Deborah Ann Light Preserve

Farmers leasing land have included:

• Balsam Farms: Alex Balsam and Ian Calder-Piedmonte are growing vegetables on the land and running a successful farm stand.
• Amber Waves Farm: Former Quail Hill Farm apprentices, Katie Baldwin and Amanda Merrow, are growing wheat and vegetables on the land.
• Bees’ Needs: Mary Woltz has been raising her bees on the land at the Light, Town Lane, and Quail Hill Preserves for many years.
• Three Sons Farm: Steve Marzo is growing over 20 vegetable row crops and donating the bulk of his food to local food pantries with the remainder going to local grocers to provide affordable food choices for local consumers.
  
• Summerhill Nurseries: Declan Blackmore and his team are growing trees and shrubs on this land, which was in nursery stock prior to its donation to the Trust
• The Hoppy Acre: a former Quail Hill Farm apprentice, Gregg Kessler, is growing hops.
• Amagansett Sea Salt: leasing land at the Town Lane Preserve, Steve and Natalie Judelson have been working with our local waters to create finishing sea salt. (Finishing salts form on the surface of salt ponds.)
• Ocean to Earth Gardens: vegetables, herbs, and flowers
• Sand & Soil: vegetables

In addition, the Trust’s Quail Hill Farm also cultivates portions of the Deborah Ann Light and Town Lane preserve fields with vegetables and flowers as part of its Community Supported Agriculture program.

In 1995, at the time of Deborah Ann Light’s gift, Trust President John v.H. Halsey said: “While this gift has been made to the Peconic Land Trust, it is truly a benefit to the entire community. This special part of Amagansett will remain as productive farmland and open space for many generations to come. Deborah has always been a dedicated steward of land. Now she has transferred that responsibility to the Trust and provided for our ability to manage it properly for many years to come. We are honored by the confidence she has placed in us.” To look back at the time of the gift, please see our April 1995 newsletter.

Deborah’s gift was the most significant conservation donation to the Trust at the time — and became the basis for the Trust’s future work with farmers, both new and established. Of the farmers leasing at the preserve, Balsam Farms has been there the longest, establishing their operation in 2004 with one acre. In an article in the Trust’s 2011 newsletter, Alex described catching the farming bug by the age of 12 while spending summers on the East End, and becoming an unofficial apprentice at Quail Hill Farm in those early years.