Story by: Sara Neumann
Photos provided by: Sara Neumann and Ian Ater
Ian Ater, owner of Fledging Crow Vegetables, holds up Romaine lettuce that he grew on his farm.
Walk into any grocery store and there are lines of fresh crisp greens and juicy colorful fruits waiting to be purchased. But where were these fruits and vegetables before they reached the hands of a shopper? How many trucks, boxes, and other hands have they touched? People in the North Country who grow their own food are finding that they never have to worry about these questions.
“When you look at the market, you have to realize that the food came from somewhere else,” says Matt Pomerantz, a Plattsburgh resident originally from the Hudson Valley area. “People like to see where their food comes from. They like to see it grow.”
A sense of pride takes over when days of planting, watering, and tending to plants produce ripe fruits and fresh vegetables that can be made into a delicious meal. “You feel better about yourself because you don’t have to be dependent on the store,” Pomerantz says. He says growing food on your own can also be cheaper, healthier, and better for the environment.
Ian Ater, owner of Fledging Crow Vegetables, holds up Romaine lettuce that he grew on his farm.
Pomerantz started growing his own food after taking an organic farming class during his sophomore year at SUNY Plattsburgh. He credits his professor, Marco Turco, as being very inspirational and teaching him the problems grand-scale farming has caused. “Before that class, I didn’t realize there were other methods of farming besides large, industrial farming,” he says.
“Before that class, I didn’t realize there were other methods of farming besides large, industrial farming,"
For the class, each student was supposed to try and grow something from a seed, and this was his introduction to growing food. Pomerantz chose to plant a sugar snap pea, which he grew in a cup. He enjoyed this new experience, and going through the process of growing the single sugar snap pea plant opened his eyes to the world of homegrown food. “You realize you really can do it, and it’s not that hard,” Pomerantz says.
Since that class, he has grown many things including potatoes, tomatoes, peas, squash, and eggplant. He has also planted cucumbers, which he says grow the best for him and leave him with an abundance of the fruit. Growing corn, however, hasn’t worked in his favor. Currently, Pomerantz is waiting for garlic that he planted sometime before the winter. “I just wanted to get back to natural food and be able to feel good about eating something that I grew myself,” Pomerantz says.
Living in an area such as Plattsburgh gives people the chance to turn a backyard, front-yard, or even windowsill into their own personal grocery store. “My whole life, we’ve always had gardens in my backyard,” says Oliver Holecek, a Plattsburgh resident originally from Albany, N.Y. Although exposed at an early age, Holecek didn’t have much of an interest in growing food until he got to college where he got an internship with the Fledging Crow Vegetables in Keeseville, N.Y., and became the president of a SUNY Plattsburgh club, the Food Group.
“I like the community aspect of it. People who grow food together tend to have a strong group mentality,” Holecek says. He prefers to grow greens, but he has also grown corn, onions, garlic, and various peppers.
“I like the community aspect of it. People who grow food together tend to have a strong group mentality."
Holecek and Pomerantz have also taken part in something called “guerilla gardening.” Pomerantz describes this method of gardening as people acting “kind of like Johnny Appleseed”. A guerilla gardener randomly scatters seeds or leaves seeds planted in pots in various locations around the town. Then when the time is right, whatever the guerillas planted will grow and become available to anyone in the community that takes notice of this silent act of kindness. “It’s a way to be a rebel,” says Pomerantz. But it’s a peaceful type of rebellion.
Susan Brecht-Cadieux, produce manager of the North Country Food Co-op (NCFC) in Plattsburgh, says people are feeding themselves more and more now. “My parents were immigrants, and they always grew their own stuff, even when they lived in the city,” she says. Once Brecht-Cadieux moved to Plattsburgh, she followed in her parents’ footsteps and has been growing her own food for 30 years. She says she plants every vegetable that can grow in the North Country, and even has fruit trees, including pear, plum, and apple trees.
People who grow their own food can encounter many problems, including insects and bad weather. There is often a solution to problems, and if there’s a rough patch, there is no need to get discouraged. “For the most part, nature is pretty generous. Sometimes, when one thing doesn’t do well, another thing does,” Brecht-Cadieux says. “That’s why it’s nice to plant lots of different things. Everything sort of evens out in the end.”
“For the most part, nature is pretty generous. Sometimes, when one thing doesn’t do well, another thing does,"
The North Country Food Co-op in downtown Plattsburgh tries to buy and sell locally grown produce as much as possible. Some employees of the Co-op have their own produce sold there.
Growing food can be a rewarding process. “Everyone should have their hand at growing something,” says Ian Ater, owner of Fledging Crow Farm. Ater began growing his own food during his junior year of college. “I loved it from the minute I started growing veggies. I just knew I could do it every day,” Ater says. The first thing he planted was a quarter acre of mixed vegetables, and says it was mildly successful.
Now, as one of the owners of Fledging Crow Farms, he grows produce 10 months out of the year. His business, which is certified naturally grown, grows mainly specialty salad mixes including arugula, spinach, Asian greens and other kinds of lettuces. All of the seeds and fertilizers used are organic. The business sells wholesale to 45 different locations around the North Country, including the NCFC.
Ater says growing your own food is ultimately cheaper and can even be seen as healthier since the food doesn’t have to travel far to get to your plate. He says McIntosh apples and leafy greens generally grow the best in Plattsburgh, although that can vary depending on how they’re grown. Using a greenhouse to grow things increases variety because it gives the option of growing warm-weather crops year-round.
Growing food may not be something that seems easy, but it warrants a try. “Even if you have just one tomato plant in the season, it’s a valuable thing,” Brecht-Cadieux says. “You can really feel proud that you’ve done something for yourself.”
If you were to grow something on your own, what type of food would you grow?
