WASSAIC — Tucked into the hills just off Old Route 22, Douglas Broughton operates an indoor cannabis farm — and this spring, he plans to open a dispensary in downtown Millerton.
The Wassaic-based grower signed a lease Dec. 1 for the former Demitasse storefront at 32 Main St. He plans to reopen the space as the Black Rabbit Farms cannabis dispensary following modest renovations.
The work will include cosmetic updates and the installation of freestanding, custom-made display cabinets.
Broughton said he hopes to open in April, but red tape at the New York Office of Cannabis Management could delay the opening.
The Millerton storefront will mark another milestone for the 63-year-old farmer, who has been cultivating cannabis since the 1990s, when the plant was still illegal.
Cannabis branches hang after being weighed.Photo by Nathan Miller
“I just loved the plant and how it grew,” Broughton said. “It’s a very alien plant — it seems like it came from a different planet.”
In the early 1990s, Broughton was bartending in Brooklyn and couch-surfing after becoming disenchanted with the television broadcast industry. As an Asian American, he said his dreams of becoming a leading man or primetime news anchor were dashed by what he described as discrimination in the industry.
Broughton, who was raised in Washington state, initially moved to New York City in the late 1980s, when a series of internships brought him out east. Rather than return home to complete his degree, he opted to stay and try to make it on his own.
By 1995, Broughton was regularly growing multiple plants on the roof of an apartment building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, selling small quantities of the plant on the black market to customers at the bar where he worked.
“Bartending in the city is pretty good,” Broughton said. “It was just that I didn’t want to bartend.”
His chance to leave bartending came in 2000, when he met Joe Murray, known in New York City’s cannabis scene as “AJ Sour Diesel” for pioneering the Sour Diesel strain, prized for its strong effects and pungent odor.
Broughton said Murray helped expand the operation, allowing him to rely on cannabis cultivation as his primary source of income beginning in 2000.
Broughton moved to his home in Wassaic in 2016, where he operated a black market farm until New York state legalized cannabis and began accepting license applications in 2021.
A crop of cannabis at the end of its growing cycle waits to be processed into wholesale products for sale in southern New York.Photo by Nathan Miller
He said his age was a factor in deciding to get a license and form a legitimate enterprise. Broughton, nearly 60 at the time New York legalized cannabis for recreational use, had been running illicit grow operations for decades and said the anxiety of avoiding law enforcement had worn him down.
“Every aspect of what you did had to be hidden,” Broughton said. “You couldn’t tell anybody.”
After legalization, however, he said he faces a different set of challenges brought on by bureaucracy and corporatism in New York’s cannabis industry.
Broughton said New York’s tax scheme hits small growers the hardest. He said he has to pay taxes on each plant he grows, and then again when he sells to retailers or, eventually, directly to consumers.
Despite those hurdles, Broughton said he is eager to bring a high-quality product to consumers in Millerton.
Over the past 30 years, he has developed a growing technique that relies entirely on artificial light and strict control of nutrients and moisture. He said he maintains a level of oversight that borders on obstinance.
“I’m more of a purist when it comes to this stuff,” Broughton said. “I’m not very forgiving.”
That rigidity pays off with better product, he said, even when it means destroying an entire harvest.
“We cut down an entire crop of amazing Sour Diesel like two years ago because we got mites,” Broughton said.
Dutchess County Emergency Medical Services Commissioner William Beale addresses the County Legislature's Public Safety Committee during a meeting in Poughkeepsie on Wednesday, March 4.
In North East, ambulances reached Priority 1 calls within the nine-minute benchmark only half of the time, while in Amenia the rate dropped to 33%.
County-wide, ambulances reached those life-threatening calls within nine minutes 69% of the time.
In Pine Plains, ambulances took an average of nearly 13 minutes to arrive, and only 29% of critical calls were reached within nine minutes.
The response time data includes both municipal ambulance services that towns contract for — such as North East’s current contract with Empress, which will climb from $511,558 to $696,345 this year, a 36.1% increase — and the county’s supplemental EMS program, which adds ambulances, fly cars and technology to fill gaps in coverage.
But the data suggests rural communities in northeastern Dutchess received little direct support from those supplemental services. North East received just one supplemental EMS dispatch during the entire year, while Pine Plains and Milan each received 13, Amenia received eight, and Stanford and Millbrook each received fewer than 10.
Local legislators and municipal leaders say the numbers highlight an urgent need for short-term collaboration while the county develops a broader, long-term plan to address the region’s EMS challenges.
While the countywide average response time for life-threatening calls is just over eight minutes from dispatch to arrival, northeastern Dutchess towns see significantly longer waits.
The data comes on the heels of last year’s announcement that Empress Emergency Medical Services would absorb Northern Dutchess Paramedics, a move that further consolidates ambulance services in the area under a private provider backed by private equity. Empress EMS is owned by PatientCare EMS, a portfolio company of Grant Avenue Capital LLC, a healthcare-focused private equity firm.
Dutchess County Legislator Eric Alexander (D-25), who chairs the Public Safety Committee, and Vice Chair Chris Drago (D-19) invited Dutchess County Commissioner of the Department of Emergency Response (DER) William H. Beale to speak at last week’s Public Safety Committee meeting.
“We’re increasingly dependent on one provider of EMS,” Alexander said, addressing Commissioner Beale. He shared his concerns that the purchase of NDP by Empress is bordering on a monopoly.
Chris Drago — who represents the towns of North East, Pine Plains, Milan, Red Hook and Clinton — speaks about the struggle to afford quality emergency medical service in the rural area he represents during a meeting of the Dutchess County Legislature's Public Safety Committee on Wednesday, March 4.Photo by Aly Morrissey
“They see the growth of the market, an aging population, and I think they also see the opportunity to demand premium pricing and to defend it over the long term,” he said, adding that he doesn’t believe private companies think counties or towns will push back.
“The service is quickly growing beyond what is affordable,” Alexander added, pointing specifically to the Town of North East, which is expected to pay around $700,000 next year for its existing contract with Empress — one that was transferred from NDP.
Alexander and Drago asked Beale to address the state of EMS in the county and what the $4 million supplemental services program has achieved after two years.
Beale, who was appointed in August 2025, outlined his department’s efforts to date and shared next steps, acknowledging that residents in the northeastern parts of the county have seen limited support from supplemental services.
“It’s a multipronged approach,” Beale said of the county’s current efforts to improve EMS countywide. He said the Department of Emergency Response has expanded regional collaboration meetings with town officials and first responders, while also working to continue tracking and transparently sharing data across the county.
Beale pointed to workforce development efforts aimed at addressing a shortage of emergency responders, including initiatives to streamline EMT and paramedic certification.
The next step, he said, is preparing for a comprehensive countywide EMS plan now required by the state. Under legislation passed by Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this year, counties must develop detailed EMS plans, while municipalities will also be expected to evaluate and plan for their own emergency response plans.
In an email to local municipal leaders, Town of Milan Supervisor Bill Jeffway said the region “needs to address immediate, short-term EMS needs as we all work with the County and State on longer-term solutions.”
Jeffway said an ad-hoc committee, advised by Dutchess County Legislator Chris Drago, was formed to support EMS services. The group will host a region-wide meeting to brainstorm ways small towns and villages can collaborate on short-term solutions.
The purpose of the meeting will be to hear from Jonathan Washko, Assistant Vice President Emergency Medical Services for Northwell Health — a company that some local leaders are hopeful could serve as a stop-gap option in the region. Washko, considered to be a leading industry expert, is expected to share what Northwell can offer locally.
Commissioner Beale said he and his team have met with Northwell Health recently and he is hopeful that Northwell’s ambulances and EMTs can be onboarded into the county’s existing dispatch.
“If they have units available in northern Dutchess County at Northern Dutchess Hospital, or if they have units available at Sharon Hospital, they could potentially serve northeastern Dutchess County,” Beale said. “It may take some time, but we will be moving forward on developing that plan very quickly.”
Beale also said that Northwell Health does not contract with specific municipalities, which could be a welcome change from other private companies like Empress.
Legislator Drago said he is advocating for a pilot program in northern Dutchess County and will be attending the upcoming meeting with local municipal leaders.
Dan Cohen, left, dispenses whipped cream on a plate of maple syrup treats during a demonstration on the making of maple syrup at Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo on Millbrook School’s campus.
“This is a very seasonal activity, and you’ve got to go while you can,” Tousignant said of the labor-intensive process.
Alan Tousignant stokes a fire in a maple evaporator, a machine that turns maple sap into syrup with heat.Photo by Aly Morrissey
Tousignant first experimented with making maple syrup in a backyard over an open campfire under the stars — a method he said required long nights and wasted much of the heat.
Today, he uses a specialized maple evaporator, a large stainless-steel pan heated by a wood fire from below that allows sap to boil efficiently and continuously.
Sap collected from the trees begins as a clear, watery liquid that contains only about two to two and a half percent sugar, Tousignant explained. Before boiling, the sap is run through a reverse-osmosis process to concentrate the sugar slightly. The liquid then enters the evaporator, where heat gradually removes the water as the sap flows through a series of channels.
By the time the liquid reaches about 215 degrees, the sugar has concentrated enough to become maple syrup.
Tousignant said he is currently collecting sap from around 50 maple trees, some of which have multiple taps. He said one gallon of maple syrup requires around 40 gallons of sap, a process that requires a lot of patience.
“That’s what I call ‘almost syrup,’ he laughed, pointing to a container of darkening liquid that had already been boiled and was completing a filtration process.
“Typically, the early season syrup is lighter, and as the season goes on, it gets darker,” he said. “Toward the end of the season, it can be really dark, almost like walnut syrup.”
Tousignant collects chunks of naturally formed ice that float in the sap buckets when the weather gets cold enough as a way to keep a 300-gallon tank of sap cool to prevent it from spoiling until it can be processed.
Alan Tousignant adjusts the water level in his maple evaporator at the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo on Millbrook School’s campus on Saturday, March 7.Photo by Aly Morrissey
“I love trying to use Mother Nature to its fullest in a sustainable way,” he said.
He employs the same philosophy in his woodworking, using trees that have already died or fallen or collecting discarded wood pallets from Amazon deliveries to the Millbrook School, saving them from the burn pile.
Raised near the Canadian border in upstate New York, Tousignant said he has always enjoyed working outdoors. As a graduate student, he supported himself with a variety of hands-on jobs to make extra spending money.
“Raking leaves, washing houses, painting, anything to make a little cash for eating and paying the bills,” he said.
It was during this time when Tousignant developed an acronym that now serves as the label for his maple syrup — Hayibaco, short for Home and Yard Improvements by Alan.
This will mark his first year selling his own maple syrup under his custom label, which features an illustrated photo of him in his signature outfit — a plaid shirt and a fleece vest — against a backdrop of his syrup bottles. Syrup will be sold in the gift shop at the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo and possibly at the Millerton Farmer’s Market in the future.
In addition to Hayibaco, other locally made maple syrup and maple products were available for sale at the tasting, including nearby Soukup Farms in Dover and Russell Farms in Rhinebeck.
Dan Cohen, Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo’s Director of Media, said that zoo attendance typically dips during the winter months. But for many of the zoo’s animals — particularly those who prefer the cold weather — winter can actually be one of the best times to visit.
Animals like Stanley the lynx, Cohen said, are far more active in the cold weather.
Cohen and his colleagues began brainstorming ways to encourage winter zoo visits and were pleased with the success of both a hot chocolate event earlier this year and the maple syrup weekend.
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