Group to clean up Northampton trails on Saturday

NORTHAMPTON — Friends of Northampton Trails will host its annual trail cleanup across Northampton on Saturday, from 9 a.m. to noon.

About 100 volunteers will gather to remove litter and help make the trail more beautiful for everyone to enjoy. The teams will be led by a volunteer captain, and they will spread across the city on mini-projects along the bike path network. A central staging area will take place at the Roundhouse parking lot.

A rain date is set for Sunday.

For more information, contact Josh Singer, singerj95@gmail.com; David Hoose, dhoose@strhlaw.com; or Robert Isaacson, isaakson64@gmail.com.

Farms honored during state Agricultural Day

BOSTON — Several area farms were recognized during Massachusetts Agricultural Day in Boston last week.

The Healey-Driscoll administration announced over $5 million in funding to permanently protect nearly 400 acres of farmland across eight farms, including in South Hadley and Southampton, through the state’s Agricultural Preservation Restriction program.

Among the farms to complete APR protection was the Lauzier Farm in South Hadley, which worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service, the town of South Hadley and Kestrel Land Trust to protect 205 acres of open farmland. The land had been rented to local dairy farms for forage corn and hay production. Once protected the property and associate farmstead were purchase by a former tenant dairy farm. The property consists of approximately 68% prime or statewide important soils.

In Southampton, the Hamel Family Farm LLC worked with the town of Southampton and Kestrel to preserve nearly 30 acres in an active agricultural area, abutting the Fournier APR. The land is used for forage crops including hay, pasture, and corn. Also, a portion of the property is used for vineyard stock. Soils on the property consists of 56 % prime and statewide important farmland.

The state, through the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, also awarded about $573,800 to 19 farms through the Stewardship Assistance and Restoration on APRs (SARA) Program. The program provides funding to restore active commercial farming on land that is in the APR Program. Awards will be used to remove debris, improve drainage, clear rocks and invasive species, and repair farm roads to improve access.

Local farms receiving $35,000 each include Day Farm LLC in Northampton, Bloody Brook Farm in South Deerfield, Fletcher Farm in Southampton and East Village Farm in Amherst; Devine Brothers Farm LLC in Hadley ($30,105); Chicoine Family Farm in Easthampton ($29,155); Hartsbrook Farm in Hadley ($25,500); and Windswept Farm in Cummington ($22,950).

CodePink co-founder to speak in Northampton

NORTHAMPTON — CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans will speak on “Cultivating a Local Peace Economy” at Northampton Friends Meeting, 43 Center St., on Friday, April 4, at 7 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Evans is co-founder and board member of CodePink and has been a peace, environmental, women’s rights and social justice activist for 50 years. She has traveled extensively to war zones promoting and learning about peaceful resolution to conflict.

She works locally to have governments, universities, churches and pension funds divest from war and to cultivate local peace economies through engagement with those who have felt the violence of the war economy locally and who have the vision for the future humanity and the planet need.

Western Mass CodePink Women for Peace is a woman-led affiliate of CodePink.org, a feminist grassroots organization working to end U.S. warfare and imperialism, support peace and human rights initiatives, and redirect resources into health care, education, climate and sustainability.