News at the Farm
Goat Barn
April 2019
Lachat Town Farm, a community farm in Weston, CT, is delighted to announce that we have met our fundraising goal of $10,000 and a new Goat Barn will be raised at the Farm this Summer.
We would like to give thanks to our generous "Goat Fund Me" donors; Cindy and Bill Sherlock, and the Weston Progress Fund. The barn will be the new home of our goats as well as a flock of chickens. Those of you who attended our October Hoe Down celebration, may well recall the bidding frenzy surrounding the naming of the animals. The new furry and feathered family members, and their names will be revealed soon!
The barn was designed by Ed Parker, Commission member and partner in Alisberg Parker Architects based in Old Greenwich CT.
Town of Weston declares 2019 as the Year of the Pollinator
May 2019
The Weston Garden Club, Sustainable Weston, and Lachat Town Farm, are pleased to announce that First Selectman, Chris Spaulding, will announce 2019 as the Year of the Weston Pollinator. The announcement, which will take place Sunday, May 5th at 1pm at Lachat Town Farm, coincides with the launch of the Pollinator Pathway in Weston. The goal of the pollinator pathway is to encourage residents to:
- PLANT NATIVE - Supplement your existing beds, or add new native beds.
- MOW HIGH AND LIE - Keep your grass at a minimum of 3" and leave clippings in place.
- REDUCE YOUR LAWN - Consider adding native plants and shrubs at the edge of your lawn - to create a buffer between lawn and woods.
- ELIMINATE HARMFUL PESTICIDES AND HERBICIDES AND AVOID ALL NEONICOTINOIDS
There are already many pollinator friendly, native plantings in town; Lachat Town Farm Community Gardens, Lachat Town Farm pollinator meadow, Weston Middle School, Hurlbutt Elementary School, The Senior Center, Town Hall, Post Office and the Library. These plantings are supported by various organizations in town including Town Beautification, the PTO, Weston Garden Club and our scout troops.
The Town of Weston does not currently use pesticides or herbicides on any town owned land. In addition, if residents do not want the Department of Public Works (DPW) to mow native wildflowers adjacent to your property, please place a "Do Not Mow" sign. The DPW will observe these signs as long as sight lines / road safety, is not in jeopardy.
Following the proclamation, Sustainable Weston, Weston Garden Club, and Lachat Town Farm have sponsored an informative discussion with environmental leaders regarding safer alternatives for lawn and yard care.
Lachat Town Farm Hoedown Barn Dance & Barbecue Fundraiser
Yeehaw! Community fun for all who attended to support the farm!
October 2019
The barn was filled with lots of foot stompin', toe tappin', and square dancin' at Lachat Town Farm on Saturday, October 5th. The second annual barn dance and barbecue fundraiser was attended by more than two hundred twenty five adults and kids. Two sets of dancing were led by renowned square dance caller Eric Hollman and accompanied by The Flying Fingers Jug Band. And The Chicken Dance included a surprise guest!
Guests were greeted with welcome cocktails sponsored and created by Rone Baldwin. Rone served up Roney's Negronis and Aperol Spritzers. There was also an Oyster Bar sponsored by Copps Island Oysters and Precious Oysters, as well as a Beer Bar sponsored by East Rock Brewery of New Haven and a Wine Bar sponsored by Georgetown Package Store.
Odeen's of Ridgefield catered the event and served up their famous mouth-watering barbecue. Guests enjoyed one another while dining community style. Children and their parents participated in a variety of activities including pumpkin decorating, horseshoes, corn hole and more. The evening was complete with everyone gathering around the farm's signature bonfire, thanks to Andrew!
Thank you to our guests, volunteers, vendors, and sponsors for all of the support and hard work that made this a successful event! Please consider doing business with our wonderful sponsors and vendors.
Featured in Vogue - Alexandra Richards's Elegant Bohemian Wedding with Reception at Lachat Town Farm
January 2020
Featured in Vogue - the wedding of model and DJ Alexandra Richards and film director Jacques Naud. They chose Lachat Town Farm as the venue for their wedding reception.
An excerpt from the Vogue article: Just down the street from the Richards' property is the Lachat Town Farm, which was quickly identified as the place to hold the reception. "Jacques and I love the outdoors and nature, so that's where the inspiration came from," Alexandra says. "It's a beautiful community garden, and this was the first wedding they've hosted there. Our celebrating on the farm was also a beautiful way for us to bring some attention to what they have created for the community."
Volunteers of the Year 2020
The Lachat Town Farm Commission is very proud of the volunteer work carried out by two of our fellow commissioners, and we are thrilled to announce them as LTF Volunteers of the Year for 2020!
December 2020
In March of 2020, as the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic became a reality for those of us in the tri-state region, many of us responded by asking, "how can I protect my family?" In times of uncertainty, most people turn inward, focusing attention on preserving and protecting those within our own family and immediate circle. But while most of us were caught up in the news reports of hoarding and shortages of staples in the supermarkets, two Weston women were asking, "What can we do to protect and assist those in our community who are already or soon will be facing food insecurity?"
With lightning speed, Christina Morin Koether and Terry Cho took it upon themselves to find a way to get healthy, fresh, organic produce to Weston families reliant upon the Weston Food Pantry through the creation of the "Weston Giving Garden."
In what in hindsight is almost an unimaginable feat, Christina and Terry sought to design, fund, construct, sow, and maintain the "Giving Garden" extension of Lachat's community garden. This entailed clearing, installing fencing, building raised beds and installing an irrigation system for over 2000 square feet of garden. Drawing on their work as volunteers with Lachat and leadership in the Weston Garden Club, Terry and Christina rallied volunteers and donors to take this idea to reality. In only a matter of weeks, they raised $10,000 in community donations, which was then doubled by a Sustainable CT matching grant, to meet their target goal of $20,000.
Each week, Terry and Christina organized local volunteers, including some of our teens, to help plant, weed, and harvest. In doing so they gave Weston residents an opportunity to actively provide assistance to neighbors in need at a time of social isolation and community disruption. Within weeks they were providing spring greens and peas directly to the Food Pantry. As summer progressed, they were able to increase the volume and variety of vegetables harvested directly from the Giving Garden, while simultaneously supplementing with additional crops and eggs from Weston farms, purchased at a discount through donated funds. These financial contributions provided an additional opportunity for those with limited interest in gardening to become involved while also supporting the small farms of Weston.
As additional challenges arose, Terry and Christina have risen to the occasion to find solutions. For example, they were committed to providing fresh eggs to Weston families, but the food pantry's limited space made the logistics of keeping them at a safe temperature quite difficult.
Undeterred, they reached out to YETI to secure a partnership and the donation of two large, high-quality coolers, ensuring the ability to provide eggs on an ongoing basis. This year, Giving Garden at Lachat Town Farm, has provided the Weston Food Pantry with 22 weeks of beautiful organic produce and eggs, benefitting 30-40 Weston families weekly. The Giving Garden, in partnership with The Connecticut Food Bank, is positioned to become a permanent resource to counter food insecurity in Weston and beyond.
Thank you, Terry and Christina. You are not only providing healthy fresh food to our neighbors in need, you are also creating a host of community volunteer opportunities and learning experiences at the Farm. The Giving Garden is certainly living up to its name.
CT Trust and The 1772 Foundation Grants
July 2020
Lachat Town Farm and Friends of Lachat would like to express our profound gratitude for the continuing generous support of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation and The 1772 Foundation, which the CT Trust administers.
The CT Trust was there right at the very infancy of our grassroots effort in 2011 to save the Lachat Homestead and create a new vision for the Farm as a community gathering place. Back in 2011 the CT Trust Circuit Riders gave us emergency guidance on how to prevent the imminent demolition of the farmhouse. Next the CT Trust awarded us a Technical Assistance Grant in 2012 that allowed us to hire an architect, engineer, and landscape architect to make a plan for the homestead's preservation. Then in 2013, a grant from The 1772 Foundation helped pay for a new cedar roof on the farmhouse in 2013. Yet again in 2016 the Trust came to our rescue with a grant that helped us cover the costs to restore, rather than replace, the old windows on the farmhouse. This year they helped us again with a generous grant to replace the roof on the circa 1840 Carriage Barn.
CT Trust and The 1772 Foundation: WE LOVE YOU! You have been absolutely instrumental in making Lachat Town Farm the heart and soul of our community!
Applause for Lachat Haunted Farm
October 2020
If all the world is a stage, in Weston this year the stage became Lachat Town Farm, creating events that are safe and fun for the entire family. The year didn't go exactly as planned. "We had the calendar year all planned out," said Anita Dinwoodie, Lachat's events manager. "And then we had to revisit everything and figure out ways to incorporate safe, socially-distanced events that still brought the community together.
The capstone may have been the Haunted Farm event, a joint effort with WestonArts and the town's Commission for the Arts. The aim was an event that would make up for an essentially-canceled Halloween, reaching older children and families. The result was a successful three-night sold out experience, brought to you by a village of artists, creatives, and generally community-loving people.
MLK Day of Service at Lachat in the News!
January 2021
We made the News! Watch here!
Many thanks to co-creators of the event, Jennifer Martin Bernheim and Keisha Fink who helped to pull this entire Day of Service together in 2 weeks. Due to an outpouring from the community, we are able to contribute close to 400 kindness bags to local charity, Filling in the Blanks.
We would like to especially thank our sponsors for this MLK Day of Service:
- Weston Education Foundation
- Weston Progress Fund
- TEAM Weston
- Connoisseur Media Connecticut
- Onpurposefamily
Our sponsors helped to purchase 200 copies of the book "A Ride to Remember", which allowed us to distribute the books to our lower Weston schools and our volunteers.
If you would like to watch the video reading and discussion of the Civil Rights book, "A ride to remember", we will post it on our website for the entire month of February, in honor of Black History Month. You can view the video here.
Earth Day 2021
April 2021
In celebration of Earth Day 2021, we would like to introduce our new 1 Mile Nature Walk. The trail begins at the community gardens and will take you past the new Bee Yard, and through the lower meadows, before introducing you to our newest trail, which follows behind the greenhouse and takes you past the vernal pond and upper meadow, before heading down past the Goat Yard. We hope that you enjoy Lachat’s meadows, animals, woods and pond, as much as we do.
Proposed Education Center
Proposed Daniel E. Offutt III Education Center
June, 2021
The Friends of Lachat have received a pledge of $2 million with matching funds of another $1 million from the Daniel E. Offutt estate to build a new educational center at the Farm. The building, with a demonstration kitchen, art studio space, indoor classroom area, and an open design to permit fireside concerts and lectures from October to May, would help to address Town demand for cooking classes, canning lessons, instruction on composting and bee raising, and other topics related to the Farm's mission to engage with the community to provide education about farming, gardening, and sustainability.
Giving Garden on Chanel 12
September 2021
The Lachat community is proud to see our giving garden featured on News 12! The Giving Garden initiative has been spearheaded by our dear Commission Members, Terry Cho and Christina Koether who lead volunteers and collaborate with Weston’s food pantry and other local organizations to address food insecurity in Fairfield County.
MLK Day of Service 2022
Lachat Town Farm provides household necessities for 3rd annual MLK Day of Service
January 2022
Despite the coastal storm that passed through Monday morning, residents in Weston and neighboring towns made sure they gave back to their community with an act of service on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The Lachat Town Farm in Weston hosted its 3rd annual MLK Day of Service, a collaborative effort with Person to Person, which is a charity in lower Fairfield county.
Volunteers formed an assembly line and filled laundry bags with household necessities like laundry detergent, sponges, dish soap, toothpaste, soap, among others. Once each laundry bag was filled, the finishing touch was a tag with a quote from Dr. King.
The event also featured a children's book walk, where a story unfolded along a series of stations on the farm's grounds.
Ground Breaking at Lachat
May 22, 2022
Friends of Lachat broke ground on Sunday for the farm’s new Daniel E. Offutt Education Center. Friends president Carol Baldwin, assisted by First Selectwoman Samantha Nestor and flanked by Lachat stalwart Ellen McCormick and architect Rob Sanders, put the first shovel in the ground after a large excavator made the ceremonial opening dig.
Barn Raising at Lachat
November 23, 2022
Friends of Lachat and fans of the farm celebrated a milestone in construction of a new facility with a barn raising event on November 23.
A post and beam barn structure was hoisted into place for the main gathering space at the farm’s new education center. The framework of other parts of the facility are already largely in place, with much progress having been made in just the past few weeks. Several more months of construction are ahead.