Recently, the owner of Silk Fields in Lexington — home to animals such as goats, alpacas and chickens — has put the land up for sale. Since 2014, Silk Fields and the adjacent Lexington Community Farm (LexFarm) have had a partnership, allowing LexFarm visitors to explore the Silk Fields property, and for the animals to be used in LexFarm’s education programs. A casual visitor might not notice where LexFarm ends and Silk Fields begins.
“Our partnership has brought a lot of joy. I’d say the animals in general just bring children, and even adults, out of their shell. People always have a big smile when they see them,” said Pamela Tames, Executive Director of LexFarm.
The current owner of Silk Fields, Kim Goldinger, first bought the property around 2010, and has raised a variety of animals on the farm, along with hosting many different classes.
“The land is lovely, but it is a huge amount of work and a pretty hefty amount of money to take care of the animals. The taxes on the land are also very high. It was great when I had kids at home, but now I’m single, and it’s more time and money than I can put towards it,” Goldinger explained.
Currently, neither Goldinger nor any buyer has concrete plans for the land, leaving the future of Silk Fields uncertain.
“I am working with the town, LexFarm and a local builder to see what the next best choice for the land is. It may be that housing gets built there. Honestly, I don’t know the answer to what will happen next,” said Goldinger.
Selling the Silk Fields land will have several impacts on LexFarm.
“One of the things we’ll lose is the landscape. Right now you look onto that field and it’s green. If buildings were to go up there, it would be a very different landscape,” Tames mentioned.
Potential construction is another major worry for LexFarm staff, especially the impact and the length of any development which might happen on Silk Fields.
“Any time you start paving over soil, like at Silk Fields, the water has to go somewhere. So there’s the issue of sections of the field getting wet or flooded. So we’re concerned about what construction runoff will look like in those back fields or the side fields,” Mark Gabrenya, a member of LexFarm’s Board of Directors, explained.
But one of the biggest losses when the Silk Fields land is sold will be the animals themselves. They make up a large part of LexFarm’s education program, most notably in their Animal Caretaker classes.
“The relationship between the kids and the animals is so meaningful,” said Rachel Curtin, director of LexFarm’s education programming. “Caretaking for the animals is a responsibility that makes young kids feel confident. Parents often say the classes are like their kids’ happy place, or it’s what their kids look forward to.”
Losing the Silk Fields land would potentially mean losing the Silk Fields animals as well, and therefore a significant portion of LexFarm’s programming that involves the animals. Goldinger is exploring a variety of options as to where the animals will go next, including giving the animals to LexFarm.
“If the animals can stay at LexFarm, I would gladly give them to LexFarm. But if they don’t go to LexFarm, I will find a home for them where they’re happy and well cared for,” Goldinger said.
For now, LexFarm is focused on keeping the public informed about the issue.
“One thing that we’ve been doing is collecting people’s names and email addresses. As of last week, we had over two hundred names and email addresses of people who said, ‘I want to know what’s going on. Keep me updated,’” Tames said.
The staff at LexFarm are hopeful that they will be able to keep the animals, and are exploring a few options to do so.
“I think at some point there might be a couple calls to action for those that care about this issue. If the land gets developed, but we want to keep the animals, then we’ll be doing a fundraising campaign,” Gabrenya said.
Throughout the campaign and the process, LexFarm has consistently emphasized the generosity of the Silk Fields Farm owners.
“We’ve been so lucky that this neighbor has made this space available to us all, and I really am grateful for the owner’s openness and generosity. It has allowed us to see what is possible with these sweet animals that they’ve shared with us. And so I am hopeful there is some sort of compromise or arrangement that can be made that is advantageous for all of us,” Curtin remarked.
Goldinger, too, has been grateful for everything that owning Silk Fields has given her.
“It was an unbelievable privilege to be in a situation where we could have a rural space and share it with our community. It was lovely and fun and interesting, and it allowed us to be a part of the community in a way that was really special,” said Goldinger.
To learn more, please visit the Silk Fields page on the LexFarm website here: https://lexfarm.org/silkfields/.