Unlike a lot of area farmers that grow lots of different vegetable crops, we focus our energy on our livestock and just two specialty crops: ginger and turmeric. If you’re wondering why we chose to grow these two plants, you are not alone. It seems pretty random. That is, until you hear the backstory.
Greg was mid-way through his PhD in chemistry when he decided he wanted to follow his calling and become a farmer (If you don’t remember this story, click here to learn more. It’s a good one!). His initial vision was a diversified organic vegetable and livestock farm. With this in mind, after graduating, he got started working on veggie farms right away. After a few years, when he felt like he had a solid foundation in veggie farming, he began learning more about raising livestock.
When we found our land here in Henrietta, Greg realized that livestock farming was not only what was best suited for our land, but it was really where his heart was. However, something about working in tilled soil, the colors and variation of vegetable production, kept pulling him back to wanting to grow produce. So, he made a new plan. Livestock we would be our focus, but we would choose one or two specialty produce crops to complement the healthy proteins we were growing.
Now came the the tricky decision figuring out what plants to grow. Like the scientist that he is, Greg researched! We considered rhubarb, basil, sunflowers, ginseng, horseradish, lavender, until he eventually found some journal articles about growing ginger/turmeric in the northeast and something just clicked. Around this same time, a local farmer shared about his success with growing ginger alongside his beef/chicken/veggies, and this gave us the final push to dive in.
While we absolutely love raising our animals, we are equally passionate about tending to these two incredible plants. They take FOREVER to grow and are very time-intensive to harvest (more on this process coming next week), but the final product is as extraordinary as anything we’ve ever grown and it keeps us coming back for more year after year.
Your Farmers,
Jenney and Greg
PS-In case you’re wondering…. harvest starts in a few weeks. We will keep you posted when it’s ready!