Meet the Farmer
Principal farmer & dreamer, Chaya Lipkind has a Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture from the University of Vermont and loves veggies more than life itself. A Brooklyn native, Chaya spent 7 years working in a financial company before transitioning into sustainable agriculture.
In 2012, she founded Dreamland Harvest, a diversified organic vegetable farm located in Monticello, NY that sold fresh produce to local and New York City residents. In 2015, when demand for the farm’s produce outstripped the available growing area, Chaya collaborated with a group of friends to purchase a larger tract of land in the Hudson Valley that became the new home for an expanded Dreamland Harvest farming operation within a larger art, music, and wellness community.
Our Story
Dreamland Harvest was established in 2012 by Chaya Lipkind at the farm’s original location in Monticello, NY. When the demand for the farm’s produce exceeded the available growing area, Chaya and a group of friends searched for the perfect new location and, in 2015, purchased the current Dreamland property, formerly a summer camp in the ‘50s and ‘60s, and a local stagecoach stop back in the ‘20s.
Chaya broke ground on the new farm in 2018. We grow a wide variety of specialty vegetables, culinary herbs, edible flowers, and mushrooms using sustainable agricultural methods. We don’t use any chemicals, synthetic fertilizers, or pesticides. Instead, we build healthy soil through crop rotation, companion planting, soil testing, and compost application. Our seeds are primarily organic and heirloom varieties.
A day on the farm at our original location in Monticello, NY
Our Farm
What makes Dreamland Harvest unique is our focus on the nutritional density of our crops and on growing a wide diversity of specialty vegetables, herbs and flowers. We’re constantly trying new varieties to find ones that have the most flavor and the most beautiful appearance.
Our goal is to grow produce with such high levels of nutritional density that it truly is food as medicine. To determine nutrient density, we test our crops’ electro-conductivity, sugar content and nutrient sap levels throughout the growing season. We also test our soils in the spring and fall for multiple indicators of soil health such as macro and micro nutrient availability and soil organic matter. We amend our soils with natural minerals and compost to balance any deficiencies that came up in our analysis.
A lovely byproduct of nutritionally dense produce is stellar quality and phenomenal flavor. Our specialty and heirloom varieties thrive in our mineral rich soil, develop mouthwatering flavors, and stay fresh longer.