LOCALadk Magazine
Issue link: https://localadkmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1537744
LOCALadk 34 On a quiet stretch of farmland just outside of Platts- burgh, New York, rows of organic vegetables soak up the long summer sunlight of the Champlain Valley. It's here, surrounded by silty soil and the lake-cooled air of the North Country, that Mike Champagne has root- ed himself—literally and figuratively. As the co-found- er of North Point Community Farm, Champagne is part of a new generation of farmers reconnecting local res- idents to the food they eat through a model that is as much about community as it is about crops: the CSA . Champagne has been farming for over a decade, though North Point Community Farm (NPCF) was only established in 2022, a collaboration between Cham- pagne and his business partner, Marisa Lenetsky. "This is my eleventh year farming, but our current site in Plattsburgh has been home for four years," he ex- plained. Before returning home to Plattsburgh, Cham- pagne cut his teeth on farms in the Hudson Valley and even spent two seasons farming in Maine. The pull toward farming was seeded early. "Growing up in Plattsburgh, I was surrounded by agriculture," he said. "My grandfather had a milk processing plant and ran a hobby farm. I was drawn to being outdoors, living an alternative life, and growing my own food." By the time he was finishing college, Champagne real- ized a conventional job wasn't for him and, as he put it, "took the leap." Planting Roots in the North Country Returning to the Adirondack region, Champagne brought with him a wealth of experience and a mission to build something lasting. At NPCF, he and Lenetsky focus on growing organic, high-quality vegetables, many of which go straight into the hands of local con- sumers through CSA memberships, farmers markets, and restaurant partnerships. "Our days start early," Champagne said. He arrives at the farm around 6 a.m., tackling maintenance tasks be- fore the crew arrives an hour later. From planting and harvesting to irrigation and weeding, it's a full day's A Growing Connection: North Point Community Farm and the Heart of CSA in the North Country By Rhannon Berry Adsit with photos by Adirondack Harvest