road are suddenly getting much more traffic. The good news is that there is so much to see up there: the Holcomb Tree Trail, the new interpretive signs and the gorgeous views.
While the wet summer has not been great for vegetable growing, it has been super for fruit, and the bounty at the Thrall Family Homestead Farm in neighboring Windsor was overflowing. What to do? Friend and neighbor Sarah Thrall called and said, “Come on over and pick what you can” to add to the food we provide to our Fresh Access partners.
Born and raised in Ohio, new Friends of Holcomb Farm board member Amy Eisler moved to West Hartford in 2005 with her husband and three young daughters. Having been involved with CSAs wherever she has lived, it didn’t take her too long to discover Holcomb Farm here in Granby.
In the May 2021 Drummer, we spoke of the continuing drought conditions in our region and encouraged believers to embrace the practices of our indigenous peoples and do a rain dance. Well, that was then, and this is now.
The Friends of Holcomb Farm board president Bob Bystrowski opened the annual meeting on August 21 with the proclamation that the Farm has kept us all focused and stable as we head into the third calendar year of the pandemic.
The Summer CSA sold out early this year, which is one of the reasons we need to grow more produce, but you aren’t completely out of luck. The Farm Store in the CSA Barn next to the Methodist Church, at 111 Simsbury Road, is opening for the season June 15.
Farmers are known to require skills that go well beyond planting and harvesting. Sophisticated knowledge of soil chemistry and its impact on nutrition come to mind.
Tons of volunteer time from board members Donna Snyder, Rocky Piccirillo and others, as well as some consulting support funded through a State grant, have helped the Friends of Holcomb Farm complete a Five-Year Business Plan for our farming operations at Holcomb Farm.
Being the partner of farmer Joe O’Grady, Emma Hoyt is well aware of the goings on around Holcomb Farm. Last year, in fact, the Drummer published a story about her mobile chicken coop and its productive occupants who are now laying lots of eggs and eating lots of insect pests in the growing fields.
Now entering its third year of development, the Holcomb Farm Tree Trail is really taking shape. The entrance, off Day St. South near its intersection with Simsbury Road, will soon host an information kiosk, and more interpretive signs and maps are planned.