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Photo of Farm at 284 Middleline Road provided by Carmelita Jaski.
BALLSTON SPA — Ellms Family Farm known for their Christmas trees, pumpkin patches and various forms of “agri-tainment” just got bigger.
Garth Ellms, proprietor of Ellms Family Farm, acquired a property located at 284 Middleline Road in Ballston on June 1. The 80-acre piece of land adds to their 250 acres, totaling to 330 acres.
Ellms purchased the property from Robert Pustolka Sr. for $360,000. Pustolka is also a farmer.
“We knew the farmer [Pustolka] so we just stayed in touch with him... He wants it to stay an agricultural farm and I think he sees what our family farm is doing and realizes that we are going to be around a long time... We diversify operations to be able to meet the changing world,” Ellms said.
“We don’t have any specific plans yet, we are working on a couple different ideas and part of it will be agricultural focused, but for the interim we’ll probably look to just work with another friend or local farmer to hay it,” he added.
Ellms moved to the town of Ballston in 1983 and purchased 63 acres and started growing Christmas trees. In 1998 he purchased the dairy farm next door and spent the next two to three years coming up with an idea or a concept for that property. Later in 2005, Ellms opened up the full “agri-tainment” business.
According to Ellms, agri- tainment is a way of inviting the public to your farm. It’s an educational and fun way of learning and being out in the open space. Many are familiar with Ellms Family Farm’s many venues of entertainment such as pumpkin patches, hayrides and corn mazes.
“The town of Ballston is a rural and agricultural community and we’re doing everything we can to keep it that way, if it means purchasing land before developers can get it that’s what we’re going to do,” Ellms said.
