New Entry Sustainable Farming Project

A new video about New Entry, and Adisson and Seona driving a tractor

Sam Anderson — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:12:50 +0000

Have a look at this this excellent video Molly Bedell made about New Entry!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdC6rcd9uHM&feature=youtu.be

As he talks about planning for the growing season, New Entry farmer Adisson Toussaint has a line in this video that pretty much sums up why we have a Farm Business Planning Class:

“It’s easy to think about what you’re going to do, but it’s sometimes difficult to put on paper.”

Adisson has moved onto his own land, and is at the point of mulling tractor options. He and another movin’-on-up New Entry farmer, Seona Ban Ngufer, recently got some tractor operation lessons from Tim Laird at The Food Project. There’s nothing like seeing our farmers take their business to the next level. This is why we do what we do!

You need expert panelists? We’ve got expert panelists

Sam Anderson — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:43:05 +0000

See the videos below, where Jennifer Hashley (New Entry’s Director) and Ethan Grundberg (up until recently, our Technical Assistance and Incubator Farms Coordinator, now Farm Manager at Allandale Farm) make up 100% of the expert panel at a Northeastern University open classrooms session on food systems:

The season begins!

Sam Anderson — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:39:28 +0000

New Entry’s staff often say that we all wear more than one hat. When we had a greenhouse propagation field training – our first field training of the year – scheduled to happen when there would be no Technical Assistance Coordinator around to run it, Becca Weaver stepped up, although it fell well outside of the job description for a Farmland Matching Coordinator. With a little bit of coaching from outgoing TA Coordinator Ethan Grundberg (now farm manager at Allandale Farm), as expected, she nailed it.

Now that our new TA Coordinator, Matt Kochka, has started, he’ll be running the rest of the season’s field trainings. Matt comes to us from Farm Aid, and before that, ReVision Urban Farm in Boston, where he was the farm manager. He knows his stuff.

The next field training is Irrigation and Water, on May 3, 5-7pm – as always, in Dracut, Mass. For more information, contact Matt at 978-654-6745 or MKochka@comteam.org.

Here are a few more pictures of the greenhouse workshop. (The discerning eye will notice our new soil blocker in action!)

Meet Our CSA Coordinator

Sam Anderson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:00:04 +0000

Matthew Himmel - standing, as usual, in a sea of CSA boxes.

Our Marketing Manager, Matthew Himmel, has had more to do with the phenomenal growth of New Entry’s World PEAS CSA than anyone. He’ll be leaving the project this year (for business school!), and New Entry is looking for someone to fill his very big shoes. For those who might not realize just what a big deal World PEAS has become, check out Adrien Bisson’s recent interview with Matthew.

New Entry is Hiring!

Sam Anderson — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:21:31 +0000

Help New Entry Grow!

New Entry is looking for qualified candidates to join our energetic team that works to create new farmers, cultivate local produce, and conserve endangered farmland. We are looking to fill two positions based in Lowell, MA to grow our programs. Position descriptions and the application process is detailed below.

Please help spread the word!

CSA and Food Access Coordinator

Help make a difference for farmers, customers and low-income communities by leading our CSA operations! Sadly, we will say “goodbye” to our existing CSA Coordinator (Matthew Himmel) who is moving on to another job and (hopefully!) to return to school. As a result, we are seeking a highly organized individual with proven leadership skills to coordinate our 475-member CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program. responsibilities include: aassisting farmers in developing individual farmer production schedules; conducting outreach programs to reach potential customers and community volunteers; managing customer sales receipts and payments to farmers; managing staff and community volunteers; developing systems for produce quality assessment and farmer feedback; and expanding New Entry’s food access programs. A Bachelor’s degree is required, and a Master’s Degree is preferred. The candidate must have prior experience in supervising/ managing a produce operation or agricultural business . This is a permanent full-time position at our offices in Lowell and farms in Dracut, MA (4 miles from downtown Lowell). Click here for the full job description.

Assistant CSA Coordinator

Help local farmers connect directly to customers by supervising our CSA operations! We are seeking a detail-oriented, organized, high-energy candidate to supervise quality control and produce packing operations for our 475-member CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program. Responsibilities include supervising a team to pack CSA shares, working with farmers to assure quality control of produce delivered, picking up produce from nearby farms, delivering produce to distribution points around the Boston area, and assisting in coordinating production schedules and processing farmer payments. A Bachelor’s degree and experience in produce handling and quality assessment is preferred. This is a seasonal, full-time position from May through November based at our farms in Dracut, MA (4 miles from downtown Lowell). Click here for the full job description.
TO APPLY: Interested applicants may download an application and submit with a resume and cover letter.

EMAIL:
HR@comteam.org – Human Resources
Please cc: nesfp@tufts.edu with your application materials. Individuals of diverse backgrounds and cultures are encouraged to apply.

FAX:
(978) 937-5824

MAIL:
Community Teamwork, Inc.
Human Resources Office
155 Merrimack St.
Lowell, MA 01852

For any questions related to these positions, please email Project Director, Jennifer Hashley or Program and Finance Coordinator, Kimberley Fitch.

A Little Help From Our Friends (at B.U.)

Zachary Daniels — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 04:07:04 +0000

New Entry’s three incubator farm sites underwent a makeover this year at the hands of Boston University’s FYSOP Volunteer Program. Groups of 15 incoming freshmen spent five hours on August 31st, September 1st, and September 2nd getting to know some of the New Entry farmers and working on a number of projects at Richardson’s Dairy, Smith Farm, and Ogonowski Fields. The energetic groups helped clean out our hoop houses, weed the annual grasses that were taking over the pick-your-own herb garden, organize the farmers’ storage sheds, and harvest produce in the farmers’ fields. Volunteers seemed to be both tired and full of a sense of accomplishment at the end of each day and the farmers were very appreciative for the extra hands (hands that happened to be protected by work gloves generously donated by Magid Glove & Safety). Thanks to all of the hard-working volunteers and we look forward to seeing the FYSOP folks again next year!
- Ethan

New Entry and the MPPU on NPR!

Sam Anderson — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:09:31 +0000

The Mobile Poultry Processing Unit was recently featured on Radio Boston! Read and listen here: http://radioboston.wbur.org/2011/09/12/slaughtering-local-poultry

Moved to try these chickens out for yourself? You can preorder from the next batch (with pickups in Dracut on Oct. 3 and Medford/Somerville on Oct. 5) here. If you want to try it out before buying, you can find our chickens at Bondir restaurant in Cambridge. If you decide to buy one, you’ll be in good company! Email sanderson@comteam.org if you have any questions about the chickens.
Moved to try your hand at processing chickens? Step right up! You can volunteer for our next processing day-slash-workshop here. Whether you’re thinking about raising birds of your own or you just want a better sense of where your food comes from, it’s sure to be an experience to write home about.

Chicks!

Sam Anderson — Tue, 31 May 2011 15:42:27 +0000

Things have been happening out at the farms – fields plowed, crops planted, a new hoophouse skinned – but none quite as adorable as the newest tenants at Ogonowski Memorial Fields: our chickens! At just under two and three weeks, our two batches of chickens are still in their cute phase. Enjoy them now – and, if you’re one of the many people who has been wondering where you can find local, pasture-raised chicken, email sanderson@comteam.org if you’re interested in buying the finished product later this year. You can also click here to participate in the remaining poultry workshops.
Without further ado, here they are:

Here they are shortly after first arriving.

These chicks, an Italian red broiler strain (“redbros” for short), came a week ahead of the faster-growing Cornish Cross chicks.

We kept them separate for a couple of days so the Cornish Cross could get adjusted. Both batches will finish at the same time, on July 11 – 8 weeks for the Cornish, 9 weeks for the redbros.

The two breeds get along famously, at least for chickens, and it didn’t take them long to spread out and make use of their expanded brooder. This is about how they looked when we held our Brooding Workshop on May 24.
And now a few of the greatest hits, adorableness-wise:

New Entry’s New Digs

Sam Anderson — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:44:59 +0000

If you haven’t already heard, New Entry has moved. Don’t worry, Lowellites, we’re still here – we just moved down the street. Now we share a building with one of our financial sponsors, Community Teamwork, Inc., in the Bon Marche building at 155 Merrimack Street. The entrance is next to Barnes and Noble, and we’re on the 3rd floor. Otherwise, aside from a few hiccups during the move, it’s back to business as usual!
For those inspired (or required) to visit the new space, here’s a map.

The New MPPU: It’s Real!

Sam Anderson — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 11:54:38 +0000

Yeah, yeah, so this blog has been stuck on chickens lately. I promise to move on in the next post, but first, exciting news: our second mobile poultry processing unit is almost done! The final details are being worked out right now. To prove it really does exist, here are some pictures I took when I visited the unit during construction late last year. The unit has come a long way from what you see in these pictures, but this should give you an idea of what we’re working with:

It’s pretty big.

Here’s where the birds are loaded in.

This is the fancy new plucker, complete with a kickout door. This means that when the birds are done, they automatically shoot into the next room. Pretty spiff, right?

Here’s the new scalder. If you’re familiar with the old scalder, you’ll be glad to know that this one heats the water up less than half the time. It also requires less water. And it’s not as small as it looks here.
Stay tuned – before too long it should be arriving in Massachusetts! In the meantime, we’ll take a hiatus from chicken-oriented posts.