We have sold out and are now closed for the 2022 season. Thank you to our friends and neighbors for your continued support. We are grateful that our family tradition is a part of your family’s traditions each year! We look forward to welcoming you back to the farm in 2023, and we wish you all a joyous holiday season. Merry Christmas!

It may still feel like summertime, but the days are getting shorter, kids are heading back to school, and up at the North Pole, the countdown is starting for Christmas!

We love fall at the farm, especially because it’s time to plan to welcome everyone back for another tree season. This year, Tilden Lane Farm will be open on the following weekends:

Saturday, November 26
Sunday, November 27

Saturday, December 3
Sunday, December 4

Saturday, December 10
Sunday, December 11

Our hours remain the same – 9 am to 3 pm.

For 2022, trees are priced at $80 and up. Jeanne’s fresh handcrafted wreaths are $40. As in the past, we accept cash or check – we do not accept cards.

Due to the overwhelming popularity of our cut-your-own trees, we strongly recommend you visit us on Saturday 11/26 if you wish to cut your own tree, in order to have the best selection. We cannot guarantee availability after this date. We will also have our selection of pre-cut trees in multiple varieties.

Our focus throughout each spring and summer remains on planting new fields of Christmas trees. Look around the farm and you’ll see blocks of fir and spruce seedlings growing- they take from five to seven years to reach a salable height, and Mother Nature can’t be rushed! Along with the new tree blocks, our reestablished strawberry bed and our vegetable farming partner, and our beehives, we are committed to the future of Tilden Lane Farm. Once again this year, we have farm produced honey available. We were fortunate to have another year of great honey production and if it’s a warm day you may be able to see some of the bees at work. Ask one of our “branch managers” to show you the hives!

We are still being mindful of health precautions: we have hand sanitizer available and clean our hand saws between each use. If you are not feeling well or have tested positive for Covid, please stay home for the safety of everyone. Due to New York State regulations, we unfortunately cannot allow dogs on the farm; we will miss seeing your furry friends but please leave them at home!

We are very glad to be able to welcome you back to the Farm for another Christmas season and we look forward to seeing you all in a few short months!

Now that the last of the cold weather is well behind us, the farm is once again abuzz with activity as everyone gets to work – including our bees!

Our beehives have weathered the winter season and the bees have been out collecting pollen and beginning this year’s batch of honey. While they’re at work, they’re also helping us by pollinating gardens – including the strawberries we grow at the farm!

Bruce has also been very busy this month. All of the fields have been prepared for planting and Bruce has heeled in two hundred transplants. These baby trees will still need years to grow to the proper height and size, so the trees we plant this year will grow until Christmas 2029.

Branch Manager Meghan stopped by to supervise and give her thoughts on this newest crop of trees. Her assistance was invaluable and she kept Bruce on schedule!

---

This winter, we were pleased to learn Tilden Lane Farm has been selected by Trees.com as one of 2022’s Best Christmas Tree Farms in the New York City region! Their selection criteria included 25 categories, including availability, credentials, reputation, services, and professionalism. We deeply appreciate this recognition!

As you may have seen in the news recently, Tilden Lane Farm welcomed some visitors to the Farm. Bruce and Jeanne were pleased to join officials from the Town of Huntington and Suffolk County for a press conference to announce the sale of the development rights for Tilden Lane Farm.

We’ve heard quite a few questions about what this all means and how it affects the future of the farm, and we hope to answer those questions for you now!

1. What does it mean to sell development rights?
   Selling development rights restricts the future use of a property, so that the land can only be used for agricultural purposes. The Farmland Development Rights program for Suffolk County is the first such program of its kind in the United States, and its goal is to help preserve farmland and ensure that these vital and historical properties are able to maintain themselves and their historical agricultural character.
   
2. Who purchased the development rights for TLF?
   The Town of Huntington and Suffolk County came together in a 50/50 partnership. With this purchase, Tilden Lane Farm becomes part of nearly 20,000 acres of preserved open farmland throughout Suffolk County, 300 acres of which are located within the Town of Huntington.
   
3. Does this mean the farm is public property?
   The farm is not public property. The farm continues to be owned and run by the Tilden family. We are a working farm and are constantly planting and tending to our crops as well as caring for our beehives; all of this work means that the farm is only open to the public during Christmas tree season.
   
4. What does the development rights sale mean for TLF?
   This sale means TLF will be able to continue farming as the family has done for generations, and allows us to keep planting trees, instead of planting houses. The sale of the development rights is our promise to the community that Tilden Lane Farm will continue to be a farm.

We are very pleased to be a part of the Town Clerk’s “Farming In Huntington” exhibit at Huntington Town Hall to celebrate the history of farming as part of Archives Month 2020. Tilden Lane Farm is one of 19 Huntington farms that have contributed artifacts, photographs, and antiques to the exhibit. Viewing is by appointment. Information on visiting the exhibit can be found in this release.

Bruce was invited to attend the official opening of the exhibit and received a certificate from Town Clerk Andrew Raia recognizing TLF’s contribution to the Farming In Huntington exhibit and to the community. We’re so pleased and honored to participate in this exhibit!

Over Memorial Day Weekend we transplanted several hundred baby trees to prepare for future seasons!  Right now these baby trees are only as tall as Logan but in four or five years they will be just right for Christmas trees.

As many of our friends and neighbors have heard, in early November Herbert S. Tilden died at the age of 92 at his home on the farm, surrounded by his family.   We look forward to honoring his memory this season. In addition to his lifelong work as a farmer, with his  wife of 50 years, Mable Flathmann Tilden, at his side, he raised five sons- the late Jeffrey (Ann), Bruce (Jeanne), Lee (Diane), Donald (Cyndy), and John (Christine). He was the  proud grandfather of Abigail, Rebecca (Mike), Andrew, Emily (Jon), Daniel,and David, and great-grandfather of Logan.

Following in his own father’s footsteps, Herb was a 68 year member of the Greenlawn Volunteer Fire Department.  He also served four terms as a Commissioner of the Greenlawn Fire District.  Herb was instrumental in the founding of the ambulance service of the GFD Rescue Squad in 1961.  He is shown below (far left) with fellow Squad members receiving an award in 1964 for a rescue where a car accident victim with a broken neck was safely extricated and transported without further injury or paralysis.

His sons Bruce and Lee, and Lee’s wife Diane, are proud to carry on the family tradition of GFD service for the third generation.

 

Like dandelion seeds in the wind, our memories of a life well lived will always surround us.