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Waldingfield Farm
Washington, CTwaldingfieldfarm.com
FarmingBuying For Resale
Participating Markets
McGolrick Park 2024 05/05 – 12/22
As young boys, twin brothers Quincy and Patrick Horan spent summer days playing in the Connecticut fields where they have now farmed together for over two decades. Their great-grandfather, Mr. C.B. Smith, originally purchased the land, which was then a working dairy farm, as a place to bring his family away from New York City during the summer. The dairy operation folded before WWII, and the following generations came to enjoy the open acres for relaxing, while neighboring farms worked the majority of the land.
In 1990, their older brother, Daniel, graduated from college and made an announcement: He planned to start a farm on the land they all knew so well. Quincy and Patrick jumped in during their summer vacations from college. “From the beginning, it’s been brothers working together, along with our friends,” Patrick explains.
By the mid-1990s, the Horans were renowned as “the kings of heirloom tomatoes.” Yet, with a majority of their revenue from one crop, they were too dependent on a single harvest. The realization shook things up: They recreated their crop plan for greater diversity. Now he and Quincy grow a wide variety of crops, including their famous tomatoes, and Dan runs Five Acre Farms, a brand of local food products distributed in the Northeast.
Their 140-acre farm (90 acres of working fields) has been certified organic since the beginning, 25 years ago. They’ve worked hard to reduce the amount of tilling to help protect the topsoil and incorporated a field management plan that emphasizes heavy crop rotation to help manage pests. The farm’s soil is enhanced through cover crops, and they currently grow on 25 acres, with no synthetic chemical inputs of any kind.
Patrick says, “Every day I learn something new, either as a farmer or a a small business owner. You can’t get good at this quickly. It takes years. Sure, there are a lot of days when farming is hard, but look at the office you get to work in.”
In 1990, their older brother, Daniel, graduated from college and made an announcement: He planned to start a farm on the land they all knew so well. Quincy and Patrick jumped in during their summer vacations from college. “From the beginning, it’s been brothers working together, along with our friends,” Patrick explains.
By the mid-1990s, the Horans were renowned as “the kings of heirloom tomatoes.” Yet, with a majority of their revenue from one crop, they were too dependent on a single harvest. The realization shook things up: They recreated their crop plan for greater diversity. Now he and Quincy grow a wide variety of crops, including their famous tomatoes, and Dan runs Five Acre Farms, a brand of local food products distributed in the Northeast.
Their 140-acre farm (90 acres of working fields) has been certified organic since the beginning, 25 years ago. They’ve worked hard to reduce the amount of tilling to help protect the topsoil and incorporated a field management plan that emphasizes heavy crop rotation to help manage pests. The farm’s soil is enhanced through cover crops, and they currently grow on 25 acres, with no synthetic chemical inputs of any kind.
Patrick says, “Every day I learn something new, either as a farmer or a a small business owner. You can’t get good at this quickly. It takes years. Sure, there are a lot of days when farming is hard, but look at the office you get to work in.”
