The Farm at Stonehill

2021 Donor Impact Report

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Support The Farm at Stonehill

The Farm at Stonehill is an initiative of The Mission Division at Stonehill College and is designed to enrich students' academic endeavors by providing them with the opportunity to actively engage in social justice issues while also helping provide for families and individuals in need. 

Farm Overview

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Farm Produce

The Farm at Stonehill was created in 2011 after the former Vice President for Mission, Paul DaPonte, was inspired through a day of service in our neighboring city of Brockton, MA. On that day, he and several Stonehill students accompanied residents in the community who had limited access to healthy food and fresh produce – and from this tour of Brockton a desire to help address food insecurity was born.

The Farm yields 10,000 to 12,000 lbs. of fresh, organic produce each year on just 1.5 acres of land. Different varieties of vegetables, fruits, and flowers grown at the Farm include popular items like potatoes, onions, greens, strawberries, basil, and sunflowers. Vegetable varieties are chosen based on nutritional value and popularity among recipients, who are surveyed each season.

For the first five seasons, the entire harvest was donated to four community partners who, in turn, distribute the produce to their clients: My Brother's Keeper; The Table at Father Bill's & MainSpring; The David Jon Louison Center of The Old Colony YMCA; and The Easton Food Pantry. A Mobile Market was launched in 2016 in partnership with Brockton Neighborhood Health Center (BNHC). The partnership with BNHC allows us to deliver freshly picked, organic produce to residents who experience food insecurity and offer ways to grow community.

Students who work at the Mobile Market do more than sell fresh, organic produce. They develop friendships with our clients, who look forward to their smiles and assistance in picking the best veggies from the bins each week. Through our community partners, we serve many different residents ranging from young mothers to senior citizens, as well as less mobile populations who speak primarily Cape Verdean Creole, Haitian Creole, and Spanish.  The Farm thrives thanks to our dedicated staff and volunteers who enjoy growing the community around fresh produce, our relationships with our community partners, and our funders who believe in the work that we do.

IN THE FIELDS

REJUVENATION, TRANSITION, AND A LOT OF GARLIC

With the spring 2021 departure of inaugural Farm Director Bridget Lawrence-Meigs, Stonehill alumni Celia Dolan ‘19 worked diligently as our Interim Farm Director throughout this transition period. Celia came together with many empowering volunteers and future food system leaders to operate The Farm and continue its mission.

The 2021 growing season was a time for the rejuvenation and regeneration of our fields. During this period, our fields were planted with a cover crop called Sorghum Sudangrass, which allows for a healthy transformation of our soil. This is vital because it not only prevents soil erosion and the depletion of nutrients, but also improves water filtration and decreases weed pressure as well. Giving our fields this well-deserved break encourages restoration and a rich growing environment that will give back balance to the land. Hopefully, this will lead to successful future seasons with healthy and nutrient-rich soil.

In addition, Celia continued to work with the Farm’s beekeeper, Kevin O’Donnell, to harvest and sell over 50 lbs. of honey through our farm’s online store. We successfully planted and harvested produce such as peppers, eggplant, strawberries, tomatoes, lavender, and herbs. Despite this time of rejuvenation for our soil, with the help of Celia, Joe, 12 new student volunteers, and many other community members, we ended the year with a successful harvest of over 300 pounds of garlic and over 465 pounds of produce! As a result of all of this, The Farm served over 200 members of our community through our successful 16-week Mobile Market program.

STRAWBERRIES COME IN ALL SHADES, SHAPES, AND SIZES – JUST LIKE PEOPLE

At The Farm at Stonehill, we know that strawberries can come in all sizes, shapes, and shades! Just like people, we love them all. The Farm continues to spread love (and strawberries) throughout the entire year, even the summer. This summer, strawberries harvested at The Farm were brought to My Brother’s Keeper, a ministry program right in Easton, MA. From there, these strawberries were distributed to residents of Brockton with diverse backgrounds, cultures, and stories. At The Farm, we love helping our community obtain fresh, delicious produce – one strawberry at a time!

FULFILLING OUR MISSION

MOBILE MARKET

This season we also maintained our commitment to running the Mobile Market, working enthusiastically with Langwater Farm (Easton, MA) and Copper Kettle Farm (Easton, MA) to provide fresh local produce to our community as a means of fulfilling our mission to “connect with food panties, meal providers, and social service agencies in nearby areas to provide the community with fresh and nutritious foods.”

Offering our 2021 Mobile Market as a no-contact program for the second year in a row, we are grateful to Joe Webber ’22 for serving as our Mobile Market Intern. New this year, we added translation sheets to be included within our Mobile Market bags. These sheets include a list of what is in each bag, as well as exciting recipes. We even provided translations on these sheets for our Cape Verdean Creole, Hattian Creole, and Spanish speaking friends!

Every Wednesday, Joe organized and distributed twelve bags of fresh produce through the BNHC to Brockton community members who otherwise may not have access to fresh, nutritious, organically grown food. Some of the community members we were able to work with to accomplish these goals are My Brother’s Keeper, Easton Food Pantry, Catholic Charities, and many other community organizations involved with The Farm.

ON CAMPUS PICK-ME-UP

Continuing this season’s theme of rejuvenation, in August 2021 we gave the on-campus permaculture garden a well needed pick-me-up. Before students returned to campus for the 2021-2022 Academic Year, we worked diligently to spruce up and give our on-campus garden a well-deserved makeover. Students that moved back to campus were welcomed with a beautiful array of greenery to brighten up their first semester back at Stonehill. While walking around campus, students were encouraged to stop by the garden and snack on some blackberries, collect herbs to cook in their dorms, or even enjoy the peacefulness that the garden yields amidst the busy bustle that the upcoming school year may bring.

GAINING COMMUNITY, PRODUCE, AND BLUEBIRDS

Our community at The Farm seems to never stop growing, and this year, we hosted many visitors and events that continued to expand our circle.

• Co-founders of the Local4Life program, Vietnamese nuns, and Catholic charity employees, along with numerous volunteers, came and helped at our Farm.
• We worked with Stonehill’s Director of Intercultural Affairs, Kristine Din, for future partnerships and even co-hosted events.
• We also met with Two City of Brockton employees and discussed a potential collaboration with our Mobile Market!
• During Homecoming Weekend, Stonehill Alumni and parents visited us, getting tours of The Farm, and learning more about what we have been doing here.

Following our ongoing work from the prior year, along with Richard Grant, who retired from Stonehill’s Academic Services, we continued to monitor our bluebird houses around The Farm and campus. While the blue bird community continues to grow as a result of these houses, we also see a wide variety of other interesting birds coming to visit us as well.

CHORES CAN BE FUN TOO

This year, Celia worked diligently to organize, clean, and maintain the many important parts of our farm including the farmhouse, shed, both hoop houses, and the garage. Celia,

• Created an inventorial and organizational system for the seeds purchased for next season.
• Decluttered workspaces for easier access.
• Rearranged some furniture in gathering spaces in hopes of encouraging discussion between and among our student, volunteer, and research communities who utilize the Farm during the academic year and summer months.

As a result of this, The Farm has become a much easier and cleaner space for work to take place, allowing for even more productivity and community!

AS A LIVING CLASSROOM

THE FARM AS A COLORFUL CLASSROOM

The Farm continued to support learning and provide hands-on experiences as many different classes visited us this year.

• For Professor Corey Dolgon’s sociology course, we offered volunteer hours and even a field trip to the Common Good Co-op.

• We harvested and packaged over 32 lbs. of produce for Professor Monique Myer’s Happiness and Communications class. While working with this class, we were able to donate this produce to the David Jon Louison Family Shelter and the Bolton Place family shelter as a part of a class field trip.

• During one of Fr. Stephen Wilbricht’s religion classes, we also collaborated with students to weed, prune, trellis, and work on our grape posts. Volunteers and students learned to put in new posts for our grapes, signing their posts with their name after a job well done.

• We maintained and grew a beautiful garden of flowers from magic wands and marigolds to feverfew and calendula. These flowers were used by Professor Smith-Corby's class, Making Art Material, to create different colored dyes. Students were encouraged to bring in their own belongings to dye, and bed sheets and T-shirts were soon colored by our very own flowers.

• We connected with our librarians here on campus, sharing more seeds for our Seed Library we started last year! Seed libraries are important because seeds are central to the vitality of a farm, are crucial for our food system to thrive, have relationships with abiotic and biotic factors in the ecosystem, and seeds also have relationships with people through a story and a living history. Continuing to work on the Seed Library also allowed us to gain some feedback on the continued success of this program!

Photo at right: Professor Corey Dolgon’s class with farmer Kafi Dixon on their field trip to the Common Good Cooperative.

Thank you, Celia!

Celia in tractor
Celia Dolan '19

After being involved at The Farm for nearly six years, first as a student volunteer, then an intern, and eventually as an Assistant Farm Director, Celia Dolan ‘19 graciously worked as our Interim Farm Director from May 2021 to February 2022. As we searched to find a new farmer, The Farm needed a part-time caregiver to ensure that it was maintained and continued to live out its mission during this transition period. 

While working full-time at My Brother’s Keeper (Easton, MA), Celia fulfilled this role with the same tremendous level of energy, commitment, and loyalty that she has given the Farm since her first time visiting as a student in 2015.  Working with the help of Joe Webber’ 22, our Mobile Market Intern, Celia and Joe managed crops, coordinated volunteer hours, tracked the harvest and distribution of produce, served as liaisons for both Kevin O’Dwyer at Langwater Farm to cultivate crops and Kevin O’Donnell our beekeeper for the honey harvest, as well as maintained a social media presence. On top of all these responsibilities and a full-time job at MBK, Celia also took on many other projects that would allow The Farm to operate more efficiently and grow our community even further. 

After these ten months of taking care of The Farm, Celia is leaving her position as Interim Farm Director as our new farmer takes over. We want to thank Celia for helping our farm grow and thrive over the many years that she has been involved, and especially during these past ten months.  

Read Celia’s reflections on her time with the Farm at Stonehill College:

Celia, your hard work is deeply appreciated, and we are forever grateful for the dedication you have given us. We are both honored and proud to have been given the opportunity to work with you and know that you will remain a part of our Farm’s community forever!

Introducing Our New Farmer

Farm Director Laurie Mooney
Farm Director Laurie Mooney

In February 2022, Stonehill College welcomed Laurie Mooney as our new Farm Director. Laurie comes to Stonehill with over 12 years of experience with organic, regenerative agriculture systems and an understanding of farm operations. Laurie comes to New England from her previous work in Oregon with organic food producer, Pacific Foods and its 26 affiliated farms. There, she was highly respected for enhancing on farm, agro-ecosystem functions as well as engaging the community regarding local and regional food system efforts. Laurie will bring new skill sets and knowledge to our farm, ranging from experience in organic farm operations, higher education and learning, and community engagement. 

Laurie completed her Master of Science in Landscape Architecture and Sustainable Agricultural Systems at Washington State University. While studying at Washington State, Laurie’s thesis focused on university farm programs and their role in experiential education for students and faculty. While working at her prior job with the Pacific Foods, Laurie helped grow specialty vegetables as well as begin “Farm to Basics,” a community/employee grocery store located on Pacific’s campus. Laurie’s work evolved into overseeing capital projects for newly developed retail grocery stores called Basics Market, an accessible place for people to find ‘farm to market’ products as well as cooking and nutrition classes. Laurie has numerous experiences and skills such as marketing, landscape architecture, and design/development. 

When Laurie is not farming, she enjoys other activities such as yoga, hiking, mountain biking, and skiing! She is a member of “She Jumps”, an organization that welcomes women and girls of all races, ethnicities, religions, gender identities, disabilities, and ages who have never participated in outdoor activities to join with active members of the outdoor community as they give back and share their passions. 

In addition, Laurie was a college athlete at her undergraduate university, Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania. There, Laurie participated in the cross country and track team. Laurie was also a member of many nonprofits and other organizations such as Oregon Tilth organization and a board member of The Oregon Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. 

As we introduce Laurie to our farm, we are excited for her to teach and share her knowledge with our community as we show her the wonderful things we have been accomplishing here. We think Laurie will be a wonderful addition to our community, and see many exciting projects, partnerships, and improvements in our future. Welcome to The Farm, Laurie!

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