Rottkamp's Fox Hollow Farm Family Mourns Loss Of Matriarch, 90

BAITING HOLLOW, NY — Rottkamp's Fox Hollow Farm in Baiting Hollow is readying for the new season — with a cloud of sadness at the loss of its matriarch.

Jeff Rottkamp posted on social media about the death of his grandmother. "We have been very busy here on the farm, getting land prepped, planting corn, sunflowers, strawberries and many other items for this summer," he said. "However, we have some unfortunate news."

Carmen "Lolly" Rottkamp, one of the farm's original owners and his beloved grandmother, died on Friday morning, April 7, at 90 years old.

"Lolly was an as 'tough as nails' individual who didn’t know the meaning of giving up or quitting," he said.

She spent her final days right on the farm with her son Jeff and his wife Judy; she is also survived by her two grandsons Jeff and Jason, Jason's wife Alyssa, as well as two great-grandchildren, Avery and Jacob II, and two step-great-grandchildren, Lillian and Madelyn.

His grandmother, Jeff said, had a penchant for desserts and, most especially, lollipops. "That's how she got her nickname 'Lolly,'" he said.

The farm and farmstand will go on, he said, in Lolly's family's loving hands, as well as "hopefully, one day, with Avery, Jacob and future little ones," at the helm.

Caring for the legacy and the land is what Lolly would have wanted, he said — for the farm to thrive and go on, a legacy of love. The first sunflower maze of 2023 has been planted and is expected to be ready by mid-June — with strawberries, sweet corn and pumpkins to come, as usual — as Lolly would have wanted.

"May she rest in peace," Jeff said.

Information on services has not yet been released.