How important is the aspect of that, that the majority of the land was kept as a working farm?

It's interesting because I didn't actually come to this story intending for that to be the focus.

It's something that kind of emerged through the reporting as I learned more about this land.

I first came to the story because my editors and I, you know, we drive by this property pretty often and we knew Hardy Roots had been going through this three-year transition and we were wondering whether this would finally be the year they could start harvesting certified organic veggies there.

So I reached out to Ben and found out that it was in fact like the first year and I kind of thought that would be the crux of the story.

But as I started talking to some other farmers and town officials and organic farming advocates and learned a bit more about the history of the property, And the effort that went into protecting it, I kind of came to understand how significant that part of the story was.

And of course, you know, we can't go back in time and know what would have happened to this land if the town hadn't stepped in.

So what does the future of Hardy Roots look like now that they have the farm in Red Hook operative and the Claremont property also operative?