ORGANIC FRESH PRODUCE ABOUND AT LUCKY DOG FARMS IN HAMDEN
Date: September 3 2015
Publication: And North
Photo Credit: Christian Harder
If you’ve recently dined at any of the top farm-to-table restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn, chances are you’ve tasted the seasonal, fresh produce from Lucky Dog Farms, a 45-acre organic vegetable farm in Hamden, NY, a tiny hamlet in the Western Catskills sandwiched between Delhi and Walton. In 2001, Holley and Richard Giles had the “crazy idea for an organic farm,” purchasing land from a local dairy farmer after the couple relocated from Brooklyn. “People up here know us as people from New York City, but neither of us were. We were just in New York by accident,” recalls Richard of the brief time they spent downstate.
Today, Lucky Dog Farms is a Greenmarket staple at two of the city’s most heavily trafficked farmer’s markets: Union Square on Saturdays and Fort Greene on Sundays. As far as restaurants go, you can taste their greens at Marlow and Sons, Diner, and Allswell in Williamsburg, Romans in Fort Greene, Gramercy Tavern in Manhattan, and even at Untitled – Michael Anthony’s culinary gem at the new Whitney.
Richard, who has over fifteen years experience farming in East Mississippi and West Alabama, spearheads the produce operations, while Holley has her hands full overseeing the farm store, the cafe, and the adjacent Hamden Inn. The couple welcomes visitors for weekend stays in one of the Inn’s five rooms where guests can stock up on produce and foodstuffs from regional producers at the farm store before retiring to the front porch for a quiet dinner on cool summer evenings.