The booth for Fishkill Farms at the Borough Hall Greenmarket is not one of the market’s larger setups — it’s dwarfed by the sprawling pavilions of Wilklow Orchards and Phillips Farms across the plaza. So although I’ve enjoyed their excellent produce this summer, I was a little surprised when David Sherman, the market manager, suggested that I pay Fishkill Farm a visit and write about them, as I’d done last year for Wilklow Orchards. Why would he recommend them over all the other farms at the Cadman Plaza market?

It turns out that Fishkill has a quite distinguished history. It was started in the nineteen-teens by Henry Morgenthau Jr., a distinguished public servant and Father of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. The son of a prominent lawyer and ambassador, Henry Morgenthau somehow became interested in farming, studied agriculture at Cornell, and started Fishkill Farms while in his twenties. He went on to serve in a number of agriculture-related posts under Franklin Roosevelt, both in Albany and in Washington, before becoming Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Treasury in 1934. FDR himself, as Fishkill’s website recounts, was a frequent visitor to the farm.

The farm has remained in the Morgenthau family since its beginnings.  It began as a diversified farm but early on developed a focus on apple orchards. Over the last decade and a half, after the retirement of the farm’s long-time manager, the orchards were leased to outside growers and primarily produced apples for the wholesale market. But recently the farm is again being diversified and is again under the direct oversight of the family. Josh Morgenthau, Henry’s grandson, has taken over management of the farm, is working to revive the farm and move it toward organic and sustainable growing practices.  Along with its 40 acres of apple orchards, Fishkill now produces peaches, pears, cherries, plums, berries and a wide range of fully organic vegetables. The farm continues to sell apples to the wholesale market, but today also sells directly to customers at a number of farmers markets and through a robust pick-your-own business.

Julia, who runs the Brooklyn Greenmarket stands (Borough Hall on Saturdays and Carroll Gardens Sundays),  arranged for me to visit, and she was there to greet me one recent Thursday morning after I’d made the drive up the Taconic. Fishkill is in the eastern Hudson Valley about ten miles east of Beacon, an hour and a half north of Brooklyn.  It lies just off the northern slopes of the Hudson Highlands – the Appalachian Trail passes by only a few miles to the south – and low, outlying mountains surround the farm in all directions. At the end of the farm’s long driveway is the cheery, bright red building that houses the farm market.  The market is the center of the farm’s pick-your-own business, and is also well stocked with cheeses, jams, and other products from farms and business in the area. It sits on a low hilltop, with the farm’s orchards and vegetable gardens  spread around and below it.

Check back soon for part 2 of my visit to Fishkill Farms.

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