About Us

Our Story

Dick de Graff and Victoria Ladd-de Graff own and operate Grindstone Farm, a 230 acre certified organic farm located in North Central New York. Dick has farmed it organically for 40 years, 33 years being certified organic by NOFA-NY and markets products in Central and Northern New York. 

Dick was raised on a 1,000-acre farm, and while he said he didn’t want to be a farmer, a couple of decades later the land beckoned him back. He managed to get a private pilot’s license in between, yet he wanted his own land. In 1981, at age 28, he bought his first 150-acre plot while working large-scale construction jobs. Our land’s major attraction was the 7-acre spring-fed pond with a stream that flowed through it and that was located less than a mile from a major highway, Interstate Route 81. Coupled with the enticing low property cost, he was sold—this was to be his land. The fields were long abandoned, one crop—blueberries, planted in the 1950s—overgrown and the one barn, dilapidated. A lot of work needed doing! Having experienced conventional farming, he knew he didn’t want to use chemical inputs on his land. These were fledgling years for organic ag in NY state, so he networked with like-minded growers to learn and develop practices that worked. In 1985, two important things happened: he began the transition to organic and married Vic, his girlfriend of ten years. In 1989, their only child, son Lucas, was born.  

Working off-farm jobs, Dick grew our operation with help from Vic, family, friends, and anybody who wanted to get dirty doing hard work. Fields were cleared, mowed, plowed, structures were built and the long cycle of buying old, used equipment and repairing old, used equipment began. In the early years, our products were marketed as U-Pick crops, the model Dick learned on his father’s farm. Organic certification from NOFA was awarded in 1988. Grindstone Farm was one of the earliest farms to be certified organic in New York State and now celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2021.

With NOFA organic certification, markets opened, Grindstone became alluring to farmhands wanting to learn organic practices. Many of these former workers are still friends and a good number leveraged their experience here and currently manage or own organic farms themselves. Grindstone has mounted many years of challenging times—undercapitalization, fickle markets, unskilled labor—before gaining firmer footing and a faithful and regular customer base. We are grateful to many who labored here, loaned us money in the hard times, and helped us grow into a well-known farm with a pristine reputation.  We thank you all so much. We have become more than just a farm, we are a farm with customers who have become friends.

Grindstone grows fruits, vegetables and raises livestock, and the farm serves as a food hub for some 30+ NY organic farmers to supply a wide array of products. The farm offered a Best Box program featuring nine different types of food boxes and a subscription program with convenient drop points and home delivery service as well as farmers’ markets until April 2022 when, through partnership, Off The Muck took on Grindstone’s product ordering and delivery. We have provided organic products to a major food Co-Op in New York City for many decades. In addition to food production, Grindstone has manufactured root crop washers for over 30 years, has an Airbnb cabin, and hosts Farm-To-Table dinners and events at its pondside pavilion.

 Call us today to arrange any event for you at 315-298-4139

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