Town of Bolton Agricultural Commission
Meeting Minutes
Date: 20 July 2010
AGRICULTURAL COMMISSION
63 Main Street
978 779-2297 or 779-3308
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.
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