Brookwood Community Farm celebrates a vital legacy of farming and agricultural history. Once part of the General Samuel Parker estate, this scenic 70 acre open space was formerly a working farm with milking cows, horses and chickens. Following General Parker’s ownership, Henry Saltonstall Howe managed the property as a gentlemen’s farm, raising prize-winning Corriedale sheep. When Mr. Howe passed away in 1994, he willed the property to the Commonwealth to preserve its pastoral character. Since then, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) has managed the site as part of the Blue Hills Reservation.

In the summer of 2005, local Milton resident and long-time farmer, Judy Lieberman started taking steps to realize a dream of creating a working, community farm on this site.  Together with Mark Smith, who immediately saw the potential of scenic, underutilized, farmland to connect nearby urban and suburban communities to local food production, they set about the task of forming a non-profit organization (Brookwood Community Farm Inc.) to plan, promote and realize this goal with a group of like-minded individuals with relevant expertise.  In 2006, the DCR granted Brookwood Community Farm a permit to cultivate one-acre at Brookwood Farm for organic food and flower production. Beginning in the spring, the land was plowed, beds were prepared and the soil was planted to a wide variety of crops; including annual flowers, heirloom tomatoes, salad greens, potatoes, onions, leeks, beans, peppers, eggplants, pumpkins squash, melons and much more!  This summer, the market garden will provide fresh, healthy food for local consumption, and a place where a wide range of folks will be able to experience the natural beauty and agricultural productivity of this landscape. 

If this trial project is successful, Brookwood Community Farm will partner with the DCR to create a land use plan for the site that will foster the rich agricultural traditions of the past while promoting the site’s ecological diversity and scenic beauty.  In future years, BCF hopes to expand agricultural production to include a greenhouse, fruits and berries, sweet corn and small animal husbandry.  At the same time, we are committed to preserving a portion of the land as an open field ecosystem where people can enjoy the wide variety of birds, and other fauna and flora that inhabit the site.  As a community farm, our priority is to involve local residents in all aspects of the farm through educational programming, research projects and food security initiatives.