Young Neighbors in Action bring the energy!

Dismas Farm residents work hard, but its been a little bit easier to work this week because of the help of the Young Neighbors in Action. While their work ethic is appreciated and welcomed, their enthusiasm and energy has been the greatest gift they could give to the farm. Everyday they come in ready to work! They are excited, and their smiles and songs bring a new life to the farm. Throughout the week they've been giving the barn a much needed facelift with a paint job. Yesterday, they were up in the fields lifting large bails of hay onto the truck. And today, they've been in the kitchen with Joe making candles for our upcoming farmer's markets this weekend. We could not have asked for a better bunch of young people to help work on the farm this week! Thank you!

Dismas welcomes Young Neighbors in Action!

Dismas Family Farm welcomed a new group of farmers this morning. A group from St. Mary's Church in Huntley, Illinois will be working at the farm from 9am-3pm this week as a part of the Young Neighbors in Action program. This morning they were out in the garden weeding the pole beans. You almost couldn't see them hidden among the weeds! This afternoon found them scraping and priming the barn. You can be assured we'll keep them busy this week and we appreciate their help. Check back for more projects the Young Neighbors are working on.

Delicious Dinners and a Bountiful Harvest

The residents of Dismas have been blessed this past week with a wonderful harvest and a wonderful week of dinners. Each night has featured amazing individuals sacrificing their time and money to provide delicious meals and desserts for the residents and staff. The particular group featured in this post is from St. Bernadette. They provided a delicous chicken and mashed potato dinner and quite possibly the best Strawberry Shortcake dessert, this blogger has ever taseted. We offer them many thanks and our appreciation.

On Friday, John and I attended the Hopkinton Farmer's market. The day began promising with a little bit of sun and mild temperatures. As you can see from our picture we had a lot to sell. We brought grape tomatoes, vine tomatoes, cucumbers, golden zucchini, sicilian eggplant, onions, bell peppers, beats, and lettuce. The beats sold like hot cakes and most everything else sold well. The late afternoon was a wash, but sales continued slowly. It was a wet but successful day in our eyes. We look forward to next week and continued success!

Who are we? The Dismas Family Farm

If you've been driving up Lincoln Road in the past six months, you might have been wondering who are the new owners of the Lincoln Farm, also formerly known as Ed's Place. You will not be wondering any longer as a new sign has been placed above the large hay barn that reads the "Dismas Family Farm." The sign is made of wood with each letter individually made and sanded down. It was then screwed onto a board which was put into place above the barn. All in all it was a group effort to make this beautiful looking sign. If you're around in the area, please stop by and we'll give you a tour and welcome you to the old farm with a new name.

Cleaning up the yard!

It's the prime time for vegetables! Last week at our farmer's market we sold over 20 sicilian eggplants! That being said, with all that harvesting and work in the garden, we can't forget to keep the yard around the house look nice. In the picture to your left Rob is weeding a small garden in the back of the house.

In this picture, Kevin is seen meticuously weeding a flower garden off to the side of the house. Kevin's attention to detail and patience makes him one of the best weeders on the farm.

Working on the sign.

yeah we had a great day here on the farm. we did a lot of weeding today as well as setting up for new sign for the barn, thats what I was doing in the picture. sanding. one thing I love about this place is the sense of accomplishment. we all take a step back and look and its just a beautiful sight to see what we are a part of.

-brian b.

Dismas Family Farm store opens and chickens keep laying!

Eggs have been a hit for the Dismas Family Farm. We are often sold out of them before the chickens even lay them and when we have enough to bring to farmer's markets, they sell out there too! The young rhode island reds have mostly been laying pullet eggs (which is regular egg just a little smaller, they are the eggs that come out of the chickens when they first start laying), but in this picture John is washing some of the first regular size eggs of the rhode island reds. It is a good sign that there are many more eggs to come! There's nothing like a farm fresh egg in the morning.

The newest thing in the farm house is the opening of the Dismas Family Farm Store! The farm store, which was set up by co-executive director Dave, sells all of our products to anyone who happens to stop by the house. We have birdhouses, bathouses, french vanilla and lavender candles, popcorn, vanilla-pomegranate and lavender soap and jam. Our newest products soap and jam are very popular at our farmer's markets right now. If you're in the area, or maybe just feel like taking a drive, come on down to the farm to check it out. We'll even throw in a free tour of the barn and garden, you can't beat that deal!

Dismas is bailed out and cooks keep coming!

It's interesting how one word can mean so many things. The residents of Dismas Family Farm have heard the word bail before, but it wasn't used to describe a square block of hay. This morning the residents of the farm, collected over 200 bails of hay! With Ward as the trusty tractor driver, the residents flung bails of hay onto the trailer while Kevin and Joe M. stacked them high. The bails were then unloaded onto the second level of the barn (see picture). It was one heck of a morning, but after it was all done, the residents felt accomplished and surprised that it had been done so quickly. In the afternoon, several residents pounded the pavement in search of jobs, while others collected blueberry bushes that were generously donated to the farm. Many are anxiously awaiting the weekend.

We want to continue to thank our cooks. Tuesday night we were served a delicous meal of chicken, creamed corn, pasta salad, and ice cream for dessert. Thank you to the folks from the Brookfield Unitarian Univeralists. We would also like to thank Gale, Dick, Martha and Dave who cooked a wonderful meal of tacos and oriental coleslaw. The residents keep talking about how good it was!

Dismas turns summer heat into Spring Cleaning!

If you live anywhere in the New England you know that the past two days have been HOT! With no air conditioning and the scorching temperatures, the residents have been searching for any way to cool off. A local swimming hole, Brooks Pond, in North Brookfield, has provided some much needed relief. Instead of farm work the residents and interns have set to work cleaning and reorganizing the kitchen. The pantry has new labels, pots and pans have new homes. In the picture above you can see Brian B. and Intern Robin moving out a box of surplus food into the barn. That was one heavey box!

Each night we'll be featuring our cooks on our blog! We cannot thank them enough for all the hard work they do in preparing food for us each night. Last night we were blessed to have the cooking of Kathy, a local Oakham resident. She brought with her, her son Taylor and his friend George. It was a delicious meal of pulled pork, baked beans, and coleslaw. We look forward to their next visit!