Business Profile: The Meadows Farm, Yorktown
Photo credit: Neal Rentz
It is a little bit of country in a major commercial area of Yorktown.
Since 1958, The Meadows Farm has offered a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and flowers, with many of the produced items grown in its three farms.
The store has been owned and operated from the beginning by the Woodard family, consisting of Yorktown residents Richard and Francis Woodard and their son, Scott, who lives in Buchanan.
Scott Woodard said last week the family grows a wide variety of vegetables, including tomatoes, peppers, carrots, sweet corn, onions, garlic, leeks, and radishes. Most of the fruit is provided by a farm in Marlborough in upstate New York. One of the things he personally grows in sunflowers, Woodard said. Flowers are grown in the family’s greenhouses each spring.
The store is open every day from May 1 through Oct. 31.
The name Meadows came about because his father bought the farm store across from the street from where the family moved its business, Woodard said.
Much work is required before the store can open every spring, Woodard said. “You prepare the gardens and plant everything,” he explained. “When we harvest it, that’s when we sell it. In the wintertime we get the greenhouses going.” Maintenance of the farm equipment is also done during the winter, he noted.
The family owns three farms consisting of a total of about 80 acres in Somers, Putnam Valley and Mahopac. Produce is brought to the store every day, Woodard said.
What is the key to the success of The Meadows Farm? “We grow fresh and that’s what people want,” Woodard said.
Corn and tomatoes are the best sellers, Woodard said, adding that his customers have much to choose from every day. “All the time we’re getting something new,” he said.
Produce is sold on a seasonal basis. In the fall the store sells apples from Stuart’s Fruit Farm in Somers and a variety of Halloween-themed items are offered, including Indian corn, as well as fall mums.
Woodard said his family has very close relationships with their customers. “We love our customers,” he said. “If we know one’s not been here in a couple of weeks we worry about them.”
Woodard said he loves everything about his job. “It’s not like working,” he said. “Just go to work every day and enjoy it.”
Woodard said his family has simple goals for their establishment. “We want to make everybody happy,” he said. “Keep feeding the people. That’s what we strive to do and we seem to be doing a very good job”
The Meadows Farm is located at 329 Underhill Ave. in Yorktown. For more information call 914-962-4306, visit http://www.meadowsfarmmarket.com or send an e-mail to info@meadowsfarmmarket.com.
