East Boston, MA: April 22, 2024 - Eastie Farm, an East Boston based non-profit, is committed to climate justice and food security in their community. On and around Earth Day, they worked hard and smiled harder.
In 2015, a group of East Boston community members banded together, got a permit, and turned an abandoned Jeffries Point lot into a public green space. That group would later blossom into Eastie Farm, a non-profit organization that has only continued to grow and shows no signs of slowing down. This team is consistently passionate about a lot of different work in and around Eastie, but that vigor is only amplified in the month of April, with the excitement of Earth Day propelling spirits even higher.
Eastie Farm currently manages seven different community growing spaces, one of which is home to a state-of-the-art geothermal greenhouse. It operates year round and is the only one of its kind in New England, according to Food and Farming Manager Joel Seidner. The morning of Earth Day, a large group gathered in the greenhouse to discuss their plans for the next few hours. The group is made up of staff members, volunteers, and youth fellows employed as part of the Farm’s Climate Corps program.
Climate Corps is a year-long paid fellowship program for high school students to learn about climate justice work and the local food system through hands-on experience. It’s just one of several community-education initiatives run by the farm. Climate NATURE facilitates experiential learning for K-8 students, and Junior Farmers ensures that kids can continue to learn about green practices during the summer, too. Four different East Boston schools boast school gardens managed by Eastie Farm.
This Earth Day, Climate Corps installed various green infrastructure features at the Mary Ellen Welch Greenway along with members of other organizations and Eastie Farm Staff members. Even though they work hard for climate justice throughout the year, Seidner reminded the group that “Although we all do it everyday, Earth Day is our day to do it collectively.”
Some others affiliated with Eastie Farm are spending much of their Earth Day at “Our Garden”, another property managed by the organization. Roberto Gomez, the Farm’s Volunteer Coordinator and Event Facilitator, was excited for another opportunity to distribute food to the community. This is familiar work, since community members receive food from the community gardens themselves, but also through programs like Community Supported Agriculture. Through CSA, 400+ households receive fresh produce straight to their door from various local farms, and Eastie Farm works hard to make sure it is accessible to people of all socioeconomic backgrounds.
On Earth Day, the Eastie Farm community rallied together to take care of themselves, each other, and their planet. But Gomez made it clear that community-supported agriculture is par for the course, not just in Eastie, but beyond. “What we’re doing here is nothing new,” he emphasizes. “This has been done for thousands of years. We’re just bringing it back.”