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Where did you grow up and what brought you to the farming world? Tess: I grew up just west of Boston. I was brought to the farming world by a looming high school graduation, a desire to do something meaningful, and a little inspiration from my older brother! David: Forest Hills, Queens, NY. I grew up a few blocks from forest park, one of the largest parks in NYC and spent a lot of my childhood exploring those woods, which I guess is how a city kid learned to love nature. As for farming... don’t know what else I would do! I love being outside, working in the soil. Read Wendell Berry’s Sand county almanac I think he describes it better than I ever could. Leah: I grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. My husband’s love for gardening is what got me into farming veggies many years ago! Orlando: Putnam County. Started a garden at my parents house and never looked back. Sam: I’m originally from Westchester, NY and I spent A LOT of time in my father’s vegetable garden when I was growing up. Though it wasn’t till many years later when I was filming a food and health oriented project throughout Italy that I began to think more seriously about the ingredients we produce and consume everyday.
If you were to start your own farm what kind of farm would it be? Tess: My farm would be backyard homestead style: mixed vegetables, flowers, animals, & fruit. David: I’m starting a sustainably minded landscape nursery in Craryville (you can follow me on instagram @Silverbotanic). I’m cover cropping this year in sunflowers for my woody perennial and introducing herbaceous perennials in another field using seedballs. My goal is to use minimal inputs and draw on practices from biodynamics, permaculture, and no-till farming to raise landscape perennials adapted to the Hudson Valley region. Very different from intensive vegetable farming but I do enjoy both! Leah: One day Orlando and I hope to start a veggie CSA farm somewhere in the Hudson Valley Orlando: Veggie/fruit CSA where customers pick what goes in their boxes each week Sam: I’d like to have some annual vegetables, perennial berries, as well as nut trees...selling to nearby restaurants and homes.
If you could only grow 3 veggies for the rest of your life, what would they be? Tess: 3 vegetables?!? Going to have to go with the most fleeting: snap peas, tomatoes, and sweet corn. David: Three crops, very tough to choose, but Arugula is one of my favorite crops.. the first greens in the spring after winter are always great. I’d have to have blueberries, they’re the easiest fruit to make jam with. Third I’d grow cantaloupes... nothing better than a fresh organic cantaloupe! They also make great jam with a bit of vanilla. Leah: Tomatoes, cabbage and garlic Orlando: Broccoli, strawberries, and melons Sam: Onions, peppers, and rosemary if you want to call that a vegetable.
What’s your favorite dish or style of food? Tess: Favorite dish? TACOS! Any style, any filling. David: I like making pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie with fresh heirloom pumpkins...Kabocha, Cinderella, or LI Cheese are some I’ve used in the past with great results Leah: Favorite dish is definitely anything with fresh pesto... basil pesto, kale pesto, parsley pesto - the possibilities are endless! Orlando: Anything fermented Sam: Anything I can use some bread to sponge up the remnants with.
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