The reopening and ribbon-cutting ceremony at Crossroads Farm at Grossmann’s took place last Saturday, marking the changing of the seasons and reflecting the hard work of the staff during the winter, led by Operations Manager Michael D’Angelo.
Malverne Mayor Tim Sullivan, village Trustees Megan O’Rourke-Schutta and Carl Prizzi and Chamber of Commerce members welcomed Town of Hempstead Supervisor John Ferretti to the event.
“I always say it takes a village, but your efforts here have gone beyond just a village,” Sullivan told the farm’s staff before the ribbon-cutting.
Local and area businesses were represented at the event, including Rare Treats Bakery, in Malverne; South Shore Craft Brewery, in Oceanside; and Renewal by Andersen, in Farmingdale. There was a live band, as well as arts and crafts stations for kids and families, and food trucks.
This year’s reopening was D’Angelo’s fourth as operations manager. He has taken a roundabout journey to the position, which illustrates the importance of giving back to the community.
“I used to run my own business, called D’Angelo Gardens,” he said. “I used to farm in Old Westbury and sell at the Long Beach farmer’s market. I always used to drive past here, and I grew up in the area, so I knew this farm as a kid. And once I saw that there was an opening to be operations manager for the farm, I couldn’t pass it up. So, in 2023, I applied, I got the job, and I’ve been here ever since.”
D’Angelo has overseen improvements and additions to the farm’s facilities. “We’ve invested and gotten new equipment, so now we have a utility vehicle to travel around the farm,” he said. “We have a new cultivating tractor, which helps us grow more space and keep weeds back. We have invested in the high tunnel, so that’s a 30-foot by 100-foot growing space. We just added chickens this year, so now we have 16 laying hens.”
A high tunnel is similar to a greenhouse, D’Angelo explained, except that it isn’t heated. But because it’s covered, it can be used to grow greens earlier in the season than normal.
As has been the case before every grand reopening, D’Angelo and the staff had to prepare in the offseason. “The life cycle of a farm, especially here in the Northeast, is a life and death,” he said “In the spring, the farm comes alive, and in the wintertime everything kind of dies down.”
“We started planting seeds in February, and we just got chickens this year,” D’Angelo added. “The chickens were born the first week of February. So we’ve been taking care of the chickens this offseason.” This is the first year that the farm has had chickens.
In addition to its year offseason preparation, the staff has had to rejuvenate the farm over the years. The Grossmann family sold it to Nassau County in 2008, and the Nassau Land Trust arranged to lease the farm from the county. “This is the 16th season that the land trust has been in control,” D’Angelo explained. “The Grossmanns farmed this land conventionally, meaning they used fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. The soil was very depleted, almost like the Dust Bowl.”
D’Angelo and the staff plan to increase the frequency of events at the farm. Event Coordinator Sara Santora has been planning activities since the offseason, and said she was excited about what the farm has to offer. “We enjoy giving community support,” she said. “We’re doing a Food Truck Rodeo this summer, and on weekends in October, we’re having our Fall Festival with a pumpkin patch.”
Ross Gollub, founder of the restaurant Harvest House in Malverne, has become a close collaborator with D’Angelo, buying most of his produce from Crossroads. Harvest House opened last year, with the goal of “showcasing what New York is producing, what we’re growing in this region,” Gollub said. “It’s our responsibility to present it in a delicious, pretty unique manner, so our dishes generally tend to be described as such: nothing you'd find at an average restaurant.”
