In Ancram, a Sweet Spot Thrives Again

It’s 8 a.m. on a Tuesday, and the fields are already shimmering under the heat of the sun. But the devotees are already hard at work at Ancram’s Thompson-Finch Farm, picking boxes full of organic strawberries, one seemingly more perfect than the next.

This summer ritual has been repeated on the farm since 1982, when Don and Marnie MacLean first decided to start an organic berry farm for the community. Marnie’s family has owned the land for five generations.

The enterprise almost collapsed. In 2015, the farm was facing a crisis that threatened to end the beloved ritual. The MacLean family feared the farm would not survive the passing of Marnie’s parents. In stepped the Columbia Land Conservancy, which in 2019 purchased the 196-acre property in a remarkable community effort that involved the Dutchess Land Conservancy, Scenic Hudson, Equity Trust and more than 300 local donors. The farm is now leased for 99 years to the MacLean family.

Since then Thompson-Finch farm has seen good years and lean years, as any farm does. Last year, however, various factors combined to make for a particularly hard season.

“We’re still here,” said Marnie, “and we’re doing well. Ultimately, it’s the humans that make it a good year,” she added, gesturing at a nearby farm hand.

Strawberry season is winding down but runs through the second week in July, when the action transitions to blueberry picking. Raspberries are next in the queue. It won’t be long. Already the blueberry bushes are sagging under the weight of their fruit and plenty of sun. Because of high demand, Marnie said, visitors are required to register the day before they want to pick strawberries.

“Our goal is for people not to leave feeling disappointed in their experience,” she said.

No matter their age, every picker has her or his own tactic for picking the elusive berries. “I put mine in my pocket,” said one 3-year old picker. “For later.”