Deed restriction would keep farmland as farmland
Source: Telegram.com, by Steven H. Foskett Jr.
March 31, 2008
Woman relishes memories of family operation
SUTTON— Sitting in the kitchen of her 19th-century farmhouse on a rainy spring morning, Sally Stevenson recalled the decade or so when the family farm had a thriving pumpkin patch.
The patch is gone now, but the wide open fields and slightly sloping hill are still there, bordered and sectioned by old stone walls that certainly predate the pavement of the bustling Central Turnpike nearby.
“The same people would come to buy pumpkins every year,” Mrs. Stevenson said. “I would recognize them when they came back. It was so nice to see them year after year.”
The 15-acre farm still produces hay, and if the state and the town are able to obtain funding for an agricultural preservation restriction on the property, it will remain farmland in perpetuity through a deed restriction.
The state’s APR program funds the purchase, through municipalities and the state, of building rights on agricultural land of five or more acres. Certain criteria have to be met, but Mark Stevenson, Mrs. Stevenson’s son, said the smaller size of the farm would mean the preservation restriction would be more affordable than on larger parcels.
Mrs. Stevenson said she pursued the idea of getting an APR on the farm a few years ago, but the deal was never done. Mr. Stevenson said that there seemed to be a bit of a reshuffling of the state program during the administration of former Gov. Mitt Romney, but said state officials have tweaked the program to make it easier for certain farms to qualify.
Town Administrator James A. Smith said the Board of Selectmen recently voted unanimously to support the pursuit of the APR. He said the state will perform an appraisal on the farm to determine what sort of payment the town and the state will make to Mrs. Stevenson, if the farm is selected. Mr. Stevenson said state officials have been out to the farm, but said there is no real timeline as to when the farm might be selected. If the farm is selected, the town and the state would make a combined payment to Mrs. Stevenson.
Mr. Smith said support among the board for the APR for the farm at 84 Mendon Road was twofold: If approved, it will help preserve the rural character and agricultural roots of the town, and it could help stave off overdevelopment, which puts strains on municipal and educational services.
For Mrs. Stevenson, preserving the farm, no matter who owns it down the line, would be honoring one of the last wishes of her husband, David L. Stevenson, who died in 2000.
Mrs. Stevenson bought the house in 1951 with the help of her father-in-law while her husband was overseas, serving in Germany during the Korean War. When Mr. Stevenson returned, he started working at the Massachusetts Electric Co. in Worcester. He tried to work night shifts so that he could tend to the farm during the day, she said. The house initially had no running water, and the fields were in disarray, she said.
“It was a mess,” Mrs. Stevenson said. “He would come home from work and clear trees and brush out.”
The Stevensons eventually had the farm up and running.
“We grew beans, sold them at $1.50 a bushel,” she said. “For a while we grew cauliflower. A lot of cauliflower.”
The pumpkin patch — customers would come pick their own — lasted until around the time of Mr. Stevenson’s death. His son Mark said bacteria and fungus had gotten into the soil, making it difficult to sustain the crop.
The house was built around the 1830s, Mrs. Stevenson said. It survived a fire in 1971; Mrs. Stevenson and her son agreed that the family was lucky to have survived. One of 10 Stevenson children, Mark said nobody was injured in the blaze. The rear part of the house had to be rebuilt on the foundation, he said.
Mr. Stevenson laughed when his mother mentioned the chores set out for the children.
“They each had a job,” Mrs. Stevenson recalled.
Mr. Stevenson said he remembered how his father would dole out assignments.
“He would rope off a section of the farm he wanted something done on, and would tell you what he wanted you to do before he left for work,” Mr. Stevenson.
Mr. Stevenson said he was glad to see selectmen supporting the APR. He said he understands that the town is changing and growing, but said he hopes the town will be able to preserve a little bit of its past. He said that if the APR money comes through, long-overdue repairs to the house and the fields will be possible.
“I think people in town appreciate it,” Mr. Stevenson said of the farm. “I’m impressed with how enthusiastic people are.”
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