Crop of farm tours sprouts in northern Worcester County
By
Paula J. Owen
Correspondent
Posted Jul 23, 2018 at 8:20 PM
Updated Jul 24, 2018 at 9:29 AM
WORCESTER – Indie, a 2-week old Nigerian dwarf goat, started
squawking as soon as he “jumped out of his mom,” says M.L. Altobelli,
co-owner of Woody End Farm.
The black-and-white baby goat – one of five baby goats on the farm - has a spirited personality and let out loud bleats as Margherita Altobelli, M.L.’s sister, who co-owns the 13-acre farm on Davis Road, quickly picked him up to give visitors to the farm a closer look during a regional farm tour Sunday afternoon.
The sisters, in their 50s, raise Altomar goats and have a flock of about Khaki Campbell ducks they raise for pest control. They make goat cheese for their family and sell the ducks’ eggs.
Woody End Farm is one of 14 farms in four communities open to the public for an up-close look at the region’s diverse agriculture on “Rocky’s and Rocketta’s DRAGIN (DRagging AGriculture INto your world) Progressive Farm Tour, coordinated by Farming Beyond Borders, made up of agricultural commissioners, vendors and others in northern Worcester County.
The free tours started Sunday at three farms in Westminster and will continue Aug. 5 at four farms in Lunenburg and Aug. 12 with four farms in Ashburnham and three in Templeton. The tours aim to show visitors where local food is produced and give them a chance to meet the farmers. The tours feature alpacas and goats, and innovative, sustainable farming techniques that produce high-quality foods, soaps and other products.
The tours are “a great opportunity (for people) to learn more about the incredibly diverse farming that is happening in their back yard,” said Heather Bowen, spokeswoman for the Progressive Farm Tour. “The farm tour is a way to showcase the region’s agricultural community as a whole and help explain the important role farms play in the larger economic and societal fabric of the state.”
The Woody End homestead was handed down through the female side of the family since 1752, explained M.L. Altobelli, who said she and her sister inherited the farm from their mother.
M.L. also operates a fine garden landscaping business, so there is a greenhouse for custom growing on the property.
The women grew up with a dairy goat herd and chose to raise
Nigerian dwarf goats about 14 years ago to help clear off the stone
walls and provide milk and cheese to their family.
After the ice storm in 2008, M.L. also got into hugelkulture beds - an old middle-European idea, she explained, using wood and brush she collected from neighbors affected by the storm, animal manure, stone dust and minerals.
“We drowned in wood, essentially,” she said. “So, we set out to use up the wood somehow and learned how to make hugelkulture beds. They’ve been a huge success – excellent soil development with both drought and flood buffering.”
The women sell their produce at the Westminster Farmers Market that M.L. helps run.
“We added the ducks to help control the slugs that came along with developing gardens in the field and found that there’s a decent market for duck eggs – and the ducks are soothing to watch as well,” she said.
Jineen M. Walker, owner of Loland Oaks Farm in Rutland, has known M.L. more than 20 years and was helping with the tour.
“I think the tour is a great idea to bring people to the farms and show people what locally-grown is and how much better it is than buying from the supermarket,” Ms. Walker said. “What M.L. is doing with hugelkulture beds is completely unique. It gives the plants what they need. New England’s soil is very poor and it is hard to grow anything, because we have the oldest soils in the county and they are depleted. Keeping microbes in the soil makes the plants explode.”
Monica M. Mejia, 31, of Sandwich said she heard about the tour from a friend.
“I specifically came for the baby goats,” Ms. Mejia said, who works at a vegetable farm and also a farm-to-table restaurant on the Cape. “I love farms and aspire to be a farmer one day. I’m quite new to the area and find it quaint and beautiful with the mountains as opposed to Cape Cod that is flat and sandy.”
Stephen C. Altobelli, the women’s 18-year-old nephew, has helped out with all aspects on the farm since he was 14. The goats, he said, are helpful for clearing the land for other uses.
“I think it is very cool,” Mr. Altobelli said of the tour. “I like the local food movement and that you can buy at farmers markets. I think my aunts are the two of the hardest working people I’ve ever met.”
For more information and full list of farms on the tour, visit www.progressivefarmtour.com.
The black-and-white baby goat – one of five baby goats on the farm - has a spirited personality and let out loud bleats as Margherita Altobelli, M.L.’s sister, who co-owns the 13-acre farm on Davis Road, quickly picked him up to give visitors to the farm a closer look during a regional farm tour Sunday afternoon.
The sisters, in their 50s, raise Altomar goats and have a flock of about Khaki Campbell ducks they raise for pest control. They make goat cheese for their family and sell the ducks’ eggs.
Woody End Farm is one of 14 farms in four communities open to the public for an up-close look at the region’s diverse agriculture on “Rocky’s and Rocketta’s DRAGIN (DRagging AGriculture INto your world) Progressive Farm Tour, coordinated by Farming Beyond Borders, made up of agricultural commissioners, vendors and others in northern Worcester County.
The free tours started Sunday at three farms in Westminster and will continue Aug. 5 at four farms in Lunenburg and Aug. 12 with four farms in Ashburnham and three in Templeton. The tours aim to show visitors where local food is produced and give them a chance to meet the farmers. The tours feature alpacas and goats, and innovative, sustainable farming techniques that produce high-quality foods, soaps and other products.
The tours are “a great opportunity (for people) to learn more about the incredibly diverse farming that is happening in their back yard,” said Heather Bowen, spokeswoman for the Progressive Farm Tour. “The farm tour is a way to showcase the region’s agricultural community as a whole and help explain the important role farms play in the larger economic and societal fabric of the state.”
The Woody End homestead was handed down through the female side of the family since 1752, explained M.L. Altobelli, who said she and her sister inherited the farm from their mother.
M.L. also operates a fine garden landscaping business, so there is a greenhouse for custom growing on the property.
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After the ice storm in 2008, M.L. also got into hugelkulture beds - an old middle-European idea, she explained, using wood and brush she collected from neighbors affected by the storm, animal manure, stone dust and minerals.
“We drowned in wood, essentially,” she said. “So, we set out to use up the wood somehow and learned how to make hugelkulture beds. They’ve been a huge success – excellent soil development with both drought and flood buffering.”
“We added the ducks to help control the slugs that came along with developing gardens in the field and found that there’s a decent market for duck eggs – and the ducks are soothing to watch as well,” she said.
Jineen M. Walker, owner of Loland Oaks Farm in Rutland, has known M.L. more than 20 years and was helping with the tour.
“I think the tour is a great idea to bring people to the farms and show people what locally-grown is and how much better it is than buying from the supermarket,” Ms. Walker said. “What M.L. is doing with hugelkulture beds is completely unique. It gives the plants what they need. New England’s soil is very poor and it is hard to grow anything, because we have the oldest soils in the county and they are depleted. Keeping microbes in the soil makes the plants explode.”
Monica M. Mejia, 31, of Sandwich said she heard about the tour from a friend.
“I specifically came for the baby goats,” Ms. Mejia said, who works at a vegetable farm and also a farm-to-table restaurant on the Cape. “I love farms and aspire to be a farmer one day. I’m quite new to the area and find it quaint and beautiful with the mountains as opposed to Cape Cod that is flat and sandy.”
Stephen C. Altobelli, the women’s 18-year-old nephew, has helped out with all aspects on the farm since he was 14. The goats, he said, are helpful for clearing the land for other uses.
“I think it is very cool,” Mr. Altobelli said of the tour. “I like the local food movement and that you can buy at farmers markets. I think my aunts are the two of the hardest working people I’ve ever met.”
For more information and full list of farms on the tour, visit www.progressivefarmtour.com.
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