Hoeffner farms providing farm-to-table produce

By Norma Brickner
Posted 7/20/22

A little ways into Goodwill Road in Montgomery is Hoeffner Farms. Family owned and operated since 1917, they offer a wide variety of flowers, herbs, farm fresh fruits and vegetables and even fresh …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Hoeffner farms providing farm-to-table produce

Posted

A little ways into Goodwill Road in Montgomery is Hoeffner Farms. Family owned and operated since 1917, they offer a wide variety of flowers, herbs, farm fresh fruits and vegetables and even fresh meat and eggs. Hoeffner farms prides themselves on providing local farm-to-table produce at 405 Goodwill Rd. in Montgomery.

Before entering the shop, patrons are greeted by the aroma of flowers on display including sunflowers, colorful petunias, daisies and they even just started growing their mums for the upcoming fall season. Wendy Calyer, the general manager of Hoeffner Farms, and the stepdaughter of owner, Jack Hoeffner, stated that Hoeffner Farms grows vegetables like sweet corn, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, pumpkin, potatoes. Wendy also mentions that she goes to the black dirt region in the Hudson Valley to get locally grown vegetables like garlic, carrots, and lettuce. She also outsources fruits like apricots, plums and cherries from other local farmers markets when she is low on produce saying “Whatever we don’t grow here, we try to get as local as possible.”

Hoeffner Farms also sells honey, syrup, pickles, kale, jams, onions, beets, and scallions. Although Hoeffner Farms does not house any cows on their property, they sell milk, a variety of cheese and freshly baked pies like apple crumb, peach, blueberry crumb, cherry crumb, apple, peach crumb, blueberry, and cherry. Hoeffner Farms is one-stop-shopping because the groceries that are not produced on the farm are bought from other local farms and sold at the Hoeffner Farms site.

Hoeffner Farms is home to about 500 crops on their roughly 250 acres of land and about 150 of those crops are housed in their greenhouse. Hoeffner Farms will also grow produce and plants for other farms who can only facilitate an open area for crops and not a greenhouse. “We’ve cut back a lot from what we used to do,” says Calyer. Alison Williams adds that the farm used to also raise pigs along with their chickens they are beginning to prepare for Thanksgiving.

Calyer collaborates with Williams when coordinating the growing seasons. They keep a book that tracks the weather trends comparing years side by side. Calyer says they work together to coordinate with the holidays and the weather patterns saying “weather is our biggest challenge out there.” At most, there are four seasonal workers to help during busy seasons and two people who tend to the farm year round. Calyer waited an extra two weeks longer than usual to begin planting for their Summer season, “this year we had a really cold start.” Calyer mentioned that the beginning of the Summer season was unusually hot, which isn’t good for tender young plants. ”You never know with Mother Nature.”

The next thing in store for Hoeffner farms is gathering peaches from local peach tree farms simply because, as Calyer states, “that’s the biggest thing that everybody looks for,” besides Hoeffner Farms’ delicious tomatoes and farm-fresh sweet corn.

Hoeffner Farms is open weekdays. 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. and 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. on Sundays.