Fresh Roots Farming Program

Fresh vegetables displayed at a farm stand with a sign that says 'Fresh Roots Farm,' located in Mahwah, New Jersey, under a canopy tent.
Rows of young plants growing in dark soil, with protective coverings and small greenhouses on a farm, surrounded by a wooded area.
A person with curly hair harvesting tomatoes in a greenhouse with lush green tomato plants.
Group of volunteers planting trees in a wooded area, with a woman smiling and holding a wheelbarrow filled with soil in the foreground.
People planting seedlings in a garden on a sunny day with trees in the background.
A young boy holding a large bunch of freshly dug garlic inside a wooden shed.
A close-up of various fresh lettuce heads, including green leaf, red leaf, and romaine varieties.
A person wearing a wide-brimmed hat, glasses, a maroon shirt, and jeans is kneeling in a garden, planting or tending to green plants in the soil. There are garden stakes around the plants and a lush, green forest in the background.
Close-up of orange marigold flowers growing in a garden with green leaves, a wire fence, rocks, and an outdoor path in the background.
Fresh vegetables and herbs on a dark wooden table, including radishes, leafy greens, oregano, fennel, and turnips.
People harvesting kale in a farm with a forest background under a blue sky with clouds.
Group of people crouched down in a garden or farm, inspecting young plants with a woman in a wide-brimmed hat leading the activity.
Two people planting seedlings in a garden bed with others working in the background, all outdoors in a wooded area.
Lush green seedlings growing inside a greenhouse.
A young person with curly hair harvesting tomatoes in a greenhouse or outdoor garden.
Group of people gardening outdoors, one person kneeling and planting in soil while others watch, surrounded by green trees and plants.
Two women standing in front of a farmers market stand labeled "Fresh Roots Farm" in Mahwah, New Jersey. The stand displays various fresh vegetables including lettuce, bell peppers, carrots, and greens, under a white canopy.
Group of young adults and teenagers outdoors in a forest, participating in a tree-planting activity, wearing casual clothes and gloves.
Fresh celery bunches in a black crate.
Group of young people outdoors holding harvested kale and onions, with fall foliage and trees in the background.
A garden bed prepared for planting, with dark soil in the center, surrounded by a layer of mulch, under a clear blue sky, with a wooded area in the background.
Rows of leafy green vegetables growing in a garden with trees in the background.
A group of people standing outdoors in a garden, listening to a person with curly hair speaking. The garden has rows of small green plants, and there is a greenhouse and trees in the background.
A vegetable garden with multiple rows of green plants, a protective plastic greenhouse on the right, and a wooded area in the background under a clear blue sky.
Three young adults standing outdoors during sunset, smiling at the camera. Two women are wearing blue jackets and gray beanies, and a man is wearing a pink Floyd t-shirt, a checkered shirt, and a gray beanie. The background features a dirt or burnt f
Rows of tomato plants growing on supports in a greenhouse, with ripening red and green tomatoes hanging from the vines.
A small construction vehicle parked under a tree in a backyard, with a shed, buckets, and gardening tools visible nearby, and houses with trees in the background.
Two people working inside a greenhouse with rows of green seedlings on raised beds and shelving units, fans, and equipment overhead.
A lush farm with dense greenery and trees, a hand-painted sign that reads 'MEVO FRESH ROOTS FARM,' and white tents in the background under a cloudy sky.
A smiling person observing tomato plants growing in black nursery trays inside a greenhouse.
Person holding freshly harvested beets with dirt on their roots, surrounded by green foliage.
Fresh leafy greens including Swiss chard, kale, and possibly collard greens displayed on a burlap surface.
Two people planting young lettuce seedlings in a garden bed with dark soil. One person is wearing gray pants and gray sneakers, while the other is wearing shorts and a t-shirt, both kneeling and tending to the plants.

Farming for Environmental Change

Through the Fresh Roots Farming Program, we are striving to make a positive environmental change via regenerative farming practices, hands-on education, and building a community around the shared stewardship of our earth through our volunteer and internship programs. Currently, the Fresh Roots Farming Program is the core effort of our organization. The demand for education around farming, gardening, and fresh and nutritious food is at an all-time high, and we’re here to meet that demand.

The produce from our farms goes to our annual Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, a few local restaurants, and the Ramsey Farmer’s Market. At this time, we do not sell directly from the farm.

Our Growing Practices

  • Market Gardening is a style of farming used widely around the world and the United States. Its basic tenets include: farming on five acres or less with mostly hand tools, growing organically on 30-inch raised beds, and growing bio-intensively in polycultures. We place plants close together and grow many crops at one time in our fields (around 15-20 types of vegetables) as opposed to one, which is called a monoculture. By growing directly for our markets, we are able to get know our customers directly.

  • Permaculture, or permanent agriculture, was developed by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the 1970s and encompasses a set of principles that suggests ways to live more in sync with the earth and each other. Unlike many growing systems, the earthworks that go into creating growing spaces in permaculture are meant to be permanent; gardens and fields are rarely tilled and growing beds are used year after year. Permaculture revolves around a set of principles that encourages individuals to create growing systems that align with the natural ecosystems in their area. Some permaculture principles include: Use Small and Slow Solutions, Creatively Use and Respond to Change, and Catch and Store Energy. When we design our farms and interact with them, we keep the principles in mind to guide our work and decisions.

  • In order to maintain and work toward optimal soil health, we do not till our growing spaces. Tilling disrupts the structure of soil and over time causes topsoil loss and soil compaction. Instead, we use hand tools like the tilther, developed by Eliot Coleman, and the broad fork, an ancient farming tool to aerate our soil and prepare beds for planting.

  • Market Gardners and permaculturalists are known for growing a diverse amount of fruits, vegetables, and herbs on small plots of land. They do that through bio-intensive growing. At our farms, this means spacing our plants close together, weeding often, and turning our beds over quickly. These practices allow us to get the most use out of our smaller fields. It also ensures that we keep a close eye on our plants: Intensive spacing means intensive cultivation. As we weed our fields, scout for pests, or harvest, we are able to closely observe our crops and their health.

Fresh Roots Farm (since 2015)

MEVO’s Fresh Roots Farm is a two-acre community-built educational farm located in the Campgaw Mountain Reservation in Mahwah, NJ. Fresh Roots Farm is a project in partnership with the County of Bergen Department of Parks. The farm was jointly developed by Bergen County, Bergen County Executive James J. Tedesco, III, and MEVO to be a hands-on, experiential sustainability center in 2015. The unique nature of our farm derives from its shared possession by the government and our not-for-profit organization, and from its community-driven volunteer efforts. Thanks to the hard work of our volunteers, Fresh Roots Farm has become a productive agricultural operation where nutritious, organic fruits and vegetables are cultivated on one-acre. In addition to our produce fields, the farm harbors a food forest, a compost operation, and a seedling nursery. The success of Fresh Roots Farm, within its unique governmental partnership, makes it a tangible model for replication throughout the state and country.

Vegetable garden with rows of kale, lettuce, carrots, and other greens, surrounded by trees

Lovewell Farm (2017-2025)

We farmed at Lovewell Farm for eight years thanks to the generosity of the landowners before the plot was sold for re-development. The plot has a long history of being farmed and was originally part of the Sidorsky Family Farm as well as a community garden. In its later years, a prior land owner used it as a leaf drop-off, which meant that we farmed on a giant pile of compost! When MEVO began farming at Lovewell Farm, it was covered in invasive weeds and rubble from past farming operations. We have since cleaned up the space, built a deer fence, and built out four field blocks with the help of volunteers. In addition to growing vegetables at Lovewell Farm, we have producing Asian pear and peach trees after years of cultivation. Lovewell Farm was an extension of the Fresh Roots Farm and we revived the land into a productive organic growing space using the principles of market gardening, permaculture, bio-intensive growing, and low-till practices.

A garden bed with freshly turned dark soil, surrounded by wood mulch, with leafless trees in the background and a clear blue sky overhead.

We’re looking for opportunities to expand our Fresh Roots Farming program to grow on additional land. Interested to connect? Reach out to Executive Director Violet Reed at violet@mevo.org.