About our Farmers
The perennial Hartwood Farm family includes Matt, Maryellen, and our enthusiastic farm dog Beulah. We also have a great annual staff of newer and younger farmers each year, here to explore and learn agriculture before striking out on their own.
Maryellen and Matt began farming in 1998 (except for Beulah, who only began creepily smiling at farm visitors in 2018), and started Hartwood Farm in 2012.
We landed here because we used to grow hops in NH (did you know Madison County was a historic center of east coast hops production?), and because central NY is the midway point between Matt’s NH home and Maryellen’s Midwestern family, with both rolling hills and lake effect!
Maryellen grew up in Indiana, working with horses and being an indentured garden servant for her father, before beginning working on diversified vegetable and livestock farms in the northeast in 1998. Her early farm adventures including helping crash a tractor through a stone wall and finding a live grenade while harvesting potatoes.
Matt grew up on a family homestead in NH and worked for many years as a carpenter, with his early farm adventures included having at some point pretty much every animal that lives in New England (though he wasn't allowed to keep the porcupine).
We met in NH in 2001, where Maryellen had a market garden and CSA farm. In 2008, we headed west to NY's Hudson Valley for a change of pace, where Maryellen managed a large educational farm and Matt was field manager at the awesome Hearty Roots Farm. And them we found the land that became Hartwood Farm...
Beyond the farm, we both love hiking and exploring the Adirondacks (when we can). Maryellen bikes, writes, and sews, Matt does leather working, and Beulah slinks through the bushes to creep on our neighbors’ compost bins.
We love CSA with a passion--it's our favorite way to farm because it gives us a chance to know our members and share our farm and our food with a great group of people! However, despite this passion, we are taking a CSA sabbatical for 2023 to retool some farm systems and get a chance to spend time with distant family.
Don’t worry, you can still find us this summer at Cazenovia farmers market, in great local stores like 20 East, and out in the UPick flower fields!
We look forward to growing for you!
How We Farm
Hartwood Farm uses only practices and products approved for organic production. We usually have ten acres under active production and five acres of those in vegetables each year. The farm sits in a breezy upland spot in the hills of Fenner, with mild temperatures, great limestone soils (though a bit heavy on the stone part!), and lots of exciting wind.
CSA members and the community are welcome to explore the farm--besides the vegetable fields we have crop fields rotating through "green manure" crops to build fertility for future production, 30 acres of hayfields (the hay gets eaten by the bison down the hill at Empire Buffalo!), and 25 acres in a young sugar bush way out back that we dream of tapping one day.
We are 100% committed to raising healthy and delicious food to feed our central NY community--a healthy environment is important to us, and we only grow crops that we feel great about eating and sharing. Hartwood Farm has long term goals of building up the good soil health and biodiversity that makes for the best tasting vegetables.
Some of these practices include using cover crops to protect soil from erosion and leaching, rotating crops to naturally reduce disease and pests, irrigating with drip systems to minimize water use, preventing pest damage with reusable floating row covers, and only using organically approved products. Ask us if you have any questions, are interested in gardening, or just want to know more--please contact us here!
our vegetables
Hartwood Farm grows a complete A to Z range of vegetables, flowers, and herbs, from arugula to zucchini. Our crops include (among other things): beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, cucumbers, edamame, eggplant, fennel, lots of different herbs, kale, leeks, lettuce, melons, onions, peas, peppers, radishes, rutabaga, scallions, spinach, summer squash, tomatoes, winter squash, zucchini, and a ton of different leafy greens!
We focus on providing a mix of heirloom and hybrid crops grown for great flavor throughout the season, and buy our organic seed from local and regional seed companies. Let us know if you have special requests, and we might be able to grow it!
We have tons more info on enjoying our veggies over here……
directions
Hartwood Farm is about 30 minutes from downtown Syracuse, 20 minutes from Fayetteville and Oneida, and just a quick drive up in the hills of Fenner from Chittenango and Cazenovia. We are also just up the hill from Chittenango Falls State Park.
We are easy to find and have a sign out front (though we don’t have a farm stand).
CSA members: Please make sure to park on the East (or farmhouse) side of the road so our tractor-driving neighbors can still fit by on the road!
Contact us anytime - we are happy to talk about vegetables, CSA, or farming!
You can reach our landline at 315-655-5652 or email at info@hartwoodfarm.com
Our mailing address is: Hartwood Farm, 5258 Irish Ridge Rd, Chittenango NY 13037