Source Local, See Local
A bounty of local farms are just around the corner- take your pick.
To only see the Catskills for its natural beauty is to see only half its story. Sure, Mother Nature sculpted a picturesque landscape of soft peaks, sloping valleys, and swift waterways, but this land doesn’t just sit pretty – it’s a working landscape. Below sunsets and beyond river bends, are patches or parcels that homesteaders have tilled and cultivated. This land is farm land.
Here at Scribner’s, you’ll experience that closer to home, at the Scribner’s Garden, where Prospect Restaurant cultivates many of the flavors found throughout seasonal menus. But look beyond the table to the farms surrounding our Lodge where generations of growers, new and old, produce a unique regional foodshed that ranges from maple syrup to goat’s milk to late-summer apples.
Though you can’t just drop by any old farm — some aren’t built for visitors — if you’re keen to explore the Catskills’ bounty, here are a few farms that are open to you.
East Branch Farms - Roxbury
This Delaware county farm is as much about what you’ll find as it is what you won’t: pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, or chemical fertilizers. Since 2003, farmer Madalyn Warren has planted organic and biodynamic fields with unique varieties like french breakfast radish, summer pattypan squash, bachelor’s button wildflower, micro bush basil, and silver slicer cucumber. And it’s these wild flavors that not only shine at their farm stand, but in Warren’s “farmstead kimchee,” which riffs on the traditional Korean recipes she learned from her mother, Ji. Making use of the local bounty, her line of kimchee ranges from curly kale kimchee to ramp kimchee to cucumber kimchee and dandelion kimchee.
Dirty Girl Farm - Andes
You can forgive Cyndi Wright for a little boast: she’s the proud founder of Delaware County’s smallest licensed goat milk dairy. Wright named Dirty Girl Farm after her young daughter who, unbothered by a little dirt, was essentially raised alongside a tribe of Alpine and Togg milk goats (Wright’s other kids). Here, Wright makes the most of her 3.5-acre plot in the hamlet of Andes (you can schedule visits through her website) where she pasteurizes goat milk to make drinkable milk, a selection of clabber (drinkable yogurt), and soft herbed cheeses. Schedule visits online.
Harpersfield Cheese - Jefferson
Over twenty years and three generations of cheesemaking history collide at the Brovetto Family Farm where tradition doesn’t hold anyone back. You’ll find cheeses infused with everything from Raspberry Herbal Tea and Black IPA to more classic creations. On their farm, beloved characters like KitKat, a Jersey dairy cow, and Dandelion, a Holstein, provide fresh milk that’s pasteurized and made into cheese every week before it ages and develops flavor in an underground cheese cave. In non-pandemic times, you can visit their operation from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., where you might spot a mottled hog named Sprinkles snuffling beneath the apple trees while you’re snooping around.
Majestic Farm - Mountain Dale
You’ll find a gentler side of animal farming at Majestic Farm, where pasture-raised pork and heritage poultry are free to roam the pastures and forest. If you decide the animals are just too cute to eat, you’re welcome to consume a vegetarian-only fare: the farm claims to be the country’s only organic u-pick apple orchard. Drop by in late summer when apple varieties like Pristine and Zestar are ripe for picking. Just make sure to wear real shoes, so you don’t step on any of those free-roaming chickens as you roam yourself.
Buck Hill Farm - Jefferson
Some farmers roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty, while others get into some sticky business – such is the case at Buck Hill Farm and its main product: maple syrup. Any visit to this farm is part of a complete breakfast. In addition to hosting scheduled tours of their sap house, the family also serves up a weekend breakfast cafe with home-made pancakes and homegrown pork sausage, plus other delights like maple donuts and candies.
Blue Sky Farm & Winery - Stamford
A mix of Patriot and Blue Crop blueberries fill a full five acres at Blue Sky Farms, which wasn’t exactly the plan. When owner Russ Betz planted his first bushel in 2001, his idea for a small u-pick blueberry farm was also his retirement plan. Nevertheless, popularity soared and his simple operation grows every year. In 2008, Betz decided to let a surplus of blueberries turn into something else altogether: he added a winery to the business, crafting wine with 100% blueberries. Whether you’re here for picking or drinking, trust that Betz’s retirement plan is keeping him busy.
The Cutting Garden - Youngsville
If the western Catskills beckon you to Sullivan County, follow your nose to The Cutting Garden. Here, owners Anne and Fritz let other local farmers focus on produce and instead indulge their perennial love of plants, cultivating a seasonal “pick your own” flower garden that’s particularly popular for DIY wedding bouquets — or even just a budding romance. From Peonies to Roses, Lily of the Valley to Dahlias and Poppies, the selection is wild and picturesque. In addition to their garden, the duo operates an eclectic shop inside a former post office and general store, mixing new and old nicks and nacks to browse and buy.
By Keith Flanagan
Volume 6
