Homecoming Farm
Homecoming Farm is rooted in growing and sharing food with the community. Sisters farmed on this land to feed themselves and those in their care when they arrived in Amityville. In 1996, as the congregation looked for ways to care for the Earth and to live sustainably on Long Island, a group led by Sister Jeanne Clark began Sophia Garden. The location and name of the garden changed, but the mission remained. Homecoming Farm – a certified organic Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) project – is committed to the understanding that the human and natural world is “One Sacred Community of Life”. It witnesses to the belief that when we care for the Earth, we care for ourselves, each other and future generations. At the end of 2023, this land will be part of the Peconic Land Trust.
REFLECTION: What connects you to the Earth?
The modern story of Homecoming Farm is interwoven with the history of the land that the farm occupies. In 1875 a group of Dominican Sisters from Regensburg, Germany immigrated to the United States. They first arrived in Brooklyn and ultimately moved out to Amityville. Once here, they farmed the land to feed themselves and the orphans of other German immigrants who had been entrusted to their care. They grew vegetables, planted an orchard raised cows, pigs and chickens. The root cellar or potato house where they stored their vegetables is on the National Historic Register and is another stop on this tour.
Homecoming Farm began in 1996 as Sophia Garden, an organic garden project, when a group led by S. Jeanne Clark, OP dreamed about modeling a sustainable way of living on Long Island with a garden at its center. At the same time, the Dominican Sisters were meeting in a committee called Global Awareness to look at our changing times and a new order of things that included a view towards how we care for Earth. The Committee proposed the creation of an organic garden at their Motherhouse in Amityville. The Garden was named after Sister Sophia, an Amityville Dominican, who cared for and nurtured the land at the Motherhouse in Amityville.
Today, the tradition of growing food lives on at Homecoming Farm, which is one of the oldest certified NOFA NY-LLC organic CSA farms on Long Island. The goal is to contribute food to the hungry among us, “Not just from our Surplus, but from our Source.” While fresh vegetables are enjoyed by farm members, a portion of the harvest is donated to the Interfaith Nutrition Network (INN) to help address the needs of homelessness and hunger on Long Island. Scroll down on this webpage for links and videos about Homecoming Farm.
You can learn more on the Homecoming Farm website.
Scroll down for videos about Homecoming Farm.
Other stops on the trail:
