WESTFORD — Town officials and community members celebrated Meadowbrook Farm’s success in harvesting over 75,000 pounds of acorn and Waltham squash to donate to area food pantries.
“This is just a glimpse of what the Gleaners does,” Dan Kamen, farm manager at Boston Area Gleaners told WestfordCAT.
The Community Preservation Committee, Select Board, Town Managers and community joined the Boston Area Gleaners at Meadowbrook Farm to celebrate the farm’s new harvest.
The project began after Annual Town Meeting in 2023 approved approximately $165,000 in Community Preservation Act funds for the food scarcity project.
Planting started in June and, with the help of Boston Area Gleaners, Meadowbrook Farm was able to put an old field back to good use.
“I think [we’ve] done well with the money, people keep their promises,” Vice Chair of the Community Preservation Committee Marilyn Frank said,
In its 28 years, Meadowbrook Farm has had many harvests overseen by Bob Webb and Margaret Webb, but this was the most important, according to Bob Waskiewicz one of the farm’s owners.
“Westford now has a legacy of feeding people beyond its food pantry and we will do that for years to come as long as The Gleaners will have us,” Waskiewicz said.
Waskiewicz celebrated the late farmer Robert ‘Bob’ Webb, who was involved with the restoration of Meadowbrook Farm.
“He was just a fantastic human being, he helped people in so many ways and so quietly, people didn’t even know in the community of what he was doing to help,” Waskiewicz said.
Waskiewicz also plans to rename the area after Webb to celebrate his life.
“The signage will go up and we memorialize him and we [will] remember him,” he said.
The farm is now in a permanent conservation restriction, “an irrevocable trust that will keep Meadowbrook Farm as a forever farm,” Waskiewicz said. “With a permanent legacy of feeding our neighbors and friends.”
On the property, Webb and his wife Margaret Webb previously helped seven churches grow approximately 10,000 pounds of vegetables to distribute to food pantries in the area. Today, they continue growing food for those facing food insecurity.
“It feels wonderful, it’s what this field wanted to do. My husband grew up as a farmer his family was farming in Missouri and so was in his blood to keep the farm going and I think we did,” Webb said.
