Sept/Oct 2018
LexTalk
News from Lexington Co-op Markets
Meet The Growers:
Erdle Farm Silver Creek, NY
At just fourteen years old, Colin Erdle was carrying cartons of blueberries into the Co-op when it was on Lexington Ave. Today he stands alongside his dad Rich in one of their many grape fields that span more than 90 acres in the town of Silver Creek. On this land the Erdles cultivate blueberries, blackberries, and more than anything else, grapes. Seventy of their acres are devoted to grape production. Each season the Erdles produce five hundred tons of concord grapes, not to mention other varieties.
The Erdles are far from new to farming. The family began in the 1860s (yes, you read that correctly) on a farm in Sheridan, NY- just a few miles down the thruway from Erdle Farm. This long lineage of farmers makes Colin the sixth generation, and his daughter, who was sleeping during the photo shoot, the seventh generation to be raised on Erdle Farm land. An Erdle Farm tour would not be complete without a visit by farm dog Ruby. Undeterred by the towers of vines above her, Ruby keeps pace behind Colin as he
points out the farm’s irrigation stream, the weed-eating rye fields, and predator bird nests that are hoping to keep starlings from eating the crops. Ruby showed up behind the house one winter and became family by spring. Rooted deeper than the crops they grow is the Erdles’ love for the work they do and the people they do it with. Whether they are dropping names of other local farmers the Co-op should look into or picking up Ruby so she can rest her little legs, it is evident that family is what drives the farm.