Listening Rock Farm has a long and diverse history. Human occupation of this land began over ten thousand years ago. Until 1600 A.D., Native American lived on this farm during the summer months and traveled south to Long Island Sound in winter. They were sustained by prolific runs of Atlantic salmon that migrated up the Housatonic River and spawned in the Ten Mile River. With the arrival of European settlers around 1600 A.D., the Native American tribes were decimated by diseases to which they had not developed resistances, and then were moved onto local reservations as the concept of deeded land rights took hold in America. From 1600 to 1900 a series of farms flourished on this property. They were bought by the state of New York in the early 1900's to create a large-scale institution for physically and mentally disabled people. By 1940 the State had built over one million square feet of buildings housing 5500 patients, with a staff of over 5000 employees. They farmed this property actively to grow a large percentage of the food required for the institution until 1975, at which point the farm was abandoned and allowed to decay. During the 1990's the state decided to follow the deinstitutionalization trend and move most patients into small-scale residential settings. Wishing to prevent traditional development and believing that farms should be an integral part of our community, we acquired this land in December of 2000.
Since our acquisition of the farm, we have restored the farm buildings to working condition, built new barns, and begun the programs that are the foundations of Listening Rock Farm, with the following four goals:
- To manage our forests in a long-term sustainable program with forestry practices that encourage the protection of the forests' historical ecosystem. We use our trees to produce hardwood flooring and furniture, and timber frame components.
- To produce food including herbs, vegetables, beef steers, fruit, and honey suing farming techniques that we are proud of for our family, friends, and farm events.
- To produce agriculture-based fuels for the energy needs of this farm.
- To share the activities at Listening Rock with those who are interested, through various educational programs and events.
