Last Saturday kicked off our first work party of 2026.
I have been spending a lot of time speaking with John and Dave about plans for the year ahead, and Koulas Farm is a major focus.
One of the big needs going forward is a good-quality lawn mower and a reliable way to get it to Koulas. COSS Inc. has a trailer that we will provide, and we are planning to acquire a riding lawn mower. Since nothing can be stored on-site at Koulas, the current plan is to store the mower nearby and trailer it in when needed. Most likely the mower will live on the trailer and be dedicated to Koulas use.
Tools also had to be moved off town land, and the Chinese Bible Church of Greater Lowell is now the location for the community tool shed. That shed will be moved as soon as we can paint it and once the roads at Sunny Meadow are in better shape again. Right now the roads are rough, and that is likely why someone slid into the fence at Garden B and damaged it.
With a mower, trailer, and a solid tool setup, that site will be in great shape. The most important part is that none of this equipment belongs to a single person. It is shared and accessible to anyone on the Friends of Koulas crew.
COSS will underwrite and maintain the mower, trailer, and tools for an initial two-year period. If the site continues to function as a family-friendly space, we would look to extend that commitment for another ten years.
At Sunny Meadow, conditions are very different right now. It is basically a sheet of ice, so the Storybook Trail is essentially closed unless you have micro crampons. The farm itself is about to have its first maple sap run, so expect some activity there.
The Cheys are switching some of the greenhouses from hydroponics to soil growing, which requires work on the water frame systems. Those greenhouses allow us to work through the winter, so if you see cars down by the greenhouses, it is COSS and the Cheys working. If you see us down near the pond, we are helping with the maple sap run.
We also do regular equipment repair and tune-ups in the greenhouse. The greenhouse itself needs a replacement front. Since it is shared with the community garden, costs will be shared. Wood, plastic, and labor are the main expenses. COSS will likely do most of the work. The community garden will cover most of the material costs, as COSS has a strong volunteer build crew and the garden has excellent funding in place.
We have a well and a solar pump that provide water during the gap between when town water goes on in April and when the pond system is active again.
Fencing along Pine Hill needs replacement. In the past we handled that through our wood racks, but now we will be asking the town to cover the cost of the wood while COSS installs it.
We are waiting to hear back on funding for six concerts, a craft day, and other grants. Community outreach continues to go very well. There is also a request for funding for a multigenerational workshop where a child and an adult build a flashlight together. That is a small-dollar item, and if the grant does not come through, someone has already offered to underwrite it. It would be free and could be run in multiple locations around town.
On the wish list for 2026 is resuming invasive control at Bartlett Park, which we could not do in 2025. We are also planning a few stargazing events split between Sunny Meadow and Koulas.
We want to run a series of open space walks, leaning heavily into the model used by Hike Beautiful Billerica with their recreation department. Another big effort is using OpenStreetMap to update, connect, and link all open space trails, regardless of ownership, through a central page on the COSS website.
We will be rolling out membership and some member-only events and continuing to work closely with Old Mill Coffee to support fairs and create informal ways for people to meet local groups.
Trail cleanups will continue across all open spaces, no matter who owns the land, as long as we stay within use regulations. Support for farmers has had to move off Sunny Meadow, but helping our local farmers remains a priority for Chelmsford.
Pollinator gardens are booming, with additions at Thanksgiving Forest and the Burbank Gardens, and we are happy we could help both with resources.
If you want to hear more or have ideas to suggest, we will be at Koulas Farm on Saturday at 9 am, with some folks on site earlier. Swing by.
Welcome to 2026. COSS is embracing a wide range of initiatives, events, and support for open space and families.
There are also a few very exciting projects coming that I cannot talk about just yet, but soon.
-Phil
This update was reviewed for 501(c)(3) compliance, and no issues were identified.