Extreme rainfall, flooding devastates local farm

PINE PLAINS —  Mark Stonehill and Miriam Goler, the farmers of Full Circus Farm, set up a GoFundMe on Thursday, July 20, after heavy rainfall and an overflowing stream caused their vegetable field to flood, costing them the vast majority of their vegetable crops this season.

“After receiving a combined 9 inches of rain over 5 days, our stream jumped its banks and flooded our main vegetable field,” the GoFundMe page read. According to Stonehill, while many of the vegetable plants are still alive and vegetables appear intact, federal regulations prohibit them from selling the affected crops.

“There are pretty strict regulations in place that the federal government has to try to prevent E. Coli outbreaks and other food safety issues related to crops that have been inundated with floodwater,” Stonehill said. “…Many of our crops have been lost because they’re potentially contaminated.” Some crops, such as tomatoes were unaffected and others, such as cut flowers, can still be distributed, as they do not pose a food safety risk.

Stonehill and Goler weren’t the only people impacted by the farm’s flooding. Full Circus Farm is in its ninth year of community supported agriculture (CSA), in which community members purchase shares of produce at the beginning of the season. Stonehill and Goler are working to ensure that people who rely on their CSA shares as a source of fresh food are still able to be fed.

“We have a number of CSA members who receive financial support from other CSA members … that are able to donate to make our CSA food more accessible to folks in the community and so, when we fundraised, we asked for donations specifically to refund those families for whom not receiving this food in the fall will be a burden,” said Stonehill.

Matthew Kelly of Pine Plains, who is in his second year of CSA membership at Full Circus Farm, was saddened to see the damage to the farm and joined a group of volunteers helping to clean up flood debris.

“Driving in [today] was a little melancholy, … and watching three people rake stones and dirt, I thought, ‘This is not a normal pick up day,’” Kelly said.

Stonehill and Goler hit their GoFundMe’s $18,500 goal within 17 hours, and donations on the site were disabled after they reached $24,696. “I think there’s been a really incredible outpouring of support. Other farmers have offered to donate produce … and we have money now to pay other farmers for their hard work and buy produce to feed our CSA members,” Stonehill said.

The stream at Full Circus Farm in Pine Plains overflowed, flooding the vegetable field. Photo By Emma Benardete

Full Circus farmer Miriam Goler cleans up flood damage. Photo By Emma Benardete

The stream at Full Circus Farm in Pine Plains overflowed, flooding the vegetable field. Photo By Emma Benardete