The restored barn will be where the CSA shareholders will pick up their weekly produce.

“It all began with the plastic shopping bag ban,” recalled Monique Bosch, co-founder of the Westport Green Village Initiative.

The Westport Green Village Initiative has grown from its original four founders (Dan Levinson, Liz Milwe, Sherry Jaegerson and Ms. Bosch) to an organization numbering over a hundred passionate environmentalists committed to building a local, sustainable community.

Programs are developed to raise the environmental consciousness of residents and business owners, and funds raised to see these projects through.

One of the major projects of the GVI is restoring the historic Wakeman Homestead on Cross Highway into the working farm it was for over a century.   The town of Westport acquired the property in 1970; but it wasn’t until last year that it was decided that the town would lease the farmhouse.  GVI put forth a proposal for the property and this past December, the Board of Finance approved the recommendation of the Board of Selectman to lease the Homestead to the Green Village Initiative for $1 per annum.

“We want to bring the general public, adults and children, to the farm and hopefully inspire them to start raising organic vegetables in their own gardens,” said Ms. Bosch.  It is the intent of this non-profit organization to have an educational component in place to teach organic farming and sustainable practices, i.e., solar panels for energy and rain water for irrigation.

Staples high school Environmental Science teacher Michael Aitkenhead and his family will take up residence at the farmhouse, and they will be working tenants.  Mr. Aitkenhead will not only be starting and maintaining the gardens, but he will also be coordinating the hands-on classes for adults and students at the farm.  His wife Carrie will also be actively involved in the farm’s operation.  She will oversee the school and the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs.  By having the Aitkenheads living and working at the farm, the GVI’s objective of making one’s life greener is actually being demonstrated..

Garden plots were prepared by student interns during spring break.

The CSA program is again in association with Stone Gardens Farm of Shelton (The Review, July 2009).  Shares are sold for the seasonal harvest of crops with the shareholder receiving a box of produce representing each week’s harvest. The length of the harvest is approximately 22 weeks, beginning the first week in June and ending the last week of October. This year, the CSA produce will be distributed in the barn at the Wakeman Town Farm.  Any produce that isn’t picked up by a shareholder will be donated to the food bank in Fairfield.

During spring recess in April, students from Staples high school interned at the farm, creating garden beds.  The first seeds have been planted and soon the young plants will be breaking through the soil.  For the time being, the GVI will farm 2.2 acres of the farmland.  It is hoped that there will be a need to cultivate additional farm acreage in future years.

The legacy of the Wakeman Family will live on through the ‘reincarnation’ of their farm.  Their story will also be shared with the community in an exhibit of historical photographs from the Westport Historical Society collection and  family photographs donated to the Town Farm by Jeanne Mann, a Wakeman daughter who grew up on the farm.

The work continues on the Wakeman Town Farm and Sustainability Center; but as is the rule on any farm, the work never ends.  And this is only the beginning…

A small apple orchard will provide fresh fruit in the fall.