Our Hawthone Avenue Farm
Like a secret garden, in the middle of an entirely urban space, there are rows upon rows of eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, beans, squash, and melons. Then, as if by magic, there’s an entire orchard of over 130 fruit trees, including apple, peach, pear, fig and cherry. The Hawthorne Avenue Farm is a 3-acre site that was formerly an open lot awaiting construction of a new school. When the school was not built it was decided that, instead of sitting barren, to use this space to produce local, pesticide-free produce. Since 2012 the Conservancy has been managing the farm, along with the help of hundreds of residents, our Newark Youth Leadership Project interns, and numerous volunteers.
The farm has grown immensely--in addition to the intensive farm area with more than 100 production rows and 130 fruit trees in the orchard, there is a school garden used to teach local students, a large strawberry patch, a trellis garden, and 260 raised garden beds, available to community members to grow their own vegetables in our Plot-It-Fresh program.
Come visit our farm! We've recently begun to host individuals and small groups of volunteers at our farm. Due to COVID-19, everyone must complete this pre-screening survey in order to sign up.
