The farm is 52 acres of mostly forested land near the Hudson River in the beautiful town of Easton, NY.
The property was purchased in 1995. It had been severely logged by a previous owner. A NYS forester set up a management plan and we joined New York Forest Owners Association (NYFOA) to learn more about being responsible forest owners and what goals we could achieve. For the past 26 years much timber stand improvement (TSI) work has taken place with a goal of regenerating forest, increasing forest diversity, improving animal habitat and having timber harvests to financially offset our retirement years. We practice Agroforestry using silvopasture, riparian forest buffers and forest farming techniques.
We cultivate and sell specialty mushrooms farmed on logs from TSI work. Our products are carried by two local storefronts Country Power Products in Greenwich, NY and Saratoga Apple, Schuylerville, NY. We also sell directly from the farm. Can't get any fresher than that!! Send us an email and we will send information on availability ie. when mushrooms are fruiting & what types will be available.
We offer hands-on workshops twice per year showing people how to grow/farm specialty mushrooms and their benefits. Attendees inoculate logs and get to sample chef David's mushroom dishes & take home an inoculated log. Sign up on our website DoughHavenFarm.com
David is a Veteran farmer and we are supported by Homegrown by Heroes, Farmer Veteran Coalition. David did an internship at Community of St Mary's Eastern Province in Greenwich, NY. One of the duties was mentoring 4H kids. David became a co-leader for a Washington Cty 4H group called Cashmere Kids. We have set up goat exhibits and participated in judging at the local county fair and fiber festivals. We are members of Cashmere Goat Association (CGA) and American Goat Federation (AFG) . David is a cashmere judge.
The farm has Cashmere & dairy goats, a couple of alpacas, two LGD, chickens, geese, ducks & fruit trees amongst a beautiful managed forest.
We have been collecting cashmere and alpaca fiber for several years and take the raw fiber to the mill to make a farm blend of roving and rug yarn. The animals are combed or shaved and the fleece is skirted and processed. People are welcome to make an appointment to come help comb the goats in the spring Feb-April each year.
We utilize the goats for meat, hides, fiber and genetics. The goat milk is great for making yogurt, cheese, soaps and lotions. We compost the goat manure to use on the farm but the alpaca manure can be utilized w/o composting. We sell alpaca poo directly from the farm. We have a vermicomposting component to our farm. By appointment we teach people about the process, how to set up worm bins and have a supply of red wigglers. Each of these compost products and techniques help add nutrients back into the land we are growing in.
In 2020 we had a request from a family to visit the farm. They mentioned they had no place to take their children on summer break so we started doing Agritourism. Our training in Agritourism and Covid preparedness paid off. We had specific signage and was able to safely tour family groups all summer. By word of mouth we were doing tours every weekend. The farm tours were amazing experiences for us during a difficult time. Send us an email if you are interested in visiting.