A Vintage Tractor at Holly Hill Farm

Start Up The Tractor

It’s day #2 in our week about gardening. We told you about our dogged determination to have a kitchen garden this summer, so it may help you to have some background into our challenge. Under “more than you really wanted to know,” today will start with a tale of two Bettys. Growing up, the closest Betty #1 got to gardening was to clip the grass between the bricks in the front walkway. Her exposure to good vegetables was so limited that she says it’s a wonder that she recognizes them at all today. Betty #2 grew up with a big backyard garden, so beloved were her mother’s tomatoes that one year her homecoming photos were taken [more than awkwardly] in front of the plants. Seriously, if that’s not a topic for the therapist what is?

Different Bettys, but the same conclusion; we want our children to experience the thrill of planting, harvesting and eating their own food, to be good stewards of the earth because they get the connection between man, animal and land. Because they understand the cycle of life beyond the Disney movie version.

Enter Holly Hill Farm—an amazing resource right in Cohasset, tucked in among the stately homes on Jerusalem Road. Turn into their drive and you’ll find a comfortable farm office, barn and farmstand but so much more. 140 acres of land with marked trails to explore, animals to feed [the chickens love grass, the goats love dandelions.] A pond, bee boxes, and a teaching garden where Holly Hill educators Jon and Janice teach hundreds of kids from all over the South Shore about the connection between science in the textbook and science in the field. [Read about it in “About Town”] They use the farm as an outdoor classroom for their lessons on habitat, life cycle, soil composition and plant structure—get the kids digging, tasting, smelling and really looking at the world that surrounds them. Add to that an extensive list of seminars for adults, summer camp programs for children 3-16, and a summer film series. They had us at hello.

For as little as $35, we can become members of the Friends of Holly Hill, support their mission and get a lot of perks along the way. Least of all is early entrance to the plant sale that begins [for members] this Friday, May 21st and runs through the 23rd. We’ll tell you more tomorrow when we get advice from Dave MacDonald about the raised beds we’re going to try. We’ll have tomatoes by homecoming…