New Town Farms is a small family farm in Waxhaw, North Carolina established in 1990 by Sammy and Melinda Koenigsberg.
New Town Farms focuses on the art and craft of growing vegetables on our five acre garden, and has diversified to include Pastured poultry, pastured laying hens, and Heritage breed, free range hogs.
New Town Farms began marketing wholesale to area health food stores in 1990. At That time the awareness and market for Organic vegetable was limited. Looking for a way to direct market our food we started New Town Farms Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in 1991 with 13 pioneering families (two of those were our parents). We soon grew to serve 60 families and New Town Farms CSA continues to be a valued part of the farm today.
Also in 1991 Sammy along with his Architecture professor and Pastor Robert Dinsmore, and Architect and Matthews resident Kevin Carpenter, founded "The Matthews Community Farmer's Market" with help from Seeds of Hope and Renfrow Hardware. The Matthews Community Farmer's market was the first "producer only" farmers market in the Charlotte Region. Sammy served as president for the first thirteen years and now serves on the Board of directors. Through the efforts of longtime manager Pauline Wood, and many farmers, chefs, and volunteers the Matthews Community Farmer's Market has become a valued part of the community, fulfilling it's established purpose to encourage farming in the area, and strengthen the community of Matthews. New Town Farms maintains its only retail outlet at The Matthews Community Farmer's Market.
New Town Farms became certified Organic by Carolina Farm Stewardship in 1993 and remained certified for many years thereafter. Sammy became an accredited (IOIA Independent Organic Inspectors Association) certifying agent for CFSA in 1995 inspecting many farms in North and South Carolina until 2003 when organic became a federally regulated program USDA Organic. New Town Farms remained certified for several years under the USDA Organic program. We have dropped our certification in recent years due to the high expense in relation to its marketing value in our direct local sales. We still support the USDA Organic program and believe it remains the next best thing to a direct relationship with a local farmer. We continue to grow our food according to the National Organic Standard.
Sammy and Melinda, their 8 children, Interns and friends, continue to operate New Town Farms.