Build the farm stand and community hub
Glendale Farm is more than growing food — it is a place of connection, education, community, and nature. The new building will be the gateway to the farm: one place to buy fresh produce and farm-raised goods, linger over coffee, attend a workshop, check into a camping stay, sign up to volunteer, and take in the land.
What the build costs
The farm stand lets Glendale sell more of what is grown here directly, deepens the connection between visitors and the land, creates new revenue that funds the farm’s upkeep, and raises the visibility of the mission that protects these acres.
The farm stand plan states a $150,000 project cost, while the live GoFundMe campaign is set to an $8,000 goal. Both are shown on the site today, which reads as an error to a donor. TK — is $8,000 a first-phase target, or is the GoFundMe goal simply out of date? Confirm before this page ships.
What your gift pays for
- Retail areaProduce, eggs, pasture-raised meat, preserves, honey, and farm merchandise — grown and raised at Glendale.
- Cold storage & processingRoughly 50 sq ft of climate-controlled room to keep product fresh and make value-added goods possible.
- Coffee bar & indoor seatingSix to eight stools at large windows, so visitors linger rather than pass through.
- Covered outdoor & rooftop seatingA covered patio and an open-air rooftop terrace looking out over the fields.
- Workshop & education zoneSpace for classes on growing, raising, composting, farm ecology, apiary, and forge demonstrations.
- Volunteer & check-in zoneWhere camping and glamping guests check in, and where volunteers meet for harvest days.
How it will work
Visitors drive or walk in to a warm retail space with produce, eggs, pasture-raised meat, preserves, honey, farm merchandise, and coffee to go. They browse, sample, buy, and stay — at the window bar, on the covered patio, or up on the rooftop terrace above the fields.
A dedicated area hosts workshops: how to grow your own food, how to raise chickens, composting demonstrations, farm ecology, apiary classes, forge demonstrations, and seasonal events. Guests arriving for a farm stay check in here for orientation, maps, and coffee before heading out to the tents. Volunteers arriving for a harvest day, a gleaning for the local food bank, or a sunrise farm-yoga session on the rooftop meet at the same hub.
The building
- A 200 sq ft ground-floor footprint, with retail at the front and glazing on two sides
- Wood-timber framing to fit the farm, with a standing-seam steel roof for durability
- Energy-efficient windows, floor-to-ceiling on the side facing the fields
- An insulated, climate-controlled cold room of roughly 50 sq ft
- Rooftop access by code-compliant stair, with a pergola or light roof over the seating
Who it serves
The farm stand is built first for the farms already working this ground — Dharma Ridge Farms, the certified organic wholesale grower on eighty acres of prime peat soils, and TJ’s Bees, on ten acres of fescue over the old fruit and nut orchards. Meet the farms here →
Other ways to help
- Come to a work day — labour is worth as much as money here.
- Become a member — membership income funds the farm year-round.
- Farm a parcel — an eight-acre orchard is open.
- Stay the night, take a tour, or buy the hoodie.