Eastleigh Hosts First Flea Market; Farm Scheduled for Auction in Fall

Eastleigh Farm in Framingham held its first flea market on Sunday.

But last week the farm was the focus of a closed-session meeting with Framingham Selectmen and Framingham Town Manager, according to the agenda for the meeting, as the farm is scheduled for a foreclosure auction on Oct. 23, according to Farm Credit East, who confirmed this information Monday morning.

Both the farm at 1062 Edmands Rd. and the house at 1084 Grove St. are scheduled to go on the auction block. The mortgage-holder is Farm Credit East. The farm is currently owned by Doug Stephan.

The farm has been trying to raise money through crowd sourcing and there is a I Support Eastleigh Farm Facebook page. Just under $10,000 has been raised through crowd sourcing.

Eastleigh Farm was established in the early 1900’s.  It stayed in the same family, operating as a Guernsey dairy until 1981.  In 1981, the farm was transferred to a local businessman who owned it until 1996, operating as a beef farm.  A developer bought and owned it for six years, continuing to utilize the pastures to raise beef.  Eight years ago, the present owner began the process of reconverting the facility to a dairy operation, according to its website.

Thanks to Kevin Cummings of Cummings Photography in Framingham for the slide show of photos from the first flea market at Eastleigh Farm.