Natick Organic Farm
Founded in the 1970’s, the Natick Community Organic Farm is a nonprofit, certified-organic 27-acre farm that provides a productive educational space for the local community.
For many years the heart and soul of the beloved community farm was a 200-year-old Oak timber frame cattle barn that traced its origins to the New England hurricane of 1815. Tragically the original timber barn burned down on St. Patrick’s Day morning in 2021. The blaze engulfed the structure in under 20 minutes, which was covered in real time by the local media.
A grassroots fundraising campaign quickly sprung up to help the farm rebuild from the fire with thousands of donations coming in from throughout the region. As a result of this outpouring of community support the farm was able to raise enough money to rebuild the barn as well as make additional improvements to their facilities.
Some donations were large, and those donor’s names are etched into the beams of the new timber frame barn that New Energy Works helped to create, but the vast majority of donations were smaller, made by individuals and families that have developed a deep personal connection to the farm over the past four decades.
A true community project, many individuals, contractors, professionals, and families came together to help to make this new barn possible, which will be completed in December of this year.
“In February 2023 we broke ground on the new barn with the foundation work and other components, then in May New Energy Works came and raised the timber frame, which was so exciting because it went up in only four days! It made the biggest difference to us to have that frame standing over the farm, it was like the old barn was being reborn.”
- Mary Mannix, Vice President, Board of Directors Natick Community Organic Farm