farm
wild russet farm is a 20-acre regenerative produce farm in jeffersonville, new york producing over 150 varieties of high-quality vegetables, fruits and herbs, a blossoming flower program, organic-fed pasture-raised eggs and raw wildflower honey. we grow all our products using sustainable practices with particular attention to the ecology of the land. we strive to provide our customers with access to unique varieties that bring diversity, color and flavor to the local marketplace. our produce and products are available at the narrowsburg farmers’ market, liberty farmers’ market, local restaurants, direct from the farm, and through our csa program.
our aim is to demonstrate a self-sustaining way of life, living in conjunction with nature, working to increase the biological diversity and the productivity of the land. with a diverse population of farm animals, utilizing the practice of cover-cropping, companion planting & crop-rotation, our goal is to build a food system that works to build life into the soil & captures carbon from the atmosphere while increasing the ecological diversity of our environment. the sheep fertilize the soil under the fruit trees, the chickens forage for worms and seeds after the ewes graze, the bees pollinate the flowers, the crops grow, the fruit ripens & the system repeats itself.
farmers
ryan & ashli watson
we are first-generation farmers that come by way of california and now happily reside in our small town, on the farm with our two cats and our flock of sheep & chickens. wild russet farm is a dream realization through much careful thought, lots of hard work and exploration of imagination. we hope to uphold the standards & learn the lessons from those who came before us and to serve our community as a nutrient providers, ecologists, activists for the land and healthy food production.
after graduating from UCLA with a degree in political science & history, and spending his twenties backpacking, ryan watson eventually wanted to become an urban farmer. ryan began his agrarian path in 2013 when he founded North Brooklyn Farms, a public green space, urban farm and event venue at the historic Domino Sugar Factory in brooklyn, new york. The project was functioned as a publicly-accessible green space with a small scale urban farm, weekly farmers market, volunteer operation, and thriving farm dinners and events. ryan also began working with Slow Food NYC in 2013, as their principal school garden consultant for the urban harvest program, which serves more than 2,000 children per school year in underserved communities. ryan moved to the sullivan catskills in 2015, the biggest wild apple harvest in decades, where he began apprenticing with renowned cidermaker and author Andy Brennan (Aaron Burr Cidery). As a farmers market representative for Aaron Burr Cider, ryan became part of a community of farmers in western sullivan county and found a site to farm at former successful sullivan county nursery (Silver Heights Farm). In 2016, the little slice of jeffersonville became wild russet farm.
ashli watson is a practicing architectural licensure candidate and graduate in architecture from the University of Virginia in charlottesville. after working in architecture and construction in los angeles and new york city, ashli gained passion for sustainable design and direction that steered her path towards integration of healthy living systems & agriculture into architecture & the built environment . ashli’s work with David Hertz of Studio Environmental Architecture, BKSK, JAZ Architect, & Mabbott Seidel Architecture and Build developed her skillsets of 3D Building Information Modeling (BIM) , visualization & rendering, GIS & graphic mapping. the cross over of fields has allowed ashli to use planning tools and programming to execute farm projects and develop systems & efficiencies, while absorbing tactical skills on the farm and learning from farmer ry in the field. ashli serves as a board member on the Sullivan Alliance for Sustainable Development, and is working on independent & collaborative architecture & construction projects with firms in NYS.