OUR STORY
Abundance Farm recognizes and honors the original inhabitants who first settled in the valley of the Kwinitekw River. We acknowledge that we are on Nonotuck land. We also acknowledge our neighboring Indigenous nations: the Nipmuc and the Wampanoag to the East, the Mohegan and Pequot to the South, the Mohican to the West, and the Sokoi Abenaki to the North.
More recently, the land we now call Abundance Farm was the site of Northampton’s “Alms House,” which, from ~1800 to 1950, served as a refuge for local residents in need of shelter, food, and other services. The Northampton Alms House included a 15 acre “poor farm” operated by the residents. This rich and complicated history adds much meaning, as we reclaim this land as a farm that once again serves those in our community in need.
From a small plot land to an abundant farm.
In 2002, Congregation B'nai Israel (CBI) purchased a roughly one acre open lot to the synagogue's east from the City of Northampton. For a decade, this land was mowed and left as an open field. In 2011, a few families with teenage kids had the idea to start a garden on this land. With a lot of hard work and the help of many other community members, these families created a large, beautiful garden with vegetable beds, a cob oven, fire pit and a lovely sitting area. During this time, the garden became a treasured community space and played host to numerous gatherings, classes, celebrations, and potlucks.
In the fall of 2013, under the leadership of Rabbi Jacob Fine, a group of people developed a vision for expanding and transforming the CBI garden to become a small farm and outdoor classroom in partnership with its neighbors at Lander-Grinspoon Academy and the Northampton Survival Center. Over the next year, a volunteer Leadership Team with representatives from CBI, LGA, and the Northampton Survival Center helped refine the vision, design the Farm, and fundraise to get started.
Abundance Farm was launched in the spring of 2014 with a gathering of over 250 people. At this inaugural event, the community planted 50 fruit trees, 40 berry bushes, and established a number of new planting beds. Since that first season the Farm has grown and evolved in so many ways. The Farm now serves over 5000 participants each year through a diversity of programming for people of all ages. In addition to providing free fruits, vegetables and flowers to the public, the Farm hosts classes, workshops, festivals, rituals, prayer, and potlucks. In February of 2021, CBI purchased the abutting 2.5 acre property from the City of Northampton (formerly the site of the Water Dept.) which will be used to further expand the Farm and to create a Jewish Environmental Center.
Photo by Dan Little of the Daily Hampshire Gazette