CRAFT Farm Profile: Remembrance Farm

Nathaniel has been farming full-time since 1998, first in the Hudson Valley and in the Ithaca area since 2004.  Emily joined the farm full-time in 2011. We have 1 full-time year-round manager, 2 part-time year-round employees, one year-round apprentice, and occasional part-time help during the growing season.

Remembrance Farm is the only Demeter-certified Biodynamic farm in the Finger Lakes region.  We raise vegetables, grains, and laying hens on approximately 100 acres (40 owned, 60 leased).  We are quite mechanized in our production relative to other vegetable farms in the area and have invested heavily in buildings and equipment.  Our aim has been to specialize in things we can do really well, and to do a lot of them.  We try to have a consistent supply of a few very high-quality products which are available to a wide variety of customers.

Our main enterprise is vegetables, specializing in baby salad greens and stored root crops for wholesale markets throughout New York State and a collaborative CSA in the Ithaca area, the Full Plate Farm Collective.  The Full Plate is a partnership with Stick and Stone Farm and serves 500 summer and 300 winter shares.  Our wholesale customers are served through 2 distributors, Regional Access and Finger Lakes Farms.  Grains are used on-farm to feed our laying flock, and the eggs are sold to CSA members and some of our wholesale customers.

We have annual sales of around $250,000.  This is adequate to service our (relatively large) debt, cover expenses including fair wages, reinvest annually in infrastructure upgrades, and a modest family income.  Neither Emily or Nathaniel work off the farm.

Figure out how you want to live your life, and go do it!