About the Sanctuary

Drumlin Farm is a 291-acre working farm and wildlife sanctuary in Lincoln, Massachusetts, run by the Massachusetts Audubon Society (Mass Audubon), a nonprofit conservation group. It is not a state park. The farm came to Mass Audubon in 1955 thanks to its benefactor, Louise Ayer Hatheway, who welcomed the public to her farm so they could learn where their food comes from. That idea still runs the place today.

How Drumlin Farm Began

Mass Audubon's own history records that it brought Drumlin Farm into the fold in 1955, during a decade when it added several sanctuaries, from Ipswich River in Topsfield to Wellfleet Bay on Cape Cod. Mass Audubon credits Louise Ayer Hatheway as the farm's benefactor and says she welcomed the public so they could learn where their food comes from. Mass Audubon's farming page says Drumlin Farm has been educating people about farm life and food since 1955. Drumlin Farm Camp followed in 1956.

A Solar First, 1978

Mass Audubon's history notes that in 1978, a year before President Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the White House, Mass Audubon vice president Allen Morgan installed a solar heating system at Drumlin Farm as a model project. Mass Audubon calls the location ideal, because the farm had been established to educate the public.

Who Runs It: Mass Audubon

Mass Audubon was founded in 1896 by Harriet Hemenway and Minna Hall, two Boston women campaigning against the use of bird feathers in fashion. Today it says it has 160,000 members and runs more than 60 wildlife sanctuaries across Massachusetts. Its headquarters is directly across Route 117 from the farm, which is why GPS sometimes sends visitors there; see parking and directions.

Three Things in One

Mass Audubon describes Drumlin Farm as an environmental education center, a working farm and a wildlife sanctuary at once:

• A working farm. Livestock, poultry, crops and hay for the animals, sold through a CSA and farm stand.
• A wildlife sanctuary. Field, forest and wetland habitat, plus permanent homes for rehabilitated native wildlife; see farm animals and wildlife.
• An education center. A nature preschool, school programs, vacation-week programs, summer camp and public programs.

How the Farm Is Farmed

Mass Audubon says Drumlin grows produce on organic principles, with no chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers, and in some ways goes further:

• Each acre grows crops for five years, then rests for two under clover, which fixes nitrogen.
• The farm makes and spreads its own compost with help from its animals.
• No irrigation. Mass Audubon says the farm's soil, slope and high water table make that possible, which it calls extremely rare in New England.
• Summer crops are harvested early and handed out the same or next day to cut refrigeration; winter roots keep in a root cellar cooled by outside air.
• No plastic mulch; leaves from the town are used instead.

Mass Audubon also keeps 18 beehives around the farm for Drumlin Farm honey.

The Name

The farm takes its name from the drumlin, the rounded glacial hill on the property, which Mass Audubon calls one of the highest points in the Greater Boston area.