Pancake breakfasts and harvest dinners. Summer workshops and apprenticeships for kids. Chicken-keeping and cheese-making classes for adults; Family fun days, barn dances and holiday tree lightings.
With all that — and much more — Wakeman Town Farm provides a space for Westporters of all ages to connect with the land, learn about our past, and create a sustainable future.
Now, the space that serves so many of us so well needs us to serve it.
Wakeman Town Farm: the front view… (Photo/Peter LaMastro – LincLine Photography)
The farmhouse needs a new roof. The near-century-old structure’s leaky roof won’t last another winter. It’s jeopardizing the health and safety of its stewards — Mike and Carrie Aitkenhead — and their 2 young children, as well as the summer campers.
A new roof will make the house more energy efficient. It will also allow Farm Board meetings, community-supported agriculture storage and classes to take place safely and dryly.
Adding cisterns to downspouts to collect rainwater will save both money and water. (A 60-gallon barrel can consistently irrigate a 100-square-foot garden.) The cost for those improvements is $25,000.
…and the rear. (Photo/Peter LaMastro – LincLine Photography)
Wakeman Town Farm also hopes to turn existing space into a multi-purpose classroom/kitchen. Year-round cooking classes can teach kids to turn the vegetables they’ve grown into great meals. There will also be farm dinners, featuring local farm-to-table restaurants and food purveyors.
Students of all ages (including those at after-school and summer programs) can attend old-school homesteading classes to learn skills like making cheese, plus preserves, jams, pickles and sauces using the bounty from Wakeman’s organic gardens.
With a large community table, the classroom can convert into a lecture hall, movie venue and community-meeting spot. Those improvements will run $70,000.
Fun with plants and chickens, at Wakeman Town Farm. (Photo/Peter LaMastro – LincLine Photography)
Wakeman Town Farm has created an easy-to-use online fundraising site. Clicking it — and donating any amount — is one way to “Raise the Roof.”
Another way is to purchase the ever-popular (ask your kids why) “WTF” t-shirt. Just email the color (gray, Nantucket red or green) and size (men’s or women’s S, M, L or XL) and quantity to: wakemantownfarm@gmail.com.
There’s also a PG-version, in white, for kids’ S, M or L sizes.
Wakeman Town Farm is a fantastic town resource. We’ve always shown it lots of love.
Now let’s pony up some bucks.