The Fat Apple Farm team share their foodie favorites
Photographs by Jiatong Lu

Fat Apple Farm in Pine Plains was started in 2017 by Eric Costello and John Agostinho, who met while living  in Astoria, Queens. Before starting Fat Apple, John worked on different farms in New York City and upstate, including Queens Farm and Stone Barns. Lauren Gerstel joined the farm in 2022. Together they take care of four dogs, one cat, and a lot of livestock. Here they share some of their Dutchess County foodie faves.

At the farm, we raise Red Devon cows, Idaho Pasture pigs mixed with Old Spot, sheep that are Icelandic mixed with Soay, and chickens for eggs. We eat our meat all the time, and get tremendous pleasure from doing so. When we’re in the mood for chicken, we go to Yundwell Pastured Poultry up in Columbia County.

Our favorite place for pastries and sourdough is Vitsky Bakery in Wassaic. They also have a nice shop and a cookbook library. 

When we want fish we go to Sushi Makio in Kingston.

For pizza we go to The Lantern in Wassaic. We also like Westerly Canteen at Ten Mile Distillery for a nice lunch or dinner. 

We get our yogurt, milk, and cheese down the road, from Chaseholm Farm in Pine Plains. It’s the best milk we’ve ever tasted, and their Nimbus cheese is life-changing. 

When pick-your-own season comes around, we love going to Whistle Down Farm in Hudson and Rose Hill Farm in Red Hook. 

There is a big garden on the farm where we grow all kinds of vegetables, and more flowers than really makes sense. We have black caps around the farm, yellow oyster mushrooms, and a few good patches of wild strawberries. 

This winter we worked on making maple syrup for the second year. We had 100 buckets, all collected by hand. Eric and John built a sugar shack, which made the whole process a lot easier. 

Lately we’re working hard on food pop-ups. We’re at Rose Hill Farm every Friday, and at The Lantern in Wassaic every last Sunday of the month. We’re also at the North Salem Farmers Market every second Saturday of the month.

We sell meat boxes that can be shipped anywhere in the Northeast. And of course you can find us at our farm store at 730 Hall Hill Road in Pine Plains. —fatapple.farm