Plan Your Visit
The Farm at Awbury
The sixteen acres of the Arboretum northwest of Washington Lane make up the Farm at Awbury (previous known as the Agricultural Village), a shared farm space for a variety of local partners. From gardening to goat walks, Harvest Festivals, workshops and classes at the Education Center, co-op farming, and much more, there’s always something new to discover in this educational and community-focused area.
Visitors are welcome from dawn to dusk; the space is free and open to the public. Please be mindful of the vegetable and flower beds, beehives, and animal enclosures, and follow any posted signage. There is plenty to see and learn in this unique area of the Arboretum!
Location and Directions
Pedestrian entrances to The Farm at Awbury are at 6336 Ardleigh St and 901 E. Washington Ln, Philadelphia, PA 19138.
With the exception of visitors with disabilities, parking is not permitted in The Farm at Awbury, but free parking is abundant on the bordering streets of Ardleigh St and Washington Ln. The Education Center building is just a short walk from the Ardleigh Street entrance.
Sunday Fun Days
2:00 – 5:00 PM, every Sunday during the spring through and fall
Thanks for a great 2020 season!
Look for us to start up again in June 2021, depending on COVID-19 restrictions.
The Farm is always free and open to walk and explore, but now on Sunday afternoons we will have the goats ready to greet you and an Awbury Ambassador on hand to answer your questions.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, restrooms will not be available at The Farm. Wearing a mask is strongly recommended and all guests are expected to observe proper social distancing.
Features, Tenants, and Partners – The Farm at Awbury
Community Garden
The Awbury Arboretum Community Garden, established with Pennsylvania State University Cooperative Extension in 1977, is the successor to Great Depression allotments and WWII Victory Gardens. The Garden is comprised of over 60 garden plots including 20 raised beds. It provides flowers, fruit and vegetables to local residents and annually donates substantial quantities of food to Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s City Harvest. The Community Garden at Awbury is managed by a coordinating committee of neighbors.
The Community Garden has won several awards, including the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Blue Ribbon in the Gardening and Greening Contest in 2017.
The perimeter of the Community Garden is a woodland walk that includes many established native trees, a small orchard, and sitting areas made from tree stumps.
Awbury Educational Center
An educational facility, including a garden classroom and teaching kitchen, opened at The Farm at Awbury in Spring 2013. Here we host educational programs, community events such as our yearly Harvest Festival, local homeschool groups, and more. When not in use for programming, the Education Building is available for rent.
Awbury Uptown Farm
Divided into four quadrants, this growing area is rented by local gardeners and farmers.
Belk Gardens
Belk Gardens is a garden design company in Philadelphia which provides design and installation for residential and urban gardens. Owner Elizabeth Belk is also a horticulturist, rosarian, and educator.
Awbury Cluck Patrol
The Awbury Cluck Patrol is currently made up of ten hens of various breeds who spend their days strutting about the Farm, resting in their spacious coop, and being cared for by volunteers, led by neighbor Petra Bräuer. The chickens not only provide eggs and eat agricultural pests that destroy crops, but they help us educate families about life cycles- from egg to chick to adult back to egg- all while engaging guests with their antics.
Greenhouses & High Tunnel
Awbury Pollinator Habitat
This garden, maintained by Penn State Extension Master Gardeners and skilled volunteers, is specially planted and tended to attract pollinators. Plants are both nectar- and pollen-rich natives and exotics. The Philadelphia Committee of the Garden Club of America initially funded the garden in 2010.
Philadelphia Guild of Handweavers
Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild
The Farm at Awbury is home of the Philly Beekeepers Guild, who have been “givin’ a durn about bees since 2009.” They established and care for dozens of hives on site and host workshops, symposiums, extraction sessions, and more, caring for these pollinators and serving a resources for local beekeepers.
Wingohocking Creek Riparian Area
Philly Goat Project
Awbury Food Forest
Weavers Way Co-op’s Mort Brooks Farm
The “Mort Brooks Memorial Farm” est. in 2000 commemorates a long-time proponent of Urban Agriculture. The farm was established on ¼ acre of Awbury Arboretum’s “Northwest Tract” in 2000 by Mort’s wife Norma Brooks and her friends from Weavers Way Co-op in partnership with Awbury Arboretum. Since 2007, a full-time farmer and many volunteers have worked the 2-acre farm, providing learning opportunities for our community as well as fresh, environmentally responsible produce to Weavers Way Cooperative stores. Through the nonprofit Food Moxie (formerly Weavers Way Community Programs), community members and students visit the farms and get their hands dirty planting, weeding, harvesting, tasting and learning about growing healthy food. They also donate food to local organizations that serve our communities.
Fuugs Woodworking
Fuugs is a locally rooted, sustainable furniture company based in Philadelphia, PA. They salvage, mill and dry fallen and damaged trees into lumber that they use to make furniture. The salvaging process informs their products, giving insight into the life of the trees, the ecology of our watershed and the beauty of the organic form. It is a collaboration between wood and woodworker, using a combination of classical techniques and modern machinery.
Awbury Arboretum’s Landscape Headquarters and Supply Yard
Awbury Arboretum’s Landscape Staff strive daily to maintain Awbury’s 56 acres of green space so each area may be enjoyed by visitors, and utilized for programming, rentals, and community events.