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Learn about where food comes by from a 400-year-old working farm in Yorktown Heights

On this Road Trip: Close to Home, we're learning more about where our local food comes from at Hilltop Hanover Farm and Environmental Center.

Nikita Ramos

Oct 24, 2024, 11:48 AM

Updated 28 days ago

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On this Road Trip: Close to Home, we're learning more about where our local food comes from at Hilltop Hanover Farm and Environmental Center.
Even as temperatures drop, work is still picking up the 400-year-old working farm in Yorktown Heights.
It's more than 180 sprawling acres of land that is ripe for learning.
"It really connects us back to everything that's growing in the ground here, whether it be our native plants or vegetables that we're growing, to see how all these systems interact together," Education Manager Molly Keane said.
It includes the animals, like goats and rare Dutch Belted Cows.
Sign up for events and visits to learn how every living thing plays an important role in helping the farm flourish.
The experts will expand your world about sustainable ways to produce healthy food, even through the colder months!
"A lot of people think that at the end of the growing season, the farm is done for the year and that it doesn't wake back up really until next April, however that couldn't be more wrong," Kean said.
That's because this is the time to till the land and start to sow some of the most important work on the farm.
"In the winter months, not only are we planning for what it is that we're going to growing next year, we like to look back and see what people enjoyed eating here, and in addition to that, our native plants programming with the cleaning of the seed, we offer a lot of different winter programs," Keane said.
It's what teaches people how to enhance their own gardens!
"There's a huge focus on native plants and their importance for our environment," program participant and farm visitor Joanne Hastings said, "by participating in this, you're really making your garden alive with pollinators."
The farm is also a great place to enjoy the outdoors.
There are several different hiking trails that range in distance that's open from dawn to dusk.
Before wrapping up the day's adventures, grab a bite for the road at the farmstand.
There are fresh fruits, herbs and veggies all grown on the ground you just explored on this "Road Trip: Close to Home".
To learn more about Hilltop Hanover Farm and its programs, click here https://hilltophanoverfarm.org/ .