CRAFT Tour: Scaling Farm or Evolving Farm Size, Needham Community Farm

Time: 4 to 6pm
Host: Avery Westa and Sasha Fraser, manager and assistant manager
CRAFT liaison: Andrea Egan, Newton Community Farm
Address & Parking: 145 Pine St., Needham. Off a one-way street. Turn right at the sign for the farm and dog park and drive down a long dirt driveway. There is a small parking lot at the end of the driveway and folks can park along the side of the dirt road as needed, just don’t block any town equipment or supplies. 
Description: At Needham Community Farm, we are increasing our bed space from about a quarter acre to at least half an acre this year. Within the past year, we have also expanded our production by increasing season extension at the farm and adding a late fall CSA share. This year, we are growing for a 60 person main season CSA, 60 person fall CSA, and our free mobile market which serves community members at three Needham Housing Authority sites each week of our CSA season. 
In this craft, we will discuss our experience and process making permanent beds with a BCS walk-behind tractor. We will discuss our decision-making as we scale up, how to access resources that could help you scale up, and our methods for no-till production. We will share what has worked for us and what has not, as well as how our production is integrated with educational and volunteer programs at the farm. We hope this workshop will be helpful to folks looking to get started with minimal equipment, folks looking to learn more about no-till practices, and folks looking to learn more about season extension.