The Charles Koiner Conservancy for Urban Farming (CKC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit land trust dedicated to protecting and sustaining urban farms in Montgomery County, MD.
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See our core program areas below.
CORE PROGRAMS
Farm Markets
Koiner Farm Market: Every Thursday, 5-7pm
Loiederman Farm Market: Third Wednesday, 4-7pm
Live the locavore life by shopping at our weekly Farm Markets. These are small produce stands, designed for walkers and bikers to stop by their neighborhood farm for some hyper-local mid-week produce. While there, you can swap your compost bucket and chat with your friendly neighborhood farmer.
We also host monthly Farm Concerts. These are special nights on the farm, featuring some of the best local musicians, artisans, cottage food businesses and food trucks that MoCo has to offer.
Subscribe to our Market newsletter for weekly emails, containing updates on seasonal produce and recipes, plus a featured list of musicians, artisans, food trucks and more. ​
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Urban Farmer Interns
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 4-6pm at Koiner Farm
Mondays & Wednesdays, 3:30-5:30pm at Loiederman Farm
Are you a high school or college student looking to get outside, learn a life skill, meet new friends, and give back to your community? Then apply for an Urban Farmer Internship at Koiner Farm or Loeiderman Farm today. Both farms are easily accessible by public transportation and staffed by knowledgeable professional farmers.
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These are paid internships for those who apply through the Montgomery County Department of Recreation's TeenWorks Employment Program. Non-TeenWorks Interns can receive up to 144 Student Service Learning (SSL) hours per year or one Montgomery College course credit per semester.
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Koiner Farm's volunteer slots are now full for 2025
Loiederman Farm is still accepting letters of interest for the Sunday evening volunteer crew - send your letter of interest to hannah@ckcfarming.org to join!
"Koiner Farm is my gym."
- Josh, Koiner Farm Volunteer​
Our farm volunteers have now been together for several growing seasons. Outside of their farm work, they have dinners together, exchange holiday cards, babysit each other's kids and support one another in good times and bad. Growing a connected community like this has always been our dream, even when we started the Volunteerships program back in 2017, before CKC was even incorporated.
This 2025 growing season is special because it marks the innaugural Volunteership program at Loiederman Farm.
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Care Farming
Thursdays, 10:30am-12:30pm at Koiner Farm
Coming 2026 to Loiederman Farm
Care Farming at Koiner Farm is specifically for young adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Care Farming sessions are offered every Thursday, April through October, from 10:30am-12:30pm.
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<< Learn more about Care Farming here >>
Urban Farm Field Trips
Tuesdays, 10:30am-12:30pm at Koiner Farm
Coming Spring 2025 to Loiederman Farm
Fun-on-the-Farm Field Trips are back this fall for the sixth school year in a row! We welcome teachers and administrators to reach out and schedule a class visit to Koiner Farm on a Tuesday morning this fall.
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Urban Homesteading Workshops
Friday, October 25th, 6pm-8pm at Koiner Farm
Our major fundraiser of the year is the Harvest Dance, in which community members come out to enjoy an evening of groovy tunes, fun dances, delicious farm-fresh food, and meaningful mingling with fellow community members who support urban farming. ​It's a night like no other!
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As a nonprofit urban land trust, we steward community-led urban farms in high-need and high-density neighborhoods of Montgomery County, MD.
The urban farms that we steward help people engage with their land, their food, and each other.
Through our cooperative stewardship model, we are trying to return the power of fertile land, the benefits of healthy food, and the peacefulness of open greenspace to people who need it most.
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See our areas of focus below.
NONPROFIT FOCUS AREAS
Land Stewardship
CKC is a land trust, focused on urban food-producing greenspaces and dedicated to providing land access for urban residents, particularly apartment and multi-family housing residents.
In 2019, with the support of the Maryland Environmental Trust (MET), CKC established a conservation easement to permanently protect Koiner Farm from development. In 2020, our Land Stewardship Committee created a Strategic Conservation Plan to guide CKC's land preservation work and help us determine where and how urban farms should be established here in Montgomery County, MD. In 2024, through an innovative partnership with Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), CKC launched its second urban farm at A. Mario Loiederman Middle School in Wheaton, MD.
Food Production
Our Farm Management team works cooperatively with our interns and volunteers to manage the day-to-day operations at both Koiner Farm and Loiderman Farm. This includes all tasks associated with soil management, seed starts, plant care, harvesting, and distribution of fresh produce in an equitable and sustainable manner. Our farms adhere to the highest possible methods of organic farming and support hyper-local closed-loop micro-food systems.
Half of the produce grown on our farms is donated to our food assistance partners, including Shepherd's Table and Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission. The other half of our produce is sold at our Markets, where SNAP & FMNP are accepted.
We are always looking for great people to join our team! Contact us if interested in local, cooperative, sustainable food production!
Ag Education
School field trips to Koiner Farm started in the 1990's, when Lynn Koiner would invite local elementary school students to tour her family's urban farm.
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Today, CKC's Farm Educators follow in Lynn Koiner's footsteps by hosting Fun-On-The-Farm Field Trips for K-8th grade students, plus Kitchen Garden Classes for Shepherds Table's Culinary Skills Training Program, and a series of Urban Homesteading workshops for fellow urban farmers.
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Over the course of the 2024-2025 school year, CKC's Farm Educators have been working with Montgomery County Public Schools' curriculum developers to create an Urban Ag Curriculum, to be released in summer 2025.
OUR SPONSORS & SUPPORTERS
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Learn more about our corporate sponsorship opportunities here, or by contacting kate@ckcfarming.org.
Who was Charlie Koiner?
Charles Koiner owned and operated Koiner Farm - an iconic one-acre urban farm in downtown Silver Spring - for nearly 40 years (until his passing at the age of 98 in January 2019). The Charles Koiner Conservancy for Urban Farming emerged out of a need to protect and sustain Koiner Farm.
In 2010, Mr. Koiner's way of life was documented in the film, Corner Plot. In 2018, Mr. Koiner was named "The First Urban Farmer," by Montgomery Magazine. Today, Mr. Koiner's legacy lives on through the work of the Conservancy named in his honor.
The Charles Koiner Conservancy co-holds a conservation easement that protects Koiner Farm in perpetuity and manage the farm's day-to-day operations with help from a team of dedicated volunteers and interns. Ultimately, the Charles Koiner Conservancy is working to establish a network of neighborhood farms that collectively support a more sustainable and resilient food system in Montgomery County, MD.
