Agricultural Heritage Lives On Through Nobscot's Farms

 

For a large town with the population density and commercial development that Framingham has, we are blessed to still have a living agricultural tradition to enrich our community. Clustered in the northwest corner of town in Nobscot's outer reaches, there are several working farms that offer a variety of products to the public.

Take a ride out along Edmands Road and Nixon Road, admire a landscape that looks almost unchanged from a century ago, and most important of all, stop and buy something! And consider joining one of the CSA programs, where you'll get months of fresh produce for one fixed price, sharing in the harvest of the farm and probably eating even healthier than you do now. 

Support your local farmers so they'll still be here to enrich the lives of future generations of Nobscot residents.

Hanson's Farm at 20 Nixon Road has been run now by five generations of the Hanson family. With 52 acres dedicated to fruits and vegetables and over 100 acres of hay fields, Hanson's has an abundance of products that they offer at their farm stand, local farmer's markets, and through their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, in which local residents buy a share of the harvest.

 

Stearns Farm at 862 Edmands Road dates back to 1723 when Timothy Stearns bought a large tract of land in the area. It was run as a family farm for over 270 years before being incorporated as a non-profit CSA in 1994. Much of the work on the farm is performed by volunteers, most of whom are CSA share participants.

 

Eastleigh Farm at 1062 Edmands Road is a licensed dairy farm that was in the same family from the early 1900s until 1981. For fifteen years it operated as a beef farm until being converted to a dairy again, with a herd of 200 cows, in 2004 by the current owner, Framingham native Doug Stephan. With the price of milk sold into the federal milk pool unprofitable for many producers, Stephan transitioned to selling raw milk, locally made cheeses, yogurt, and ice cream directly to the public. As of 2015, commercial milking operations ended.

 

Baiting Brook Meadow Farm at 32 Nixon Road is 80 acres of permanently, publicly accessible open space. A conservation restriction granted to the Sudbury Valley Trustees by the owners ensures the land, which connects to trails in Callahan State Park, will remain protected from development.