Tassone adds crops to business mix
It started as a real estate deal with the idea of creating a 50-home subdivision.
Now, it is the source of organic produce for a family restaurant after two daughters convinced their father to forego development in favor of a farm that supplies fare for an Italian restaurant.
If expansion plans come to fruition, Eagle”™s Nest Farm in Pleasant Valley will begin selling fresh produce from a farm stand next year and perhaps create other agricultural, viniculture and even educational options, as well.
Graziano Tassone, president of Tassone Realty, has been a leading commercial and residential real estate broker in Dutchess County. Now he finds himself as the patriarch of a farm family.
“We”™ve been in business for about 22 years and six years ago we brought the land,” he said of the 125-acre parcel that is now Eagle”™s Nest Farm. “We were going to subdivide it; I was looking at a development to get 50-some houses on it. But my daughters decided they wanted to keep it in the family and not develop it into houses, but turn it into a working farm. I like to keep my kids happy.”
The “kids” are adults, including his younger daughter Lisa Tassone-Giudice and her chef-husband Tom, are co-owners of the restaurant, La Zingara in Bethel, Conn.
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“Immediately,” said Tassone-Giudice, when asked how quickly she conceived the idea of using the land for an organic farm. “My dad showed me the property and we all fell in love with it.”
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“Back in the day,” that land had been used for farming, she said, so it was a chance to return it to traditional use and supply fresh, handpicked organic produce to La Zingara.
The senior Tassone said with a chuckle that he is not planning on taking up the plow, but loves to go out to the farm to relax. He said that the farm has produced bountifully for all involved so far and the future looks potentially even more abundant
Thus far, the restaurant requires only about 10 acres of land be worked to meet needs. During last year”™s favorable growing season, the harvest left plenty of extra produce that was donated to food banks.
“It”™s a lot of stuff we”™re sending to the restaurant,” said Tassone. “Next year, we”™re going to go full scale.”
The family has partnered with Joe Baldwin, a Dutchess County farm consultant and food activist, who is sizing up ways to expand production on the property in a variety of business, educational and community action venues. “We haven”™t quite figured out what we”™re going to do yet,” said Tassone-Giudice, who noted that running a restaurant and being a new mother were both time-consuming endeavors on top of overseeing an expanded farm operation.
But she”™s optimistic things will grow on the farm and in the business. “We”™re going to try and do as much as we can,” she said.
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Options include selling produce directly to the public from a farm stand on state Route 9 in Fishkill, as well as supplying other restaurants and health food venues with organic goods. There are considerations for sowing and working perhaps 20 to 30 acres of vineyards with the eventual aim of opening a small winery. Another option is creating a community-supported agriculture option that allows local families and businesses to contract in advance for a share of the harvest over the warm weather months from June to perhaps as late as early November.
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Baldwin, an enthusiastic advocate for the benefits of fresh and locally grown food, said he hopes the farm can be used to educate local school children about agriculture.
Right now, Eagle Farm harvests mainly tomatoes, green beans, herbs, “lots of squashes and winter squashes,” as well as carrots, radishes and garlic. Much of the fare for the restaurant is handpicked by restaurant staff for menus planned around fresh seasonal fare.
“Its wonderful how it translates into the restaurant, they come in and say what do you have today and they love going through the bushels we bring in, they get excited seeing the vegetables,” she said.
“That gets back to traditional Italian cooking, which was always based on what was in season,” said Tassone-Giudice.
And here again, they have ambitious ideas for combining fresh produce with a top-notch restaurant. “We want to get into a lot of the heirloom varieties of vegetables,” Tassone-Giudice said. “You can get the basic stuff from your produce company, but those specialty items are really fantastic.”