By Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Over the last eight weeks Amy Owen, the namesake behind Amy’s Farm, has had to console her fair share of passersby.

Emotions have run high since news broke in June that the Ontario farm and educational hub would close its gates for good after 25 years on August 30. That means no more weekend farm stand, educational field trips or farm tours with animals.

A Jimmy Nardello pepper growing at Black Bird Ranch. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

“It was a very special thing that we got to do there,” said Owen, who along with her husband Brad Owen, owns and operates the farm. “I know there’s a lot of good things in life that have a beginning and an end, and I’m able to recognize that even good things can come to an end.”

The hope is another entity will step up and continue to offer the educational component Amy’s Farm had offered for 25 years.

“Right now, we don’t have that available yet, but I imagine that there will be all sorts of new places that crop up that people can come to and have field trips just like what we did,” Owen said. “It’s a need. It’s a necessity.”

The Owen family and farm staff have been prepping for a potential closure for about a year, as the end of its lease approached, moving animals, supplies, and produce. In March, it found a new location, on 1-1/2 acres two blocks west of Amy’s Farm.

“A lot of people have a misnomer where they think we actually own the land. We don’t own the land,” said Brad Owen, Amy’s husband and owner of Uno Tre Otto restaurant in Claremont. “The landlord who owns the property is selling to a warehouse development [contractor].

“All of this is just dying and dying,” Brad said, pointing south toward Eucalyptus Avenue, where commercial business centers and warehouses are being built. “We’re moving away from any sort of agrarian lifestyle anymore. Farming … it is barely financially viable. We kept it together on a shoestring. And the tour business helped offset that a little bit.”

An office building under construction on Eucalyptus Avenue in Ontario. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

The Owens’ are sharing their new property with two other tenants. Their 1-1/2 acre portion of the 40 acre plot, which they’ve nicknamed Black Bird Ranch, is protected under Proposition 70, the Chino Agriculture and Open Land Acquisition and Preservation Program. The couple plan to add a greenhouse and more crops by the end of the year.

“Amy’s Farm was 10 acres of land, but we were growing off of an acre and a half,” Brad Owen said. “We were giving a lot of our produce to food banks and food shelters throughout the Inland Empire. We were selling of course to Uno Tre Otto. We still have tons of produce that we’re harvesting every single day off the farm, Amy’s Farm. Believe it or not, we’re harvesting somewhere in the neighborhood of two to three hundred pounds of tomatoes every single day.”

Amy Owen, co-owner of Amy’s Farm, with a recent harvest from Black Bird Ranch. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

The new smaller farm’s purple and green beans, heirloom tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplant, green peppers, basil, Jimmy Nardello peppers, sage, lettuce, carrots, arugula, Swiss chard, black kale, Armenian cucumber, corn, leeks, patty pan squash, and beets will supply only Uno Tre Otto and a handful of food pantries.

“Our menu changes daily based on the produce that’s coming in,” Brad Owen said. “In the past, we had so much produce that I was able to pull from Amy’s Farm. And now it’s a lot more intentional with the restaurant.”

A banner at the entrance of Amy’s Farm in Ontario. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

The husband and wife’s daily routine will remain at the new location: she harvests and washes everything in the morning, and he get the bounty delivered in time for afternoon preparation.

“This gets to be my dedicated attention now, which I love because growing food is my passion,” Amy Owen said. “I’m really excited because I get to do exactly what I want to do for the restaurant. I can grow specifically for what it is they want to use.”

Amy’s Farm remains open 3 to 6 p.m. Fridays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays through August 30 at 7698 Eucalyptus Ave., Ontario 91762. More info is at amysfarm.com. Uno Tre Otto, 114 N. Indian Hill Blvd., Suite P, Claremont, is open Tuesday through Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m. More info is at unotreotto.com.