OUR STORY
We are a fruit- and flower-loving family of 6. We grew tired of having to drive all over to find good fruit and beautiful flowers, so we started growing our own. We are working hard to establish orchards, berry patches, flower fields, and more so that everyone in the Alamance, Chatham, and Orange County area (and beyond) can have access to good fruit and beautiful flowers in one place for as many months of the year as possible. As a part of this mission, we seek to "love thy neighbor" by abundantly providing our local food banks with fresh fruit, eggs, vegetables, and gorgeous flowers.
Photo courtesy of Rachel Cantong Photography
ABOUT HAW RIVER FRUIT CO.
Hello! We're the Hansen family and if you visit our farm, you'll likely see us around! We bought this property in 2020 after getting hooked on growing our own fresh fruit because we had a hard time finding it without a long drive and a lot of stops. In 2023, we'll continue working hard to get fruit trees established and our fruit varieties will increase with each year. We've been planting and sharing summer flowers for many years and want to share the joy of a beautiful field of flowers and the fun of picking them with the community.
We are a family of 6. Dave and Janice have been in the Chatham/Alamance/Orange County area for over 14 years. We've expanded our gardens and orchards each year and we left our 3-acre homestead in Pittsboro for our 53-acre farm in Graham. Dave is a librarian and lawyer who specializes in copyright law for authors and Janice is a rare book and academic research specialist who currently freelances so she can also take on many of the duties around the farm. We have four daughters (10, 8, 4, and almost 2). Needless to say, our life is full!
Our goal with the farm is to "love thy neighbor," and so we aim to donate abundantly to local food banks and directly to others in need. With every purchase, you'll be making it possible for us to provide our local food banks with fresh fruit, vegetables, and eggs.
We are currently planning on operating on a mixed model of both u-pick and farm stand sales, and our offerings will change as we get more fruit and flowers established. Our inaugural season of 2021 saw a field of u-pick flowers as well as melons. 2022 brought u-pick strawberries and tulips, and we hope that 2023 will bring more strawberries, our first peach harvest, bountiful flowers, and more. Our peach, pear, heirloom apple, and fig trees are growing and will be ready before we know it.