Daisy Hill Farm Expands Garden, Offering More Variety and Longer Season

Last Thanksgiving, the farm stand at Daisy Hill Farm remained open until Thanksgiving but by then there was little left in the way of fresh produce. This year, customers can expect a variety of fruits and vegetables to be available for a longer season, according to owner Gwenn Brant.

That's because she and her team at in Bedford constructed a hoop house where vegetables started from seed are kept until they're ready for planting and plants remain protected frost at the beginning and end of the season.

And an open field where sheep used to share the real estate with tomatoes was converted entirely for growing eight varieties of tomatoes including beefsteak, sweet 100s, cherokee purple, striped german and heirloom cherry tomatoes.

(Small children will find plenty of furry cute animals to fawn over and feed, including rabbits with floppy ears and a couple of friendly dogs).

Brant, 45, the owner of Daisy Hill Farm—named for her 11 year old daughter, who attends—credits the improvements to her farm manager, Amador Cardona, who built the hoop house and cleared and staked the field, among his many contributions to the farm.

"Without him, I wouldn't have any of this," she said, adding that he, his wife Martha, daughters Natalia and Melissa and son, David, were like family to her and had all contributed to the farm’s success.

The Cardonas lived on the 74-acre property when she first purchased it in 2001, and stayed on to help. When Brant first opened the farm stand, then located on Guard Hill Road, it amounted to a party table and a display of lettuce and cucumbers. Natalia Cardona, then 17, helped to operate the stand and today serves as manager of the operation, which has since moved into a converted stable where six former horse stalls house produce grown on the farm and products from smaller producers in New York State.

In addition, Daisy Hill offers prepared foods—including homemade salsa and empanadas made by Martha Cardona—and eggs from her flock of 300 chickens. Daisy Hill-branded sauces and fruit butters are available onsite and through a newly revamped website.

Brant has brought new vendors to her farm—now 7 acres after selling a parcel in 2010—this year, driving from Bedford to the Adirondack and Catskill regions to pick up soda from Glens Falls, horseradish from Ballston Spa, honey mustard and flavored honey from Hunter and seasonally-flavored yogurts and butters from Cowbella, a cow farm in Jefferson.

"Right now we have maple syrup-flavored yogurts because it was made during sugaring season, and in June, we'll drive up there to pick up strawberry-flavored when the berries are ready. You know it's really fresh," said Brant.

Brant sources some products from local vendors, such as honey from Killer Bee of Mount Kisco, plants from in Mount Kisco and gluten free baked goods from Briarcliff's Three Dog Bakery. But she said she tries to find unique products you can't find in Westchester.

"I want to offer something you won't find at Mrs. Green's—products from smaller farms that may not have an outlet in Westchester. Plus, the relationship and interaction with farmers is very important to have, I like to know where the food is coming from," Brant said.

Daisy Hill Farm for local caterers, Northern Westchester hospital and restaurants like in Mount Kisco.

Had she envisioned the farm life for herself?

Though she has a hotel management degree and work experience as an executive assistant, her childhood summers were spent on a farm.

“I grew up visiting and aunt and uncle on their farm in New Jersey,” she said. "I loved the farm life—shucking the corn, spending time in the barn. And I’m a people person. I’ve always loved working with people.”

Daisy Hill Farm is open Thursday and Friday, 9 – 6, Saturday, 9 – 5, and Sunday, 10 – 4.   for more.