By Layla Burke Hastings
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Editor’s Note: In the print edition of this story, the name of Prussack’s farm was incorrectly referred to as High Meadow Farm, when in fact it is High Meadows Farm.
WESTMINSTER WEST, Vt. — In early 1970, Howard Prussack came to Vermont to farm. Over the course of that summer, the Brooklyn teenager fell in love with the Green Mountain State. So much so, he never went back.
After a year of living and working in Vermont, Prussack began managing a farm in 1971. Half a decade later, he acquired the farm. With a new owner and renewed mission, the farm name became known as High Meadows Farm.
“I have a passion for soil building,” said Prussack, who became a certified organic farmer and moved his farm a mile down the road in 1979.
High Meadows Farm is the oldest certified organic farm in the state. Prussack’s business, which is 90% wholesale, has customers as far north as Burlington and as far south as Connecticut with Whole Foods stores.
“We are all over Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut. We run two trucks,” Prussack said. “We’re in the Upper Valley. We’re at Hanover in Lebanon Co-op. We sell to three more places in Burlington and we do all the Whole Foods stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut.”
Imelda Reilly has worked at High Meadows Farms for eight seasons. At this time of year she is busy in the greenhouse sowing seeds and talking about the process of raising organic tomatoes.
“We are grafting our tomatoes. Essentially you have a root stock which has really strong roots and is disease-resistant,” Reilly said. “We have plants just bred to be disease resistant and really vital and strong. Then we graft them with tomato strains to the tops that are delicious and fancy.”
The tomatoes have disease-resistant root stalks and the tops of the plants are gourmet specialty varieties.
“We’re going to take the top and splice it onto those hardy roots and you’ve got the best of both worlds; delicious, hardy and disease resistant,” she said. “You essentially cut the plants in half and place the two together.”
The farm produces a high yield of flavorful, disease-resistant tomatoes at 28 pounds per plant every season.
“We have indoor raspberries and we do early strawberries undercover. We’ll have those beginning in June. They are delicious strawberries,” Prussack said.
Prussack also runs a self-serve farm stand with virtually all-day service, as people stop at all hours to shop for produce.
The farm pays a living wage, a fact that Prussack is especially proud of.
“We pay almost $20 per hour. I wish I could offer other things, but I do pay my help well and they can take vegetables and plants home with them,” he said.
Three years ago, Prussack started growing organic CBD hemp. Now, he is offering a “pick your own” option to customers.
There are six greenhouses on the farm, which are currently being filled with seed starts and cuttings in preparation for the six acres of outdoor hand planting.
“We have black garlic. We sell a lot of that to the surrounding stores. It’s fermented. That’s what makes it black. It’s heart healthy and it has a unique flavor profile unlike anything you have ever tasted,” Prussack said. “It has a truffle-like flavor. It’s wonderful in soups, stir fries, sauces, or just on a baguette with cheese.”
All parts of the farming process are quite enjoyable on High Meadows Farm. But for Prussack, it is the little things like sprouts popping through the soil that bring him the most joy.
He said the pest control is natural, as he doesn’t like to spray at all, even if it is organic.
Prussack releases ladybugs in the greenhouses instead. Outdoors, there is a well-crafted ecosystem of pest control.
“We have built the soil up here and done everything as naturally as possible over the last 30 years to a place where we have natural pest eating predators like the praying mantis.”
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