Our mission is to cultivate a Sustainable Nantucket island community by supporting local agriculture, food producers and makers.

What's new this year at the Sustainable Nantucket Farm and the Farm to School Garden you might ask?

We think our revised mission statement, posted above, addresses how our four programs integrate to grow more food locally, encourage and support entrepreneurship and provide our youth with the opportunity to feed their souls (and bodies!)

Thanks to the support from our generous donors and grantors, we currently host six farmers at the Walter F. Ballinger Mentor Farmer Program at 168 Hummock Pond Road, including a new native plant nursery (In Situ Native Plants), microgreens, okra and callaloo from TT's Hobbies and the glorious flower farm started by Peace and Bliss Farm. Since we have expanded our composting area and reclaimed wetter areas on the farm to propagate blackberries, our land is almost entirely under cultivation. We are commencing a project to improve safety and to beautify the front of our farm stand for the constant stream of visitors. The Land Bank has made an additional eight acres available to our farmers and we will soon be repositioning deer fencing and cover cropping the fields to provide new nutrients to the soil.

Our Farm to School program was busy all summer with campers from the Boys and Girls Club, Mariah Mitchell, and Nantucket Community School among others and as the new school year has commenced, the garden is filled with first and second graders studying the Healthy Nutrition Project curriculum designed to meet State STEM standards. We have also launched our second Sustainable Agriculture class at Nantucket High School with the aim to provide skills and develop interest in farming as a career for our island youth.

Your donations have enabled us to make growing more food locally and increasing access to all at the center of our mission. So far this year, through grants and donations, we have purchased over 1400 lbs. of island produce and donated it to the Public School lunch program. We are part of a cohort of counties in SE Massachusetts that is capturing data towards an updated regional food assessment, with a goal of improving access to the many island residents dealing with food insecurity. We have a team of four Worcester Polytechnic Institute students enlisted to help us this fall.

Your partnership and generosity towards our mission benefits our community in many ways. We truly couldn't have come this far without your ongoing support.

With our deep thanks in advance,

Posie Constable and the Sustainable Nantucket Team