About Dirt Dance Farm
The Farm
Dirt Dance Farm is located at the Esopus Agricultural Center in Kingston, NY. The farm consists of 2 leased acres, and 2 high tunnels. All 100+ crops in our annual curation fit intensively into just one acre, while the second is kept fallow to regenerate the soil.
This small, but mighty human-scale operation uses organic and regenerative practices including cover cropping, crop rotation, drip irrigation, reduced tillage, reusable mulch, and no synthetic sprays or fertilizers. Our small size intentionally keeps things honest- hand tools and a BCS (a mini walk behind tractor), plus a little tractor help from our neighbors!
A rather honest late spring field tour highlights the different stages of bed preparation and crop protection methods. You’ll see current crops under row cover for natural pest protection, upcoming rows are tilled or tarped in preparation for planting. On organic pesticide free farms, weeds are a constant challenge.
Sarah Chien, Farmer / Owner
I’m a first-generation, second-career farmer. As a contemporary dancer in New York City, I lost two years of gigs when the 2020 pandemic hit. I responded by turning my rooftop dance studio into a rooftop garden. At that same time, the Movement for Black Lives swept the city, and I realized that for me, feeding people was a better community role than marching in the streets.
I started my training as an apprentice at Earth Matter, a compost-focused farm on Governor’s Island in NYC. I was delighted by the way I could learn about my own heritage foodways from growing vegetables. In search of greater scale, I moved out to Long Island’s East End to apprentice at Quail Hill Farm. I arrived in the Hudson Valley in 2023 to work as a tractor operator at Tributary Farm in High Falls.
In late 2023, I started my own business, co-founding an incubator farm in Wawarsing, NY. A year later, with the support of my life partner, Ayla, I accessed a lease in my hometown of Kingston, and began Dirt Dance, as a one-woman show!
Through farming, I’m searching for autonomy, sustainability and cultural connection, as I fulfill my deep sense of wonder around plants, food, and community. I’m also continuing to ask myself how dance and art can be part of production farming. For now, I teach Qi-Gong on the farm, and occasionally make dance pieces about life lessons learned through farm work.
Dirt Dance wouldn’t be the same without our
Part-Time Staff
Phil Erner • Mildred Conklin •
Adder Chu • Eric Gratta
Neighbors
The Healing Acres • Alewife Farm • Isaura Marin • Seed Song Farm
Aileah Kvashay • Insook • Brenda Miller • Jayne Henson • Marybeth Wehrung • Quail Hill Farm • Earth Matter
Mentors/Teachers
Cody Umans (Signs)
Katelyn Lipton (Logo)
Artist Collaborators
Thank you to this rotating cast of helping hands!
If you’d like to volunteer, join our email list, or simply show up to join Friday harvest days.
You can also check instagram for the latest opportunities.