“In Gratitude for the Earth.” So reads the inscription on the stone plaque now affixed to the façade of the Sally and Bill Vasse Pavilion, which was officially dedicated on June 12 to two longtime volunteers at Phillies Bridge Farm in Gardiner. Coinciding with the Phillies Bridge Farm Project’s annual shareholder meeting, a day of activities was organized in honor of the Vasses, including appreciative speeches by staff and board members, farm tours led by assistant farm manager Rhyston Mays and a buffet of food and drink donated by Vladimir and Haewon Feltsman, culminating in a mimosa toast.
According to organizers, part of the purpose of the special event was to “commemorate a successful year during which the Food Justice and Education Programs were greatly expanded and much work was done to improve the farm infrastructure. The Covid-19 pandemic presented some very significant challenges, but the farm staff and volunteers readily adapted to meet community needs. Children’s education was expanded to assist parents while schools were shuttered: a program that will be retained to meet afterschool educational needs next year. The farm crew implemented new processes to ensure safe share distribution to members of the Community-Supported Agriculture program while distancing requirements were in effect. And members and supporters donated record amounts to the farm’s Food Justice Program during a time when the need was great.”
But much of last Saturday was devoted to singing the praises of Bill and Sally Vasse, active supporters of Phillies Bridge Farm – the oldest CSA in the mid-Hudson region – since its founding in 1995. Organized on a cooperative model, Phillies Bridge Farm has a small paid staff, plus several student interns. The Vasses are among several members of the Board of Directors who have been involved in a hands-on way from the very beginning, still playing an active role in the running of the farm.
Located on a 65-acre parcel at 45 Phillies Bridge Road, between New Paltz and Gardiner, that had once been part of the LeFevre patent, the farm had been purchased by Mary and James Ottaway, Jr. in 1984. They decided to make the land available for a demonstration farm that would focus on organic techniques and community education, organized by Mohonk Consultations under the leadership of Dan Guenther, Helen Vukasin, Gayil Greene and the Working Group on Family Farms. A new organization called the Phillies Bridge Farm Project was created to lease the land, and it obtained not-for-profit status in 1999. In 2002 the Ottaways donated the land to the Project, with a conservation easement placed on the land, held by the Wallkill Valley Land Trust.
The CSA went through a rough patch in 2013, when two staff farmers committed 60 shares to New York City members and ended up spending an excessive amount of time delivering produce to them. That situation, plus a poor growing season, pest problems and depleted soils, led to the resignation of the executive director and the firing of the two farmers. The harvest was terminated early that year, and shareholders given a partial rebate of their investments.
In his speech dedicating the recently renovated Pavilion to them, Phillies Bridge Farm Project vice-president Jim Longbotham gave much of the credit to Bill and Sally Vasse for keeping the enterprise afloat during that “very trying time in 2014” when the farm “came close to shutting down. Sally spent her tenure as president rallying the community, near and far, to help get the Farm Project back on its feet. She spoke then, and continues to speak now, with such conviction about the mission of this farm and its three pillars: farming, education and food justice. Bill was faithful to the farm by stepping up his financial support of various key fundraising projects, including the renovation of this old Gray Barn, supporting Food Justice efforts and programs for those with limited access to healthy veggies and most recently, supporting our Phillies for All Accessibility campaign.”
Much of the couple’s work was focused on organizing fundraising events, with “Sally out in the front of the house, and Bill in the back of the house.” But Longbotham also recalled several instances in which the Vasses literally got their hands dirty: picking vegetables at dawn in the face of an approaching hurricane, helping to clear what would eventually become the farm’s 1.5-mile Nature Trail or filling wheelbarrows with rocks on the Volunteer Build Day for the farm’s new “high tunnel” hoop-house.
The renovation of the Sally and Bill Vasse Pavilion is part of the farm’s recent campaign to make its facilities more accessible – in a literal sense, for people with mobility issues, as well as for people facing financial hardships. Over the pandemic year, its gravel floor was replaced with concrete, and walls were constructed along its open sides in anticipation of making it a four-season space. Two walk-in coolers were built, and a commercial kitchen and handicapped-accessible bathroom will be added in the foreseeable future.
The front of the big open space, called the Harvest Room, is where CSA shareholders come to pick up their weekly bags of produce, from shelf units on wheels that can be easily reconfigured as needed. In the rear is the area for washing, packing and processing vegetables: crucial processes formerly accomplished in the farm’s much-smaller Education Room, according to Mays. In the Pavilion, even the industrial sink and repurposed bathtub are on wheels, making it possible to push everything back against the walls and use the space for educational events.
Under the leadership of farm director Heather Wodehouse, supported by a dedicated board and staff, energetic apprentices, generous donors and volunteers, the Phillies Bridge Farm Project has made a vigorous comeback from its time of crisis. While CSA shares are sold out for the 2021 summer season, plans are afoot to expand a Winter Farm Share program that was beta-tested on a small scale during the pandemic, so it’s not too soon to think about securing your own weekly bag of cold-season veggies later this year. To learn more about the farm, its myriad programs and upcoming events, visit https://philliesbridge.org or www.facebook.com/philliesbridge.
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