Four Legs Farm has moved to Germantown, NY! It is about 50 minutes away from New Paltz in Columbia County south of Hudson. I'm living in a house with wonderful roommates about five miles from the farm.
I have a new lease on land with Turkana Farms. I'm so excited to be working with Mark and Peter. They have an existing livestock operation that they are scaling back and are leasing 20 acres that they're not using to me. I found them through the Columbia Land Conservancy listings. I highly recommend subscribing to their newsletter - it is full of fun farm stories. Mark and Peter were kind enough to put me in contact with their next door neighbors - the Rider Family. Their property used to be a working orchard, but they are not managing it any more and would like to see the land farmed. I'll be leasing about another 25 acres of their land as well. I'm so excited to be grazing sheep and cows through an orchard. There will be so much shade in the summer! This is a permutation of silvopasture and if you're curious this article explores grazing sheep in orchards in depth. The orchard still produces some apples and I'm having fun dreaming up ways to make use of the apples that don't involve a crazy amount of labor. Leasing both of these properties gives me room to increase the number of animals in the next few years. It also puts me closer to my day job, grain supply, and my cold storage facility. While I miss being in New Paltz, I'm so excited by the possibilities here in Germantown. It is an honor to get to farm on this land.
4 Comments
Rick Rider
3/4/2016 01:18:59 pm
Great article Leanna! The Riders all feel honored that you will help keep our dream of the family farm alive!
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Ellen Jouret-Epstein
3/11/2016 10:54:28 am
Welcome to the neighborhood! We have sheep around the corner on Viewmont (though no longer breed/sell meat.) We look forward to seeing your operation grow. I frequently walk on Old Saw Mill.
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AuthorLeanna at Four Legs Farm Archives
July 2017
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