On Saturday, October 24, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Land's Sake Farm at 90 Wellesley Street holds its Halloween Fall Farm Fest. The Up and Covers play live, Frosty's ice cream truck is on site, and costumes are encouraged. The farm's own description of the day is plainer than the party. The end of October marks the conclusion of the full-time farming season.
Twenty days earlier, on Sunday, October 4, the Weston Forest & Trail Association led the first of its monthly guided walks. Those walks run on the first Sunday of each month through May, and they start at 2 p.m. Between those two dates, the working land and the walking land in Weston trade places. The trail season and the farm's off-season draw on the same conservation acreage, and the calendar shows how they fit together.
A Farm Season With a Stated End Date
Most seasonal events announce a beginning. Land's Sake puts its ending on the calendar and throws a party for it. Full-time farming wraps up at the end of October, and the Fall Farm Fest is the marker.
Before that date, the farm keeps a weekly habit going for small children. Open Farmyard is a free drop-in program for ages 2.5 to 7, though children of all ages are welcome. It runs Wednesdays and Sundays, excluding holiday weekends, through October 2026. The farm's calendar lists Sundays from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., with stories, the Education Garden, the chicken coop and the goats. It also says times vary with the season and that the program is weather-dependent, so cancellations go up on the farm's social media page.
This is the first fall since Executive Director Pam Hess stepped down on May 15, after ten years. Under her tenure the farm grew from a seasonal shack with no power into a year-round farm stand. Land's Sake was founded in 1980, and the farm says it donates a third of its harvest to local hunger relief organizations. No successor turned up in the sources for this post, so none is named here.
The Woodpile Is Where the Two Calendars Meet
The clearest link between the farm and the trails is a product Land's Sake sells. Its 2026 firewood went on sale in September, with delivery in October and November.
That wood comes from the woods. Each winter, Land's Sake farmers work in forests on Weston conservation land. They harvest trees that the Weston Conservation Commission has marked, and the trees are sold as firewood to local residents. The farm says marked trees are typically older or less healthy, which leaves most of the forest intact. Winter is the season for the work because dormant trees and frozen ground reduce soil compaction from heavy machinery. Land's Sake also taps roughly 400 sugar maples each winter for its maple syrup.
So the farm's forestry work runs in winter, after the full-time farming season closes, and it happens on conservation land of the kind the Sunday walks cross. The firewood in a fall delivery comes out of public woods like the ones the Forest & Trail Association walks through.
Who Actually Holds the Woods
Most people who walk Weston's woods could not say who owns which piece, and the numbers explain why.
| Organization | What the sources say it holds or does |
|---|---|
| Weston Conservation Commission | Owns and maintains about 1,800 acres of protected land open to the public, with about 90 miles of trails, fire roads and hilltop outlooks |
| Weston Forest & Trail Association | Founded in 1955; stewards 189+ acres it owns, 18 miles of trail easements and 11 conservation and preservation restrictions; maintains 100+ miles of trails |
| Land's Sake | Harvests marked trees on conservation land each winter, and manages forest on part of the Case Estates land beside Woodland Elementary School |
The town says about 90 miles of trails, and the association says it maintains more than 100. Both figures are in circulation, so the mileage depends on who is counting.
The larger point is the acreage. The association owns 189-plus acres, while the town's conservation land runs to about 1,800. The town also says most of the funding for maintaining those trails comes from the association. A Sunday walk therefore usually crosses town-owned land, kept up in large part by a membership organization's dues and contributions. The Conservation Commission holds the acreage, the association pays for upkeep, and Land's Sake does the winter forestry. Each of the three has a season, and October is when the seasons overlap.
What a First-Sunday Walk Looks Like
The association's walks are built to be easy to join. They start at 2 p.m. and run one to two hours, each in a different part of town. Children are welcome, and so are dogs, which should be leashed and under their owners' control. Refreshments follow the walk, and the association's mission statement describes the walks as Sunday outings followed by refreshments. The 2026-27 schedule is published on the association's Get Outside page, with a printable PDF.
I could not confirm which property the October 4 walk visited, so check the schedule for the next walk before you head out. For a sense of the range, the October opener in 2023 went to College Pond, off Concord Road. That walk covered open fields, wooded trails, the Troll Bridge over Cherry Brook, the ruins of the Merriam Barn and the Merriam orchard. Weston's trail system includes hills, orchards and old farm ruins as well as woods.
The second walk falls on Sunday, November 1, the first Sunday of the month. The walks then continue monthly through May.
What Has Already Wrapped
The Rotary Club of Weston & Wayland's biggest community event has already passed. The club held its 29th Annual Antique & Classic Car Show on September 26 at Weston Town Center, 11 Townhouse Road. Net proceeds go to Rotary educational scholarships and other club projects, including conservation, food security and international work. No 2026 results have been posted that I could find, so this post uses none.
With the car show done, the calendar for the next several weeks sits at 90 Wellesley Street and in the woods.
A Working Order for the Coming Weeks
- Wednesdays and Sundays for the rest of October: Open Farmyard at Land's Sake, excluding holiday weekends.
- Saturday, October 24: the Halloween Fall Farm Fest, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the closing event of the full-time farming season.
- October and November: firewood delivery from Land's Sake, for those who ordered in September.
- Sunday, November 1: the second first-Sunday walk, and the first one after the farm's full-time season has ended.
If a Sunday walk or a firewood delivery has you looking at your own property differently as winter approaches, the Donahue | Maley | Burns Team can tell you what it is worth. Schedule your complimentary home valuation.
