Sun Sprout Farm is located in Chester, NY, in the heart of New York’s famous Black Dirt region. The Black Dirt region is a very important agricultural asset to the lower Hudson Valley due to its close proximity to New York City and its rich agricultural history.
The Black Dirt Valley in Orange County is the remains of the bottom of an ancient glacial lake and consists of mostly decayed organic plant matter. During the !me of early settlement farmers generally avoided the Black Dirt areas for agricultural use. Even though the soils were fertile, they frequently flooded during storms and drained poorly afterward. It was not until the early 19th century that early German, Italian, Polish, and Dutch settlers saw similarities between these then-called “drowned lands” and some of the most fertile soils they knew from back home.
They started draining the land by digging strategic ditches and canals all over the area and around every individual field leading the water into nearby waterways and ultimately as far as the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean.
Today the area is home to hundreds of farms cultivating thousands of acres of some of the most fertile soil in the US. Due to its close proximity to New York City, it is an important food-shed for thousands of people.
The Farmers
Sun Sprout Farm is co-owned by Simon and Madeleine Ziegler who met as volunteers at Camphill Village Kimberton Hills in Kimberton, PA, a living community that includes adults with developmental disabilities in the early 2000s. Simon worked on the bio- dynamic dairy farm and Madeleine worked in the CSA garden, apple orchard and village cafe. After their two-year service, Simon returned to Germany to study and obtain his bachelor’s degree in Organic Agriculture Science at the University of Kassel in Witzenhausen, Germany while Madeleine attended nursing school in Philadelphia and obtained her degree as a Registered Nurse.
Simon came back to farm during his summer breaks during those years and worked for several farms including Riverbank Farm in Roxbury, CT as well as various urban CSAs and community gardens in Philadelphia, PA.
After immigrating to the US from Germany, Simon worked for several years as the field manager at Riverbank Farm, a fifteen-acre organic vegetable farm in Roxbury, CT while Madeleine pursued her degree to become a Nurse Practitioner.
We always dreamed of starting our own farm together. We have been in love with the Hudson Valley for a long time, and after several years of looking for the right place we found our destination in Chester, NY. We started our first growing season here Chester in 2016 with 12 acres and have grown the farm to over 100 acres in open field production including several acres of high tunnels and greenhouses for season extension and year-round production.
We are a family farm and are thankful that we are able to grow healthful, sustainable food for our customers and provide an amazing, healthy childhood for our children. We are looking forward to the many possibilities for Sun Sprout Farm to grow and expand in the future.