Quail Hill Farm: Field Notes: Opening Day is Almost Here
May 14, 2026
By Madison Aldrich
On opening day, farm members can expect to take home these late spring crops: Arugula, Broccoli Raab, Collards, Kale, Mustards, Radishes, Swiss Chard, Turnips, Pea Shoots, Oregano, Thyme, and Chives. If this beautiful weather continues over the next two weeks, there could be enough growth to add Escarole, Scallions, Dill and Cilantro. With warm weather on the way, your harvest baskets will soon be overflowing.
Also on opening day, new members can join the first of several Welcome Walks, required to maximize their farm experience. It meets at 9 am at the Farm Stand on Deep Lane. Sign up today with this linked RSVP form.
Peconic Land Trust and Quail Hill Farm remain ever thankful to the foresight of Deborah Ann Light who deeded those first 20 acres to the Trust to be preserved as farmland, that acreage now grown to 220 acres up Deep Lane and along Town Lane and known as the Deborah Ann Light Preserve. How fortunate we are that her son Mike Light shares that vision and continues, in various ways, to support this noble experiment known as Community Supported Agriculture. As CSA members, you share with the farmers both the joys and risks inherent in growing food – its success dependent on sunny days, sufficient irrigation, good soil, and a skilled farm crew.
Spring is a time of much optimism. Morale is high and the work is enjoyable. The weather cooperates and the weeds are slow growing. We walk around the fields and believe everything is going to be perfect. It’s the same every year. We forget all the difficulties that are certain to come. We have exciting new infrastructure on Birch Hill: an irrigation well and power source. We’re enjoying the bliss of springtime farming even though challenges loom. We’re still experimenting with our new direct seeder, and this and spotty germ has delayed the first carrot seeding. And, at this time of year, we’re usually favored with spring rains and do not need to irrigate. Alas, while there have been several intermittent blips of rain, none have been very significant – so we’re forced to irrigate, spending unanticipated time and effort.
A big challenge for me as a manager is familiarizing our new farmers with all the small and large systems that keep this place running as well as supplementing the work with enriching classroom instruction on a weekly basis. As we enter May, all this training starts to pay off and it’s a joy to see the crew become more confident and autonomous.
I’m very grateful to have such an amazing team for the 2026 season; they are all exceptionally talented and dedicated. I look forward to introducing them to you on harvest days and you’ll hear directly from them in the Meet Your Farmer sections of upcoming newsletters. Besides growing the best vegetables ever, my main goal is to instill in our farmers the importance of working collectively, with everyone taking true ownership of their areas of responsibility. The crew is comprised of Farm Coordinators, new Apprentices, and Brendan and Les, Peconic Land Trust farmers from the North Fork who one day a week lend the farm their tractor and equipment maintenance expertise.
It’s now time to prepare your harvesting kits – baskets, bags, snippers, gloves, sunblock, hats and water. I look forward to seeing you in the fields!
Madison Aldrich
Senior Farm Manager, Quail Hill Farm
MAldrich@PeconicLandTrust.org