Preserving the Hudson Valley: Meadowland Farm and Scenic Hudson

Judah Kraushaar lives next door to my family in Clinton Corners, New York. The owner of Meadowland Farm, Judah and his family have been close friends of my family’s for more than a decade. In addition to running Meadowland Farm, Judah also works for Scenic Hudson, a non-profit organization committed to preserving, protecting, and revitalizing land and communities in the Hudson River Valley of New York. In mid-July of 2024, I walked over to Meadowland Farm after work and had the opportunity to speak with Judah as the sun set and he ate his dinner. 

Judah grew up in suburban Virginia, where he spent much of his free time working with his father outside in the dirt. Eventually, he watched as much of the natural beauty of his home was bulldozed and replaced with parking lots and strip malls. Judah spent his early career working his way up through Merrill Lynch, an investment management company. At a certain point, Judah said, “work had become bureaucratic.” 9/11 also took a toll on him mentally. These factors added up, and eventually Judah decided to leave his position at Merrill Lynch. He bought a property in Clinton Corners (what is now Meadowland Farm), becoming just the third family to own the house in its almost three hundred years of existence. The formerly Quaker-owned property also served as a stop on the Underground Railroad prior to the Civil War. 

Judah’s care for the Hudson River area and his work with Scenic Hudson stem from his love of nature and his desire to preserve and maintain it to the best of his ability. He described a love for providing food for others, hence his idea to start a farm. In creating and growing Meadowland Farm, Judah apprenticed with a more experienced farmer, learning the ins and outs of the job. Beginning with a vegetable garden, Judah has since expanded to cultivating livestock, including cows, chickens, sheep, and even two donkeys, Webster and Chauncey (who are not to be eaten, but rather posted about on social media). Judah also set up a well-run and well-stocked farmstand, frequented by people passing along his quiet country road and fence-sharing neighbors (like my family). 

Judah’s work with Scenic Hudson is dedicated to the conservation of the Hudson Valley. The entire organization is itself an expression of biophilia—it strives to protect the area’s natural beauty from gradual industrialization and urban-planning, working with traditionally marginalized communities of people who are typically targeted in the renewal of land.

Like Judah, I feel that my life in New York’s Hudson Valley grants me more time with my thoughts than my life in an urban setting. I think this is because the entire ethos of Clinton Corners is about cultivating life and providing for others. (Judah is a prime example of this.) It is a highly psychogeographical experience—my surroundings, with their rolling green hills, flowing streams, and nutrient-rich soil, provide the opportunity to be nurtured by nature, and in turn to nurture it back. In this sense, life in Clinton Corners is in a much more active relationship with the land itself. The way of life there is an expression of biophilia, whether that be through growing a vegetable garden, cultivating livestock, or building something for one’s home with foraged materials. Perhaps this is why I’ve always felt a greater appreciation for life—a greater degree of biophilia—in Clinton Corners than I have anywhere else.