On the first Saturday in December, a crowd at Powisset Farm counts down together. At sunset, two local children flip a switch and the Holiday Pig Wagon lights up. The farm is decorated around it, fire pits are burning and Mass Appeal, an all-women a cappella group, has been singing carols.
This year it happens on Saturday, December 5, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., and the Trustees event page bills it as the event's third year. The lighting sits at the center of a holiday schedule that runs from mid-November to December 19. By then the vegetable fields have finished their main season. The work moves into the farm kitchen, the barnyard and the Farm Store, and the farm keeps welcoming the public, a practice it traces back to its best-known owner.
Why a Pig Wagon
Powisset was once owned by Amelia Peabody, whom The Trustees describe as an artist, entrepreneur, equestrian and philanthropist. She raised prized Yorkshire pigs, Hereford cows and horses at the farm, and she welcomed the public to see her animals and visit. The Trustees say they kept up that welcome, and they present the Pig Wagon Lighting as a reflection of the farm's history and its commitment to the community.
The wagon arrived in the lighting's sixth year. When the 2024 event was announced on The Boston Calendar, the listing said that season it would switch from a haybale tree to the "first-ever lighting of the Powisset Holiday Pig Wagon," held December 7, 2024. A second Pig Wagon year was listed on Patch for December 6, 2025. The new centerpiece points the event back to Peabody's barnyard.
Peabody's name runs through more of Dover than this farm. Much of the Noanet trail system across the street began as her riding country, and Powisset's own mowed trails connect to the 1,200-acre Hale Reservation. In December, the farm's calendar is the part of that legacy you can reach most easily.
Thanksgiving Week Runs on a Pre-Order Clock
The holiday season at Powisset starts with a deadline. All Thanksgiving 2026 pre-orders from the Powisset Farm Thanksgiving menu are due by Thursday, November 19. The farm warns that items can sell out. The menu is sides only. Stuffing, vegetables and potatoes are on it, and pies are not.
| Side | Size | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Classic Brioche Stuffing with Mirepoix, Brown Butter and Rosemary | 2 lb, serves 6 to 8 | $28 |
| Cornbread, Sausage, Apple and Sage Stuffing | $32 | |
| Farmhouse Cranberry Sauce with Powisset Ginger and Citrus | 16 oz | $15 |
| Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Shallots and Cranberries | $24 | |
| Bourbon Brown Butter Sweet Potato Mash with Candied Pecans | $23 | |
| Ginger Glazed Carrots | $20 | |
| Green Beans Almondine | $20 | |
| Classic Pommes Puree | $20 |
You pick up in person at the Farm Store, 37 Powisset Street, and choose a time slot at checkout. Thanksgiving week has its own store hours. The store is open Tuesday, November 24, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Wednesday, November 25, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is closed Thursday, November 26, and Friday, November 27. Orders not picked up by 3 p.m. on Wednesday are donated.
The week before also matters for anyone with a Fall Vegetable CSA share. That share costs $130, with $10 off for Trustees members. It covers storage crops such as winter squash, potatoes, carrots, leeks, popcorn and garlic, plus fresh greens. There are only two pickups, both from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., on Saturday, November 21, and Saturday, December 12. Bring your own bag or box.
Where the Farm Works Instead
The cooking classes show most clearly how the farm's work changes after the harvest. Powisset's teaching kitchen has a December lineup, and some of it filled up weeks ahead. Thanksgiving Sides on November 12 sold out. Holiday Breakfast of Champions, with make-ahead quiche, pumpkin coffee cake and maple-sage breakfast sausage, runs Thursday, November 19.
Here is the December schedule from the Trustees' events on our farms listing:
- Tuesday, December 1: Teen Test Kitchen, Hot Potatoes!
- Wednesday, December 2: Powisset Pals, Fairy Garden Workshop
- Thursday, December 3: Potatoes, Pommes, and Papas, adult cooking class
- Tuesday, December 8: Tots in the Kitchen, Holiday Helpers
- Wednesday, December 9: Powisset Pals, Holiday Crafts
- Thursday, December 10: Entertaining 101, adult cooking class
- Friday, December 11: Date Night: That's Amore, adult cooking class, sold out
- Saturday, December 12: Holiday Happenings, Kiddos Handmade Gifts
- Tuesday, December 15: Kiddos in the Kitchen, 2026 Finale
- Thursday, December 17: Focaccia and French Onion Soup, adult cooking class, sold out
- Saturday, December 19: Holiday Happenings, Kiddos Handmade Gifts
The two Saturday Kiddos sessions are held at the Farm Store, where children make ornaments and holiday cards. The Tots session on December 8 is a seasonal cooking class for toddlers and the adults who come with them. Trustees members get discounts on events. Walking the farm costs nothing: the grounds are free to everyone and open daily from sunrise to sunset.
December 5, Practically
The lighting is free and parking is free. The Trustees strongly encourage pre-registration because space is limited, and registration opens from the event page. The 2024 listing required registration outright, so treat signing up early as the safer choice.
- Bring seating. There are only a few picnic tables, so the farm suggests your own chairs, blankets or lap robes.
- Plan to eat there. Farm-made hot soups, hot cocoa, hot toddies, beer, wine and s'mores kits are sold on site, and the fire pits are lit for roasting. There is also a winter-themed craft for children.
- Leave the dog home or take it next door first. Dogs are not allowed anywhere at Powisset. The Trustees point dog walkers to Noanet Woodlands across the street.
- Follow the signs in and out. Parking is in the lot on the right side of the driveway. On the way out, a one-way exit takes you past the pond and up a small hill to Powisset Street.
- Mind the field edges. An electric deer fence surrounds the cultivated fields, and the farm asks visitors to assume it is always on.
The Farm Store also keeps unusual hours that afternoon. On a normal Saturday it closes at 4 p.m. During the lighting it is open for holiday shopping, with farm produce, local specialty foods, holiday décor, ornaments, gifts, books, and farm-made soups and baked goods. For many visitors, that makes the lighting the easiest time all season to do some holiday shopping at the farm.
December is also part of the authorized bow hunting season at Powisset, as the regulations section of the Trustees' Powisset page lays out. The Trustees run it as a deer management program for a limited number of hunters with written permission. Under MassWildlife rules it runs Monday through Saturday from the first Monday in October through December, and it is never allowed on Sundays. Signs at the property list the safety precautions.
The Rest of Dover's December Calendar
That same Saturday, the Dover Town Library holds Holiday Reindeer Frame, a craft for adults, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in the Community Room at 56 Dedham Street. It finishes an hour before the gates at Powisset open, so you can do both in one afternoon.
The library's other holiday programs are scattered around Powisset's dates. Gingerbread House Making is on Tuesday, December 1, and Thursday, December 3, both from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Gingerbread House Decorating for adults 18 and over is Tuesday, December 8, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., and registration is required. The Holiday Book Swap is Saturday, December 19, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Library Living Room, the same day as Powisset's last Kiddos Handmade Gifts session. Before all of that, on Friday, November 20, the library hosts a drop-in Fall Placemat Craft for all ages from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
For a regular Powisset visit outside the events, the Farm Store's standard hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is closed Mondays. You can reach the farm at 508.785.0339 or [email protected].
Mary Crane has spent years in Dover, much of it around land like Powisset, Noanet and Hale and the properties beside them. If you want to talk about owning near Dover's conservation land, or what an estate or equestrian property next to it involves, schedule a confidential consultation with Mary at Mary Crane Properties.