By David Avitabile
MIDDLEBURGH – The Cyprus Hill Farm stand in Middleburgh continues to grow every season.
The farm stand, located at the intersection of Route 145 and Route 30 has added two important features this spring. The most obvious is a 30-by-48-foot greenhouse which is currently filled with flowers, hanging baskets, and sprouting vegetable plants. The greenhouse is open now and was very busy on the days leading up to Mother’s Day.
Owners Katie and Pano Ioannou said the greenhouse, along with a temporary shed behind the farm stand was built this spring to add a “different look, appeal, and style” to the business, which has flourished at the location for 15 years.
In addition to holding more flowers and young vegetables, the greenhouse will improve the safety of the location for the workers and visitors.
“The parents can shop with more ease now,” Katie said.
The shed behind the farm stand will include refrigeration for lettuce as well as locally produced cheese and meats. The greenhouse will remain year-round while the farm stand and shed will be removed in the winter.
“We want to help the local producers,” Katie added.
The items in the shed “will always be changing,” Pano said.
“It’s going in one direction,” he said about the business. “and retail is the way to go.”
They will also be adding local maple syrup and honey, and other new produce later in the spring.
The growth is natural for the farm stand, Pano explained.
Customers have given him positive feedback on the growth, he said. Many of the customers have been coming there for years.
“Our kids (Stella, Harry, and John) grew up going this,” he said. He remembered his daughter being in a car seat when they first opened. Now she sits on a crate cashing people out. “The community grew with our kids.”
He is also very positive about the direction of Middleburgh, which he termed a “very unique” community.
Katie, who grew up on a farm, never thought she would be doing this for a living. Pano, who grew up on Long Island before his father relocated the family Upstate, had to be pushed into running the farm stand.
At first, he told his father Harry that he wanted to earn “real money” at other jobs. His father offered $10 to watch the stand. Now, years later, it is a full-time passion.
“You have to believe in what you’re doing,” he said.