Codman Community Farms

Such a charming farm to explore! I love taking a day to visit Walden Pond, Codman Estate, and Codman Farms in the summer – 3 pretty places in the area that are lovely to walk around. Kindly treated, friendly animals to look at and a cool barn. You can just drive in and park in the lot and walk around, it’s almost always peacefully empty. I’m a fan, would love to come back on a farmer’s market day if I lived closer!

I took my family here last summer, and then promptly forgot to write a review. Anyway, we took a long rambling drive, making stops at apple orchards and nurserys selling flowers. It was a beautiful day. Codman Farm was quiet. The place is really well kept and the barn is beautiful. A beautiful place to visit and, I imagine, just as lovely for a barn wedding or outdoor event.
I brought a cooler and so I bought some of the thick-​cut bacon in the freezer, $ 8 per pound and as others said, it’s on the honor system. Fried it for breakfast a few days later. It was great.
Codman Farm is a great place to visit, especially if you’re in the mood for some bucolic scenery. Take your kids: they will love to see the animals.

great community farm, but sadly the people that farm there won’t share their veggies, even when they are rotting on the vines. =(It was during an end of the season time.
There could be a donation for items but then there are those people that would take more than they give, I understand. But I am saddened to see fresh veggies rotting and flowers falling over.
Everything is on the honor system and unfortunately, everything is really expensive. So I didn’t partake of any of the fresh items other than a small ice cream for my hubbie. I can’t remember how much it was because I fear I have blocked it out of my mind.
Nice place to walk around and take some pictures tho.

This place is really charming and the animals all seem very happy!
We came here on a non-farmer’s market day because we were driving by and just walked around the farm and saw the animals (pigs, sheep, goats, cows, chickens). If you have kids, this is a great activity. The sheep are adorable and wanted to be petted and the chickens are beautiful, loud, and happy.
They also stock Crescent Ridge milk, which is delicious and well worth $ 3.50 for a gallon.
We’ll be back to visit the farmer’s market and pick our own flowers!

One of the best kept secrets in Lincoln is Codman’s community garden. For $ 40 (the cost of membership) plus a nominal fee, you too can have a sizeable plot on Codman’s lush, expansive, and fertile hillside. At Codman, a half-​plot is larger than even the largest plots in the city, and a full plot is enough to feed a small family during the season and put by even more produce.
Though it isn’t close to the city, city dwellers with bikes, cars, or access to the commuter rail have plots here, in addition to locals whose own yards are simply too shady for a garden.
Codman also has a lovely Saturday morning farmers market, a small self-​serve farm store with eggs and meat, and plenty of free ranging pigs, cows, chickens, guinea fowl, sheep and goats to entertain the kids.
To get involved with the community garden, you’ll need to join Codman and sign up by March. The plots generally sell out, with many gardeners coming back year after year. This year some of the people on the waitlist did get plots, so patience is a virtue.

We live right down the street from Codman Farms and every Saturday my parents (and me when I’m visiting!) hop in the car and roll down the street to get our fresh, locally grown, organic veggies, fruits, meats, breads, eggs and handmade, artisan mozzarella courtesy of our lovely neighbor, Laurie.
Everything is beautiful and beyond tasty. I love coming with my parents because every weekend they’ll have something different from tomatillos and peppers (we made fresh salsa for lunch), swiss chard, yellow watermelons, baby orange tomatoes, the list goes on and on. Pop in the barn to grab some free range eggs or meats grown and butchered locally — just don’t forget to put your cash in the box as it’s all on the honor system. If you have kiddies, you are free to take a self-​guided tour of the farm and animals all for a suggested $ 1.50 donation, or pay $ 1 to grab as many flowers as you can carry from the «pick yourself garden.»
The best part is knowing you’re not only eating good food that is grown the way it should be, but supporting a wonderful community and farming cooperative. Make an afternoon of it — just don’t forget your Unilocal green bag!

We got to Walden Pond this weekend only to find it was over capacity and wouldn’t be allowing people in for another 90 minutes. We drove up the street to check out our wedding location, as we hadn’t seen it without snow on the ground. That’s when I spotted the signs for a farmer’s market and we continued up the road.
We pulled in to check out the few stands there, but were quickly distracted when we saw for a mere $ 1.50 per person we could wander around the place and see all the animals. The best thing, it’s all on the honor system. We counted our money (including a dollar in quarters) and started wandering around.
Chickens, roosters, baby cows, and wait… baby pigs. Honestly they were the cutest things I have ever seen. If it wasn’t for seeing the size of the momma pig there I would have wanted to take one home with me. This place is amazing and I love all the space the animals have to walk around.
After our tour we stopped at the market, only to find out most items were sold. We did learn that one woman brings homemade mozzarella cheese, which means we’ll definitely be back to try that with some fresh basil and a loaf of Iggy’s bread.
Also a plus, the community garden is right next door. They have a section there (also on the honor system) where you can cut your own flowers and just leave the money. If it wasn’t for a long, hot day ahead I would have cut some, but I feared for their survival in my car. No worries though, as I know I’ll be back to grab them when I get my bread and cheese!

Just what the activist/​local eater/​humane treater of animals in me called for.
This place is truly grass roots– a living, breathing, and real farm where animals are treated with respect.
Fresh meats and eggs are available in their small store which requires exact change or personal check.
Codman is the kind of place which makes you know you are doing the right thing by supporting local farms.

Great place to bring the kiddies. Terrific place to have an event.
The Store sells meat from Blood Farm (and their own), their own eggs, and eggs brought in (but local). Saturdays, they have a Farmer’s Market for local growers.
My dear friends Ray and Harriet used to run the joint, and Harriet was always thinking up great events, and fund raisers. I taught several classes there on a variety of topics.
It’s just cool.

If I were a chicken, I’d want to live at Codman.
If you’ve read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, you know what I’m talking about. I’m no vegetarian, but it does make me feel icky to support industrialized agriculture. Sure, it’s bad for the animals. (Although, ahem, I imagine they’re not crazy about being eaten either.) But it’s also bad for the environment and the taste and nutrition of the food being produced.
Of course, you’ll know as soon as you step onto the farm at Codman that these things are no concern here. Here, almost a dozen different breeds of chickens live in airy coops with yards that have TREES. (And you thought cage-​free was a big deal.) The pigs cover themselves in mud and wallow in their piggy way. The cows graze on grassy fields. There are flower and vegetable fields, where members chip in weeding and picking. It’s really idyllic.
Inside the upper barn, there’s a small room lined with refrigerators and freezers, and this is where you’ll find the good stuff: farm-​raised eggs, lamb, beef, pork and more, in the form of chops, sausages, house-​cured bacon (it’s amazing), ground hamburger meat, huge roasts, and more. The eggs are particularly notable, in a rainbow of colors from brown to green to cream to pink, from all the different breeds.
It’s on the honor system, so bring a checkbook or be prepared to take as much as you can get for your $ 20 from the ATM – there’s no change available.
Bonus: I hear you can rent the barn for parties or other special occasions. Sounds like a hoe-​down to me.