Rising to the Occasion
Photos provided by Blackberry Hill Farms.
Fed up with factory-farmed fast food and industrial agriculture, Blackberry Hill Farm makes fresh organic breads and pantry staples the slow way.
Before he founded Blackberry Hill Farm, Bob Barody was a vegetarian for four years. Disillusioned by the poor quality and nutritional content of mass-produced meat, he was determined to find an alternative. That’s when he began pursuing regenerative farming.
In 2016, Bob left his job as a mechanic in a local school district to start Blackberry Hill Farm on 25 acres in Athol, NY.
“This is new age farming, not the old-school factory farming done with chemical sprays that destroys everything and ruins farmland,” he said.
A first-generation homesteader, Bob discovered through online research and the works of farmer, author, and speaker Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farm in Shenandoah Valley, VA, that farming doesn’t have to be destructive, it can be done in a way that restores the soil’s nutrients while also producing healthy, great-tasting food.
Certification Hurdles
In 2017, Blackberry Hill Farm was just one of two farms in the county to earn the USDA’s coveted “Certified Organic” distinction. At its peak, the farm grew a variety of organic vegetables, raised heritage-breed pigs, chickens, and a small herd of cows.
During the pandemic, however, Bob scaled back, and flipped his business model from producing approximately 80-percent meat and vegetables, to making mostly value-added foods. Although his farming methods didn’t change, he dropped the “certified organic” labeling. To safeguard the integrity of the certification it has become the most heavily regulated and closely monitored food label offered. But the extensive record-keeping required to maintain it often comes at too high a price for small farmers.
“Everyone throws around the word ‘organic’ when they don’t know what it means. You have to jump through so many hoops that I’d need a full-time person just to keep track of the accounting but there’s only three of us here that do this; me, myself, and I,” said Bob.
Slow Sourdough vs. Fast Sour-Faux
Even without the label, Bob still practices the principles of organic food production, and by building a wood-fired oven and commercial kitchen on-site, he is now able to create the sweet and spicy mustard for the public that he’s been making for his own friends and family for the past 30 years.
A pleasing, zesty, creamy combination, the mustard is the condiment of choice to dip his chewy Bavarian style soft pretzels in, or to slather on the assortment of organic artisan breads and bagels he makes from scratch.
Breadmaking the way Bob does it is a long, slow process.
Bob’s sourdough bread, for example, is made with hand-ground organic flour.
The starter is mixed on Sunday, the dough is prepared, kneaded, and stretched
on Monday, giving it ample time to rise. Baking day is Tuesday, so the bread is ready to be sold on Wednesday.
These handmade breads remain fresh for about a week, depending on the temperature at which they’re stored.
The mass-produced “sour-faux” breads found on supermarket shelves, by comparison, are made in as little as four hours from start to finish, and numerous — potentially carcinogenic — additives and preservatives are used to allow these pseudo-breads to tolerate the harsh industrial processing conditions they’re subjected to and to maintain a longer shelf-life.
Fresh & Market Ready
Scaling back from working the five farmers markets Bob sold at previously, now Blackberry Hill Farm products can be found at just three area markets and the Deli and Meat Store of the North in Warrensburg. Since January, Bob has been enjoying his first year at the Glens Falls Farmers Market and is finding that a lot of people who don’t attend the winter market have come out for the summer market on South Street.
It took seven years for his space to open at the Glens Falls Farmers Market. Put on the waiting list because other vendors offered similar products, although he didn’t originally specialize in bagels, when the vendor who did left (creating an opening) Bob added the hearty, golden breakfast item to his menu of offerings.
It has since become one of his most popular items – especially the Everything bagel variety – which is, hands-down, his best-seller, he said.
In addition to Bob’s bagels, his rustic bread loaves, baguettes, and English muffins are typically made with just four ingredients, instead of the 40 you’ll find in many name brand breads on supermarket shelves.
Farm fresh pizzas, made with Bob’s own dough, seasonal garden vegetables, and meats, are a joyful, sustainable, local spin on the universally-loved comfort food.
Blackberry Hill Farm also sells pantry items including gourmet popcorn, granola, coffee, and local honey on their barn-to-door website www.blackberryhillfarmadk.com.
Tour the grounds of Blackberry Hill Farm and see where great bread is made during Thurman’s annual Farm Tour, held on Saturday, October 24th this year, and during Thurman’s Maple Days in March. For updates, follow them on Facebook @BlackberryHillFarmNY, and Instagram @BlackberryFarm1