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FARM-TOPIA: Ellms Family Farm Expands & Adds Winery, Commercial Kitchen & More
BALLSTON SPA — With the help of the Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership, Garth Ellms, proprietor of Ellms Family Farm, plans to turn 80 acres of Farmland into an agri- tainment destination called The Saratoga Farm Hub. Ellms acquired the property located at 284 Middleline Rd. in Ballston Spa on June 1 of this year. Plans include a commercial kitchen, small parcels of land that farmers can lease, an event space, a brewery, a winery, farmers’ market and overnight glamping (glamorous camping).
While conversations have been had between Ellms, Marty Vanags and the Town of Ballston’s Planning Department, nothing formal has been done. Ellms’ projects the true launch date for the project will be in May or June of 2020. For now, a flyer for the project reads: “The Saratoga Farm Hub is the ideal cohesive community: a synergistic and innovative farmtopia supporting an agricultural and social mission for the greater good of growth and development of the land, local businesses and the communities surrounding them.”
“Through a series of conversations that the Saratoga Prosperity Partnership, they started the conversation regardingsome needs after multiple surveys... That’s where, to an extent, this was born. It was a partial idea from them and the rest was kind of dreamed up by Kimmy Jaski and myself,” Ellms said.
“We’re just trying to incubate product that is locally grown and hope that over time to be able to facilitate those businesses’ needs. You know marketing, accounting, whatever and watch it grow,” he added.
For the commercial kitchen, Ellms plans to rent the space to local producers by the hour for as long as they needed to create some sort of food product. Ellms hope that the farm leased plots will encourage producers to use the planned to start some sort of business with what is grown. The plots will range in size from a half an acre to five acres.
“We did a Feasibility study of whether or not a community kitchen would work in Saratoga County... We found that there is a need for that kind of space and so when Garth came to us and said he’s buying this property and he’s looking for what kind of opportunities could exist there, this was one of the things we suggested to him,” said Marty Vanags, President of the Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership.
To pay for this venture the Saratoga Partnership helped Ellms fill out a Consolidated Funding Application, which they will find out about in late November or early December.
“We’re going to look at other opportunities whether other grants and potentially other tax incentives because this will be a job producer,” Vanags said.
The two anticipate that the project will produce over 100 jobs once it is completed. Over time, both Vanags and Ellms hope even more jobs will be created from the small businesses that will grow from the commercial kitchen and farmland plots.
Ellms Farms Getting Bigger
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.
