Hatfield Farm

Established 2023

We are so grateful that Hatfield Township came to us with this piece of land. It is almost 8 acres. This farm will be a game changer in feeding the families who are food insecure in Montgomery and Bucks Counties!

Located at 500 Fairgrounds Avenue, Hatfield, PA 19440.

As you enter the farm from our parking lot you will enter into an area for trucks to come in and dump our soil. On the right will be a covered pavilion. As you continue to walk along the right side you will come across a tool shed, cooler and wash basin. Past them will be the raised beds. In and amongst this area there will be a shade arbor with a bench for people to rest and get out of the sun.

We will have raised beds at 32-inch height. This is a great height for anyone to garden at. It will allow people to sit and garden and not hurt their backs. We will also have 8 wheelchair-accessible raised beds, 4 for adults and 4 for children.

Past the raised beds you will come to our equipment shed and past that will be a small orchard of fruit trees.

As you are walking down the right side there will be greenhouses on your left. They will allow us to start our own plants and allow us to have a much longer growing season. If the township will allow us we are looking at creating these out of pallets, which we have plenty of, cattle panels, brackets, some 2X4s, greenhouse plastic, and a used door.

Starting from the gate coming on the farm and going left you will come to another wash basin before reaching several rows of raised beds.

There will also be a small tot lot where we will have outdoor plastic toys like a few plastic ride-on John deer tractors, plastic garden tools, etc.

We will have a little bigger fruit tree orchard on the left hand side of the farm.

The rest of the farm we will be growing in the field.

We are planning on having bee hives to help with pollination. The honey harvested will be jarred and donated to those in need. We will also have bat houses and bluebird houses to attract these species to help with bug control.

We are also looking into ways of collecting the rainwater off of all the roofs!

We are looking to grow different things. Pantries and other organizations like Meals on Wheels, community meals, etc. get plenty of tomatoes, peppers, lettuce. We want to provide items that are more ethnicity-acceptable items. We have learned this year that some cultures dry arugula and use it as an herb!

We have also found a commercial kitchen in Norristown at the YWCA to help us use our seconds by turning them into product such as frozen vegetables, sauce, salsa, etc.

This piece of land has great visibility, several neighborhoods near it so we feel we will not have an issue finding volunteers. We have had people already reaching out to us.

We envision this farm being used as a job training site for those with or without neuro diversity. We will be working with several other organizations to get their clients who are nero diverse to learn skills that will translate into getting a job in the work force. We have been working with the STARR Program at Souderton School District for a few years. One of the students who graduated last June hated volunteering on our 1 acre farm initially but by the time he graduated it became his favorite job site. He graduated with a job at a local garden center!

We also see it being used as an education site. We are working with an artist to create a workbook/coloring book for elementary children. As teachers or parents bring the young children to the farm they will receive these books that can then be used to continue to learn about the farm after they have left.

We have money for our parking lot, patio and one of our tool sheds. The money we have asked for in this grant will allow us to purchase equipment and get things started in the fields including irrigation.

We are looking to use a limestone mix that gets hard like concrete but stays porous allowing water to go through it instead of running off, for our paths around the farm. Making it accessible to walkers, wheelchairs, strollers, wagons, etc.

History of the Farm

  • Garden of Hope

    In 2019 we broke ground on our one-acre Garden of Hope, located in Harleysville, PA. All produce harvested by volunteers is distributed to food pantries and community programs for those in need.

    We plant seasonal vegetables from spring through fall. Volunteers are at the heart of our operations, as we have no paid staff.

  • Garden Education Program

    Part of our mission is to teach low income families how to grow their own organic produce. Our garden initiative started in May of 2015, when we were given access to a garden plot at Zion Mennonite Church in Souderton, with eight traditional beds. We had four families participate. In 2016 we expanded our efforts space we were given at Trinity United Church of Christ. From there we have multiplied as word spread about our program and we have planted over 25 gardens for community members.