HUG FARM
By Anne Muller

The enjoyment of the summer has been greatly enhanced by the wonderful VEGANIC food that we’ve been blessed with from the Huguenot Street Farm – or Hug Farm for short.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture), they are farms that get their support from people who prepay for food in the winter to be collected during the summer and fall seasons.  Here in New Paltz, we’re lucky to have so many organic CSAs to choose from.  There’s one farm that is particularly outstanding because it is beyond organic, it is VEGANIC.  No animal products or by-products are used in the growing of produce.  Hug Farm, until this fall, has been owned and operated by Ron and Kate Khosla, and let me not leave out their brilliant farm manager, Gavin Rinkor, who has been producing amazing food through hurricanes, freak snow storms, lashing winds, and weirdly freezing temperatures. I think Gavin’s middle name is Houdini.
To get an idea of how special this place is, visit   http://flyingbeet.com/ and check out the videos, and especially the description of what veganic farming is and why the Khoslas do it.
New Paltz was declared a disaster area following the hurricane that hit the northeastern US.  People’s homes washed away and farms were flooded. Much attention was paid to the pumpkins that floated down the Wallkill River, never to become Jack-o-lanterns or pumpkin pie.  That, of course, put a huge strain on the farmers who toiled so hard to produce their crops.  It also took a heavy toll on the wild animals who couldn’t fly away.  Small mammals in particular were drowned in the raging river.  That’s not even to mention the freak snowstorm that dumped 10 inches of snow in October on all the new food that was starting to grow after the hurricane!

During that time of severe flooding, as Kate tells it, Ron was out kayaking in the floodwater, inspecting the damage from Hurricane Irene, and he found a bunny floating on a piece of blown-down greenhouse plastic.  He put the bunny in the kayak and brought him to the house (instead of just out of the flood) because he wasn’t sure if the bunny was old enough to be on his own.  Kate said, “I watched over him ‘til the flood was over and he proved he would be okay alone out there.   We only kept him for a few days, because he was eating and pooping and doing everything he was supposed to be doing...so once the flood was gone we put him back out in the field.  Hopefully he’s still doing well!“
We thank Kate and Ron Khosla for making us healthier and happier!  Be sure to read all about their amazing philosophy and practice of farming.  Once again, visit   
http://flyingbeet.com/