What with the increasing national focus on ecological issues as well as what goes into our food, it should come as no surprise that sustainable farm tourism has become the latest travel trend to take hold in America. Combining agricultural education, environmental sensitivity, and culinary curiosity, this form of tourism draws people who already hit up local farmer’s markets and favor locavorism, but want to witness the farm-to-table process up close. There’s also plenty of kiddie fun on the farm to be had, as many feature petting zoos, wagon rides, kid-friendly food-picking and cooking demos, and workshops for people of all ages.
You’d think that New York City would be the last place one could seek out farm tourism, but there are many nearby locales–including one within the city!–that offer you the chance to blend rural with urban on your next New York City vacation. The following farms offer a variety of visiting formats, from afternoon visits to gourmet, multi-course meals to self-picking to full-on stays. All are open year-round, but autumn is right around the corner and is certainly a ripe time for visiting a farm in the Big Apple and its environs due to bountiful harvests and colorful foliage.
Queens County Farm Museum, Floral Park, NY
Located in Queens, less a half hour from Manhattan, this working 47-acre farm is a serendipitous slice of country life within New York City. Dating back to 1697, Queens County Farm Museum is thriving today, selling its produce onsite in the gift shop and at the famed Union Square Greenmarket (in Manhattan); it also supplies several Manhattan and Brooklyn restaurants that focus on local, seasonal food. Visitors can tour the farm, purchase and sample its produce, and attend a variety of adult- and kid-centric workshops, including honey-making, apple cider pressing, egg incubation, pumpkin growing, wool spinning, and greenhouse gardening. Kids will adore the weekend hayrides.
Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Pocantico Hills, NY
A 30-minute train ride north of New York City along the lovely Hudson River lies the farm cum educational center cum fine dining venue commandeered by James Beard Award recipient, Chef Dan Barber. An offshoot of Barber’s original Blue Hill Farm in his home region in Massachusetts, Stone Barns is a living testament to a restaurant being able to cook with food only grown onsite. Visitors can tour the farm and reserve a seat for a gourmet four-course lunch, five-course dinner, or the special Farmer’s Feast dinner. Dishes are innovative and presented gorgeously. Don’t expect a traditional menu, though. Diners will be shown a list of the month’s best seasonal ingredients, sourced fresh from the farm, that are featured in the meal. On the list this month (among other tasty treats): sungold tomatoes, fairy tale eggplants, haricots verts, saturn peaches, Cornish cross chickens, and okra. Is your mouth watering yet?
Valley Shepherd Creamery, Long Valley, NJ
On 120 acres in northern New Jersey, within an hour of New York City, this old-fashioned creamery focuses solely on sheep farming and dairy. Based on practices learned in the hidden creameries of France, Spain, and Italy, Valley Shepherd seamlessly blends sustainable farming and European-style cheese-making. The creamery provides frequent tours demonstrating their milking practices, the full cheese making process, and shearing, followed by a tasting of its delectable cave-aged cheeses (also for sale at the onsite gift shop and at NYC farmers’ markets). Cheese-making classes are offered monthly, and special seasonal events, such as the Autumn Cheese Festival and Lamb Birthing in the spring, are big hits with kids and adults.
Jones Family Farm, Shelton, CT
The organic Jones Family Farm, located in a bucolic area of Connecticut about an hour and a half from Manhattan, actually comprises three different farm locations spanning a total 400 acres. The collective specialize in strawberries, blueberries, pumpkins, squash, and Christmas trees, and also manages several acres of grape production for the farm’s winery. Visitors are welcome to harvest produce from the farms (imagine all the fresh berries you could carry away!) and to attend a number of special events. The onsite Harvest Kitchen offers hands-on cooking classes in which attendees learn how to make four fabulous dishes using seasonal ingredients from the farm. All materials are supplied, and attendees dine on the full meal, paired with three wines. Speaking of which, Jones Winery offers frequent tastings of their bottles in a laid-back atmosphere. During the holiday season, visitors flock to the farm to buy Christmas trees, and the farm also opens a gift shop featuring ornaments, crafts, baked goods, and more.
Apple Pond Farm & Renewable Energy Center, Callicoon Center, NY
Nestled in the scenic Catskills about 10 minutes from the original Woodstock Festival site and about two hours from NYC, Apple Pond Farm is a working produce and dairy farm using sustainable and renewable energy practices. Interactive farm tours are given frequently and demonstrate planting, picking, animal feeding and milking, how electricity is made on the farm, and more; the tours can be tailored to the ages and interests of a given group. Apple Pond also offers farm vacations stays, during which guests help with daily chores, harvest vegetables, gather eggs from the chicken house, feed and milk the animals, and take workshops on topics such as making goat cheese, baking bread, spinning wool, farming with horses, and using renewable energy systems for gardening, farming, and home or business energy conservation.
Image credits all from Flickr Creative Commons: Red barn by rickyrephoto, chicken at Queens County Farm Museum by joshbousel, Stone Barns dish of asparagus with almonds, pistachios, caviar, and shaved egg yolk by Alexandra Moss, cheese-making class at Valley Shepherd Creamery by Flint-Hill, pumpkins by anadelmann, fresh eggs by Leenda K.
If people want to find more farm opportunities outside the New York corridor check out http://www.ruralbounty.com This is a North American directory of family farms offering a variety of experiences.
Fabulous review…. what a great family friendly vacation idea!