Situated on a 900-acre biodynamic farm in upstate New York, Hawthorne Valley Farm Store is not your typical natural products store.
The full-line grocery, which started in 1972 as a humble farm stand with a shoebox for customers' money, is a key piece of the 51-year-old Hawthorne Valley Association. Founded in 1971, the nonprofit organization strives to reconnect people, place and purpose by integrating biodynamic agriculture, education and art. Today, it includes a K–12 Waldorf school, children's camps, farmer apprenticeships, a theater company and multiple social and ecological research initiatives—all supported by revenues from the store.
But Hawthorne Valley Farm Store is much more than just an economic engine for the association. Along with selling its own products crafted on-site, it also gives other local and regional producers a vibrant, well-trafficked place to market their yields. The store serves as a social and educational hub for the surrounding community while also drawing people from far and wide to this bucolic setting.
NFM recently caught up with Jeremy Laurange, director of retail, to learn more about this unique retail outlet and incredible organization. More ...
The full-line grocery, which started in 1972 as a humble farm stand with a shoebox for customers' money, is a key piece of the 51-year-old Hawthorne Valley Association. Founded in 1971, the nonprofit organization strives to reconnect people, place and purpose by integrating biodynamic agriculture, education and art. Today, it includes a K–12 Waldorf school, children's camps, farmer apprenticeships, a theater company and multiple social and ecological research initiatives—all supported by revenues from the store.
But Hawthorne Valley Farm Store is much more than just an economic engine for the association. Along with selling its own products crafted on-site, it also gives other local and regional producers a vibrant, well-trafficked place to market their yields. The store serves as a social and educational hub for the surrounding community while also drawing people from far and wide to this bucolic setting.
NFM recently caught up with Jeremy Laurange, director of retail, to learn more about this unique retail outlet and incredible organization. More ...
