BREWSTER- Summer is an especially busy season for SPACE on Ryder Farm, a non-profit program that combines artist residencies and organic farming in a unique way.
Ryder Farm is one of the oldest family-owned farms on the East Coast and was established in 1795 located on the ancestral land of the Wappinger people on the grounds of a 227-year-old family homestead at the Putnam-Westchester County line. It was also one of the first adopters of organic farming.
In 2011, an eighth generation Ryder founded SPACE to give artists time and space to do their work while simultaneously preserving her family’s farm.
Since its founding, there have been over 1,400 residents at SPACE on Ryder Farm.
During their stay, residents are free to explore the many workspaces, fields and gardens across the property. There is also a lake with canoes and paddle boards available.
Each resident is asked to give back something to the farm over the course of their stay. For many, this means dedicating a period of time to work in the garden. For others, it has been as simple as a poem or tarot reading.
But sadly after 13 years, the artistic and agricultural haven has announced that its current writers’ residency, the Working Farm, will be its last for the foreseeable future.
The organization’s farming operation will continue through the end of 2024, fulfilling a contract with Putnam County Cornell Cooperative Extension to contribute 50,000 pounds of fresh produce to emergency food providers throughout New York in addition to its local farm stand members. The organization will then suspend operations, but not dissolve, while the board investigates options for SPACE’s future sustainability.
SPACE at Ryder Farm co-chair Janet Olshansky was saddened. “We have worked tirelessly to keep this extraordinary organization alive, but the challenges of the last four years, including the pandemic and the loss of major funding sources, have become insurmountable. We are incredibly proud…
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