August 12, 2021
Bethany Farm, half of which is in Woodbridge, opened to the public this spring. The garden center and nursery is in the former location of Ace Begonias.
For former Ace customers, Bethany Farm & Nursery still sells begonias. The property looks a little different since the new owners have done lots of masonry work and have installed additional greenhouses, including one dedicated to growing hemp and another to growing organic vegetables.
The nursery sells annuals, perennials, tropical houseplants, shrubs, trees and materials such as fertilizer, grass seed, hay and mulch. The nursery has a few of their own vegetables for sale and hope to sell local farmers’ produce as well in the future along with local vendors’ products.
Co-Owner Kyle Smith is president of Stone Hill Landscaping. Opening a nursery made sense in order to provide his landscaping company and clients directly with plants and materials. His partner, Mike Anderson, is a design professional and licensed engineer. Operations manager and lead grower Andrew Konopka studied biology and served as a consultant to the cannabis industry in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Jamaica.
One greenhouse is devoted to producing hemp – the cannabis plant is tested regularly to confirm that the psychoactive component of marijuana, THC, is not present. Instead, the plant is harvested for CBD which is used primarily for pain and anxiety management. Once the company is able to grow at a larger scale they will be able to sell products like gummies produced with their own hemp. They currently sell CBD and CBG products and can explain the tinctures & drink additive differences and purpose of each.
“In addition to selling our own product we want to educate people about CBD, what it is and isn’t and how it can be beneficial,” explained chief administrative officer Jamie Appleberg.
Bethany Farm and Nursery is also interested in being involved in the Amity community. The company had a few Amity Regional High School interns in the spring who stayed on and were hired as summer help.