Scott Wilson, East Hampton Town’s director of land acquisition and management, was so happy with the three farmers who responded to a request in May for proposals to farm the old Sherrill Dairy property between Springs-Fireplace and Accabonac Roads that he decided to recommend all three to the town board.
The 20.5-acre community preservation fund acquisition was purchased in 2024 for $6.9 million from Caroline Martuscello and a trust. Earlier, in 1996, the town had purchased the development rights on about 16 acres of the plot.
“After reviewing the proposals of the farmers and having a good deal of discussion with them, the town concluded we could split the land to accommodate all three,” he told the board at its meeting on Tuesday.
The three farms, Changing Tides Equine, Ocean to Earth, and Amber Waves, will each use the land, which nearly 100 years ago was a dairy farm, in different ways.
Kailee Alexis Brabant is a co-owner of Changing Tides Equine and is from East Hampton. “The main thing is helping people who need a place to come. They could just come sit at the farm,” she said in a phone call Tuesday.
“We’re going to be doing basic horsemanship. Taking people from the community and teaching them how to care for a horse. They’re very therapeutic. I’m very confident that this could be beneficial for the whole community,” she said. “That’s a big aspect of what we’ll be doing. I grew up with anxiety and depression. When I got involved with horses, I found my safe place.”
Her partner is Dr. Nora Kleps, from the East Hampton Veterinary Group.
“I’ll cover the day-to-day business, and she will oversee animal health and record-keeping,” said Ms. Brabant.
She’s hoping to have six to seven horses on the farm. A few that are too old to be ridden will board there. Mr. Wilson said the farm will also serve as a rescue sanctuary, specializing in the care of ponies, donkeys, and miniature horses.
Partnering with the school district for field trips and working with the special education program are goals.
A 3,500-square-foot barn with stalls now stands on the property, but the town has deemed it unstable. It, and a nearby 500-square-foot shed, where asbestos was detected in the roof shingles, are the subject of a second demolition request for proposals that is due Dec. 4.
“We’ll slowly start building our own buildings,” said Ms. Brabant.
Another East End local, Philip Yashinowsky, born in Montauk, will expand his Ocean to Earth farm on the town-owned land.
“My plans are to have more acreage to continue a sustainable crop rotation of fruit and vegetables,” he said via text. “I currently market at the Montauk and Sag Harbor Farmers Markets and grow on land I lease from the Peconic Land Trust. The East Hampton lease will help expand my current operation.”
Mr. Yashinowsky graduated from East Hampton High School in 2011 and has been farming on the trust’s land since 2018. He also designs, builds, installs, and maintains vegetable and flower gardens to help people farm in their backyards.
“I’m so thankful for the C.P.F. and for the opportunity,” he said.
At the town board meeting, Mr. Wilson said Ocean to Earth may be interested in a “U-pick” possibility at the farm as well.
“We have a longstanding and good relationship with the town, and we’re excited to get this new acreage to do more of what we do, mixed vegetables and grains,” Amanda Merrow, a co-owner of Amber Waves Farm, said by phone.
Right now, she and Katie Baldwin, the other co-owner of Amber Waves, work 35 acres across the town, with tomatoes, baby greens, and flowers being their top crops.
“Wheat is our single biggest crop by acreage, however,” said Ms. Merrow. “We have about five acres of wheat.”
Amber Waves will occupy about half of the 20.5-acre parcel. “We’re so excited to be at this scale. This is exactly where we wanted to be. We’re also excited to be sharing farmland with younger, up-and-coming farmers. There was a time when we were the newest farm. Now, our alumni have won two of the last few R.F.P.s that have gone out. We’re thrilled that farmland is being reactivated.”
So is Councilman David Lys.
“A lot of people pass the old Sherrill Dairy Farm on their way home to Springs,” he said Tuesday afternoon after the town board meeting. “They’ve seen it be inactive. Now, it will be a fully accessible and usable piece of agricultural land, showing off multiple methods of farming. You can’t easily find 20 acres of farmland in this town. It’s just another example of how this town board is using the C.P.F. to claw back our agrarian roots and putting farmland back into active production.”
A resolution to authorize a license agreement with the farmers is on tonight’s agenda.
