Black Horse Farms: Spring Plants, Local Groceries, and Crave-Worthy Cookies
Black Horse Farms in Athens is so much more than a typical farm stand. With two balmy greenhouses, ridiculously delicious house-made cookies, and all the supplies you need to make a nice-and-easy meal, it’s a destination-worthy shopping experience, especially on a cold and rainy spring day.
Spring comes early at the greenhouse at Black Horse Farms.
Spring isn’t the most pleasant time of year up in Greene County, unless you love cold rain and lows in the 30s, but the Black Horse Farms greenhouse—lush with tropical houseplants, cute cacti, and blooming orchids, mini-roses, and daffodils—is packed with the joy of the warmer days ahead. Plus, even if you don’t have a giant plot of land to fill with flowers and vegetables, they’ve got just what you need to furnish the tiniest fairy garden.
The fairy garden selection at Black Horse Farms is a little girl’s dream-come-true.
Ramona couldn’t resist this miniature fake plant, and I’ve noticed that many of her little dolls have been enjoying it, too. Black Horse Farms has a wide selection of pots and planters for your patio garden or windowsill, plus plenty of critters, statues, and garden decor.
Why get an actual puppy, when you could just get a cute little statue of a puppy? This was an actual question from my daughter, who is inexplicably afraid of dogs.
Black Horse Farms also contains a very large gourmet grocery store, stocked with great-looking produce. We haven’t hit the local growing season yet, but in the summertime, you can find homegrown produce (like strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, sweet corn, and apples) from their 800-acre family farm.
In the meantime, they’ve got lots of house-made salsa with flavors like Pineapple-Mango-Habanero and Peach-Chipotle to brighten a rainy spring day. They’ve got all the traditional country market stuff—local honey, maple syrup, jams, jellies—but also plenty of kitchen helpers for gourmet cooks who like to take it easy sometimes. They’ve got pre-made meals (like quiches, chicken pot pies, and eggplant parm), plus a wide array of locally-made Maya Kaimal curries and sauces, which make it really easy to get a fresh, flavorful Indian-inspired meal on the table without a lot of fuss.
In the summertime, this produce section overflows with local fruit, sweet corn, tomatoes, and more.
But maybe the biggest draw is the vast bakery section, featuring some treats we haven’t seen anywhere else. The main reason we came here was to follow a tip from our friend Andrew Krucoff, who mentioned that “their strawberry lemonade cookies are out of this world.” Oh my goodness, he is so right! The big, chewy, country-style cookies (pictured below) are filled with a rich, citrusy, slightly gooey lemon curd and dotted with strawberry-infused cranberries. I think they have unseated Boehm Farm’s Apple-Caramel cookies as my favorite cookies in the Catskills!
My kids also loved their soft, salted pretzel sticks. We’ll be back for more of those, too.
Keep an eye out for a package of Strawberry Lemonade Cookies at Black Horse Farms. They are ridiculously delicious!
We also loved that they have an antique tub filled with bath bombs sitting right among the groceries. Just a gentle reminder: If you’re gonna be planting a garden and feeding your family, you owe yourself a nice bath.
Black Horse Farms has gifts to give and get—including lots of bath products.
All this good stuff is tucked into an unassuming red barn that was built in 1864, which adds to the charm of all the fun stuff they’ve got inside.
At Black Horse Farm, you’re gonna need a shopping cart.
Black Horse Farms is located at 10094 U.S. Route 9W, Athens, NY; 518-943-9324. They’re open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 6pm from March through December.
