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Taliaferro Farms

Northeastern American Mixed Forests Trust T1

Climate Zones: Humid continental climate with hot summers (Köppen Dfa), with the Shawangunk Ridge and Catskills to the west and the Hudson River to the east shaping local conditions.
Regenerative Focus: Regenerative Agriculture & Soil Health, Community Regeneration & Resilience Building

About this land node

Certified organic vegetables, CSA

Project Title: Taliaferro Farms
Ecoregional Location: Northeast US Coastal Forests, Northeastern American Mixed Forests (NA10)
Local Location: Wallkill Valley
Political Location: New Paltz, Ulster County, New York, United States

Biodiversity context: The Shawangunk Ridge, protected by Mohonk Preserve, Minnewaska State Park and Sam's Point, is one of the Northeast's most important conservation landscapes, with globally rare pitch pine barrens; farms in the valleys below buffer it and add grassland and hedgerow habitat.
Ecological corridors: The Wallkill and Rondout corridors connect to the Hudson, and the forested Shawangunk Ridge links the Catskills to the Hudson Highlands and New Jersey's Kittatinny Ridge.
Ecosystem unity: The site lies in the Northeast US Coastal Forests ecoregion on the Hudson's west bank in Ulster County, where the agricultural Wallkill, Rondout and Esopus valleys meet the forested Shawangunk Ridge and Catskill foothills.

Climate Zones: Humid continental climate with hot summers (Köppen Dfa), with the Shawangunk Ridge and Catskills to the west and the Hudson River to the east shaping local conditions.
Rainfall patterns: Precipitation is spread evenly through the year with no dry season; late summer and early autumn are slightly wetter, often boosted by thunderstorms and the remnants of tropical storms. Winter precipitation falls as snow, sleet and rain, and spring snowmelt drives peak streamflow in March and April.
Average Rainfall: Approximately 1,100 to 1,200 mm per year.
Temperature Extremes: July highs typically reach 28 to 30°C, with heat waves above 32°C in most summers. January lows average around -8°C, with cold snaps below -18°C.
Average Temperature: About 10°C annually, from roughly -3°C in January to 23°C in July.
Watershed: Within the Hudson River watershed; the Wallkill River and Rondout and Esopus creeks drain Ulster County to the tidal Hudson at Kingston and Saugerties.

Elevation & slope: Gently rolling lowland and low hills, mostly between roughly 50 and 200 metres above sea level.
Landforms: Glacial till plains of the Wallkill and Rondout valleys with low ridges and drainage ways, overlooked by the quartzite escarpment of the Shawangunks and the Catskill escarpment.
Soil Types: Silt loams formed in glacial till and lake sediments over Ordovician shale of the Wallkill and Rondout valleys, with gravelly outwash along the creeks and river terraces.
Renewable resource potential: Solar on barn roofs and field margins; composting of manure and crop residue; soil carbon in pasture and cover-cropped fields.

Land Acknowledgements: Taliaferro Farms lies within Lenapehoking, the homeland of the Lenape people, whose Munsee-speaking communities, the Esopus people, lived along Muhheakantuck, the river that flows both ways, and its tributaries. We acknowledge the Lenape and their descendants in the Delaware Nation, the Delaware Tribe of Indians and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, whose relationship with this land continues.

Regenerative Focus: Regenerative Agriculture & Soil Health, Community Regeneration & Resilience Building

Nearest urban centres: Kingston (population about 24,000) and New Paltz are the nearest centers; Poughkeepsie lies across the Hudson and New York City is roughly 120 to 150 km south.