Hartshorn Organic Farm sits in the heart of Vermont's Mad River Valley — a certified organic farm on Route 100 (technically Quarry Road) in Waitsfield that has fed this community for generations.

Dave Hartshorn is a fifth-generation Vermont sugarmaker and lifelong farmer. Amy arrived 17 years ago, fell in love — with him, and with the land — and together they've transformed this property into something far beyond a working farm.

Over the years they’ve has hosted four food festivals, farm-to-table dinners, retreats, a farm immersion program, kids' farm camps, teen and youth groups, cow train rides, pizza nights, and haunted Halloween walks. It's been a gathering place, a classroom, and a community anchor.

When you come for a farm tour, you're stepping onto that land.

MADE FOR FARM LOVERS, FOODIES, AND CURIOUS MINDS

✓Adults and teens who want more than a tourist experience
✓ Foodies, gardeners, homesteaders, and wellness seekers
✓ Travelers wanting an authentic Vermont connection
✓ Anyone tired of industrial food and ready to reconnect with the source

Best suited for ages 9 and up — the content is rich, interactive, and hands-on.

Book your tour here

WHAT YOU'LL EXPERIENCE:

Every tour is unique — customized to your group's interests and the time in the season

The Organic Farm
Dave and his dad initially farmed this land as dairy farmers. Amy arrived 17 years ago, fell in love — with him, and with the land — and over the decades they've transformed the property into something far beyond a working farm. It's been a gathering place, a classroom, and a community anchor.

What you're stepping onto isn't just a farm. It's a living educational center — one that has introduced hundreds of people of all ages to the real story of food, land, and the hands that tend both.

Learn why healthy soil is the foundation of healthy food, then prove it to yourself. Pluck a green bean straight off the vine and eat it standing there. Push your hands into warm, living earth. Tear off a piece of fresh kale and taste the difference that real growing makes.

Taste as You Go Forget what you think a tomato tastes like. Pop a sun-warmed cherry tomato straight from the vine and let that be your new reference point. Rub a fresh herb between your fingers and smell what your grocery store can never quite replicate. This isn't a tasting menu — it's a full-body education in what food can be when it's grown with care and eaten at the source.

The Hydroponic Greenhouse At the back of the farm sits a half-acre commercial hydroponic greenhouse — food growing at scale, without a single handful of soil. It sounds like science fiction until you're standing inside it. Then Amy will show you her own homeowner-sized hydroponic unit and suddenly it sounds like something you could do in your kitchen. Clean food, grown year-round, anywhere.

The Maple Sugarhouse Dave is a fifth-generation Vermont sugarmaker — and this is a working operation with a real story to tell.

You'll discover what it actually takes to turn tree sap into syrup, the ingenious technology involved, and why the ratio of sap to syrup might surprise you. You'll see how the equipment has evolved across generations — and hear about the wildlife that has a habit of interfering with the operation.

And then you'll taste Hartshorn maple syrup the way it was meant to be tasted: fresh, pure, and nothing like the bottle in your pantry.

The Healing House Gardens Some of the most powerful medicinal plants on earth are probably already growing in your backyard — you just don't know what they are yet.
Walk through Amy's medicinal herb and edible flower gardens, learn what heals and what nourishes, and then wander into the home vegetable garden where the lunch ingredients often come straight from the ground to your plate.

WHY THESE TOURS ARE DIFFERENT

This isn't a passive farm visit — it's an experience that stays with you

Genuinely hands-on Harvest, taste, plant, identify herbs, explore growing methods, ask questions. You're not watching — you're participating.

Deep roots, real knowledge Dave and Amy have been farming this land together for nearly two decades. What they share on these tours isn't from a textbook — it's lived, earned, and specific to this place.

Multi-dimensional Organic agriculture, hydroponics, maple sugaring, soil health, flavor, nutrients — woven together into one cohesive experience that gives you the full picture of how a working organic farm actually operates.

A nature reset Slow down, breathe, feel the land. Guests consistently leave feeling grounded in a way that's hard to put into words.

A spark that lasts Many guests say it changed how they eat, shop, and think about food — long after they've left Vermont. Parents report that kids who swore off vegetables are suddenly eating them. People go home and start gardens. They seek out their local farmers' markets. And nearly everyone leaves with a deep, felt appreciation for what it actually takes to grow good food — and a new respect for the people who do it.

TOUR OPTIONS:

Option 1 — Farm Tour (No Lunch) approximately 90 minutes $70 / person (ages 9+) | $35 ages 4–8 | Ages 3 & under free

The full farm experience — organic fields, hydroponic greenhouse, maple sugarhouse, and healing garden. Hands-on, sensory, and unforgettable.

Option 2 — Farm Tour + Farm-to-Table Lunch approximately120 minutes $100 / person (ages 9+) | $50 ages 4–8 | Ages 3 & under free 3-adult minimum or $300 flat rate for smaller groups. Special pricing for larger groups. Please contact Amy to discuss.

Everything in Option 1, plus a fresh homemade lunch made from our own farm ingredients harvested that morning.

Menu varies by season and what's growing that day. Amy can customize your meal to meet certain food allergies and sensitivities, just let her know what they are.

Past lunches have included: pasta with farm basil pesto, massaged kale with peanut sauce, big garden salad with Amy's famous maple balsamic vinaigrette dressing, and herb tea. It depends on what is ripe that day.

contact amy to book your tour

ABOUT YOUR GUIDE, AMY:

Amy (Todisco) Hartshorn has spent more than 30 years teaching people how to live cleaner, eat smarter, and reconnect with the natural world.

She's a nationally recognized green living educator, organic farmer, podcast host, and upcoming TEDx speaker — once on the radar of an Oprah producer, and technical editor of Green Living for Dummies.

These tours are an extension of that lifelong mission: to help people remember what real food tastes like, and why it matters.

Watch us on HGTV!