One perk of living in the Hudson Valley is our abundance of farms. And harvesting one’s own produce is an experience that everyone should have. Fortunately, Greig Farm, located on Pitcher Lane in Red Hook, has been a u-pick favorite in the Hudson Valley since the early 1950s. “We have all this nature and beauty,” says Norman Greig, farmer at Greig Farms. “We always thought of the farm as an agricultural park that’s open to the public. When fruit is harvested and you eat it right there in the field, it tastes entirely different than when it’s been refrigerated and shipped.”
At various times of the year, visitors can pick their own asparagus, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, apples, and pumpkins. But Greig Farm is more than just a pick-your-own experience. There is a farmers’ market, an opportunity to feed goats, a koi pond, a tasting room for Abandoned Hard Cider, and an art gallery.
“We try to celebrate the arts and music and neighbors who do things that are also agricultural,” explains Greig. “Abandoned Cider uses our apples to press out and make a half-dozen different ciders. The tasting room is a place to come and taste it and it’s really an amazing experience.”
Being innovative is important to Greig Farm, as is the safety of their food, knowing that children are tasting the food too. “We have customers of all ages, so we try to make sure that the food is absolutely safe to eat in the field at any time, and to do that, we don’t use any chemicals, herbicides, insecticides of any kind. The fruit doesn’t need to be washed and you can eat it right there.”
For more than 70 years, Greig Farm has served the Hudson Valley community and Greig is proud of that accomplishment. “We’re three generations in now and when I ask people how they’ve heard about the farm, they say their parents brought them when they were kids and they wanted to bring their children,” he says.
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This article appears in July 2021.
