Popular farm in Charlton keeps growing, improving
CHARLTON, N.Y. » Chip Ellms doesn’t let much get in his way, not even a Nor’easter.
Following the old adage “work hard, play hard,” Ellms prepped for a Florida golf vacation by hitting a bucket of balls at the snow-covered Edison Club, in Rexford, the other day, after shoveling out a place to tee off.
“The grounds crew is probably going to wonder why balls weren’t picked up last fall, when they go out to mow this spring,” Ellms said, smiling.
His current trip to the Sunshine State is for fun.
However, he’s also logged thousands of miles this winter, seeking ways to improve his thriving agritourism business, Ellms Family Farm, which is headed for a major transition. Plans call for Ellms, 70, and his wife, Sally, to turn their popular destination over to their three children -- Garth, Ashley DiPaola and Sasha Presseisen -effective Jan. 1, 2019.
“I was visiting a large farm near New Haven, Ct., talking to the owner, when this older gentleman walked by,” Ellms said. “I asked who’s that? What does he do? The owner said, ‘That’s my dad. He’s 92. He does whatever he wants.’
“That’s the role Sally and I want,” Ellms said.
After 34 years, it’s richly deserved.
A chemical engineer, Ellms previously worked for a firm that serviced the pulp and paper mill industry. Upon moving to Saratoga County from Chicago in 1983, the couple found a 65-acre farm to their liking on Charlton Road, and decided to plant Christmas trees the next year as a side interest.
Now it’s one of the area’s largest tree farms with 30 acres under production. In addition to a busy cut-your-own trade, Ellms Family Farm is also a collection point for annual Trees for Troops drives, which gives live trees to U.S. military personnel as a show of support from people back home.
Somewhere deep inside Ellms, however, there must be a bit of P.T. Barnum because he’s mastered the art of entertaining people while pursuing the extremely difficult and challenging world of agriculture. At Christmas time, visitors can see Santa and his elves parachuting from the sky, meet and greet live reindeer, and listen to carolers while scouting for a perfect tree.
But the busiest time of year is autumn when countless children, and parents, descend on the farm for an array of familyoriented attractions such as a corn maze, mechanical chicken show, kiddie rides, ropes course, tug-of-war stations and one of the newest features -- an apple cannon compressor that fires fruit more than a quarter-mile away.
Of course, everyone goes home with pumpkins from the farm’s nine-acre patch Christmas trees and autumn agritourism are separate, but closely related ventures located on 232 acres the Ellms now own after acquiring neighboring parcels through the years.
Chip and Sally plan to continue running the tree farm for several more years, while turning over the fall business to their adult children. Each one, and their spouses, bring something special to the table.
DiPaola is a teacher, adept at leading farm school groups while her husband, Dan, works in the financial world. Presseisen has a food background and her husband, Josh, is skilled with computers, which helps promote the farm through digital photography.
“Everybody’s got their niche,” Chip Ellms said. “Everybody has slightly different skills they can add.”
His son, Garth, who’s scheduled to become majority owner, spent this week at a Las Vegas trade show, buying things for the retail area.
“Garth is 36 right now,” Chip Ellms said. “It’s perfect timing for him to come into it. I tell him all the time, ‘Stick to your knitting.’ In other words, don’t get too far away from your main business and keep improving food and retail and adding things that will make people happy.”
The farm has already purchased new kid-friendly attractions for next fall -four small electric-powered excavators that a 3-year-old can operate. They’re miniature versions of the large heavy equipment found at real construction sites.
If the farm seems a little like Disney World, perhaps it’s because Chip Ellms looks up to the Florida attraction as a role model for his own business. In December, he took an intense four-day course at the Disney Institute, learning best practices and real-life lessons that can be applied back home.
“They stressed the importance of touch points, anything a person comes in contact with,” Chip Ellms said. “They emphasized creating a sense of place. I’ve been to some great training, but this was really tops.”
Also, in early February, the entire Ellms family attended the North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association annual convention in Los Angeles, which produced more good ideas.
Then Chip and Sally traveled to Spain and Portugal where they got their first look at a popular new trend -- colored Christmas trees.
In summer, they’re sprayed with bright fluorescent paint, like something right out of a Caribbean island sunset. As trees grow, the ends of branches come out dark green, creating a two-tone effect.
“I’ve talked to a couple growers who tried it and sold out, so we’re going to do 200 trees this year,” Chip said. Why not? After all, Ellms is the most colorful farm owner in Saratoga County.