Gold Star Sod Farm 

 & Wholesale Nursery: 



Innovation in an Idyllic Setting 



X n its field s along the ban ks o f 

 the Merrimac, the digging of 

 Gold Star's nursery material was fin- 

 ished early this year, but it was of 

 record volume. Bobcat skid-steer 

 loaders using three-spade front-end 

 diggers could do the work quickly. 

 With another, scissor-likeattachment, 

 the Bobcats load the balled and 

 burlapped material onto trailers. 

 Some of it goes for pre-sold orders, 

 some goes to one of Gold Star's three 

 wholesale yards — in Canterbury, in 

 Lexington, Mass., and in Yarmouth 

 Port on the Cape. 



The material is varied — ten types of 

 maple, three of linden, sbc of birches, 

 ten of floweringcrab.... Caliper ranges 

 from 1 3/4 to 3 1/2 inches. 



The company's first land here — a 

 dairy farm — was bought in 1968; a 

 second dairy farm was bought four 

 years later. The main bam was torn 

 down, but the cupola was saved and 

 stands like an ornate gazebo in the 

 middle of the sales lot. The brick farm- 

 house is still there, but boarded up 

 after being gutted by fire. A second 

 barn is used for a work-and-storage 

 area and Gold Star's offices are in what 

 was once the milking shed. 



All properties border the river. One 

 hundred acres are currently in nurs- 

 ery stock; sbc hundred in sod pro- 

 duction. Sod is harvested using two of 

 the newer Brower sod harvesters. 

 Fifty-five 18x80 inch (ten square feet) 

 pieces are stacked per pallet. 

 At present. Gold Star irrigates directly 

 from the river. Their only requirement 

 is that they keep a record of the a- 

 mounl of water they use. Most fields 

 have 6" underground main lines with 

 4" hydrants laid out for complete cov- 

 erage using traveler irrigators. There 

 is one pivot irrigation system 1250' 

 long that covers a 75-acre field. 

 At the end of the ramp at Exit 18, you 

 can take a left to the Shaker Village 

 Museum or a right to Gold Star. A few 

 yards beyond the Gold Star office is 



the Merrimac River and a bridge that 

 has been closed for repairs for as long 

 as most people here can remember. 

 The town likes it that way. Gold Star 

 does too. The road is quiet and the 

 scene is peaceful. 



The quiet river where one can swim 

 on hot summer afternoons could lull 

 a business into complacency, but the 

 marketplace keeps innovation alive. 

 The company currently offers Reed 

 Canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea) 

 as a "wetland conservation sod." This 



grass will withstand relatively long 

 periods of being underwater, so it's 

 useful for stabilizing waterways, heal- 

 ing gullies, and protecting shorelines 

 from wave action. 



Gold Star has diversified its farm op- 

 erations — there is sod and there are 

 shade trees; there are retail outlets in 

 Massachusetts and a wreath factory in 

 Maine and Christmas trees in Nova 

 Scotia. But the company hopes to di- 

 versify still further and this year is 

 looking seriously into vegetable pro- 



duction on its Canterbury farm. In 

 the planning stage is a possible sbcty 

 acres of broccoli. It would be a late fall 

 crop, designed to supplement broc- 

 coli being grown in northern Maine. 

 The market's there," Kirk Weyant, 

 F'ami Manager, says. And he's fully 

 confident Gold Star's newest crop will 

 be a success. (B.P.) 

 The Plantsman thanks Kirk Weyarlt, 

 Gold Star's fann manager, for the 

 ideas and infonnation in this 

 article. ^ 



June /J LILY 1991 21 



