The Story of Silver Queen Farm
Gordie Gallup was born in Cobleskill, NY and moved to Trumansburg in 1985. While high school usually bored Gordie, hard work did not. He would often skip class to work for a local farmer and make his own money.
After a year of school at SUNY Cobleskill for botany proved to be torturous, Gordie decided to take a different life path. This path included keeping bees in Virginia for a time, and eventually getting into building homes.
While Gordie spent the next 30 years building houses around the FLX area, he always kept up a large backyard garden. He grew all kinds of veggies and flowers and created beautiful landscapes. But the draw to the countryside and a bigger piece of land was hard to resist.
Gordie bought an old farm house on Stillwell Road with more than 100 acres of land attached to it. His plan was to fix up the house and one day move his family into it. But the timing wasn’t quite right so he ended up selling the renovated house, but keeping most of the land. Over the years he would drive out and take care of the land and plant a few crops.
Finally the Gallups were able to put up a house on the property and move into their new home in the country. His dreams were a reality and he started planting everything from Christmas trees, to sweet corn, to strawberries. The family began selling the crops from a small roadside stand and did this for many years.
As the community started to become familiar with the delicious fruits and veggies on Stillwell Rd, the business began to grow. They would attend farmers’ markets in Trumansburg, Elmira and Watkins Glen to get the word out, and eventually started a CSA. In 2009 Gordie took a HUGE step and started construction on a large barn. Even before the barn was finished, it was put to good use…
While Gordie didn’t think that anyone would want to come to an event in an unfinished barn, Stephanie from Serendipity Catering thought otherwise. So Silver Queen Farm partnered with them to form a local foods eatery called “The Farm and Fork.”
Since then, Silver Queen Farm has grown and developed into a popular wedding venue destination and a produce supplier for local restaurants. Gordie runs the whole operation with help from a few dedicated employees and his daughters, Chelsea and Laura Gallup.
In the News
Edible Finger Lakes
January/February 2020
