farming Archives - Scenic Hudson

Farm Food Directory

To support farmers, we’ve created a list of farms where you can purchase fresh vegetables and other produce. Most of these family operations have partnered with us in the past to permanently conserve their productive lands — so in good times and bad, it will be available to supply us with healthy food.

Columbia County Farms

Farm	Items	Links
Borough Mushroom Farm Columbia - Copake	mushrooms
Chaseholm Farm Columbia - Pine Plains	beef, pork, dairy, cheese, yogurt
Cheval Farmstead Dairy & Provisions Columbia - Stuyvesant	cheese, meat, meals to go
Deep Roots Farm Columbia - Copake	produce, potted plants, eggs, honey
Dirty Dog Farm Columbia - Clermont	beef, chicken
Gansvoort Farm Columbia - Germantown	lamb, sheep pelts, wool comforters
Hawthorne Valley Farm Columbia - Ghent	CSA share, cheese, yogurt, bread, baked goods, fermented products
Hearty Roots Community Farm Columbia - Germantown	produce, milk, cheese, pork, eggs, grocery items, bread, baked goods
Hudson Valley CSA Coalition Columbia - Various	vegetables, fruit, meat, eggs, dairy, grains, flowers
Letterbox Farm Collective Columbia - Hudson	vegetables, pork, chicken, rabbit, eggs
Meisner's Heritage Farm Columbia - Hudson	produce, pies, meat, baked goods, vegetables, apple cider donuts, eggs, cheese, bread, soup, frozen products, honey, jam, jelly
MX Morningstar Farm Columbia - Hudson	vegetables, dairy, bread, eggs, meat, grains
Pleroma Farm Columbia - Hudson	beef
Ronnybrook Farm Columbia - Ancramdale	dairy
The Chatham Berry Farm LLC Columbia - Chatham	hydroponic greens, berries, meat, fish, dairy, grocery items
The Farm at Miller’s Crossing Columbia - Hudson	vegetables, beef, maple syrup & products
Tiny Hearts Farm Columbia - Copake	produce, flowers
Vosburgh Orchard Columbia - Elizaville	fruits, flowers
Walt's Dairy Columbia - Copake	dairy, cheese

Dutchess County Farms

Farm	Items	Links
Bear Creek Farm Dutchess - Stanfordville	Iceland poppies, West Country lupines, peonies, fritillaria persica, dahlias, toad lilies, Japanese anemones, triticale, barley
Brookby Farm Market Dutchess - Dover Plains	raw milk, cheese, eggs, fresh produce, meats, cleaners, paper products, bread, chocolate
Dutchess Creamery Dutchess - Red Hook	milk
Fishkill Farms Dutchess - Hopewell Junction	apples, organic eggs, produce, seeds, grocery items, baked goods, beer, butter, cheese
Gem Farms Buffalo Dutchess - Castleton	buffalo, buffalo leather, shoulder mounts, gifts
Harlem Valley Homestead Dutchess - Wingdale	pastured beef, pork, eggs, vegetables, jam, fruit, flour, cheese, hand sanitizer
Hudson Valley Mushrooms Dutchess - Brewster	Log-grown shiitake mushrooms
Mead Orchards Dutchess - Tivoli	apples, cider, honey, berries
Meadowland Farm Dutchess - Clinton Corners	vegetables, flowers, beef, pork, lamb, poultry, eggs
Migliorelli Farm Dutchess - Tivoli	vegetables, fruits, fresh frozen pastas, local cheeses, local mushrooms, grocery items
Northwind Farms Dutchess - Tivoli	beef, poultry, pork, smoked meats, sausage
Rock Steady Farm Dutchess - Millerton	vegetables, flowers
Ronnybrook Farm Dutchess - Ancramdale	milk, ice cream, yogurt, creme fraiche
Rose Hill Farm Dutchess - Red Hook	cherries, blueberries, peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, apples
Sawkill Farms Dutchess - Red Hook	beef, lamb, pork, eggs, chicken, yarn, leather goods, soap
SPACE on Ryder Farm Dutchess - Brewster	vegetables

Orange County Farms

Farm	Items	Links
Edgwick Farm Orange - Cornwall	pasteurized goat milk, raw goat milk, goat cheeses
Jones Farm Orange - Cornwall	baked goods, grocery items, gifts
Lowland Farm Orange - Warwick	grass-fed beef, pastured pork, grass-fed lamb
Overlook Orchards Orange - Newburgh	local eggs, honey, bread, fruits, vegetables, salad greens
Rise And Root Farm Orange - Chester	herbs, vegetables
Rooted Family Farm Orange - Montgomery	salad greens, vegetables
The Farmer's Daughter Orange - Otisville	bread, milk, grocery items
Wood Thrush Farm Orange - Montgomery	salad greens

Putnam County Farms

Farm	Items	Links
Longhaul Farm Putnam - Garrison	pork, chicken, pasture raised eggs

Rensselaer County Farms

Farm	Items	Links
GEM Farms Buffalo Rensselaer - Castleton	beef, buffalo
Laughing Earth Farm Rensselaer - Cropseyville	eggs, honey, vegetables, sausage, bacon
St. Croix Farm Rensselaer - Valley Falls	Pastured beef, pastured pork, eggs

Ulster County Farms

Farm	Items	Links
Davenport Farms Ulster - Stone Ridge	vegetables, grocery items, beef, cheese, bread, gourmet foods, apples, pumpkins, gourds, coffee, soup, baked goods
Deer Creek Collective Herb Farm Ulster - Accord	herbs, medicinal herbs, CBD hemp, teas
Farmstock Ulster - Kingston	produce, cheese, beef, chicken, CBD hemp, herbs
Grassroots Farm Ulster - Stone Ridge	100% grass-fed beef
Greymouse Farm Ulster - Saugerties	fruits, jams & Preserves
Jenkins and Lueken Orchards Ulster - New Paltz	apples, cider, honey, maple syrup & products, vegetables, beef, chicken, fish, grocery items, milk, eggs, baked goods, nuts
Kelder's Farm Ulster - Kerhonkson	vegetables, fruits, flowers, maple syrup & products, grocery items, grass-fed beef, chicken, bacon, bread
Pavero Apples Ulster - Marlborough	apples
Seed Song Farm Ulster - Kingston	CSA share, herbs, berries, forest products, vegetables
Solid Ground Farm Ulster - Kingston	CSA share, vegetables

Westchester County Farms

Farm	Items	Links
Stuart's Fruit Farm Westchester - Granite Springs	apples, flowers, baked goods, produce

Note to farmers: We did our best to include all of our farm partners offering direct-to-consumer produce. If we omitted your farm, please let us know using this form and we’ll add you to the list ASAP.

Grow Black Hudson Cultivates Gardeners of Color

Amid the brick and brownstone homes of Hudson, Nkoula Badila is teaching fellow residents within the city’s communities of color to sow seeds of green.

After launching a GoFundMe campaign in June, Badila’s community gardening initiative, Grow Black Hudson, shot past the initial $10,000 funding goal within 6 days. It amassed an extra $3,000 that’ll let organizers gather more supplies, plants and seeds. Thanks to this funding, plus in-kind donations, Badila and fellow community members have already set up up 17 raised-bed gardens and a handful of potted ones, with more to come.

Each extra dollar will help them operate beyond the next couple of growing seasons until they can become a nonprofit. The extra funding also helped cover the cost of acquiring the group’s car for transporting items.

Along with giving her another chance to indulge her lifelong love of nature, Badila rejoices at the pride felt by first-time growers — especially children — when they watch their tiny green sprouts develop into fresh tomatoes, ears of corn and other produce. She’s keeping things as broad as possible by introducing variety through veggies like kale, beets and eggplants, and fruits such as strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.

“It’s always like, ‘Oh word, you’re growing that [plant] right there! That’s gonna come through and then you can cook it,’ you know? We’re just making that connection — those vegetables they eat can be grown here and they get to do it,” Badila says. It’s that exact connection that Grow Black Hudson wants to cultivate among communities of color.

For Badila, that philosophy was intrinsically entwined with the practices her Congolese father shared with her and her 10 siblings while raising them in the Hudson Valley. Hudson’s small-town atmosphere and Badila’s Congolese roots melded into an adolescence she remembers as culturally rich, as she and her family shared songs, dances and artwork at many local school and theater programs.

Badila’s appreciation for nature was nurtured attending Ghent’s Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School, where she visited nearby farms and completed harvesting practicums. Her skills widened after she spent a few years post-high school WOOFing, or volunteering for an organic-farming exchange program in which can participants live and work at different partner farms around the world. Badila helped farm in Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala and other parts of Central and South America.

A handpainted sign. Courtesy Grow Black Hudson.

There’s no end goal with Grow Black Hudson as much as there’s an ongoing mission. It’s to build a deeper bond between people of color, agriculture, and all that land can offer — whether that be food, freedom, or just fresh air.

Before the Americas were colonized, the Indigenous groups that called the continents home maintained just that kind of relationship with the natural world. Colonial takeover beginning in the 1500s upended that, turning the relationship with the land into a transactional one that afforded wealth and status to those who had it, usually excluding people of color.

“For me, land is crucial to our ability to access our power and do for ourselves what they can’t,” Carmen Mouzon, a member of the board of directors at the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust, says. The Trust was started by Soul Fire Farms owner and educator Leah Penniman to combat the inequities that left nonwhites with only 2 percent ownership of all the farmland in the country.

Renewed calls for racial justice inspired by the protests following George Floyd’s death coupled with the mutual aid networks that appeared in numerous cities at the start the pandemic signaled to Badila that now would be as good a time as any for a homegrown initiative led by people of color, for people of color.

Badila channeled her energy toward food justice, and activists like Mouzon have been happy to see it. “People want to see that [type of project] where they are — rural or urban — and create that where they are,” Mouzon says.

The healing projects like hers could bring is twofold. Not only would it help resolve the complicated association with the land some Black Americans have due to the legacy of slavery and the subsequent period of sharecropping during the 19th and early 20th centuries, but it could also remediate the problem of food insecurity and related health issues that disproportionately affect communities of color the most.

“Especially with COVID[-19], I think people are seeing health a lot differently as far as how we can have a little more connection to natural healing,” Badila says. Aside from greater access to fresh fruits and vegetables, Grow Black Hudson participants will also have a chance to try the teas, tinctures and elixirs she’s making using the medicinal herbs like Saint John’s wort, mint and motherwort that also grow in the gardens.

Grow Black Hudson plans to expand into in-person workshops covering topics like food preservation in the coming weeks. Follow the organization and its progress on Instagram here.

Invite a Goat to Your Next Online Meeting

As Kathy Stevens sits in the shade contemplating the Catskill Animal Sanctuary’s next move, she loses her train of thought at the sight of a few goats approaching. She beams at each of their bleats. The four young recent rescues — Levi, Chester, Molly and Arlo — rush at her, licking her face and nibbling at her clothes like housebound dogs excited to have their owners back home.

“You always want people to have this,” says Stevens, the founder of the Saugerties-based sanctuary. For the last two decades, she and her team have been rescuing and rehabilitating neglected and abused horses and farm animals and sharing all the love and care they have to offer to visitors.

But in the spring and summer of 2020, things came to a standstill. Farm tours have been halted along with their usual lineup of fundraisers, galas, and other public events. The cost of caring for the 300+ animals and maintaining the 20-acre facility has stayed steady — with some cost hikes due to scarcity — despite the drastic loss in revenue this spring. This has become the new norm for animal sanctuaries around the country and world as they try to make do without their usual fundraising activities, according to Valerie Taylor, the executive director of the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries.

What would usually be a busy spring and summer season filled with tours, vegan cooking workshops, and even stays at CAS’s on-premises B&B is now spent monitoring the latest public health updates and moving whatever offline activities they hosted online. CAS and the Woodstock Farm Sanctuary in High Falls were part of several sanctuaries that collaborated with the Sweet Farm Sanctuary in California on Goat2Meeting — a service that lets people schedule surprise appearances from animals during their Zoom calls and other video chat meetings.

After a brief but successful period with the program, both CAS and Woodstock have continued offering virtual live-streamed tours separately. It’s not the same as getting up close and personal with a cow, chicken, pig or a goat — but in the face of the never-ending news cycle, the animals’ faces lift human spirits.

“Right now we’re all just in our phones, on our computers, just reading all this toxic upsetting content all the time — and then all of a sudden you’re scrolling and you see this rescued pig enjoying a mud bath in the sunshine,” says Lizz DeFeo, the marketing and communications director at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary. “It’s impactful in this very new kind of way, I think.”

Luckily, the continued push to digital has allowed CAS to garner an international audience hosting everything from Zoom happy hours to camps and corporate seminars. Over in Hyde Park, Andrea Parent-Tibbetts and her husband Michael Tibbetts have also had a modest amount of success holding virtual tours of Clover Brooke Farm for viewers as far away as Serbia. They chose to open their 20-acre property back up not long after Dutchess County entered Phase 1 of reopening, albeit with reduced group sizes, masks, hand-sanitizing stations, and other safety measures.

Parent-Tibbetts mentions that if there’s any silver lining to this strange new world, it’s that explaining to people the importance of making space for large animals like alpacas or llamas has gotten easier using the language of social distancing. Creating artificial barriers like fencing and coops between animals in order to prevent the spread of diseases is a crucial part of maintaining a place like Clover Brooke.

“One of the things that people need to remember about farming is we are all about biosecurity because we’re always dealing with bacteria, E. Coli, parasites,” Parent-Tibbetts explains. “Because we’re dealing with biosecurity all the time, we have a lot of these protocols in place. It’s just a matter of relayering and applying them, and explaining to humans why they’re important.”

Taking in new animals has gotten harder. Most of these sanctuaries are already spread thin taking care of the newborns and recent rescues they added this past spring. And aside from cutting into fundraising, lockdowns and quarantines have prevented many of them from accessing their usual volunteer pools.

A 10-person crew at Woodstock is all that’s left to take care of the 350 animals, so making sure everyone stays healthy is paramount, DeFeo says. The same goes for CAS, Stevens says. In the meantime, taking a virtual tour is a welcome alternative until in-person visits start back up again.

Here are links to support Catskill Animal Sanctuary, Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, and Clover Brooke Farm with a virtual tour or animal booking for that next virtual meeting.

Advice for Black Farmers & Activists

Farmer and food justice advocate Karen Washington — one of the grassroots environmental leaders honored in our People Who Make a Difference poster project — was the special guest at the inaugural event of our Envision Virtual Summer Series. She provided inspiring and thought-provoking answers to questions from students attending Newburgh Free Academy P-Tech and youth involved in the Kingston YMCA Farm Project. Topics ranged from her experiences as a Black farmer to advice for young activists.

Karen Washington (Photo: www.riseandrootfarm.com)

On her start as an activist:

It was back in 1998, after getting my hands involved in community gardening, when Mayor Giuliani wanted to auction off 100 community gardens. It was devastating because prior to that many community gardens took over empty lots that the city could not maintain. We felt it was a rite of passage to take care of those gardens, to make sure we could grow food for our communities. So when Mayor Giuliani went behind our back in the middle of the night to try to auction off 100 gardens there were two things we could do: either be silent or fight back. And that’s when I found my voice.

Hurdles faced by Black farmers:

For Black people, the difficulty is access to land, access to capital and access to opportunities. There are so many grants out there, but you need a college degree or Ph.D. to go through them. When we talk about racial equity, when we talk about what has happened to us, again there are always obstacles in our way to trying to be the best we can. I tell people, if you want to help Black or Brown people, give us three things: give us opportunity; give us land; give us capital or resources. You give us those three things and people you once thought were powerless become powerful.

Hopes for farming and food justice in a post-COVID world:

The pandemic has been an equalizer. It has hit Black, white, poor, rich, in between. You see so many people for the first time going to food pantries and soup kitchens and food lines, where before you would mostly see people from low-income neighborhoods and neighborhoods of color. So right then and there, people understand the importance of food.

What I want people to understand after this pandemic is who is growing the food — and are farmers and farm workers being treated humanely? Are we being paid a fair amount of money for the food we grow? That people understand how critical farming is — because at the end of the day you can’t eat a car, you can’t eat gold, you can‘t eat diamonds, you can eat that iPhone. I hope people really participate in rising up farmers and farm workers — the people who are in the trenches growing food so you can eat healthy.

Advice for young activists:

For years, what stagnated a movement is silence and complacency. You get rubbed up and everybody wants to holler, and then all of a sudden there’s silence, complacency sets in and everything goes back to the status quo. You are in a moment of time for change. You cannot allow to have that knee on our necks. No more. You have to be proactive constantly when you see injustice. You must shout it out. When you see things that are wrong, be brave enough to say it’s wrong.

This is your moment, this COVID and racial injustice you see before your eyes, when youth has to say, “As an elder your burden has been long and heavy. Give us this burden, give us this torch, so we may carry on the legacy of so many people before you who have been fighting for justice.” This is your moment to carry that torch, but the difference this time is that you are not going to back down. You are not going to be silent and complacent. You now have a voice, a voice for change.

Advice for Black women:

I learned long ago that I stand on the shoulders of greatness, that I come from kings and queens, and I learned to appreciate the color of my skin. And now, as a farmer, when I’m out there in the fields, I look at the hue of my skin and say it’s the color of the soil — and for me, that offers a sense of belonging. For all Black women, I want you to understand your history, your legacy, how you come from royalty, and to shine that beacon for all the world to see and be proud of who you are.

Watch the full interview:

Farmers Markets in the Time of COVID

The produce on sale at farmers markets, reopening for the season all across the Hudson Valley, remains as fresh as ever. That’s great news. But to keep consumers and farmers safe, operators have had to eliminate many features that contribute to the markets’ festive community spirit.

The biggest difference at these much-anticipated weekly gatherings is the drop-off in personal interaction. Prior to this crisis, the markets provided a venue for neighbors to catch up on the latest news and share a few laughs. They also allowed purchasers to converse with the farmers, learning about their operations and output. Now, the general rule is go in, pick up and get out—necessary for sure, just not what we’re used to.

Guidelines at the farmers markets in Rhinebeck and Cold Spring are typical of those throughout the Hudson Valley. One consumer per household (masked, of course) is permitted. Musical and other events have been axed, as have benches. Food cannot be eaten on site. Chalked lines and wider spacing between vendors assure proper social distancing. Conversation with farmers is discouraged and touching produce is verboten.

Cold Spring Farmers Market (Info Graphic: Cold Spring Farmers Market)

Many markets, like Rhinebeck’s, are providing special times for the elderly and expectant mothers to shop. The Kingston Farmer’s Market is trying to limit crowding by encouraging consumers to pre-register for a 30-minute shopping slot. Along with Kingston, the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market has moved its location to a site where it’s easier to control access. While the size of the new space in Troy has forced a reduction in the number of vendors, market operators have created a Virtual Farmers Market. It lets consumers purchase produce from more than 50 local farms, with pick-ups at another location.

The Troy market seems to speak for all valley farmers markets, stressing its current “emphasis on farms, food and function over festivals.” It also notes that “Farmers markets are pivotal in the local food access network, linking local produce to consumers in a healthy and safe way, and supporting the local agricultural economy.”

The bottom line: Keeping open the pipeline to fresh, locally grown produce—whose incredible variety makes living in the Hudson Valley so special—is worth sacrificing a little face time with our friends.

Rhinebeck Farmers’ Market (Photo: Andrea Bartolomeo for Rhinebeck Farmers’ Market)

Celebrating Champions of Farming & Food Justice

Learn more about farmers and activists fighting for food justice, as well as other grassroots environmentalists in our People Who Make a Difference virtual gallery tour.

Everybody deserves to eat healthy, nutritious food. Unfortunately, not everyone in our society has access to healthy food options, and studies show people in poverty and people of color are more affected by food insecurity and diet-related illnesses.

Many areas across the country are considered “food deserts,” or places without easy access to fresh, healthy food. These areas lack grocery stores that sell fresh fruits, vegetables and meat. Instead, they typically offer processed, high sugar and high fat foods.

One way to increase the accessibility of fresh food is to grow it locally. Small farms, urban farms and even backyard gardens are just a few ways to provide food desert areas with fresh food and to fight the injustices that exist in our food system.

Farming is hard work, and it is often difficult to become and maintain a life as a farmer, especially in suburban and urban areas. We are facing a potential shortage of new and young farmers to grow our food in the United States. We need to find ways to encourage more young people to get into farming and implement better ways to support our farmers and farm workers who are the backbone of our food system.

A just food system can also good for the environment. Locally produced food helps fight climate change and sustainable, organic farming practices can reduce emissions and help safeguard our air and water quality.

Ron Finley: The “Gangsta Gardener”

In 2010, Ron Finley decided to dig up a curbside piece of land next to his house in South Central Los Angeles to plant fruits and vegetables. That action launched him into his career as the “Gangsta Gardener.”

Ron grew up in South Central Los Angeles, an area plagued with a lack of fresh produce and healthy food options. He began encouraging South Central residents to plant small gardens on the “parkways” between the sidewalk and curb, just like he had done. After facing backlash from the city of Los Angeles for gardening in these spaces, Ron and fellow activists petitioned and eventually the “Residential Parkway Landscaping Guidelines” were changed to end fines for vegetables gardens on strips of city-owned land.

Since then, Ron has used his platform to promote urban gardening in communities of color. He founded The Ron Finley Project, an organization dedicated to training young people and their communities in gardening and sustainability.

“Gardening is gangsta. Drugs, robbing — that’s not gangsta,” says Ron. “Building community — that’s gangsta. I’m changing the vernacular.”

Ron and his team are continuing to work toward eliminating food deserts by teaching communities how to grow and take agency over their own food.

Karen Washington: Farmer and Food Justice Activist

Karen Washington has worked for decades to create and protect urban farms and provide New York City communities with fresh produce.

In 2010, Karen co-founded Black Urban Growers (BUGS), an organization dedicated to supporting urban and rural growers of color. BUGS is a resource for communities to learn more about their food, where it comes from and who’s growing it. Through education, advocacy and support, BUGS raises awareness around food and farming issues, promotes Black leadership in farming, and invites communities to take agency over their own food.

BUGS has organized a host of community events, including an annual Black Farmers and Urban Growers Conference to bring Black growers, activists, chefs and educators together.

“To grow your own food gives you power and dignity,” she says. “You know exactly what you’re eating because you grew it. It’s good, it’s nourishing and you did this for yourself, your family and your community.”

Karen formerly worked as a community gardener and board member of the New York Botanical Gardens, creating and protecting community gardens throughout the Bronx. She is also a board member and former president of the New York City Community Garden Coalition.

In 2012, Karen Washington was voted one of 100 most influential African Americans by Ebony Magazine. She also received the James Beard Leadership Award in 2014.

Karen is currently co-owner of Rise & Root Farm in Chester, New York.

Leah Penniman: Farmer and Food Sovereignty Activist

Leah Penniman is co-founder, co-director and farm manager of Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York.

Soul Fire, founded in 2011, is a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color)-centered community farm working to end racism and injustice in the farming and food systems, giving Black and Brown people agency over their food. Soul Fire hosts training programs for Black and Latinx famers, a CSA farm share program and several other trainings and programs for activists, youth, and communities.

As a teenager, Leah began farming with The Food Project in Boston, MA. She went on to work with a host of farming organizations in the United States and around the world.

In 2018, Leah wrote Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Decolonizing Land, Food, and Agriculture. The book discusses the lack of diversity in farm management and ownership and provides a how-to guide for aspiring growers of African heritage.

Leah Penniman and Soul Fire Farm are working to help communities of color deepen their connections to the land and heal from personal and inherited trauma.

Lindsey Lusher Shute: Advocate for Young Farmers

Lindsey Lusher Shute is a co-founder and former executive director of the National Young Farmers Coalition, which represents, mobilizes and engages young farmers to ensure their future success.

Lindsey developed her love for farming at an early age on her grandfather’s land in Ohio.

In 2017, she testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, speaking on risk management tools and trends of the 2018 Farm Bill. She was recognized as a “Champion of Change” by President Barack Obama for her work in agriculture and received the Glynwood “Harvest Award” in 2013.

She also hosts the Young Farmers Podcast, where she discusses food and farm policy through a farmer-centric lens.

Lindsey owns and operates Hearty Roots Farm in Columbia County, along with her husband, Benjamin.

African Transplanting

Nfamara Badjie working in his rice farm (photo by John Munson, courtesy of Cornell University)

Farmer Nfamara Badjie is trying something that hasn’t been done in the Hudson Valley in more than 180 years — growing rice. While Henry Warner failed in his attempt to establish rice paddies in Constitution Marsh in the 1830s, Badjie is succeeding — he harvested 1,000 pounds of rice from his paddies in Ulster County last fall, an amount he hopes to exceed this year.

Badjie provides a great example of making do with what you have. When he purchased his six-acre farm in 2013, he soon realized it was too muddy for growing conventional crops. A native of Gambia who grew up working in rice fields, Badjie quickly realized that crop was the way to go. The only problem was choosing a variety of this warmth-loving plant that would survive in the Northeast’s colder climate. After a couple of years of trial and error, coupled with guidance from experts at Cornell University, he hit upon two rice types and a system for planting them that works.

Badjie’s rice has been a hit with the public and restaurants that clamor for his homegrown grains, which taste nuttier than store-bought varieties. It may also offer a hopeful sign for other local farmers seeking to diversify their crops in the face of increased rainfall from a changing climate.

For more about Badjie’s inspiring story, check out this article.