Greig Farm: A Destination For Shopping, Eating, Hanging With Goats, And Staying Awhile
Greig Farm has become a centerpiece of Red Hook's draw. There's a lot more here than just fruits and veggies.
Harvest season may be coming to an end but Greig Farm in Red Hook, New York still hums with activity. From its stocked farm store and café, to the local artisans market, there’s a surprising number of things to do at this farm. It's as much a case study in agribusiness diversification as it is a bucolic retreat.
“Lately, when people leave they say, ‘That was great, thanks, see you in the spring,’” said Norman Greig. “I always have to stop and say, ‘Wait, no, we’re open all year!’”
During the months Greig’s fields and orchards are dormant, the farm’s large 1850s dairy barn is a hive of activity and creative energy. The market, open every day, is surprisingly well stocked with high quality, mostly local, fresh produce, prepared foods and pantry goods. The menu at the cafe employs the best ingredients to create cravable staple sandwiches and dishes. It's the little touches that make the food here better than expected. Yes, the meats and produce they use are of great quality but they are also doing little things like frying up a sprig of sage with your order of fries — inspired and delectable.
The SoHu (South of Hudson) Craft Market showcases the work of 35 local craftspeople and makers. Former barn stalls are now beautifully renovated to house handmade clothing, pottery, art and all manner of other wares. Open Thursday through Sunday, SoHu is a unique way to buy directly from small-scale regional producers.
In and around the two-story barn complex there’s also an art gallery, sculptor’s studio, weekend farmers market, fish market, live music, a goat pen, the Papa’s Best Batch food truck, and an airstrip (just in case you're coming by plane). You can also make it an Airbnb farm stay in Greig’s elegant farmhouse that overlooks sweeping views of the rolling landscape.
The ability to grow his business and spin so many plates is a credit to Norman Greig’s pragmatic, intellectual approach to farm management, a trait no doubt passed down from his father, Robert.
Robert Greig grew up on Long Island, the son of a civil engineer, but from childhood, he always knew he wanted to be a farmer. Robert said he didn’t know anything about farming so he studied up, eventually getting an agriculture degree from Cornell in the 1930s and, while working out of the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Hudson, he bought the farm in Red Hook in 1942.
“He said that was the year his hair turned gray,” Norman Greig said with a laugh.
Greig said that initially, he hadn’t planned to take over his father's farm. They had a good relationship but they were both "type A" and running it together was just not an option. Norman was studying geology on the West Coast when his father's health began to fail. He came home to help and transferred to the Ag program at Cornell that had previously served his father so well. In 1975 Norman officially took the reins at the farm.
Greig Farm started out as 108 acres with apples, strawberries, and a small dairy. Norman Greig has greatly increased the diversity of produce over the years and more than tripled the size of the farm to 350 acres.
“I bought parcels, took down the house and farmed over it,” said Greig. “No one else does that but I live in the Garden of Eden and I get to take care of it. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Greig said that when he took over, the farm was 90 percent wholesale and 10 percent retail. Recognizing that trends were changing and profits were shrinking — especially for dairies — he set out to flip that percentage. He added more fruit, asparagus, and pumpkins in the 1970s and created a pick-your-own program that has become wildly popular.
Although the dairy was doing well, he saw how the industry was losing profitability and sold his herd in 1998. The market next to the dairy barn was built in 1985 but now there was a lot of extra space and Greig was open to any ideas on how to use it. The complex as it is today grew organically with the goal, he said, of finding a way to enhance people’s experience of the farm.
“Much of what drives what I do is about adaptive reuse,” Greig said. “What’s now the dining room was the calf barn. We tore all that out, put in heated floors and an acoustic ceiling. We have a Bard string quartet play here often and it sounds amazing.”
While there are a wide variety of things to do at the farm, it all makes sense together because you never forget where you are.
“I want to make sure we celebrate the agricultural essence of the area,” Greig said. “I like people. I don’t think they’re invasive, and I want to share this place with as many people as I can.”
Greig Farm
227 Pitcher Lane, Red Hook, NY
(845) 758-8007
Market open every day, 9 a.m.–7 p.m.
