We fight over this compost. We wait for it.”

Gail Read

A little history

For 125 years, people have farmed the land that is currently home to Barrington Farm School.

The Vendituoli family purchased the land in 1897. They had a horse-drawn cart, said Gail Read, who serves as president of the Farm School board.

“They sold a little bit of everything,” she said.

The farm stayed in the family for decades — most recently, Billy Vendituoli worked the farm with his sister Gloria. In 2016, a small group of volunteers received permission from the Vendituolis to being working the land. They started a small composting program and tried to find a way to preserve the farm when the Vendituolis grew older and considered selling the property. A developer approached them with offers to fill the property with houses. But Billy Vendituoli liked seeing the volunteers working the land.

“Billy loved it, so he told his family ‘I’d love this to stay farm land, and I’d love to have students come.’ Hence, Barrington Farm School,” Read said.

“Billy had that vision of keeping it farmland. The developer was right there though with plans, three house lots. The family waited. They were patiently waiting for the money to be raised (by the Farm School volunteers), and in 2018, it was raised.”

Some of the money came from a grant, and donors pitched in also. The Barrington Land Conservation Trust also provided some key funding for the land purchase.

Ways to get involved at Barrington Farm School

• Follow online @btownfarmschool

• Signup for the newsletter (at www.barringtonfarmschool.org or on social media)

• Drop off food scraps

• Give/donate

• Purchase from the farm stand

• Volunteer with Barrington Farm School

Upcoming events

• "Kids Harvest Club" is every Friday in July and August from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.

• There will be a volunteer appreciation celebration with live outdoor music from "Failte Music" on Saturday, Aug. 17.

Wildflowers fill the patch of ground just beyond the solar panels. 

Pale blues, bright yellows, deep pinks and what seems like dozens of shades of green create an irresistible palette for honeybees and butterflies and delicate white moths. 

Janelle Heise stands in the middle of the pollinator garden, which rests in the center of the Barrington Farm School property. The three-plus acres are alive with vibrant colors and all the activities that can be expected on a healthy farm that is enjoying the heart of its growing season. 

Janelle is the farmer’s assistant, and on Friday she busied herself with a variety of chores. There is always plenty of work to do at Barrington Farm School, and while Janelle tended to one task, other volunteers — some holding official titles or board positions with the local nonprofit, and others who just pop in from time to time — pulled weeds in the cut flowers patch and straightened up the farm stand, which sits near the intersection of Federal Road and Middle Highway. 

Jessalyn Link is the community engagement director for Barrington Farm School. She began volunteering about two years ago — she had driven by the farm dozens of times before deciding to stop in and learn more. Before long, she was working as the lead grower. 

Link loves her time at the farm, and she enjoys the opportunity to work with other people who volunteer there. Link also hopes other residents will step up and get involved.

“This farm is a gem in this town, and so many people don’t even know who we are, what we do. We are trying to spread that message to get more people here,” Link said. “Just share it with the whole community.”

Link now handles the bulk of the marketing and online presence for Barrington Farm Schools, but whenever she has time she will stop by with her kids and they will all get their hands dirty. 

“It’s so gratifying just to be (digging) in the earth, being outside,” she said. 

On Friday, Link brought her children — Nailah, 11, Billie, 9, and Canon, 5 — to the farm to help out. 

Gail Read was at the farm, too. The president of the board loves being at the farm, and said many of the volunteers truly enjoy the experience of being part of the Barrington Farm School community. 

“No matter whether you’ve lived here forever or if you just moved into town, people are always looking for a community to belong to. And I feel like the farm has that,” she said. “Having all age groups is nice. And having different varieties of things to do, from monitoring the farm stand to planting.”

Read also loves seeing kids working at the farm. 

“You can see it in the kids that come. They’re not used to having their hands dirty, and just being able to walk around freely. That’s not how we grew up. We grew up outside and covered in dirt,” Read said. “The kids who come in. No matter if they’ve never touched the soil before, they get into it. And that’s what you want because that’s how they will become advocates for the environment in the future.

“We love the interactions with all the volunteers — any age, any age groups. It’s great.”

Walking tour

Just beyond the gravel parking area and friendly farm stand is the first garden plot. It is filled with hearty plants — tomatoes, peppers, sunflowers and more. The vegetable plants seem to love the soil at Barrington Farm School, and the animals that live in the area seem to love the vegetables. Last year, a 10-foot fence was installed around the vegetable patch to keep out the bunnies and deer. 

Beyond the vegetable patch is an array of solar panels. A grant paid for the panels, which allows Barrington Farm School to provide much-needed electricity at no cost. The panels power a large well-pump and an industrial refrigerator in the farm stand. The well pump feeds the new wash station at the farm. 

“And we put in a wash station because of (food) safety, we do sell and we also give to Tap-In,” Read said. “Our mission is to give the food away. We’re nonprofit. From April to the end of October we give to Tap-In. I have to say, it’s fresh-picked. They do get lots. We give them herbs. We give them fresh-picked lettuce…”

Vegetables, honey, flowers, garlic, plants and other items are also for sale inside the farm stand. (The best time to catch someone manning the farm stand is in the morning, Read said. There is an honor box and a Venmo code, if no one is there.)

Just past the solar panels is the pollinator garden, which was planted in 2021. 

There is a plot for cut-flowers and to the east is the shed that houses the wash station. There are quonset huts that allow farm volunteers to start their plants in the ground earlier than Mother Nature would normally allow. Tomato plants, pepper plans and more fill the garden rows inside the main hut. The tomato plants are entwined carefully around ropes that hang from a rack near the top of the hut. They are covered in ripe fruit. 

Toward the back of the hut is the worm tea brewer. Carefully following a recipe that includes worm cast and other items, volunteers “brew” a potent mixture that nourishes the soil. 

Behind the huts is the farm school’s composting station, where food scraps, leaves, coffee grinds and more are slowly and carefully churned into a coveted compost. 

“They have turn the pile 15 times in three weeks. It’s either two or three weeks,” Read said. “They take it out of the bin, and they put it there and then they put it back in the bin three days later. They keep turning it, turning it. They take temperatures and they put this (a ‘Not Ready’ sign) and they tell us when it’s ready and we’re all like dying for it… We fight over this compost. We wait for it.”

Read said Barrington Farm School is a regenerative farm — they do not til the land; they do not use chemicals. It’s just compost and worm tea, and food scraps from the community. 

From January to June, the farm school processed nearly 30,000 pounds of food scraps that otherwise would have ended up in the landfill. 

For more information, visit www.barringtonfarmschool.org