I grew up and worked on LI where Dianne and I raised our family. After 9/11 we decided to relocate and I became a farmer in Plattsburgh, NY. I started Elfs Farm in 2005 at an abandoned property and began growing Cold Climate grapes to make wine. The production building and store was totally destroyed by a fire in 2011. Dianne went back to work as a nurse to support the family and rebuilding of the business. Family members from as far away as New Hampshire and California came and helped to rebuild the winery and processing building in 2013 and we reopened in mid 2014.
As a local farmer said shortly after the fire “when a small window closes, a larger door opens”. My adult children moved back from different parts of the world to help the family recover from the fire and to rebuild. Now that they are part of the farm, they are looking to expand into a business that has a younger demography – Hard Cider. Hard Cider happens to be the fastest growing segment of the adult beverage industry.
Even though Elfs Farm is in the Champlain Valley of NY, which has thousands of acres of apples – there are virtually no “Cider” apples. We are looking to expand our fruit plantings to incorporate “cold climate” cider apples. These specific apples will help us improve the quality of the Cider we produce.
My son Sean is our wine maker and my 26 year old daughter Erin (Elfs Farm is named for her initials) is the Cider maker. They both took courses at Cornell for Cider making. In June of this year one of our ciders was awarded Gold Medal and Best Cider in New England/NY at the Big E Exposition Cider and Perry contest in W. Springfield Ma. I am extremely proud of what they have accomplished and what they will continue to do for our local region and the farming community.