Exciting times at the farm

What a lot of exciting things are happening at Pony Farm, Horse Power, Stepping Stone Lodge and our new Touchstone Farm!!!! Hearing from so many people from across the country is a daily thrill. I keep smiling and being so excited about all the fun and good energy. Thank you for your interest and lovely emails. Keep them coming!!!

As I stroll around the farm, the activities just beg for picture taking. I hope you enjoy these pictures of why I love this little piece of land. Seeing the ponies plowing the gardens with Dave, our “Driving Guy”, and Chris, our Farm Manager made my day. Having the Colonial Garden by the Homestead, the sweet corn garden, the herb and the salad garden all getting prepared to plant was a treat. We will soon get the rich compost from the company which provides the containers for all our manure. My dream has been to have all of our gardens chemical and fertilizer free…and this is the year we have finally accomplished this. Our goal is has been have organic fresh salad, herbs and vegetables for camp and visiting groups until late fall. I am delighted to report that this will happen in 2011.

I also adore seeing the Horse Power and Touchstone lesson students and teachers enjoying riding in the rings and down the dirt roads. Seeing their faces and big grins warms my heart. The ponies and horses are shedding out and getting fit. The rings are now all raked and smooth, while the grass is green and lush. The newly painted jumps are a lovely back drop to it all. The horse show programs are being made for our summer shows on July 2^nd and 23^rd. As you can imagine, it is a busy but productive time at the farm.

Along with the gardens, new ideas are being planted as well. The summer Touchstone lesson program is ready to be in full swing, allowing our students to ride with us year around. Sarah, our Head Trainer, will be available to not only provide lessons but to take those who wish to compete to local shows. We are excited to re-enter the horse events in our equine community. We are eager to get out there and showcase our wonderful horses and riders.

We are also starting to offer Birthday Parties beginning in June. We have created a ‘birthday party haven’ down at the Cottage. We will be letting folks know more about this on the website but for those of you who are local, do consider hosting your child’s birthday party with us, complete with pony rides, piñatas, pictures, farm animals, and arts & crafts.

The major thing we are gearing up for is Pony Farm summer camp. Becky and Carrie will be joining me in co-directing the summer fun of camp. The lodge, horses, staff and facilities are ready to greet our campers from all over the world. This will be our 40^th Anniversary so we are planning on making this summer a true banner year. A big celebration is being planned for SATURDAY JULY 16^TH, beginning at 3PM and ending at 8PM. We will have riding demos, carriage rides, music,. Speeches and awards, a raffle, and lovely food. It will be our thank you to our farm friends, local business people, as well as alumnae. We want to truly celebrate our 40 years of fun and friendship. We hope you will mark your calendar now and join us.

Finally, we want to publicly thank all those who attended our Strategic Planning Retreat this past weekend. It was a most productive work session which included such good planning for the future of the farm. Over 20 people, each representing a different section of the farm, came to give of their wisdom, experience and input for the future. Ed Tomey, our consultant, designed a rigorous and most helpful agenda, allowing ample input from all participants. The plan incorporating all the input will come together over the next weeks, and will then be posted on the website. We are proud of the direction in which we are moving. Great change is coming as we marry Horse Power and Pony Farm into Touchstone Farm, while fulfilling our mandate with the money to fuel the mission. It was a joyous and most helpful process.

I end as I began by expressing my most heartfelt gratitude to all of you. Thank you for loving this farm and being a part of the past, present and future. Do not be a stranger to us. The welcome mat is always out for YOU. Something exciting and interesting is happening all the time. Come and be a part of Touchstone Farm as it grows!

Most Warmly,

Isabella (Boo) Martin

The Birth of Touchstone Farm!!!!!

It is with immense joy in my heart and a huge smile on my face that I write this blog. After diligent work and tremendous effort over the past year, we have combined the business entities of Horse Power and Pony Farm under a new non-profit called Touchstone Farm. Combining our two separate but intimately intertwined businesses under one entity makes terrific sense as we move forward into the next generation on the farm, and ensure that our outstanding programs can continue to grow and thrive under a consolidated organization. The new website www.touchstone-farm.org will be online shortly.

I cannot begin to thank the hundreds of people who deeply believed in this farm, its mission and its future. I will be forever filled with gratitude for the hours and hours of work that have been so generously given to get us here to the official launch of Touchstone Farm this January 1st 2011. We have been on a most exciting and challenging journey together.

At the expense of sounding like I am making a speech at the Oscars, I really want to focus in and especially thank four people who have truly made this launch possible. It is a fact that without all of them, we would not be here with the future shining bright and exciting.

The first of these amazing people is Trish Twining, our Pony Farm Advisory Council President, who stepped up into the void filled by my serious illness and hospitalization, not once but twice, with asthma. Using her amazing people skills, business acumen and good old common sense, Trish has lead the parade through the tough spring months during which time the economy was tanking and I was still unable to take a deep breathe. Under her fabulous leadership, we now come to the launch of Touchstone with a happy staff, a balanced budget, all bills paid, a herd of well cared for and nicely trained horses, and a facility which has received a terrific face lift. Words can never adequately convey what Trish has bought to our midst, week in and week out.

The next amazing person is Harry Healer, a board member, long time camp parent, and eternally wonderful human being. Harry not only attended planning meeting after meeting, but he lead the way in being the key donor in a major fundraising campaign to launch Touchstone Farm. Thanks to the massive donation given by Harry and his wife, Cynthia, other donors gained confidence to follow suit. This matching grant eventually helped us to raise over $200,000 for Touchstone. This is a miracle in today’s economy, and proves the strength of the human spirit and what teamwork can accomplish!

The next amazing person that helped make all of this happen in the correct, legal order is Jim Callahan, Esq. of Bowditch and Dewey Law Firm in Peterborough. Using common sense, sound thinking and good legal training, Jim helped us to unravel the complexities of trying to operate three businesses side by side on the same piece of property. Thanks to him and Jeff Crocker, the new lawyer representing Touchstone Farm, we are on our way to transparency, solid fiscal management and solid business planning.

Finally, I extend my most sincere and heartfelt thanks to Nancy Cook, the current Touchstone Board President. Nancy has been ‘there’ since the beginning of the farm, buying and selling horses to my family, serving as one of the founding instructors for Horse Power (as a volunteer of course!), helping start the Horse Power Instructor Training School (as a volunteer of course!) and now as our fearless leader as we move into Touchstone Farm. Her sense of humor, commitment to what is right and good, as well as her vast expertise in children and disabilities, makes her the ideal first President of the Touchstone Board.

With these people in the lead, we can not help but to continue to succeed as we celebrate our first year of Touchstone and our 40th year of the farm itself. We invite you to join us at any point along the way. As we celebrate the rich history of our past, going back to 1754, and we look forward to our exciting future, we hope you are part of our story, part of our farm family and part of our future. A warm welcome awaits you here at the brand new Touchstone Farm!

Please Save the Date for the Pony Farm 40th Anniversary Celebration at the Wellesley College Club in Wellesley, Ma. on March 19th. Details to follow shortly!!! We will be hosting a similar celebration for our metro New York campers and alumni this fall. Stay tuned....

Fondly,

Boo