Agricultural Commission Minutes
Meeting date:
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
- Town of Bolton Agricultural Commission
- Meeting Minutes
- Date: 20 July 2010
- AGRICULTURAL COMMISSION
- www.boltonag.com
- 63 Main Street
- 978 779-2297 or 779-3308
- Sue Storbeck 779-6020 slstorbeck@comcast.net Term Exp 6/30/2011
- Barbara Parente 779-6303 bparente@comcast.net Term Exp 6/30/2012
- Betsy Taylor-Kennedy 779-5213 betsy@taylor-kennedy.com Term Exp 6/30/2012
- Richard Pelletier 779- email@nashobawinery.com Term Exp 6/30/2013
- Open Term Exp 6/30/2013
- A meeting of the Bolton Agricultural Commission was held on July 20, 2010 at Town Hall. The meeting was
- called to order at 7:35 pm. Commission members in attendance: Sue Storbeck, Barbara Parente, Richard
- Pelletier, and Betsy Taylor-Kennedy. Visitor in attendance: Nan Norseen.
- The June 15 minutes were read by members and approved.
- Reports from liaisons to Town Boards/Commissions
- § Board of Health (Storbeck)
- § Planning Board (Open)
- § Board of Selectmen (Open)
- § Conservation Commission (Parente) Joe Kovacs gave Houghton Farm background files to Barbara.
- § Conservation Trust (Taylor-Kennedy
- All Boards/Commissions: Nothing current to report.
- Working Session:
- o Nan Norseen was invited to the meeting to discuss a recent loose horse episode. Her stallion pushed
- over a wooden fence and was found courting a mare in heat on Green Road. Nan was fined at the new
- $150 level for an animal running loose. Nan has since put an electric fence around the area where the
- stallion escaped. In a separate event, a second stallion got out from a gated area, but stayed on Nan’s
- property. She admits this was her mistake. These were the first recurrences of animals escaping since
- the secure fencing was installed.
- Current Business
- o New Commission Member: The current members welcomed Nashoba Valley Winery owner, Rich
- Pelletier to the group. The group made Rich aware of the standard issues that we deal with—mediating
- with neighbors about odors, noise, spraying; attending hearings (e.g. recent alpaca case); reviewing
- FOSPRD plans with developers. Also, our mission is to promote agriculture and promote “Buy Local”
- efforts. Rich commented that farming is a tough life, but the APR program helps to continue farming,
- even if the families who own the farms aren’t continuing to farm. The remaining vacancy will be
- published in the Bolton Common with other board/commission vacancies. Ideally, the remaining
- candidate will be a commercial farmer; there is a potential candidate. AgCom needs to clarify whether
- Bolton’s farmers and agricultural business owners who live out of town can serve on the Commission.
- Sue to check with the Farm Bureau.
- o New Chair/Liaisons: Sue was nominated as Chair; vote was unanimous. Rich will be the liaison to the
- Board of Selectmen.
- o Community Compost project—Sue to provide update next month.
- o “Buy Local” efforts: Barbara wrote an article on the new “Right to Farm” signs and Betsy compiled a
- list of the summer opening times of Bolton’s farmstands. Both were published, along with a photo of the
- new sign, in the July 16th issue of the Bolton Common, and in The Item.
- o “Right to Farm” signs: Sue has distributed 8 of the smaller signs to the farmers. Magnets and bumper
- stickers are some of the ideas for future PR. Sue has had requests from other AgComs to use our sign
- design. Barbara reminded the group that, while the design is for us to use, but it remains the property of
- the graphic designer. Barbara will check with the designer to see if the design can be shared with other
- towns.
- o Brochure Mailing: Betsy mailed over 100 copies of the AgCom brochure to homeowners who bought
- homes in Bolton from September 2008 to May 2010.
- o USDA Grants: Barbara has posted the information about the USDA grants on the AgCom website.
- Barbara expressed the wish to promote the information that is posted on our website.
- o Taste of Bolton: Feasibility of this event was discussed, and it was decided that this event should take
- place in 2011 in order to have ample planning time. The group agreed that the inaugural event should
- be “perfect”, and should not look thrown together. Ideas included: tasting stations, farmers promoting
- their products.
- o Farmstand directional signs: tabled to August.
- New Business
- o Bolton Farmer’s Dinner—Rich to check availability of the Winery for September or October, and
- check crop availability with Ken and other farmers. Future farmer’s dinners could be held at other
- farms in Bolton.
- o MA Farm Bureau: Sue has been contacted by Cheryl Lekstrom from the MA Farm Bureau about
- cash/grants available to farmers. She would like to attend one of our future meetings.
- o 2011 Budget: Budget spending plan tabled to next month.
- o Goals and Activities (aka Monster List): Review and update existing list of accomplishments and
- future goals next month.
- Future Meetings/Events
- Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 17 at 7:30 pm at Town Hall.
- The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 pm.