Today we’d like to introduce you to Casey Townsend.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Casey. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I first started farming back in 2007 when I became the Education Director at Land’s Sake Farm which is located in Weston, Massachusetts. It is during this time that I started working with youth (kindergarten through high school) teaching them about the local food system and where their food comes from. I spent just over 2 1/2 years at this non-profit farm learning about food production, maple syrup production, sustainable forestry management and how to best integrate youth in the these facets.
In 2011 I joined the Trustees of the Reservation as the Urban Grower managing 2 urban growing locations. One was the Northampton Square Rooftop Garden (owned by the folks at Boston Medical) and the other was a backyard farm in Hyde Park. Both of these sites were managed using volunteers, local college students and primarily high school students from the Youth Conservation Corps. The rooftop farm was by far the more visible of the two locations and showcased the prevalence of food deserts within the city.
While working at the Trustees, I was also getting my Green MBA from Antioch University. The tenants of our MBA program relied upon the importance of people, planet and profits. These continue to form the backbone of my professional career today as I believe a truly sustainable organization needs to keep all in mind.
Today, and for the past 5 years, I have worked at The Natick Community Organic Farm. As the Assistant Director, I am in charge of the keeping our small-scale agricultural entity going. On a daily basis this means that I am constantly juggling the priorities of our educational farm to ensure that the animals, vegetables and flowers are properly tended to by both volunteers, programs participants and staff.
Has it been a smooth road?
It hasn’t been the smoothest of roads at times. There were transitions between my time spent working abroad as an ESL teacher and choosing to farm that were slightly challenging. The most challenging transition, however, occurred when I realized that my undergraduate degree in environmental science had not properly prepared me to do the things that I wanted to achieve in the next phase of my life. It was for this reason that I had to take a part-time position with the Trustees and go to graduate school part-time (for 2 years) in order to take my professional life to the next phase.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with The Natick Community Organic Farm – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
The Natick Community Organic Farm’s mission is to provide productive space, farm products and hands-on education for people of all ages. We differ from other farms in that our true, number one product is our hands-on education. We work with individuals, volunteers, corporate groups, schools (public and private), and paid apprentices and area summer youth to keep our farm:
-Growing organic vegetables and flowers
-Creating locally made maple syrup
-Producing humanely-raised meat
We exist to produce all of the above but we do it in a way that welcomes anyone who wants to learn about local agriculture. As staff at the farm, our job is to match individual and group skill levels to tasks at the farm (As my founder says, “There is a job for everyone at the farm). Rather than sending people out in the fields to achieve tasks, we take a “come with me approach” to our day so that we can educate folks about what we do.
Compared to for-profit farms that strive for efficiency (which worry about the bottom dollar most), we have created metrics to measure the facets of people, planet and profits as that is what we value in an organization. We understand that by working with middle school students we are certainly not the most efficient, but what we value is the opportunity to teach youth about where their food comes from.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Boston and the Metro West area is an organic growers dream. The consumers in this area are highly educated and fully aware of the importance of producing locally food organically, Compared to other parts of this country, we are constantly sought after for our organic food because the consumer wants it.
We are also blessed to be in a suburban area where the Town of Natick (the land is owned by the Town of Natick and the non-profit farms it) and its residents value keeping the land productive and a continued place for youth to have actively engage in meaningful work.
Contact Info:
- Address: 117 Eliot Street
- Website: www.natickfarm.org
- Phone: 508-655-2204
- Email: info@natickfarm.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Natick-Community-Organic-Farm-244545566925/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/natickfarm?lang=en
Image Credit:
Trish Wesley-Umbrell, Kori Feener
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