New York Cedar Works

Farming is the noblest vocation on earth and the one that ultimately controls the destiny of the planet. -- Joel Salatin

Local food and farmers are alive and well in the Champlain Valley. Our farm is located on Route 22 in Putnam Station, the northernmost town in Washington County. Come out and see what we have to offer. The summer is almost upon us and we have our own pork and lamb just processed by Vermont Livestock and smoked by Vermont Smoke and Cure. Our broilers are growing nicely and we have just begun our weekly -- soon to be biweekly -- fresh chicken processing at the farm. In addition, we have eggs -- chicken, duck and quail. This year we also have whole and halved ducks. Our busy farmers market season is about to go into full swing. Look for us at North Creek on Thursday afternoons, Schroon Lake on Monday mornings and the new Bolton Landing farmers market on Friday mornings starting July 1.
The vegetables are growing well and we have begun harvesting snow peas and strawberries this week. As soon as the tomatoes are ready we will open the farm stand on a daily basis. Right now please call ahead to be sure we are home, or take your chances if you are in the area. Most of the time someone is home.
Our children are now the 4th generation to live and work here on our farm. Originally a diversified small farm that raised both animals and crops, Maple Grove Farm shipped eggs and maple syrup in the 1940's and 1950's throughout the U.S. Until the 1970's cows were milked daily and chickens were sold to folks for dinner. In the late 1980's a small flock of angora goats was started as well as some llamas and then sheep were added.
More recently the sheep transitioned from strictly fiber producing to more dual purpose animals, poultry and pigs were brought back, and we now raise a market garden. Our vegetable garden is getting an early start this spring with the new high tunnel. We are able to both start earlier and grow later into the season. Our farm stand has been expanded to a small store with local products.

The difference we see for ourselves has led us to open to the general public. We are located on Route 22, between historic Ticonderoga and Whitehall on the southwest shore of Lake Champlain. These beautiful rolling hills are ideally suited for farming. Over the past 10 years our local traditional grocery stores have been pushed out of business. The shopping alternatives are not real food and we don't believe that they help us to "live better."
Luckily, this situation led our family to look for real food. We have raised sheep and angora goats for nearly 20 years and over the past few years have added pastured poultry and heritage breed tamworth pigs. Our pork and lamb are processed at Vermont Livestock, a local USDA facility in Ferrisburgh, VT, the bacon and hams are smoked at Vermont Smoke & Cure in Barre, VT. We process our chickens and ducks on the farm.

Border Collie Kedra keeping an eye on her chickens

Meat and eggs are available year round. Vegetables start in June. In addition, at the farm we have locally produced honey, maple syrup, and peanut butter.
OR meet us at the farmer's market. This year we can be found at the following farmers markets:

Schroon Lake, NY on Mondays 9-1 June 27 -- Labor Day at the town hall offices parking lot
North Creek, NY on Thursdays 3-6 June 16 until October at the train depot on the banks of the Hudson River
Bolton Landing Farmers Market on Fridays 9-1, a new market starting July 1 to Sept 2 in the center of Bolton Landing, NY.

Spinning Fiber for Sale:

Each spring we shear the sheep and clip the llamas. The sheep include shetlands, tunis, texel and some dorset and suffolk and the myraid of crosses those can give. This spring's fleeces included creams, tans and a variety of browns. The shetland wool is nice for next-to-the skin knitted goods and the texel wool is especially spongy and makes a nice batting for blankets and quilts. Our raw fleeces are available for handspinning and other fiber pursuits. We sell them from the farm and on Ebay. We currently have these available. Let us know what you are looking for.

Sheep shearing was March 21. Whole raw wool fleeces are available now. Adult fleeces are $3-5.00/lb averaging 4-6 pounds and first clip yearling fleeces are $ 5-10.00/lb and average 2-3 lbs each. These are minimally skirted and come in many shades of white and cream with some tans, beiges and browns thrown in.

At this time the meat sales have been steady, so we really do not anticipate having any sheep for sale. In fact, we even added some new sheep to the flock in 2010 to help keep up with the demand. Lamb is available by the cut at the farm or farmers market starting in May.