6 Locals Share their Favorite Upstate New York Farm Stands
Happening upon the summer farm stand is to experience the taste of a specific place and time. It is the farmer’s daily offering to the road-tripping traveler, to the loyal patron, to the impromptu cook in search of inspiration. It is the place to go for just-picked produce, the seasonal stop for visitors to thrill at the unexpected last hurrah of red kale, a daintily tied bouquet of fresh flowers, or a basket of warm eggs if their timing is right. Finding a farm stand almost always feels like good fortune.
Midsummer colors are about to burst onto a formerly leafy green scene; the kales and cabbages will start making room for tomatillos, lemon cucumbers, corn, apricots, and white donut peaches, to name a few. There are so many interesting farm stands across Upstate New York, all varied and wonderful as the areas where they can be found. We couldn’t think of a better way to share a few of our favorites than to introduce them by the very locals who live there.
Casey Scieszka of Spruceton Inn will take you to RSK Farm Stand in Prattsville for heirloom potatoes, potted marigolds, and fresh produce grown by a husband-and-wife farming team. If you are up near Bovina, Sara Elbert and Sohail Zandi of Brushland Eating House insist on a visit to Burnett Farm Stand, where organic greenery abounds in their greenhouses and fields, yielding lesser-known varieties like lambsquarter and mizuna. Sally Watkinson of Audrey’s Farmhouse encourages her guests to stop at Wright’s Farm Stand in Gardiner for their cider doughnuts and delicious preserves, while Sarah Suarez of Gaskins cannot get enough of the fresh berries and welcoming feel at Montgomery Place Orchards’ Wayside Stand.
These and others are a humming buzz of day-trippers, seasonal dwellers, and year-round locals. Each stand is bountiful and inviting in their variety, not to mention a great community resource connecting us with each other and with the land we love so dearly.
Words by Rebecca Pitts
Featured image by Christian Harder of Burnett Farm Stand