Granby Drummer (https://granbydrummer.com/category/grow/friends-of-holcomb-farm/page/3/)
The Holcomb Tree Trail is a small arboretum on the Town-owned, 312-acre Holcomb Farm in West Granby. Volunteers planted its first 16 trees in October 2018. Some of those trees, including a Princeton Elm, are now more than 15 feet tall. Planting has continued, with the total plantings now numbering about 80 trees. One of the design principles has been to plant trees with spring blooms or fall color—or both.
As you talk to your neighbors about their gardens this summer, don’t be surprised if a number of them say they got their start at the Friends’ May Plant sales.
Joe O’Grady joined the Friends of Holcomb Farm as its Farm Manager in 2014. Together with his partner Emma and their two children Juniper and Willow (who both were born right in the old farmhouse, as we suspect were Tudor and Laura Holcomb, more than a century prior), they have quickly emerged as important, active members of the Granby community.
April 29–May 30: Kate Emery Art Show for the benefit of Fresh Access. Head to the Lost Acres Vineyard for some wine and to enjoy Emery’s latest work in the show titled The Land That Feeds Us: Body, Mind and Soul.
Come see us at the outdoor Lost Acres Vineyard Holiday Market on April 14, from 4 – 7 p.m. This is a wonderful opportunity to liven up your holiday meals and show your support for the farms that dot our landscape, and the hard-working farmers who run those farms.
As I write this, the thermometer is having trouble reaching 20 after dipping close to zero last night. The ice throughout the woods and trails makes hikes without micro-spikes downright dangerous. But, spring springs eternal! By the time you read this, a drive around Granby will reveal the buckets hung and sap tanks filling, and maybe steam rising from a sugar house or two.
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.