Alex’s Tomato Farm, Established 2000, Carlisle

Sells at: Jamaica, NY Hall of Science, Queens Botanical Garden Community Markets

Alex Kravets’ father, a dentist, started farming in the Ukraine as a hobby. But before long he was running a successful produce business, operating 6 greenhouses just outside the city and extending the growing season at a time when tomatoes in Eastern Europe were virtually impossible to find until July or August. “These things were valued very highly,” Alex explains, “Nobody was doing what my father was doing, almost everything agricultural was managed by the government.”

In 1986, just before the fall of the Soviet Union, the private sector in the Ukraine was completely dissolved. “All markets were closed in a matter of a few weeks,” Alex says, “My father was very disappointed with the government’s decision. Everything he was working for was basically for nothing.”  That’s when Mr. Kravets decided to move to New York.

He worked as a dental assistant for the first few years, all the while looking for a place to continue farming. 7 years later, when he was 17 years old, Alex joined his father in Carlisle, New York and in 2000 they had purchased their first forty acres of land.  Now the Kravets cultivate 70 acres of land, growing herbs, flowers, apples, plums, pears, beans, greens, squash, sweet corn, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes and more!

Special thanks to Community Markets for compiling these profiles.

Gajeski Produce, Established 1920, Riverhead

Sells at: Jamaica & NY Hall of Science Community Markets

Brian Gajeski,  who owns and runs the 125 acre Gajeski Produce Farm in Riverhead, NY, greets the day at 4:15 a.m. in order to load up his truck with produce, make the two hour drive down to the city and sell at the markets every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. “It’s a challenge,” says Brian whose produce is for sale at eight different farmers markets every week.  “We have a lot of stuff and we take two or three crates of everything.”

Brian knows his farm well; it’s where he was raised and it has been in his family for about 90 years. He left just long enough to get his bachelors in Plant Science from SUNY Cobleskill, a degree he has found very useful. Brian employs innovative agricultural practices like companion planting, a technique where plants are strategically placed according to the natural substances in their roots that either attract or repel insects. This keeps pesticide use to a minimum and saves the farm money.

Brian’s father, mother and grandfather still help out and live on the farm and his aunt Elaine runs the Gajeski Produce stand at Hunts Point Farmers Market in the Bronx. Even when things slow down in the winter months, there is still work to be done. “We do a lot of repairs and greenhouse work.” But when December rolls around, the Gajeski’s takes a much needed vacation. “My day off is December,” he says. “We go someplace warm like Florida.”

Special thanks to Community Markets for compiling these profiles.