Stories

A First-Generation Farmer Finds Happiness in a Herd

Lee Hennessy left his hometown seeking success and happiness on the west coast. After climbing the professional ladder, Lee realized he would be happiest on the ground in a pair of dirty boots. Read how Lee found his way to raising goats and buying his own farm with help from several organizations working together in New York.

A Weekend Home Becomes a Farm, A CSA Becomes a Family

Larry and Betti decide to leave the city to move to their weekend home in Red Hook with the vision of turning the property into a farm. Learn how they made it happen with a flexible lease with a young, ambitious farmer, and how the farm and its CSA has impacted their connection with the local community.

Windfall Farms: Orange County Farmer Helps New Farmers Get Their Start

Morse Pitts watched farms disappear around him for decades as warehouses and factories sprung up around his 142 acre farm in Orange County, leaving Windfall Farms as an island of farmland in an industrial sea. Find out how the Hudson Valley Farmlink Network partners at GrowNYC and Orange County Land Trust helped Morse keep his land in farming and provide opportunities to jump-start the next generation of farmers on his land.

Laughing Earth Farm: Farmland Protection Aligns Values and Financial Needs

After leasing farmland in Illinois for five years, Zack and Annie Metzger returned to Annie's native New York to put down more permanent roots. Read how the Metzgers worked with their landowners and local partners to utilize state farmland protection funding to buy the farm and protect it from development forever.

Keeping an Open Mind During the Farm Search

“The wider net you cast, the better.” Farmer Erik Schellenberg isn’t giving fishing tips, he’s talking about farmland – specifically the struggle that farmers face in finding the right farm to catch their hook on.