Growing Food means Growing Climate Resilience
Our Hurley Street Neighborhood Farm started in 2017 as a prototype for future “communal gardens” in Cambridge. You can help grow! People of all skill levels and backgrounds are welcome to help create community resiliency amongst neighbors and take advantage of underutilized growing space.
Unlike the typical community garden consisting of various privately-run plots, the neighborhood farm is collectively staffed by local volunteers of all backgrounds. In the past we've held community hours where anyone could drop in. However, now with COVID-19 guidelines in place, group activities are reduced. To facilitate, we're instituting sign up times, limiting the number of people in the space at any given time.
Just schedule a time below! Questions? Email farms @ greencambridge.org. Be sure to read the Farm FAQs below!
In addition, Join our Farm Advocate Group to get email updates and be a part of this amazing work!
Before coming to our growing sites for the first time, please sign this volunteer agreement.
Unlike the typical community garden consisting of various privately-run plots, the neighborhood farm is collectively staffed by local volunteers of all backgrounds. In the past we've held community hours where anyone could drop in. However, now with COVID-19 guidelines in place, group activities are reduced. To facilitate, we're instituting sign up times, limiting the number of people in the space at any given time.
Just schedule a time below! Questions? Email farms @ greencambridge.org. Be sure to read the Farm FAQs below!
In addition, Join our Farm Advocate Group to get email updates and be a part of this amazing work!
Before coming to our growing sites for the first time, please sign this volunteer agreement.
Farm FAQs
What kinds of work should I do?
Check the information board when you arrive - it will give some guidelines on what needs to be done for the week. Do any of the tasks you would be comfortable with.
Unless you can tell that the plants were just watered, take time to water the greenhouse and raised beds. If you haven’t done that before, check the binder for additional notes and tips.
We would ask that if you don’t recognize a plant in the areas around the garden, please don’t pull them. Many of our plants are great for pollinators, or we are letting them set seed to harvest or self-sow like the cilantro, chamomile, and dill.
Seeds, labels, pens, string, etc are all in the cabinet. Label what you’ve done so others know where and what you’ve planted.
When you’re finishing up, be sure to turn the water off and clean up any supplies you may have used or left out. Take some time to put items back in the cabinet where they belong. Leave it in better shape than you found it, and the season will go smoothly for everyone!
Who is this food for? Can I take some?
We ask that you do work first, and then take some food/herbs for yourself. Take some, enough, but not all; leave some for your fellow volunteers and the larger community. Sometimes you might see a note not to harvest something when we are preparing a bigger harvest for food donation. That being said, many of the summer plants produce better the more they are picked. Prior to the pandemic, we have had enough for food donations going to East End House. As we figure out how to safely do food harvesting for donation and we have a large crop for harvest, more details will be provided.
Why do you call it a farm? How is it different than a community garden? Can I bring my own plants/seeds to put here?
In most community gardens, people rent or claim a plot for their personal use. They tend it, water it, bring in seeds and amendments, and can expect to get a harvest from it. These neighborhood farms work a bit differently. Many hands share in the work over the course of the season.
We also operate the garden as a whole, dynamic, living system. The raised beds are all seen as a system of plots, much like the fields in a traditional farm. We have the great advantage of tending them by hand, however, so we can do really interesting things with companion planting and caring for the soil. The annual crops are rotated, which means that plant families are moved to different beds each year. For example, a bed doesn’t grow tomatoes every year. Especially in a raised bed system, growing the same thing in the same place year after year can deplete the soil. That can make the plants more susceptible to diseases, and require lots more pesticides and fertilizers. Around the edges of the Hurley farm (and we hope soon the Riverside Farm) there is a growing perennial food forest made up of fruit trees, medicinal herbs, culinary herbs, and pollinator plants. If there’s something specific you want to plant, please send me a note about it. We may be able to put it in one of the beds or pots. We can’t promise it will be there for your exclusive use and harvest, but you might introduce others to a favorite new plant.
Is this your yard? Who lives here?
None of the staff of Green Cambridge live in the home that faces Hurley Street. The home’s owners are committed to issues of social justice and liked the idea of having a public space for food-growing in the area behind their home. They get to enjoy the beauty of a tended garden and the knowledge that they are helping create neighborhood food security. Please be respectful in the space they are sharing with the community.
What did Green Cambridge do in the space last year?
We grew over 200 pounds of food (that’s just what we weighed and measured for donation) and hosted hundreds of neighbors of all ages to engage, work, and learn at this educational farm. Thanks to dedicated volunteers and energetic work groups, we were able to grow everything from seed last year in the annual beds.
We focused on building new raised beds for vegetable growing, building up the soil microbiome and organic matter on the whole property, and planting out the perennial spaces in the farm to discourage the plants that thrive in disturbed soils. Thanks to our friends Sue, Helen, Carolyn, and Paige, we have a large number of pollinator perennials and flowers in and around the garden. We created 3 new raised beds suitable for growing food and herbs. 3 hops vines were established, and we put in 2 pear trees, a spicebush, raspberries, asparagus, and a serviceberry. Clover, dandelion, and mint have begun to crowd out the groundcover weeds, and it is wonderful to see the soil full of earthworms and bugs.
Harvey took out the back chain link fence piece by piece over the course of 2 months, and Steven led crews through the whole season to clear the impenetrable wall of ivy away. A whole new space - about 60 square feet - for planting has emerged! After seeing the condition of the soil, we are opting to build new raised beds in the back. The plants in the berms are really taking off, and we had our first major elderberry harvest. We worked on adding in row covers and other tools for season extension, and overwintering beds using cover cropping. We hope you’ll join us this coming season!
What are you doing this year?
Due to the pandemic, we won’t be able to host some of the educational and school groups we had planned to this year. This gives us some time to build out our farm infrastructure. This will include building a handwashing and vegetable washing station, building new raised beds for the back, creating educational signage, working on the compost area, and building organizational spaces for the tools in the carport. We would also like to continue adding in medicinal, food-producing, and native perennials.
In addition to the expansion of growing space at Hurley, we are expanding to another location in the Riverside neighborhood. It’s a much different space - much more open to the river and to Memorial Drive, and gets full sun all day. Some crops will thrive in this environment - we will work on seeing what grows well in the beds as well as establishing hardy perennials in the bordering beds.
We do all of this work on a limited budget. Please consider making an in-kind of financial contribution. The donation of your time is also very precious, and we love the community-building that comes with growing food together. Join us, and we look forward to a good season of growing together.
Check the information board when you arrive - it will give some guidelines on what needs to be done for the week. Do any of the tasks you would be comfortable with.
Unless you can tell that the plants were just watered, take time to water the greenhouse and raised beds. If you haven’t done that before, check the binder for additional notes and tips.
We would ask that if you don’t recognize a plant in the areas around the garden, please don’t pull them. Many of our plants are great for pollinators, or we are letting them set seed to harvest or self-sow like the cilantro, chamomile, and dill.
Seeds, labels, pens, string, etc are all in the cabinet. Label what you’ve done so others know where and what you’ve planted.
When you’re finishing up, be sure to turn the water off and clean up any supplies you may have used or left out. Take some time to put items back in the cabinet where they belong. Leave it in better shape than you found it, and the season will go smoothly for everyone!
Who is this food for? Can I take some?
We ask that you do work first, and then take some food/herbs for yourself. Take some, enough, but not all; leave some for your fellow volunteers and the larger community. Sometimes you might see a note not to harvest something when we are preparing a bigger harvest for food donation. That being said, many of the summer plants produce better the more they are picked. Prior to the pandemic, we have had enough for food donations going to East End House. As we figure out how to safely do food harvesting for donation and we have a large crop for harvest, more details will be provided.
Why do you call it a farm? How is it different than a community garden? Can I bring my own plants/seeds to put here?
In most community gardens, people rent or claim a plot for their personal use. They tend it, water it, bring in seeds and amendments, and can expect to get a harvest from it. These neighborhood farms work a bit differently. Many hands share in the work over the course of the season.
We also operate the garden as a whole, dynamic, living system. The raised beds are all seen as a system of plots, much like the fields in a traditional farm. We have the great advantage of tending them by hand, however, so we can do really interesting things with companion planting and caring for the soil. The annual crops are rotated, which means that plant families are moved to different beds each year. For example, a bed doesn’t grow tomatoes every year. Especially in a raised bed system, growing the same thing in the same place year after year can deplete the soil. That can make the plants more susceptible to diseases, and require lots more pesticides and fertilizers. Around the edges of the Hurley farm (and we hope soon the Riverside Farm) there is a growing perennial food forest made up of fruit trees, medicinal herbs, culinary herbs, and pollinator plants. If there’s something specific you want to plant, please send me a note about it. We may be able to put it in one of the beds or pots. We can’t promise it will be there for your exclusive use and harvest, but you might introduce others to a favorite new plant.
Is this your yard? Who lives here?
None of the staff of Green Cambridge live in the home that faces Hurley Street. The home’s owners are committed to issues of social justice and liked the idea of having a public space for food-growing in the area behind their home. They get to enjoy the beauty of a tended garden and the knowledge that they are helping create neighborhood food security. Please be respectful in the space they are sharing with the community.
What did Green Cambridge do in the space last year?
We grew over 200 pounds of food (that’s just what we weighed and measured for donation) and hosted hundreds of neighbors of all ages to engage, work, and learn at this educational farm. Thanks to dedicated volunteers and energetic work groups, we were able to grow everything from seed last year in the annual beds.
We focused on building new raised beds for vegetable growing, building up the soil microbiome and organic matter on the whole property, and planting out the perennial spaces in the farm to discourage the plants that thrive in disturbed soils. Thanks to our friends Sue, Helen, Carolyn, and Paige, we have a large number of pollinator perennials and flowers in and around the garden. We created 3 new raised beds suitable for growing food and herbs. 3 hops vines were established, and we put in 2 pear trees, a spicebush, raspberries, asparagus, and a serviceberry. Clover, dandelion, and mint have begun to crowd out the groundcover weeds, and it is wonderful to see the soil full of earthworms and bugs.
Harvey took out the back chain link fence piece by piece over the course of 2 months, and Steven led crews through the whole season to clear the impenetrable wall of ivy away. A whole new space - about 60 square feet - for planting has emerged! After seeing the condition of the soil, we are opting to build new raised beds in the back. The plants in the berms are really taking off, and we had our first major elderberry harvest. We worked on adding in row covers and other tools for season extension, and overwintering beds using cover cropping. We hope you’ll join us this coming season!
What are you doing this year?
Due to the pandemic, we won’t be able to host some of the educational and school groups we had planned to this year. This gives us some time to build out our farm infrastructure. This will include building a handwashing and vegetable washing station, building new raised beds for the back, creating educational signage, working on the compost area, and building organizational spaces for the tools in the carport. We would also like to continue adding in medicinal, food-producing, and native perennials.
In addition to the expansion of growing space at Hurley, we are expanding to another location in the Riverside neighborhood. It’s a much different space - much more open to the river and to Memorial Drive, and gets full sun all day. Some crops will thrive in this environment - we will work on seeing what grows well in the beds as well as establishing hardy perennials in the bordering beds.
We do all of this work on a limited budget. Please consider making an in-kind of financial contribution. The donation of your time is also very precious, and we love the community-building that comes with growing food together. Join us, and we look forward to a good season of growing together.
COVID-19 Guidelines for Community Farms
During the COVID-19 Crisis, our growing space will be following the City's community garden guidelines. Masks and gloves are required before entering the farms. In addition:
- Do not garden if you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, if you have been sick in the past 2 weeks, or if you have been in contact with anyone who may have contracted COVID-19.
- Wash hands frequently, and avoid touching your face.
- Practice physical distancing. Capacity is limited at our farming locations to no more than 4 people in total.
- Be careful touching high use surfaces including gates, water spigots and hoses. Wash your hands, apply alcohol based hand sanitizer with at least 70% alcohol, or wear gloves.
- Use your own tools whenever possible, and if you use other people’s tools be sure to sanitize them before and after use.
- Stay in communication with fellow gardeners.
Employing Permaculture design principles, the farm’s socio-environmental goals focus on being “regenerative:” producing maximal nutrient-dense food, improving soil and ecosystem health for future growing, and serving as a gathering space for the community to celebrate food. The produce grown will benefit the landowners, volunteers, and Cambridge-centered food security organizations. This way, those who help can appreciate the direct results of the work they’ve contributed, hopefully sparking new passions for community gardening.