Why do we choose to grow heirlooms?: flavor, nutrition, biodiversity, history.
The USDA changed growing zones - have you checked your new zone?
Garden starting - what to look for when buying starts for your garden.
What we are planting in May in zone 6 (our new zone!).

Welcome S’mores the llama!

S'mores is an almost-14-yr-old llama who had been living on a local farm, but was suffering from an excruciating infection in her jaw that would have turned fatal...if our supporters hadn't come through for her. 

2024's Earth Day Focus is Plastic Pollution

So what's the big deal about plastic?

As plastics break down into microplastics, they release toxic chemicals into our food and water sources and circulate through the air we breathe. Plastic production now has grown to more than 380 million tons per year. More plastic has been produced in the last ten years than in the entire 20th century, and the industry plans to grow explosively for the indefinite future. Click here to learn more about plastics and Earth Day!

Where to start?

So many people want to grow their own food and just don't know where to start. There are so many sources of information now, so many seeds, so many gardening supplies...it can indeed be quite overwhelming. So where do you start?

The factory farming of animals is one of the greatest threats to our planet. Animal agriculture generates more greenhouse gas emissions than all transportation combined and is a major driver of deforestation and waterway pollution. Livestock takes up nearly 80% of global agricultural land, yet produces less than 20% of the world’s supply of calories. Our current food system is unsustainable and needs a rapid, radical change.

The air is just starting to warm up, birds are returning, and we are all wanting to throw open our windows and get to our spring cleaning! Is it the nip in the air that is stopping us, or is it that we wondering whether our cleaning products are actually cleaning or polluting?

Earth Day is a month from today, and 2024's focus is on plastic pollution. We are learning more and more every day about how microplastics are making their way into everything, and it's so scary! But we can do something about it!

Sweet Farm’s technology program is perhaps the most impactful part of our climate efforts. We recently put together an outline of our tech accelerator work so we can more clearly communicate to the world just how important and exciting it is, and share with you why we have so much optimism for the future. Our program supports start-ups across food, agriculture, sustainability, and climate technologies, working to make a more compassionate and sustainable food system on a global scale. Check it out below and find out why we are so excited about this work, and how fascinating and world-changing these technologies are!

When most people thing of vegetable gardening, they think of tomatoes. And since tomatoes can't go in the ground until the danger of frost has passed, so many people don't start their gardens until May or even June. We are here to tell you you are missing out! 

Here in New York, we start our vegetable gardens in March. You heard that right: March. How is that possible, you ask? Because so many delicious veggies we love to grow actually do great when the soil is still cool and don't mind a frost here or there. As you learned in last month's newsletter, lots of seeds can be started indoors in February or even January in the case of things like onions. 

Sweet Farm is the first non-profit sanctuary in the world to address the global climate impacts of factory farming across animals, the plants, and the planet. Our food web is incredibly complicated and it’s impossible to move forward without first understanding how these pieces are connected. By linking climate education, regenerative agriculture, farm-animal rescue, and the technology that is sustainably disrupting food and agriculture production — Sweet Farm is the world's first Climate Sanctuary. Our monthly sustainability newsletter shares easy ways that you can contribute to our mission to create a compassionate and sustainable world.

Sweet Farm was originally founded in 2016, beginning it's life as a farm animal sanctuary. But it became clear almost immediately that our food and climate systems are so deeply intertwined that it was impossible to tell just one part of the story. To really create change, we realized it was essential to include other important pieces of the puzzle, and by 2017, the Regenerative Agriculture program was born. For those of you who have visited the farm in person, you've seen our fields of flowers and veggies, grown in a way that gives back to the soil and the planet. Each month, we'll be sharing monthly updates with our supporters, near and far, on what we're growing, how we're growing it, and what you can do at your own homes to create positive change through gardening.

Learn about the Sweet Farm Climate Tech Accelerator partnership with TurtleTree, and how their technology will change the planet for the better!

The Sweet Farm Sustainability Spotlight shares easy tips on how to make an impact in your lives & homes.

Find out what’s happening in Sweet Farm Regenerative Agriculture Program in January. Plus tips for gardening at home in ways that help the planet!

Learn about the Sweet Farm Climate Tech Accelerator partnership with InnerPlant, and how their technology will change the planet for the better!

Join us at Sweet Farm for our huge annual plant sale! We'll be selling heirloom and unique plant starts on Friday and Saturday, May 26th, May 27th, June 2nd, and June 3rd from 8am to 3pm until sold out!

210 Hall Rd, Himrod, NY 14842

After a cross-country move from California to New York, Sweet Farm is scaling climate impact through three key programs.

Sweet Farm’s technology program has been rapidly expanding, and we’re excited to share what we got up to in November.

When another sanctuary was forced to downsize due to rising costs, Sweet Farm stepped in to take in 9 animals with no where to go.

Over the last three years, Sweet Farm and Bioforcetech have been conducting the first field trials of biochars from their new technology, helping to showcase biochar’s benefits in our veganically grown flowers and produce. Together, our work has helped increase the number of wastewater treatment plants using their technology, and created more sources for high quality biochars for local farmers.