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Focus on Co-op
Suppliers: Producing Locally, All Summer Long
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by Suzanne Fisher
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Honest Weight has a policy
of supporting local farms whenever their products are available, and
during the summer, produce is plentiful! Two local farms, Slack Hollow
Farm and The Farm at Miller's Crossing, supply us with the majority of
the local vegetables at Honest Weight during this season, with other
farms filling in with fruits and other specialty items.
Slack Hollow Farm is located in the lovely and pristine Vermont-like
hilltops of Washington County, in Argyle, where Seth Jacobs and Martha
Johnson grow certified organic vegetables on twelve of their 130 acres.
Early on Wednesday mornings someone from the farm drives in with a
truckload of vegetables to deliver to Honest Weight, and in July that
will include leaf, Boston, and Romaine lettuces, beets, cilantro, dill,
basil, and other herbs, cucumbers, kale, sweet onions, scallions, and
starting the second week of July, heirloom tomatoes. In autumn,
butternut squash and fall onions will become available.
Seth and Martha's farm has had a special relationship with Honest
Weight for 20 years. Seth says that they decided to structure the
wholesale part of their farm around what Honest Weight needed, and to
grow along with the Co-op as its space and business grew. An example of
this growth are the 400 to 500 lbs. of tomatoes sold weekly at Honest
Weight in the summertime, grown in the ground in heated greenhouses and
harvested before outdoor tomatoes begin to ripen in our region.
Currently, Slack Hollow sells primarily through Honest Weight and the
Troy Farmer's Market.
The Farm at Miller Crossing, owned by Chris Cashen and Katie Smith, is
nestled in the rolling landscape ten minutes west of the Taconic, in
Claverack. Their fields bring to mind Jean Francois Millet paintings of
France, complete with workers harvesting alongside giant round bales of
golden hay lying in fields against the open sky. This summer the
produce department at Honest Weight expects to offer their organically
grown beets, tat soi, turnips, bok choy, radishes, and summer squash
for sale. This list may vary to include tomatoes and other vegetables.
The Farm at Miller Crossing targets a slightly different market from
Slack Hollow, selling by CSA, through several markets, restaurants, and
distributors, and in three different farmer's markets. They also raise
organic ornamental plants and organic grass-fed beef to further
diversify their use of the land and their business. The cattle in turn
help keep their fields fertile with composted manure, and the
surrounding community benefits from having their healthful produce
close at hand.
Not all of the local farms sending produce to Honest Weight are
certified organic, but some use organic methods without certification
and others approach the organic standards or practice sustainably grown
agriculture. Many of these farms have websites and/or invite visitors
at appointed times for tours. Some have farm stores open during regular
business hours. The list of farms providing summer produce for Honest
Weight follows, along with the town of their locations:
• Black Horse Farm – Athens
• Burger Farm – Niskayuna
• Davenport Farm – Stone Ridge
• Denison Farm – Schaghticoke
• Fox Creek Farm – Schoharie
• Gade Farm – Guilderland
• George's Farm – Latham
• Hick's Farm – Rexford
• Kristy's Barn – Castleton
• Lloyd Spear – Schenectady
• Mogliorelli Farm – Tivoli
• Pigliavento Farm – Schenectady
• Samascotts Orchard – Kinderhook
• Schoharie Valley Farm – Schoharie
• Slack Hollow Farm – Argyle
• Taliaferro Farm – New Paltz
• The Farm at Miller's Crossing – Claverack
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