Where it all happens:
Alderman Farm
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Alderman Farm, a once active and diverse farm was home to the Alderman Family since the mid seventeen hundreds when they were granted the land by King George II. The land and buildings were later bought by Mark Lipton in the 1970's. Mark Lipton, a Professor Emeritus with a university in New York, author, and organizational consultant lives full-time at The Alderman Farm. He has cared for and protected the land from any development by partnering with The Nature Conservancy. We first met Mark a couple of years ago while looking for a new home for the Blue Star herd. It was easy to tell that the available pasture land and buildings couldn't hold our herd of over 30 draft horses.
Having closed Blue Star, we began searching again for a suitable home for the horses that remained in our care, this time only 12 horses and 3 cows. We agreed to begin meeting with The Nature Conservancy to assess whether our mission and work would be good for the land and the surrounding environment. This opportunity was just what we were looking for, another chance to demonstrate the ways the horses could help bring the land back to life, restore the soil and begin to push back on the invasives that have begun to creep into different areas.
We were approved in May and began the slow process of moving onto the land. This past year has been one of the best many of the horses in our care have ever had. The land with steep hills, surrounded by forest and a few areas for growing flowers and crops has been another really important opportunity for teaching and demonstrating all the many practices we had begun to put into place on the previous two farms that we lived on.
With proper design we know we can care for the land in superior ways with methods we can teach and share with our community.
Alderman Farm is surrounded by countless miles of hiking trails and historical sites like the Keystone Arch Bridges.
Alderman Farm is surrounded by countless miles of hiking trails and historical sites like the Keystone Arch Bridges.
The first keystone arch railroad bridges built in America are wholly dry laid, and range in height to 70 feet. They made possible the construction of the Western Railroad, the longest and highest railroad in the world in 1840.