Hi Guest | sign in | print
Historic Stearns Farm
Records show that Timothy Stearns bought a large tract of land here in 1723. The cellar hole from his house is where our sheds are now located. Stearn's daughter married Col. Nixon and their son, Capt. Thomas Nixon, Jr. built the house, c. 1787, across the road, that still stands. The land remained in the Nixon family until Margaret Welch assumed ownership in the early 1900's.Penelope Turton, a delightful English woman and friend of Mrs. Welch, founded Stearns Organic Farm in 1954, and farmed it until 1990. The 10 acres of farmland and an additional 70 acres that join Callahan State Park were given to Sudbury Valley Trustees (SVT) in 1975 by Mrs. Welch.
Here is a drawing of Penelope's little house "Mole End", which stood across the street from the Stearns Farm sheds (the white picket fence is still standing).
Penelope's house - "Mole End"
In 1990, Penelope started a CSA as part of Stearns Farm in addition to the regular farmstand. There were ten shares that year. Amy Wales was the first farm manager for the new CSA and it was the first time Penelope had ever delegated that task to anyone. Clicking on the two images below will show larger, readable versions of a Boston Globe article about that time.
In 1994 "Stearns Organic Farm CSA" incorporated as a non-profit organization. Since then it has been run by an sharer-elected seven-person board of directors.
Below is a picture taken of Penelope Turton on her 80th birthday.
What Happened to Stearns Organic Farm?
Because the new USDA Organic Standards went into effect October 2002, you will no longer see the word 'organic' used to describe Stearns Farm produce. Does this mean that we have changed our growing methods? No! It just means that we don't choose to buy from the federal government the right to use the word that describes the growing methods pioneered by Penelope Turton and other small farmers. In the past we could advertise our produce as organic without being certified, now to do so would wrack up big fines. Instead our produce will now be known as "naturally grown" food. For more detail, read the full story on certification.
Revision 1. Last edited Fri 4 Apr 2008 12:00pm by TomYelton