land use
LAND USE SUMMARY Assets • Intact forests • Three rivers with forest buffers • Areas of contiguous farmland • Concentrated development around three village centers • Some permanently protected farmland • Agrarian heritage that the town is committed to preserve potential Needs • More farmland under permanent protection • An inventory of permanently protected farmland • Zoning ordinance for on-site farm sales on parcels of two acres or more (or enabling farm products to be sold off of any parcel size)
LOCAL LEADERS Rad Urban Farmers
What creative solutions are small-scale growers employing to sell produce grown on less than two-acre parcels? Those interested in growing food and those with unused spaces in their yards have begun to connect and devise some unique models. One exciting example is the concept of microfarming, which is very popular in California, and has begun to take hold here in New England.
Charlie Radoslovich working at one of the backyard plots he borrows from community members to run his farm business. In exchange, Charlie supplies the homeowners with boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the season. Photo Credit: Charlie Radoslovich
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Concord, Massachusetts
“In backyard farming, you’re not only selling the veggies, you’re selling the experience.” —Charlie Radoslovich Rad Urban Farmers, run by Charlie Radoslovich, is a microfarming enterprise across three towns—Arlington, Lexington, and Belmont. Charlie wanted to grow food but didn’t own enough land. He started out asking a few friends and neighbors if he could use their yards, and his enterprise grew from there. Using a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model, he gives each landowner a weekly box of fresh produce from a compilation of fresh vegetables from all the yards he farms. Many property owners are attracted to the idea of a productive yard-scape, even if they are not interested in farming it themselves. “In backyard farming,” says Radoslovich, “you’re not only selling the veggies, you’re selling the experience” (quoted in Paffrath). Charlie’s “farm” now spans seventeen backyards, and what he doesn’t give back to his members, he sells at the local farmer’s market. All this he accomplishes on less than a quarter of an acre (Radoslovich).