From Sap to Maple Sugaring and Handcrafted Maple Syrup in the Hudson Valley

What is The Farm at Miller’s Crossing?

The Farm at Miller’s Crossing is a certified-organic, family-run farm spread across about 200 acres in Hudson, New York, in Columbia County. The Agawamuck Creek runs through and divides the farm, providing water for the animals and plants raised there. The old Albany-Boston rail bed still sits on the northwestern end of the property and gives the farm its name: Miller’s Crossing was the rail stop and original address of this roughly 200-year-old farm.

The farm is genuinely diversified. It grows certified-organic vegetables, herbs, and flowers across 60 acres of vegetables within a 100-acre rotation, raises a small herd of grass-fed beef on about 75 acres of pasture, and makes maple syrup and maple products from its own trees. That food reaches the community through CSA memberships, the Hudson farmers’ market, an on-farm store, and a solid wholesale business across the Hudson Valley and New York City.

Who farms Miller’s Crossing?

The farm is run by Katie Smith and Chris Cashen. Chris grew up on this land, which his grandparents bought in the 1950s, and he and Katie are the first generation in the family to make their living farming it, the third generation on the property. Their four children are the fourth generation. They came to farming together in 1994, when Katie started out as Kline Kill Organic Gardens on rented land in Chatham, New York; around 2000 the couple moved the operation to Chris’s family farm and renamed it The Farm at Miller’s Crossing.

They are not doing it alone. This is very much a family farm: Chris’s parents and five of his siblings live on or near the property, which means there is plenty of help with the cattle, the seedlings, the deliveries, and the children during the crunch times that farming inevitably brings.

“When you become a farmer, there’s not a blueprint for what you should do.”

— Katie Smith, co-owner of The Farm at Miller’s Crossing

How did a DIY kit turn into a maple business?

So how does a bountiful organic produce and beef farm get into the maple sugaring business? Katie laughs when she tells it. Years ago she was checking out at a hardware store when she spotted a do-it-yourself maple sugaring kit with seven taps. With four young children and roughly 1,800 maple trees spread across two parcels of the farm, she figured it would make a fun family project.

Those first seven taps produced a slightly smoky, sweet syrup, a quasi-successful first experiment. But Chris thought it was fun too, so the next season they put in more taps, and more the season after that. The seven DIY taps eventually grew past 1,800, and the family project became a commercial maple operation.

How does the farm make its maple syrup?

Rather than hanging buckets, the farm runs tubing through the woods, with a vacuum system assisting the natural flow of sap to the sugar house, where it is pumped into stainless-steel holding tanks. From there it moves through a sequence built to pull the water out and bring the sugar up.

It is arduous work that needs constant attention to keep the density accurate and consistent. On a sugaring day you might find Katie feeding firewood into an evaporator that roars like an inferno when its door swings open, while one of the children stirs a fresh batch nearby. Solar panels on the farm help power the maple machinery, trimming the electricity bill of a process that runs hard during the short sugaring season.

In its first commercial seasons the farm made more than 400 gallons of syrup a year, climbing past 500 the following season, with output rising and falling depending on how cold the nights stay and how freely the sap runs. The finished line includes several products.

What makes Miller’s Crossing a sustainable farm?

Sustainability runs through the whole operation. The beef herd is humanely raised and grass-fed on open organic pasture. Seedlings get their start in a solar-heated greenhouse, where Chris designed and installed an automatic misting system, and solar panels help power the farm’s equipment, including the maple machinery, for real savings on electricity.

The land itself is protected for good. The 200-acre farm is held under a conservation easement from the Columbia Land Conservancy, and Chris and Katie are committed to preserving it and to the harder, longer work of sustainable farming. To them, keeping the Hudson Valley ecosystem healthy and putting out food that is genuinely local and seasonal is the whole point. That bounty is sold close to home, through CSA memberships, local farmers’ markets, some local restaurants, and a strong wholesale business.

The farm keeps evolving, too. Beyond the vegetables, beef, and maple, Chris has expanded into organic small grains, part of a Hudson Valley movement to grow grain for regional bakers and craft brewers who want to put truly local ingredients in their products.

Frequently Asked Questions About The Farm at Miller’s Crossing

🍁 The Farm at Miller’s Crossing at a Glance

Key facts about the farm, its maple operation, and where to buy.