Plowbreak Farm — Farming to Feed a Community

August 2, 2017

Perched on 33 acres of farmland overlooking Seneca Lake, Plowbreak Farm supplies over 100 community-supported agriculture (CSA) shareholders with prodigious amounts of vegetables. Even more veggies are sold wholesale to GreenStar and restaurants in Ithaca, Trumansburg, Watkins Glen, and the Seneca Lake region. Farmers Kara Cusolito and Aaron Munzer combine continuous refinement of the farm’s efficiency with practices that enhance natural systems — building soil fertility with organic matter, extending the growing season with hoop houses, and farming in accordance with the Certified Naturally Grown program, which adheres to the USDA Organic standards.

This summer, look for Plowbreak’s “Toy Box Tomatoes,” a multicolored mix of cherry tomato varieties, in the West End and DeWitt Produce Departments.

Kara and Aaron, both alumni of Ithaca College’s journalism program, graduated into the recession of 2008. With no journalism jobs on the horizon, the couple traveled, working on farms around the world. They landed back in the Ithaca area as caretakers for a small farmstead, and when their personal garden started yielding more than they could eat, they looked for a way to sell the excess. An 8-share CSA became a 35-share CSA the following year, and in four years they were supplying 100 families with their choice of 113 varieties of vegetables and herbs!

The farm focuses exclusively on vegetables (an early attempt at raising chickens was scratched) using intensive growing methods. Hoop houses allow for year-round production of greens and early production of other crops, like tomatoes. The farm mechanizes more tasks each year, seeking a level of efficiency that allows for serious food production. “My goal as a farmer is to produce an amount of food that will really impact the local supply,” says Kara.

With both holding part-time jobs off the farm — Kara works as GreenStar’s Board Administrator, and Aaron as co-manager of the Ithaca Farmers Market — spare time is precious, but it’s spent enjoying the farm’s bounty. “We love cooking good meals,” Kara said. “There’s no point in being a vegetable farmer if you’re just going to eat PB&Js!”

At GreenStar, most of what Plowbreak supplies to the store goes into deli and hot bar dishes (see below), but you can find the farm’s packaged herbs and cherry tomatoes at the West End and DeWitt stores. Look for them now!