At last night’s Select Board meeting, Pam Hess, Executive Director of Land’s Sake, and a number of its board members, spoke in general terms about upcoming plans for Land’s Sake, Weston’s beloved community farm and education center. Apparently, the plans have been in “quiet” phase and are now moving towards gathering community input and support. Neighbors to the farm also spoke about both their support for the farm as well as concern for the specifics of the plan.

As most folks know, Land’s Sake is a long-term leasor of the so-called 40-Acre Field (in actuality something like 36.5 acres) at Case’s Corner between Newton and Wellesley Streets. Its charming wooden signs about what produce is available makes many a resident smile, and pull over to its tiny farmstand. In addition, most Weston elementary school parents are famliar with the field trips their kids take every year to visit with Blueberry and Henry, the bunnies, and to learn more about farming and the importance of playing in the dirt. Summer camps, forestry, maple sugaring, CSA, it’s all a part of Land’s Sake incredible reach, and a click or two around their website just opens up more vistas. Speaking of vistas, you are always welcome to walk around the property–it remains town-owned, and the trees and wide-open views are spectacular.

Land’s Sake has been losing money year over year. The Executive Board and leadership feel the only way forward is to build permanent buildings on the site, including an Animal Barn, a Greenhouse, a Hoop Barn and a four-season farmstand building. There was no illustrative presentation last night but the Owl was privvy to a drawing of the Animal Barn on a visit to the site yesterday mornng. It seems that goats may be taking residence on the farm, and one can only hope that they will be rentable to take care of the invasives in town. One must also hope that they will be well-penned away from the nearby dawn redwoods and larches that have lived for many years, and probably dislike being peeled by little goat-y teeth.

It is unclear to the Owl what the purpose of last night’s presentation was, as there were no details. Some questions were answered about the waste management — Board of Health has confirmed that because Land’s Sake is across the street from the Case Campus, it will not toss the town into a situation where a Waste Management Plant will be needed. It was suggested that the town look at contingency plans–if Land’s Sake were unable to make money by spending money, would the town then bear responsibility for maintenance of those buildings?

In any case, Pam Hess alluded to a March 31 public meeting about plans at the site. All that is currently on the town calendar is a Planning Board meeting, so more information soon would be great. Before that time, it would also behoove the organization to stake out building footprints. The Owl will continue to report on plans for the venerable community-supported agricultural icon.

For more whimsical looks at Land’s Sake, please check out the Wes-TEN on Weston Media Center. Two shows covered Land’s Sake–on its fortieth birthday last year, and an interview with one of the founders, Brian Donahue.