When New Paltz farmer Sylvester (Pete) Taliaferro started thinking about retirement some years back, his initial assumption was that his eldest son Peter would inherit the family business – a 32-acre CSA located on prime alluvial land on the banks of the Wallkill River, at 187 Plains Road. It didn’t quite work out that way, but Taliaferro Farms will be staying in the family. The business is now being run by 29-year-old Delaney, the youngest and only daughter of Pete Sr. and his wife Robin.
It hadn’t been an easy task to keep Taliaferro Farms in the black since Pete, a veteran orchardist, and Robin, a teacher, first acquired the parcel in 1995. The back-to-back shocks of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee in 2011 nearly put them and several other local floodplain farming operations out of business, necessitating a flurry of benefit concerts and other community fundraisers. A deal for Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) negotiated in 2018 by Ulster County, the Town of New Paltz and Scenic Hudson, Inc. helped pay off some accumulated debts and stabilize the business, while ensuring that the land wouldn’t have to be carved up and sold off to developers.
When it came time to try to pass the torch to a new generation of Taliaferros, Pete Jr. was initially interested, but wanted to run the farm according to a different business model, according to Delaney. “He and my father didn’t see eye-to-eye,” she explains. Second son Ian – “a go-getter,” in his sister’s words – also explored the possibility of taking over, but wanted to build a home outside the envelope permitted under the PDR agreement. “Ian came back and it didn’t pan out,” Delaney says. Ian Taliaferro ultimately turned his focus back to the arborist business that he had founded.
The only sibling left to inherit the operation then was the younger sister, who was working at Rossi’s Rosticceria in Poughkeepsie while trying to establish a career as a singer. “I was very consistent on saying I would never do this [farming]. I thought it was really crazy,” says Delaney in retrospect.
In early 2020, the family leased the acreage to a young couple named Leah Munsey and Orlando Diaz, who ran the business for awhile under the name of The Lo Farm. Though they had taken over just as all hell was about to break loose with COVID, CSAs – with their ability to supply grocery pickups with minimal face-to-face contact – proved a valuable resource during the worst of the pandemic shutdowns. But the CSA operation at Taliaferro’s went on hiatus in 2021; Munsey and Diaz bought 25 acres of their own in Catskill and are now growing organic vegetables there, still as The Lo Farm.
Meanwhile, as the Taliaferro family was collectively contemplating its next move, Delaney was having second thoughts about her own career path. She had majored in Communications at Marist College, with a concentration in Journalism, while working at Rossi’s, and she continued working there after completing her degree, for a total of eight years. She had produced her own album, but didn’t see much prospect of paying her bills as a professional singer. “I was all over the place, doing a lot of different things, but nothing really fulfilled me,” she says. “So, I took a look at what made me happy, and that was definitely farming.”
Running a family farm is always a team effort, and through all her other endeavors, Delaney had “always worked at farmers’ markets,” she says, while her brothers mainly helped out at Taliaferro’s on-site farmstand and in running events, such as the monthly farm-to-table dinners that the farm has hosted on an ongoing basis for years now. “I decided I could do that: run the farmstand and the dinners.”
While she had little hands-on experience with actual farming up to that point, and nothing resembling a degree from an agriculture school, Delaney did have an ace in the hole: her father as free consultant. “I want to learn by doing. I have my own personal encyclopedia, which is my father,” she says. “He was ready to help me out. At first he tried to get some business partners: Erin Moylan and Ryan Ebert. But they were involved in the cannabis industry… They bought property in Copake and started farming cannabis there.” Delaney took inspiration from working with the couple briefly, however: “They helped put the fire back in my butt.”
In 2022, Taliaferro Farm’s CSA operation was reinstated on a small scale, with only about 50 members, while Delaney learned the ropes, driving tractors and switching out the attachments. “This year, it turned out that I was doing it by myself. My Dad has helped me a ton. My Mom helps me with events, and my brothers help out as well.” Also lending a hand is Delaney’s boyfriend, Joey Alzamora, and they’re now both living on-site.
Part of the challenge of running the operation is maintaining the necessary standards for organic certification, which needs to be renewed on an annual basis. “We’re still doing organic practice. I would never veer away from that,” Delaney says. “I am looking to do more agritourism. I want to teach people about food.”
To that end, Taliaferro Farm will be hosting one in what Delaney plans as a series of “food education workshops” on Sunday, August 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The presenter will be Dancing Greens Farm, based in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. “They’ll be talking about planting, composting, cooking,” she explains. Tickets cost $95 and can be purchased online at www.dancing-greens.com/shindigs/shindig-at-taliaferro-farms.
Also coming up later this month is the next in the Taliaferro Farm Farm-to-Table Dinner series, from 6 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, August 26. Tickets go for $125. “Each includes a five-course meal with local wine and cider, live music and a talk,” says Delaney. “This month’s will feature Fjord Winery, out of Marlboro.” To view the mouthwatering menu (vegetarian options are available for all courses) and to reserve tickets, visit https://taliaferrofarmssecondgeneration.com/products/farm-to-table-tickets-coming-soon.
Finally, although full weekly CSA shares are fully sold out for 2023, it’s still possible to obtain a $100 Farm Card membership, to be used at your convenience throughout the growing season, which ends the week before Thanksgiving. Under Delaney’s leadership, there’s a new website at https://taliaferrofarmssecondgeneration.com.
Join the family! 
