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Hannah Selinger’s lovely story on Quail Hill’s 35th anniversary is one of faves of the year. (Photo credit: Doug Young)

I learned so much reading this story about the venerable (and, quite frankly, super boot-strappy) Quail Hill Farm. Growing up on eastern Long Island, I took our farms for granted. With one right around the corner from our family home, my mom would hand me a buck or two and send me out to Anita Bartilucci’s little farmstand for whatever we didn’t grow ourselves, and it all just felt pretty normal to a kid who didn’t understand the value of land, the work of farming or what it takes to preserve both.

The notion that they were one of the country’s first CSA (community supported agriculture) models boggles my mind — a giant piece of progressive agricultural history right here under our noses — and how the work and passion of so many wonderful, dogged people, from risk-taking original farmer Bill Willet to Scott Chaskey, who took over for the latter and brought QH into its full bloom, to current farmer and steward Layton Guenther to Peconic Land Trust founder John v.H. Halsey, to the amazing Deborah Ann Light, who gave her land so that Quail Hill could have a happy farming home in perpetuity.

Hannah Selinger‘s story is one I think everyone should take a moment to read (or listen to on our podcast) — check it out here.

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