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Chelsea Eatery Serves Up Produce Grown on Upstate Farm

 Richard Lamb harvests crops upstate for the Foragers shops in Chelsea and DUMBO.
Foragers Farm Grows Veggies For Chelsea
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CHELSEA — If you pick up some heirloom tomatoes or a head of lettuce from Foragers Market on Eighth Avenue, chances are co-owner Richard Lamb grew them for you.

Foragers, which has a market and a restaurant in Chelsea and a market in DUMBO, grows much of its produce at its own farm upstate.

"We harvest the day before and bring our truck in," Lamb said. "And it goes down first thing in the morning the next day, so it's as fresh as could be."

This year Lamb, along with one full-time farm employee and an intern, is growing kale, swiss chard, Brussels sprouts, watermelons, squash, leeks, cucumbers and green beans at Foragers Farm in the Columbia County town of Canaan, 140 miles north of the city.

His days are filled with tending to his crop — and in the hot months, he gets a 6 a.m. start to harvest before the sun is at its worst.

Lamb, 46, purchased the farmland in 2008. He would grow produce and deliver it to the DUMBO shop he and his ex-wife, Anna Castellani, founded in the city.

“I started bringing stuff down in my car," he said. "I just would find products and find farmers whenever I would come up here and talk to people. I guess it sort of happened organically, for lack of a better word.”

Lamb also created a pipeline with nearby upstate farmers who contributed to his NYC-bound haul.

“A local fruit grower called, ‘Hey, I’m starting to get my cherries in,’” he said. “He’ll pick them that morning, the truck will pick them up later in the morning and they’ll be at the market probably by 12 in the afternoon,” he said.

By 2010, Foragers Farm was up and running at full capacity. Lamb built a greenhouse and planted four acres in raised beds.

"Every year you try to do a little bit more, try to tweak it and improve it," he said.

The farm added chickens in 2012, the year Foragers expanded from DUMBO to Chelsea.

Castellani runs the city operation while Lamb grows the fruits and veggies.

"My wife, my ex-wife, is a city person and she’s really great at that." he said. "I kind of was like a caged animal in the city at a certain point."

The restaurant at the Chelsea Foragers also uses Lamb's produce, Lamb said.

"Everything we grow, everything we source, it always has a place," he said. "Everything gets used."