Practices & Partners

Grindstone Farm was among the first farms in New York State to be certified organic in 1988. We have a longstanding, healthy relationship with our soils, the backbone of what we grow. We use only organically approved, naturally occurring materials as fertilizers (including eggshells, mined materials, naturally occurring materials such as green chop, compost, hay and buckwheat hulls for mulch). The water we use for irrigating is from our 7-acre spring fed pond and its stream that meanders across the farm. We implement general field/farm sustainable management practices such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM), crop rotation, intercropping, cover cropping, mulching, minimal tillage, buffer zones, and livestock integration. While we have had as many as 40 acres under production during a season, efficiencies have us now at around 15 to 20 acres of our total 230 acres. We have an acre covered by high tunnels which allow us to extend our growing season by approximately 3 months.

Our livestock is pasture-raised. The pigs are fed a natural diet of second quality or unsaleable organic produce from our farm supplemented with GMO-free feed. When we finish harvesting asparagus, the field is fenced in and the turkeys are provided GMO-free feed and enjoy foraging a natural diet of asparagus beetles and other insects (so they serve as insect control too!). Our livestock, integrated into our crops for enhanced field management, complies with organic guidelines. Pigs serve us by clearing scrub brush, and turkeys eat insects and pests in the fields. Meats offered through Grindstone from other farms also are pasture-raised and are either certified organic or GMO-free as identified in our website’s storefront description.