327 Co Rd 21C, Ghent, NY 12075

Since 1972, Hawthorne Valley has been producing high quality, Biodynamic and organic foods in upstate New York. Our Biodynamic farm includes dairy cows, vegetables, a creamery, organic bakery, sauerkraut cellar, and more. Our Farm Store is a full-line natural foods store open 7 days a week. Our farm spans 400 acres of woodlands and rolling hills, open fields and meadows, and flowing creeks and streams. We lease an additional 400 acres in the area, allowing us to produce almost of all of our own feed on farm for our cows, pigs and meat chickens. At the heart of the farm is the closed herd of cows which, to a large degree, provides the pulse for and rhythm of the adjunct operations. The cows furnish the milk for our Creamery operation, and provide, along with the other farm animals, the basis of our compost, which is essential for building soil fertility to ensure a continuous, regenerative cycle. The farm includes:  

• A 65-cow dairy herd which supplies milk to the Creamery  

• 16 acres of vegetables which support a 300-member CSA, weekly farmers markets, our farm store, internal programming meals, and wholesale accounts. 

• 50 acres of food and feed-grade small grain production  

• 40 pigs who eat the "waste" whey from the Creamery as well as food scraps 

• 2400 meat chickens raised during the pasture season on dairy pastures 

This visit will include an overview of how Hawthorne Valley incorporates Biodynamic farming techniques (which HVF has been following for over 40 years). We will examine the concept of the farm individuality, central to Biodynamic farming principle, and discuss how our different enterprises nest into one another. The practical focus will be on how composting cycles nutrients from our field crops and cow herd throughout the farm. We will discuss our production technique, and what we are looking for in our overall farm fertility management.