Norwich Meadows is a 50 acre certified organic farm, four hours Northwest of New York City. Our long drive gave us a fairly accurate picture of the trek that farm-owners Zaid and Haifa Kurdieh and their workers make to the city two to three times each week. The Catskills were breathtaking, but the drive was exhausting—and we weren’t carrying produce or trying to make it to our destination by a certain set time.

Also, our trip was not without its own bumps: we returned with a cracked windshield and a speeding ticket—things that each farmer can accumulate any time they leave their farm to come sell at a farmer’s market. However, when I stepped on the farm, I forgot the annoyances of the trip and my creaky legs and tight muscles. The farm was buzzing with activity and life.

Before taking me on a tour of the farm, and in between the screeches of his daughter’s visiting parrot, Zaid Kurdieh chatted with me about his farm’s past, present, and future. Some people are lucky enough to work a job for which they are perfectly suited. Zaid is one such person: running Norwich Meadows combines his love and prowess for agriculture with his innate entrepreneurial sense. As he said, “I guess I’m sort of an entrepreneur. I love agriculture and I love business.” Zaid is a man with an inherent sense of purpose, unwavering in his beliefs and guided by a strong code of ethics. It was impossible for me NOT to feel inspired.

“As far back as I can remember, I was always intrigued by growing things. When I was a kid, I was always planting something. Most of it failed, but I was planting something. When I got to the age of 16-17 and was contemplating ‘what am I going to do for college’, I basically considered two things: one was industrial engineering and the other was agriculture and business. In my Masters program, I wrote a paper about my future farm. Of course, my future farm looks nothing like the farm I have now.”

The Kurdieh’s journey to managing a 50 acre (and growing) farm has been a steady one. Zaid’s business and marketing sense have established Norwich Meadows as a thriving farm with varied customers. They reach their customers through their updated website, numerous restaurant partnerships, community supported agriculture (CSAs), a consistent market presence, a focus on varietals, and even a partnership with an international farm. Despite these enormous undertakings, Zaid’s calm and focused demeanor keeps the farm on track.

Zaid cares for plants like he would his own children, in a way that is both tender and aware. When I first arrived at the farm, I drove to the main area of Norwich Meadows, where the 30 hoop houses stand, thinking he’d be there. One of his employees directed me to his house, where he was ‘taking care of his babies’. Zaid and his wife Haifa’s children are now adults; the worker was referring to the greenhouse behind their home. The greenhouse sits on the site of their original half-acre farm where Zaid nurtures and cares for fruit and vegetable seedlings. As I snapped a few pictures, he was quick to comment that he had had the watermelon seeds soaking for too long (a half a day too long) and he really needed to plant them.

The Kurdiehs started the farm in 1998, long before the neighboring houses in their development were built. They used “an acre here and a half acre there”. Two years later they partnered with Yusuf Harper and bought the farm down the road. In 2009, they added an additional field and this year they’re renting a farm in New Jersey as well. “My head should be examined”, Zaid wryly remarked. This year on their farm in New Jersey, they’ll plant fall and winter crop and next year they plan on having workers at the farm.

Norwich Meadows Farm grows over forty fruits and vegetables, with multiple varietals of each product. They harvest over fourteen varieties of lettuce and nearly forty varieties of tomatoes. Each variety is selected for its flavor and taste: they aim to sell the most flavorful varieties of each product. Zaid explained, “We’re trying to grow produce that tastes better. We want our tomato to taste better. The flavor of a fruit or vegetable is a function of the nutrients it takes in. A lot of things are out of our control [like low sun], so we try to work with the things that are in our control.”

Zaid refuses to grow a variety simply for its transportability. For example, Norwich Meadows grows yellow watermelons, which are known for thin rinds and general fragility. When Norwich Meadows transports these varieties, they inevitably lose some, yet are willing to make that sacrifice due to the watermelons’ amazing flavor.

Along with their enormous quantity (and quality) of produce, Norwich Meadows has raised and processed both broiler and layer chickens since 2006. The birds are marketed as Halal, meaning that each animal is raised ethically and is processed by a Muslim. The Kurdiehs are weighing options for how to raise and sell more meat within the constraints and limitations of New York state slaughterhouses. Zaid shared that a few years ago, they raised some goats, a sheep, and a steer. The animals had to be sent to Vermont for processing. They sent a 1200 pound steer and got 280 lbs of hamburger back. In addition, an entire sheep disappeared. Needless to say, they’re back to the drawing board.

Zaid is well aware that agriculture is a risky business. This awareness prompted Zaid, his business partner, Yusef Harper, and his wife to become community focused. “Our philosophy is to start a community around our farm…to specialize in food.” Beyond growing and selling their food at farmers’ markets, Norwich Meadows is involved in other important food relationships: CSAs, restaurant relationships, and a successful partnership with a foreign farm. Each growing season, the farm’s ten seasonal workers come over from an Egyptian organic farm. In exchange for their time and labor, Zaid and Yusef are helping market the Egyptian farm’s certified organic dried herbs.

Zaid emanated pride when speaking about his relationships with some of the best restaurants in New York City. He works with restaurants that are on the top of anyone’s list of sustainable and aware dining establishments, including Gramercy Tavern and Blue Hill. Zaid’s relationship with Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern is a very important one; it not only opened the door for Zaid to begin sourcing to other like-minded restaurants, but it continues to bring necessary validation for all of the hard work Zaid and his staff put into growing flavorful food.

Many people try to practice what they preach—Zaid eats what he preaches. He’s proud of his products and thinks that they are some of the “best around”. When he and his wife have extra time after a farmers’ market, they enjoy dining at their clients’ restaurants. “It gives [the chefs] a sounding board; it gives us ideas. You meet all kind of people, including our customers from the market.”

Norwich Meadows is always open to new restaurant partnerships with restaurants that are mellow and easy to work with. “We do a really good job—I think our stuff is really good…we’re looking for people that have an appreciation of something that’s better.”

In addition to their restaurant sourcing, Norwich serves a gamut of customers at several markets around New York City (see a full list HERE) and twelve CSAs. Zaid and Haifa thrive off their customer interactions. “It’s part of our culture to be friendly. It’s not a show, it’s the way we are. Here’s our philosophy: if I take a penny from you, unjustly, I will go to Hell for that…and I believe that. I’m not cheating because I don’t like hot places! That’s our reason for being fair. Another reason beyond that is we’re going to feed you what we eat.”

Happy Marketing!

-Meaghin

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Two weekends ago, the What is Fresh team visited the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.  Since then, we’ve been sharing highlights of our visit and helpful information in our Stone Barns series.  In our first post, we provided an overview and history of Stone Barns.  In our last post, we explored the plants Stone Barns grows, as well as the methods employed in their growing.

In this post, we will share pictures and information about the variety of animals Stone Barns raises.

Stone Barns’ Philosophy

Twenty-three acres of Stone Barns’ eighty acres are dedicated to pasture.  On first glance, this may seem like a large percentage of the land, but because Stone Barns raises each animal humanely, the twenty-three acres of land require much sophisticated juggling and planning.

Stone Barns raises all of their animals—Berkshire pigs, Rhode Island Red hens (both meat and layers), sheep, geese, turkeys, and bees—according to each animal’s “natural instincts”.  Thus, each animal exists in relation to the land and to each other, requiring much more space than if they were simply raised in a barn or feedlot.

Maintaining healthy animals is instrumental in cultivating a successful, thriving farm.  The methods Stone Barns employs, including rotational grazing, grass-feeding, and maintaining natural refuges for birds and wildlife, have yielded telling results.  Along with the lauded taste and noticeable contentment of the animals, Craig Haney, head livestock manager, reported that he couldn’t even remember the last time they had to use an antibiotic on a sick animal.

As we were touring the farm and getting an intimate look at Stone Barns’ animal welfare practices, it was apparent how much respect each worker has for the animals and for their daily lives.  Stone Barns clearly illustrates the ideal that Nicolette Niman, author of  Righteous Porkchop, espouses:

We owe our animals the highest level of existence.  They deserve to experience joy.  For me, factory farming is wrong not b/c it produces meat, but because it robs every animal of every shred of happiness 1

Rotational Grazing

From April until December, Craig Haney and the other farmers engage in the elaborate dance of rotational grazing.  Rotational grazing involves moving animals among several pastures, allowing each pasture to have a grazing period and a resting period.  This practice not only prevents soil erosion, it allows the animals to do what they do best:  work within their biology and (though they don’t know it) with each other. 

Standing near the pasture a few weekends ago, it was easy to picture that in a few more weeks, the grass will be about 6 inches long, primed and ready for sheep to wander the pasture and graze on the grass.   According to Rebecca Sherman, the Marketing and Communications Manager at Stone Barns, the sheep should be out to pasture by the end of April.  The exact date depends on both the grass and when the ewes are finished giving birth.

After the sheep eat the grass down, the pasture becomes home to the egg laying chickens (about 1,000 of them!), followed by the meat chickens, both of which eat bugs and grubs and spread manure.  Each kind of animal spends about two days in the pasture, fertilizing it with their own manure.  Turkeys join the rotation in the late summer, after their feathers have grown in and they are big enough to move quickly to protect themselves.  Finally, in the middle of December, the remaining animals are returned to the barn, and the pasture rests for the winter.

Maintaining a Smooth Operation

Despite Stone Barns’ bucolic image, the reality of life and death go hand in hand with the happily grazing and sleeping animals.  Because Stone Barns practices rotational grazing and believes in animals living in as natural a habitat as possible, the farmers are constantly monitoring the presence of predators.  The sheep are guarded by Stella, a 4 ½ year old Maremma sheep dog.  Stella has been with the sheep since she was a 10 week old puppy and guards the sheep against any outside threat.  Even as we were standing by the barn, Stella stood alert and ready to protect her flock.  The Stone Barns property has a constant coyote presence:  just last year, coyotes killed about 30 turkeys.

Beyond natural predators, it’s important to remember that the animals at Stone Barns are being raised to be eaten.  All poultry is processed on site, averaging to roughly 180 birds a week.  Due to USDA regulations, most of the sheep and pigs go to a processing facility in the Palisades.  Lately, there has been much discussion surrounding the lack of processing facilities for small farms.  It’s frustrating to the farmer that their ethically raised animals often have to travel many miles to be processed with other animals.  For more information on the shortage of local slaughtering facilities in New York, check out these articles in Edible Manhattan and The New York Times.

 Interesting Facts & Farm Vocabulary Words

I thought I’d share a few extra facts I learned, along with some new vocabulary words.

Sheep

At Stone Barns, sheep are divided between the yearlings and ewes.

Yearling = an animal one year old

Ewe = adult female sheep

The ewes had one of two colors on their backs:  blue and yellow.  The two colors signify which rams are the father. 

Pigs

Stone Barns has 17 sows, divided in groups throughout the woods.  There is one boar, Bubba, who breeds year round.  Each litter produces between 8 and 10 piglets. 

Shotes = piglets

Gilts = pigs greater than 100 pounds

Hogs = male pigs

Sows = pigs after their first litter

The typical slaughter weight is 280 pounds, reached at about 5 ½ months.

**The Annual Sheep Shearing is scheduled for April 24^th!  Please see Stone Barns’ site for more information!**

Next up:  A Closer Look at Berkshire Pigs with Livestock Manager, Craig Haney

Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals