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Herbs need some care too! Fresh mint perfect for homemade iced tea was a favorite last week, but there's plenty of english and lemon thyme, rosemary, oregano, and sage to add some flavor to your dishes and drinks.

Thank you, June Volunteers!

June means the start of the peak farming season: flowers have borne fruit, and there's nothing quite like hunting under huge leaves for a hint of hidden veg, making for the tastiest game of hide and seek. Our harvest numbers are increasing each week, thanks to all of the amazing efforts of our volunteers, who logged over 1,100 hours volunteering here in June!

June has fully transformed the farm into a buzzing, green oasis as we welcome more visitors and volunteers than ever.

For July, there have been some changes to our recurring volunteer hours, so please be sure to check out the Volunteering page for the most up-to-date information on how you can be involved!

On Saturday, July 30th from 9am-12pm, join our next Community Work Day as we harvest onions: Soak in the views as we pull up onions from our fields, and help make the harvest go quicker with many hands. Learn about the care that went into their propagation and growth, and admire the fresh red and yellow bulbs that will be feeding our community. All ages are welcome to join, register today via our events page!

I hope to see you back on the farm soon.

-Cynthia S.
HHF Food Donation + Volunteer Coordinator

In early June, we left flower foraging behind as the first of Hilltop-grown Field Flowers came into bloom: three bins of colorful bouquets were collected and snapped up by shoppers that weekend, and the blooms haven't stopped since!

Tuesday's Field Weeding is needed more than ever: our produce grows through holes in the row covering, which "prevents" weeds, but these weeds never got that memo!

Thursday's Harvesting hours feature 4 different types of zucchini (including some hidden giants!).

"Gardening requires lots of water –

most of it in the form of perspiration."

- Lou Erickson

Flower Bouquet afficiandos: thank you for helping curate these blooms!

Goodbye, peas! After a few U-PICK weeks and with temperatures rising, our peas had produced as much as they could.

By removing and composting the plants, we are making room for new warm weather transplanst to call these rows home!

Warm weather crops are now thriving, and calling the northern field beds on the hill home.

Fridays are still for flowers! Throughout July, join us on Fridays from 11am-1pm as we weed and maintain these blooms and beds, and also take care of their herb and native plant neighbors.

The Native Plant Buffer Strip is another layer of protection for our field crops- and a great food pit stop for insects who make the trip here from over the road! Trellising and constant weeding keep this border looking pristine. Can you spot it from the road?

Volunteers rolled up their sleeves and helped in moving eight (!) picnic tables across our lawns for all our visitors to enjoy, including two right in the shade of the giant baldcypress tree by the goat enclosure. What's your favorite spot to relax at Hilltop?

We were so excited to see our Tithonia, or Mexican Sunflowers, in bloom-

but, the deer like these orange flowers just as much as we do! Bare stalks are signs of snacking, but with some pruning and attention, we can still care for these plants.

The Founder's Plot native ecotypes are quite the sight, with Ironweed and Joe Pye Weed taller than ever thanks to the care of our Natives volunteers!

Giving back to our community, in every way we can.

In June, more than 1,137lbs of fresh vegetables were donated to our local food pantry partners- that's a lot of meals!

Vegetable seedlings that outgrow their pots in the Farm Stand are donated to our food pantry partners, fighting food insecuity so everyone has the chance to grow and care for their own produce though these peak summer months.

Native Plants continnue to be donated near and far, creating pollinator gardens for our native insecs in schools, community spaces and shared gardens. Some recipients include:

Trailside Museum + Ward Pound Ridge Reservation
Ossining High School Pollinator Garden
Pound Ridge Elementary School
The Transfiguration School Garden
Purchase College Pollinator Garden
Hart’s Brook Park and Preserve

Pound Ridge Elementary School used native ecotypes in a new border bed to support pollinators and spread awareness.

Native ecotypes were also planted to create a new pollinator garden in Hart’s Brook Park and Preserve.

The 2022 Hilltop Hanover Farm Volunteers motto:

"Try and leave this world a little better than you found it."

-Robert Baden-Powell

Thank you, June volunteers!

The Friends of Hilltop Hanover Farm and Environmental Center are dedicated to the development and advancement of sustainable agriculture, environmental stewardship, community education, and accessible food systems for all. Please help to further our mission by coming to one of our many events this summer on the farm or by making a donation today.

Thank you for supporting local agriculture!

The Friends of Hilltop Hanover Farm Staff & Board

We gratefully acknowledge Consolidated Edison Company of NY, Inc.
for their ongoing support.

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1271 Hanover Street
Yorktown Heights, NY | 10598 United States

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