Farm sends local goods to NYC customers
JACKSON, N.Y. >> Saratoga Farmer’s Market is one of the primary retail outlets for Lewis Waite Farm’s grass-fed, grass finished beef and pork.
But it also does a thriving business by delivering goods to nearly 50 Community Supported Agriculture networks in New York City.
In addition to fresh meat, customers can go on the farm’s website and choose from a wide variety of regionally sourced food items such as yogurt, cheese, eggs, butter, poultry, baked goods and honey. The farm, owned by Alan and Nancy Brown, purchases them from producers throughout upstate New York and New England and ships them to the city with their own meat products.
“We package it all up for each customer,” Nancy Brown said. “Every product we ship has the customer’s name on it. It’s like an adventure for them. Here’s what you got, now how are you going to cook it? We sell them everything, but vegetables, so they can have a full shopping experience and make whatever they want.”
Rock Hill Bake House of Glens Falls (bread), Mack Brin Farm in Ballston Spa (pastureraised chicken) and Berle Farm in Hoosick (cheese, yogurt) are just a few of the dozens of firms
and farms the Browns do business with.
Alan Brown, originally from Central Connecticut, bought his first farm in Washington County’s hill country in 1966. In his own words, he just wanted “to get away from it all.”
Eventually, he purchased another neighboring farm and named the combined properties Lewis Waite Farm, to honor their previous owners. He speaks of them almost reverently because of their efforts to save the pristine landscape instead of selling it for development.
When he first arrived, the 1820s farmstead had no power or plumbing.
“The house had to be made livable,” Alan said.
He is also a former longtime Town of Jackson supervisor and has a deep appreciation for the site’s natural beauty and history. Even from the highest vantage point, there are no other houses in sight.
“That’s one of the reasons we like it so much,” Alan said.
The 600-acre farm has 250 acres of pasture, divided up into 40 different fields. As animals graze them off, they’re moved from one field to another, allowing grass to grow back.
“It’s a juggling act all the time,” Alan said.
Nancy Brown pointed out the importance of cows being not only grass-fed, but grass-finished as well. Some stores promote their meat products as coming from grass-fed beef. But right before processing, these animals are also fed grain that might be genetically-modified.
Lewis Waite Farm animals eat grass and hay only. Also, they’re only harvested in July or October-November, after they’ve had several weeks to feed on the freshest green grass. In addition, they’re processed at different ages to satisfy customers’ demand for different-sized cuts of meat.
“That’s why we sell to CSAs,” Alan said. “With upscale restaurants, if you buy a steak, the next time you go there you expect to get the same size steak.”
The Browns decided on beef and pork because the farm’s sloping ground, with exposed rock ledges, isn’t suitable for plowing and growing corn, which a dairy farm needs. However, it’s just right for raising beef cattle and pigs.
In the 1800s, some of the farm’s currently wooded hilltops were grazed by sheep. Back then, Washington County was among the nation’s leading wool producers, as fiber and other agricultural products could be sent to New York following construction of the Champlain Canal.
Today, the Browns are conducting a 21st century version of that trade with weekly trips to the city.
“We even make home deliveries. If they were all on the same street it wouldn’t be so bad,” Alan said, smiling.