Notes From the Field

Thank you to Our Annual Appeal Donors!

Happy New Year everyone! We want to extend our thanks to our Annual Appeal friends and supporters. Since the launch of our Appeal on Giving Tuesday, you have generously donated over $13,000 dollars! This outpouring of support is incredible, and we are grateful to each and every one of you.

Midsummer beauty at Patterson Field. Image courtesy of H. Traggis

Our 2024 year is looking bright. We are excited to continue working alongside our food relief partners and to share our locally grown, nutritious produce with our communities. Even as the snow is falling across the region, we are busy inventorying our seeds, planning our fields, and preparing our tool to hit the ground running once spring arrives. It is thanks to your support that we can prepare for the season with vim and vigor. Thank you again!

January has proven to be an interesting month for Patterson Field in Wayland. The first week of the year brought heavy snowfall that turned the field into a winter wonderland. A small but brave crew went out the field to clear snow off the hoop house and check on the overwintering plants.

The snow making a lovely thick blanket over Patterson Field. Many of the raised row covers are protecting over wintering greens for an early spring harvest.
Image courtesy of C. Wager.

Sadly, one of the majestic White Pine trees lining the field had a large branch torn off by the heavy snow and wind. The electric fence that we rely on to keep deer out of the field sustained minor damage, and the crew spent the morning clearing away as much of the debris as possible and tidying up the fence.

Volunteers Hannah and Kathy work on clearing away pine branches.
Image courtesy of C. Wager.

Later warm January temperatures melted all of the snow, followed by more freezing weather. The field lays dormant, waiting for more sunlight and steady warmth to wake up. As we wait, we will continue to keep an eye on the field to make sure we are all prepared for the growing season.

Baby lettuces snugly tucked under row cover in Patterson Field.
Image courtesy of H. Traggis.

Winter Projects

The cold weather may be keeping us indoors for most of the month of January, but we are busy at work on projects that we never seem to have time for during the growing season. One such project is building wooden vegetable storage racks for our hoop house.

The first shelf in progress. Each tray will have wire mesh on the bottom to support the vegetables while allowing plenty of airflow. Image courtesy of T. Smith.

These racks will be invaluable for drying and curing vegetables like onions and garlic, which require consistent dry air circulation to develop the papery skin we are all familiar with. The racks will also be useful for ripening tomatoes, drying herbs, and curing winter squash for storage. The multiple shelves on each rack will give us a great deal more space to use and make for easier monitoring of produce in the hoop house. Look for more pictures of these racks in use later in the summer!

The Aurelia's Garden Seed Collection, organized, inventoried and ready for the season ahead. Image courtesy of T. Smith.

We are also busy inventorying our farm seed collection and drawing up field plans for the coming season. These activities inform our spring purchases of vegetable seeds, cover crop seeds, organic fertilizers, and other crop and soil supports. Your Annual Appeal donations provide the support we need in this time to dream big and set high goals for ourselves for the coming season. Thank you to our supporters for giving us the financial support to start the season strong.

A selection of native flower seed heads, ready to be cleaned and packaged for sharing. Image courtesy of T. Smith.

Alongside inventories and field maps, we are preparing seed packets and potted herbs to be distributed through our Resource Sharing Program. This new program allows us to share more than just produce with our constituents, we can now share seeds and seedlings to give people the chance to grow some of their own food themselves. These resources are being made available primarily through our Food Pantry Partners, but we are exploring opportunities to share in other settings such as seed swaps.

Winter is also the time to learn! If you want to hear more about what we are doing, please join us on January 30th at the Wayland Public Library. We would love to meet more of our Wayland neighbors and share our work.

Support Aurelia’s Garden!

Donate to our Annual Appeal! We are still looking for support to help us reach our $15,000 Appeal Goal!
Paypal Favorite Charity: If you are a regular PayPal user, set Aurelia’s Garden as your favorite charity to have the option to donate every time you checkout with PayPal.
Our Gift Registry: Aurelia’s Garden now has an online registry wishlist! Farming requires a lot of tools and equipment, some obvious and some less so. The registry has a variety of useful things that we would love to have, ranging from storage equipment for our tools to weights for holding down row cover cloth. All of the items on the list will support our efforts to become a more sustainable organization as well, moving away from single use materials and focusing on well-made durable supplies.
Donation of Spare Equipment: Have something in your garage that you see on the wishlist or think we might need? We welcome donations of used equipment as well! In line with our sustainability mission, we are always looking for used garden tools, old but functional power tools, and old weights no longer in use. Have something that you think we might like but unsure? Email us at aureliaspantrygarden@gmail.com and let us know! We’d love to hear from you!

We deeply value your support. Contributions can be made securely online
or by sending a check to:

     Aurelia’s Garden, c/o K. Martin
     40 Beaver Pond Road
     Lincoln, MA 01773

Donations to Aurelia’s Garden are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.