On Saturday, August 15th, we met for our Annual Container Contest and a presentation on herbs by member Jen Mitton at the farm belonging to the Hillside School in Marlborough where Jen is the Farm Director and Educator.
The Container Contest
We had a record number of entries in the container contest and three talented winners took home gift certificates ($50 Weston Nurseries, $25 Rob’s Gardens, and $25 Lakeview Nurseries) for their winning entries in three categories: most edible (use of herbs and/or edible flowers), most colorful, and most unique.
The Program
There was a lot to see in the garden area in addition to herbs, including a 1/2-acre kitchen garden (from which Jen runs a CSA) that the students help plant in the spring and harvest in the fall; 15 4ft x 48ft raised beds, most filled with produce, cut flower and perennial beds, and a just-installed cottage-garden-style pollinator bed; an additional 3/4-acre vine crops area with melons, cucumbers and winter squash; and a greenhouse.
In addition to the gardens, the farm is home to alpacas, chickens, cows, donkeys, geese, llamas, roosters and sheep.
Jen discussed the cultivation and culinary uses of herbs. Jen and Casey also gave us tours of the gardens and served us an array of food items prepared with herbs.
For a 2012 article about Jen and the Hillside School, visit http://www.communityadvocate.com/2012/09/28/hillside-school-farm-in-marlborough-continues-to-grow/.